| Steel Gauntlet | |
| Author: | David Sherman & Dan Cragg |
| Cover Artist: | Jean Targete |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Series: | StarFist |
| Publisher: | Del Rey Books |
| Release Date: | 1999 |
| Media Type: | Print Paperback |
| Pages: | 352 |
| Isbn: | 0-345-42526-X |
| Oclc: | 40624933 |
| Preceded By: | School of Fire |
| Followed By: | Blood Contact |
Steel Gauntlet is the third novel of the military science fiction StarFist Saga by American writers David Sherman and Dan Cragg.
The Confederation of Human Worlds comprises about two hundred semi-autonomous settled worlds. The inter and intra-world disputes are settled by the powerful Confederation military; amongst them are the Confederation Marines, led by FISTs (Fleet Initial Strike Teams). In Steel Gauntlet, St. Cyr, a maniacal sadist who has reinvented the doctrine of armored warfare, has taken control of the planet Diamunde, and 34th FIST is deployed as part of a larger force in a full-scale war to remove him from power. The Marines are to make an opposed landing, establish a "planethead" and hold for relief by the army. These Marines are going to have to fight tanks, something nobody has trained to do in several centuries. And beside the tactical and strategic problems presented by the armor, the overall commander of the Confederation force is a political admiral with a talent for making bad choices. The 34th FIST will have its hands full on this mission, and heavy casualties are certain.[1]