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Brothers in Arms: One Legendary Tank Regiment's Bloody War from D-Day to VE-Day

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Well, that is an exaggeration (But! Not! By! Much!); there is just too much personal development here for my taste. Brothers in Arms: One Legendary Tank Regiment's Bloody War from D-Day to VE-Day. London: Bantam Press. ISBN 978-1787633940. This follows the Sherwood Rangers, a British tank regiment, throughout multiple battles. Following victory in Sicily, the Allies crossed into southern Italy in September 1943 with the aim of driving Axis forces north and taking Rome by Christmas. James Holland is a well-known WW II historian and has written many books (and I've read most of them). His writing style is crisp and he does as much as he can with interview material and other first hand accounts to put you into the tanks as they advance towards the day's objectives. Although I can't be sure, I suspect Holland manages to get in every casualty along the way, thus commemorating the tremendous courage exhibited by these young (and they were young) men who knew they had a job to do but also knew that death or maiming could come at any moment and whether you survived the day could be a matter of simple chance.

By and large, Holland omits the stories of the regiment's support echelons. These men vastly outnumbered the tankers, played a vital role, but are mostly nameless and deedless (with the exception of the chaplain who took it upon himself to retrieve and bury the blown-up remains of the dead - a ghastly war for him) Bingham, Keith (27 September 2007). "TOUR TIME CAPSULE FOUND IN ATTIC". Cycling Weekly . Retrieved 2 August 2019. A British armored regiment, the Sherwood Rangers, consists of 3 troops of 19 Sherman tanks each plus a HQ unit, scouting unit, and considerable logistical support including repair workshops. Each Sherman has either a 4 (up-gunned Firefly) or 5 person crew (normal 75mm). This basically works out to around 300 men at the sharp end. while in Normandy the Sherwood Rangers came up against a considerable amount of defence as they advanced south with many of the Germans best tanks being brought into the region. I particularly enjoyed the one encounter they had early when a lone Tiger tank entered a village they had just captured Holland describes very well the Terror the men felt coming across that monster of a tank for the first time.Holland (and the reader) benefit from the fact that a few of the original tankers (including the commander) survived the entire war (some wounded) and left accounts, or, in some cases 1:1 interviews with the author. This provides continuity. Were it not for the cost of staging innumerable battle scenes with tanks, the story of the Sherwood Rangers would make for an equally compelling multi-part TV drama such as HBO's Band of Brothers. He is the co-founder, co-chair and programme director of the annual Chalke Valley History Festival, which is the largest festival dedicated entirely to history in the UK. [3]

The heroic exploits of the British Army’s Sherwood Rangers tank unit over the last 11 months of WWII are richly documented in this sweeping chronicle from historian Holland . . . Vivid eyewitness accounts, colorful character sketches, and lucid tactical discussions make this a must-read for military history buffs.”— Publishers Weekly in terms of the style of the book there will occasionally be a break in the action as details are deluged about the soldiers personal life away from the field, such as late-night drinking sessions Golding,s latest escapades with the locals and bill Wharton's touching letters to his wife. although I enjoyed this for the most part I felt some details of the many figures in the regiment could have been spared, or possible have had a more focused look on just a few of the soldiers to limit confusion on the endless amounts of stories taking place. the struggles of life in a tank are divulged in detail, like how they stop themselves suffering fatigue while spending hours on end in what amounted from their point of view to a metal tin waiting to be hit. the Shermans themselves and the reasons they were so successful weren't discussed as much as I expected which I found disappointing considering they were some of the finest tanks ever produced up to that point. Moving away from the usual documentaries that use old, cheap and overused archive as wallpaper, repeat what had already happened every fifteen minutes, we wanted to create something different, and which, instead, bore right down into the nitty-gritty. With more chat, more covering of the ground on which the fighting took place, more explanation of the wider context of the war and yes, more on the operational level – that aspect of the war that was so vital, which explains how it was fought and managed by the various combatant nations, and yet which is invariably totally ignored in documentaries on the subject. He is the great-nephew of Olympian Charles Holland, [34] the first British cyclist to complete the Tour de France. [35] Hastings, Max (28 May 2006). "A fine account of a triumphant defeat". Telegraph . Retrieved 21 May 2019.The Battle of Britain: Five Months That Changed History, May - October, 1940. London: Bantam Press. ISBN 978-0552156103. World War Speed | Secrets of the Dead | PBS". Secrets of the Dead. 26 June 2019 . Retrieved 15 July 2019.

Through compelling eye-witness testimony and James Holland's expert analysis of the war in the West, Brothers In Arms gives the most powerful account to date of what it was really like to fight in the dying days of World War Two. Holland has written two young adult novels about teenage soldiers taking part in famous World War II battles: Duty Calls: Dunkirk (2011) [17] and Duty Calls: Battle of Britain (2012). [18] Documentaries [ edit ] Larman, Alexander (6 September 2015). "The War in the West review – revelatory account of second world war". Guardian . Retrieved 19 May 2019. Dring has become the pin-up for those authors wishing to argue that German tanks were not invulnerable to fire from British tanks. In the fighting in Normandy, Dring accounted for Tiger, Panther, and Mark IV tanks using the 75mm gun fitted to his Sherman. That the 75mm gun was underpowered, particularly in ballistic velocity (how fast the shell travels through the air), does not seem to have affected Dring.

Does not disappoint... Holland takes us down to the individual's experience' Times Literary Supplement worst of all for any British troops moving along this road, men with panzerfausts. The Germans had spent the war designing, building and operating an array of incredibly complex and sophisticated weaponry, but this simple, mass-produced tube of metal was ensuring there was no easy ride for the Sherwood Rangers or any other Allied troops advancing deep into Germany.All in all, the Rangers had a full war, but while the achievements are quite astounding: Through compelling eye-witness testimony and James Holland's expert analysis, Brothers In Arms brings to vivid life the final bloody scramble across Europe and gives the most powerful account to date of what it was really like to fight in the dying days of World War Two. While the story of Dring himself is usually then dropped in most historical accounts, Holland reveals that the ‘tankie’ was severely injured later, as the regiment neared Germany, and suffered both mental and physical wounds that affected him for the rest of his life. Sherman firepower Holland was born in Salisbury, Wiltshire. [1] He was educated at Chafyn Grove School, Salisbury, and King's School, Bruton, and in 1992 attained a BA degree in history from St Chad's College, Durham. [2] His elder brother Tom Holland is a writer and historian.

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