Sagger Anti-Tank Missile vs M60 Main Battle Tank Book Review
By David L. Veres
| Date of Review | March 2018 | Title | Sagger Anti-Tank Missile vs M60 Main Battle Tank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Author | Chris McNab | Publisher | Osprey Publishing |
| Published | 2018 | ISBN | 9781472825773 |
| Format | 80 pages, softbound | MSRP (USD) | $20.00 |
Review
In October 1973, Egypt launched a surprise attack across the Suez Canal against Israeli positions on the east bank.
An umbrella of surface-to-air missiles quickly kept the vaunted Israeli air force at bay. And Egyptian infantry with anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs) decisively blunted armored counter-attacks, including those by M60 MBTs – then Israel's newest and most modern.
Now Chris McNab recounts the face-off between two radically different weapons systems in Sagger Anti-Tank Missile vs M60 Main Battle Tank: Yom Kippur War 1973 – 84th in Osprey Publishing's "Duel" range.
"The difference between the Sagger and the M60, in blunt physical terms, is extreme," McNab notes. "Yet the considerations behind the development of both systems have been guided by the same and interrelated developments in the arena of armored warfare."
You'll recognize Osprey's familiar format.
After introductory notes and a compact chronology, contents competently course through Sagger and M60 design, development and technical specifications. Comments on strategic considerations and combatants complement weapons coverage.
Exciting combat accounts then bring everything into focus – notably the famous "Chinese Farm" action. And illuminating "analysis" and "aftermath" sections assess the fighting's lessons.
Revised tactics ultimately helped Israel recapture the initiative, cross the Suez, and invade Africa – isolating vast numbers of Egyptian soldiers stranded on the east bank. A 25 October 1973 UN ceasefire resolution ended fighting.
Versions of the Sagger and M60 still remain in service. And McNab dutifully delineates these.
Even today, historians debate the overall impact of Saggers on 1973's October War fighting. But no one disputes the missile's critical role in facilitating Egypt's initial successes.
Photos, maps, technical illustrations, battle schematics, action paintings, sidebars, and extended captions augment the account. A selected bibliography and index wrap things up. And it's annotated!
But Israel seized the Gaza Strip from Egypt – not Jordan – in 1967.
Recommended!
My sincere thanks to Osprey Publishing for this review sample!