Books on timeframe of game?

[kneecaps]

I recommend Iron Soldiers,
It's the first gulf war in 91' but it's US vs Soviet hardware...great view of what tank fighting is like.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/167 ... n_Soldiers

You may also want to look at AirLand Battle as this is the doctrine that the US Army was built around in the 80s and 90s and explains the thinking:
https://www.amazon.com/Art-Maneuver-War ... 0891415327

Also the Tactics 101 series over here:
http://armchairgeneral.com/category/tactics101

[Rosseau]

David Isby's "Weapons and Tactics of the Soviet Army" (circa 1985) is very dated, but does shed some light on early '70s to '80s.

[pinwolf]

Armies of World War 3:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/rrd20ysc4 ... 3.pdf/file

Modern Tanks and Fighting Vehicles:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/jn4pbskf1 ... hicles.pdf

Weapons of the Modern Soviet Ground Forces:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/cd0ejlefc ... Forces.pdf

NATO Order of Battle 1989:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/1c54ppwzu ... e+1989.pdf

Warsaw Pact Order of Battle - June 1989:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/cnukk3uqz ... e+1989.pdf

OOB British Army in the 80s:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/ik88zgtwz ... he+80s.pdf

East Germany's Military: Forces and Expenditures:
http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a221839.pdf

[Adam Rinkleff]

Red Army by Ralph Peters is a good book. I haven't thought much of the author's subsequent work, but that book is pretty good. Trinity's Child by ???? is another good novel, along with On the Beach.

[PoorOldSpike]

Interesting snippet about commanding troops-
In Norman Schwarzkopf's autobiography "It Doesn't Take a Hero" he says (page 158) the "most brilliant tactical commander I'd ever known" was Col. Ngo Quang Truong of the South Vietnamese Army.
Schwarzkopf was a Major at the time and worked closely with him in Nam.




"He did not look like my idea of a military genius" writes Schwarzkopf, "only five feet seven,in his mid-forties,very skinny...yet he was revered by his troops and feared by those North Vietnamese commanders who knew his ability...it was fascinating to watch him operate.
As we marched, he would stop to study the map, indicate a position and say "fire artillery here".
I was skeptical at first but called in the barrages; when we reached the area we found bodies.
Simply by visualising the terrain and drawing on his experience fighting the enemy for 15 years,Truong showed an uncanny ability to predict what they were going to do.
When we set up our command post that night, Truong opened his map, lit a cigarette and outlined his battle plan.
The strip of jungle between our position on the ridges and the river, he explained, made a natural corridor - the route the NVA would most likely take.
He said 'At dawn we will send out one battalion and put it here on our left as a blocking force between the ridge and the river.
Around 8 o'clock tomorrow morning they will make a big enemy contact.
Then I will send another battalion here to our right. They will make contact at about 11 o'clock.
I want you to have your artillery ready to fire into this area in front of us, and then we will attack with our 3rd and 4th battalions down toward the river.
The enemy will then be trapped with the river at his back'"
The battle went exactly to plan, and Schwarzkopf writes "We'd scored a decisive victory!"

(PS-Truong later emigrated to Virginia and died there in Jan 2007)

[Homewrecker]

I found a copy of Janes Weapons Systems from 75-76 while out this afternoon. Picked it up for 15 bucks. Thing weighs a ton. It has some great information on many of the weapons systems in this game. Even some of the early documentation of the Leopard 2, M1, and a Soviet tank called the T-70, which I can only believe is the T-64? Has lots of Cool pictures amd descriptions of everything from unguided AT weapons, radar systems, to AFV's. I was initially more interested in the 80's era but that book made me want to explore the 70's and all the equipment that was bleeding edge in its day.

[exsonic01]

https://www.researchgate.net/publicatio ... FRONT_1970
Plan for an Offensive Operation of the Coastal Front for Polish Army

While I think their plan is absurdly too optimistic (2 days to Bremen and 3 days to reach German-Denmark border), it is still interesting read.

Poland stronk

[mekanopsis]

Fortuitously I just found a copy of Tom Clancy's 1994 "Armored Cav" in my local bookshop and I will straight up declare that, for the US "faction" at least, this is Armored Brigade's perfect manual. Although it segues into the Gulf War era it mostly takes you through the basic science, history and development of the tactics and systems of US mechanized brigades, with a light history of US V Corps and the 11th ACR in the Fulda Gap. Better than Clancy's thrillers. I would also recommend reading up on the 2005-declassified "7 Days to the Rhine" WP war plans.