In this, the third volume in his comprehensive, highly illustrated three-volume history of the evolution of armored maneuver warfare in the British army, Dick Taylor covers the post-war period, up to the present day. He explains how the Royal armored Corps contracted rapidly after 1945, then faced the twin challenges of National Service and heavy involvement in numerous wars and campaigns around the globe.

He recounts how the RAC became a fully-professional organization by the early 1960s, and continues the tale of disbandments, down-sizing and amalgamations. In a narrative which is as much a social history as an operational one, the vivid personal accounts of soldiers feature heavily throughout. The story of the Cold War in Germany (BAOR) is told. Then, after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the book describes the role British armor played in conflicts in the Gulf, the Balkans and Afghanistan.

Dick Taylor’s thoroughgoing account concludes with an assessment of the RAC in 2021 in the immediate aftermath of another defense review.

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgements and Thanks
• Abbreviations and Terminology
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: Reforming the Peacetime Army
  • The Missed Opportunity
  • The McCreery Report
  • PYTHON, LIAP, LILOP
  • The Rest of Europe
  • The Reformation of the Territorial Army
  • National Service
  • Rupert and Rodney – The Officers
• Chapter 2: BAOR
  • The Pads and the Ankle-Biters
  • Exercises
  • Gunnery Training
  • ‘Be Not Content with a Single Tour of Inspection’
  • Berlin
• Chapter 3: RAC Development Part One
  • Into the 1950s
  • The 1960s
  • The 1970s
• Chapter 4: Operations Part One
  • India, 1945–7
  • Palestine, 1945–8
  • Egypt, the Canal Zone and the Suez Crisis, 1947–56
  • Suez, 1956
  • The Malaya Emergency, 1948–60
  • The Korean War, 1950–3
  • Cyprus, 1954–60
  • The Gulf Region, 1954–71
  • The Borneo Confrontation, 1963–6
  • Hong Kong
• Chapter 5: The Professionals
  • More Reductions and Amalgamations
  • Forming a Regular Army
  • Yet More Amalgamations
  • Training in Libya
• Chapter 6: Operations Part Two
  • Cyprus, 1960–2018
  • Northern Ireland, 1969–2007
  • Rhodesia, 1979–80
  • The Falklands Campaign, 1982
  • Lebanon, 1983
• Chapter 7: RAC Development Part Two
  • Canada
  • BATUS
  • RAC Organization in the 1980s
  • The Arms Plot
  • The End of the Cold War
• Chapter 8: The End of the Cold War and Unexpected Commitments, 1989–2003
  • The Gulf War, 1991
  • Options for Change, 1991
  • The Balkans, 1992–2003
  • Strategic Defence Review, 1998
  • The Joint Nuclear Biological and Chemical Regiment
• Chapter 9: Further Unexpected Commitments, 2003–14
  • Iraq, 2003–9
  • More Changes
  • Afghanistan, 2001–14
• Chapter 10: Returning to Normality? 2010–22
  • SDSR, 2010
  • SDSR, 2015
  • Women in Close Combat
  • The 2021 Integrated Review
  • The RAC in 2022
• In Conclusion
  • Annex A Mechanization in Other Arms
  • Annex B Bovvie: Continuing the History of Bovington Camp
  • Annex C Regiments and Units
  • Annex D In and Out of Aircraft – Airborne Armour
  • Annex E Gunnery
  • Annex F More Wiggly Amps: AFV Communications
  • Annex G RAC Calendar
  • Annex H RAC Duty Stations and Barracks, Germany, 1945–2015
• Notes
• Bibliography and Sources
• Plates