Anti-Tank: The Story of a Desert Gunner in the Second World War

by Mark Carter

A combat memoir by a British Royal Artillery soldier recounting the fight against Rommel’s panzers, conveyed with wit and vivid detail.   This is a vivid and perceptive insight into the horrors of war as experienced by British soldiers of the Royal Artillery in the Desert War in 1941 and 1942. The author, who fought in the campaign, brings to life the true nature of the fighting as British gunners struggled to defend their comrades from the armored power of the Axis forces under Erwin Rommel.   Here, too, are some of the lighter sides of war and the friendships that were made in those days of adversity. Anti-Tank takes us from the fighting of 1941 and the to-and-fro of the Benghazi Stakes through to the final Battle of El Alamein in October/November 1942—and the beginning of Eighth Army’s advance to victory.

250 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 19, 2012

Reviews

[Jack Hwang · Rating 3 out of 5]

While the book is well-written and highly readable, some parts border on fiction or simply defy logic. This may be due to "memory erosion" or retroactive imagination, which are common pitfalls in memoirs written decades after the events took place.

For example, I could find no historical record of "Operation Boomerang"—the author’s alleged stint with the renowned Long Range Desert Group (LRDG) on a special mission to shoot up a German airfield and fuel depot while towing a 25-pounder howitzer in October 1941. While the LRDG did experiment with a Royal Artillery Section in late 1941, historical records indicate that the howitzer was mounted on a 10-ton truck ("portee") rather than towed, and its only active mission was the assault on El Gtafia on December 16, 1941.

Furthermore, several tactical decisions described in the book, though exciting, make very little sense. In one instance, the author’s group abandons their truck to travel on foot—not because they ran out of fuel, but because the vehicle was consuming too much water. This is completely illogical. In a hot, waterless desert, a truck traveling at even a modest 20 mph covers a distance in one hour that would take men six to eight hours of grueling daily walking to achieve on foot.

Additionally, the book’s title is misleading. The author’s 25-pounder howitzer battery was clearly a standard regimental field artillery unit rather than a dedicated anti-tank unit. They only assumed an anti-tank role when Rommel’s tanks directly overran their positions. While this happened frequently—forcing them to fire armor-piercing (AP) rounds in desperate self-defense—it was never their primary mission.

[Jen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Fiction masquerading as memoir

Well enough written and vivid but too good to be true in the end. I'm not sure if the author or publisher is to blame for the misleading presentation. Amazon is a culprit as well dropping this book into a search for WWII history. Very disappointed.