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

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com contains daily features, photo galleries and over 25,000 articles originally published in our nine magazines. I also recommend a novelization of what is was like to be an individual tank unit of 5 men, Warriors for the Working Day , written by an actual British tank commander, serving in the same theatre as the Sherwood Rangers. Shermans were so effective because there were lots and lots of them, and they were reliable and quick-firing. Inspired by Stephen Ambrose's Band of Brothers, acclaimed WWII historian James Holland memorably profiles an extraordinary group of citizen soldiers constantly in harm's way. The details that are covered are very well delivered and living in Northern Germany and knowing the towns and cities that were destroyed is an eye opener.

he adds many first-hand accounts, letters and aerial recognisance photos which go along way toward putting their journey into perspective. During the course of the war the regiment earned 30 battle honors, the most of any unit in the British Army. Having interviewed veterans, spoken to their families, read their letters, seen their photographs and walked in their paths, Holland has delved into their world and brought their characters to life. In Brothers in Arms he invites his readers to follow the Sherwood Rangers, a British tank regiment, on their way from the Normandy beaches into Germany as World War Two came to its bloody conclusion. He is currently writing Civilian Armies , a comparative history of the experience of soldiers from Britain, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa in World War I and World War II.Painful to read, impossible to put down' Gerard DeGroot, The Times BOOK OF THE WEEK 'Epic and moving. James Holland has written this book about the Sherwood Rangers, a tank regiment which made it from North Africa, to D-Day, through the tribulations of Arnhem, Geilenkirchen and into Germany. Hence the commanders rode with their hatches open with their heads stuck out to scan around them much like a fighter pilot.

When the tank is not moving or firing, the stale air reeks of “food, sweat and piss,” Holland informs us in his matter-of-fact tone.Veterans of the North Africa campaign, they were at the forefront of the fighting from D-Day on 6 June 1944 until Victory in Europe (VE) Day in May 1945. One of the most remarkable was Padre Leslie Skinner, who carried out his religious duties as well as the heartbreaking necessity of burying many of the men he knew so well.

The SRY story from D-day to the end of the war is told here in a very detailed account that is a fitting tribute to all that served with the SRY. One can not go wrong with a James Holland book if you are at all interested in WW2 history ,a thoroughly absorbing insightfull book full of graphic detail of the fight for survival and final victory of the ordinary and extraordinary mens lives. Their story can be seen as a reflection of the British war as a whole and Holland tells it very well, using his trademark technique of immersive detail and focus on a cast of well-defined characters. Holland brings this cramped universe vividly to life in his account of the long march of a single regiment, the Sherwood Rangers .I think that the above illustrates the greatest strength and achievement of this book; it is a great piece of military history, but yet also conveys the humanity of the men who made up the SRY. The fig tree is there, too, when war breaks out, when the capital is reduced to ashes and rubble, when the teenagers vanish. This association assisted the families of the Regiment especially of the wounded and killed in action.