Chasing the Beast: One Man's War

by George Greenfield

In June 1939 George Greenfield was considering whether to apply for a research fellowship at Cambridge; by the September, he was facing a recruitment panel for a very different career. After training at the Lincolnshire Regimental Depot under the austere eye of Staff-Sergeant Len Hutton, Greenfield found himself a subaltern in the Buffs servicing the death-or-glory boys of 601 Squadron, RAF Manston. He was then posted to the Western Desert in time to take an active part in the Battle of Alamein, where he was blown up twice in one day. This account of one man's war is by turns witty, angry, thought-provoking and controversial. It is always vividly recalled and entertainingly readable. Greenfield's contempt is reserved for such luminaries as Horrocks, Sandys, Goddard and Eden; the New Zealand General Freyberg is one of the few who earns his respect. The vanities of Montgomery seen at first hand, the dry humour of Churchill emerging from a service privy, memories of Lawrence of Arabia still nursed in a Syrian border village, the bizarre German brothel plane discovered downed in the desert, the tragic bureaucratic bungling story of the Pole who jumped train, news of the about-to-be-dropped atom bomb being confided over the port - all contribute to a rich narrative which absorbs the reader from its opening pages.

212 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1998