By Tank into Normandy

by Stuart Hills

'One of the best half-dozen personal accounts of the Normandy campaign' - Richard Holmes

Stuart Hills embarked his Sherman DD tank on to an LCT at 6.45 a.m., Sunday 4 June 1944. He was 20 years old, unblooded, fresh from a public-school background and Officer Cadet training. He was going to war. Two days later, his tank sunk, he and his crew landed from a rubber dinghy with just the clothes they stood in. After that, the struggles through the Normandy bocage in a replacement tank (of the non-swimming variety), engaging the enemy in a constant round of close encounters, led to a swift mastering of the art of tank warfare and remarkable survival in the midst of carnage and destruction. His story of that journey through hell to victory makes for compulsive reading.

Genres: History, World War II, War, Nonfiction, Military Fiction, Military History, Memoir

281 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 28, 2002

Reviews

[Dimitri · Rating 5 out of 5]

Historical literary award here, Richard Holmes' pick for "best half-dozen memoirs on Normandy" there...and guess what, it deserves such accolades.

Hills' served with the 8th Armoured [independent] Brigade, meaning he was in the thick of the fighting from the Normandy Beaches all the way across the Rhine, attached to various British infantry regiments and, in an example of respectful cooperation worthy of newspaper headlines, the U.S. 82nd Airborne.

Perhaps this explains why he so successfully weaves his turret view from a Sherman Firefly with the strategic situation of the 21st Army Group. While he rustles through his millionth piece of Bocage , you know that he's doing the flank work for operation Cobra while the Americans get the credit. He's not with the Guards in Horrocks' spearhead of GARDEN, but as part of the Corps he consolidates the line further south. The Ardennes register only as an echo while he's tracking through the muddy woodlands of the German frontier as part of some forgotten operation acronym.

Infantry support may well be his primary task - he certainly blasts away with his 17-pounder at buildings and 'the enemy's general direction' while under heavy mortar or artillery fire a lot. Still, nothing as memorable as bumping into a Tiger around the corner: at 60 yards ten rounds barely dent its armour*, but a single well-aimed Typhoon rocket will leave it beheaded.

His mates sound like a wonderful lot with nary a bad apple in the basket; his Padre is most memorable for dragging wounded out of burning tanks. Hills' youth consisted largely of boarding schools in England while his parents stayed in the Far East - to barely survive the Jap POW camps - so he was a pretty independent character to begin with. Still, he likes to accentuate how quickly the war matured him, with his 21st birthday as the only memorable one in his life.

"rather stressful" is the understatement he prefers to give the generation of his grandchildren about combat, while he reserved the finality of death for his lifelong occasional nightmares of being inside a smelly, dark tank again. In those small places between two villages for which he supplies hand-drawn maps.

Oddly, no word on his post-war life... ** and little in the way of shenanigans, except nights on the town in Brussels and one unsuccessful attempt to illegally cross the Channel - into France.

A note of thanks to my father, who doesn't know his WWII but knows how to spot interesting oddities in faraway dusty bookstores.

* What say you, Wikipedia?
"It soon became highly valued as its gun could almost always penetrate the armour of the Panther and Tiger tanks it faced in Normandy."

** a few words on his adult life are found in his 2004 obituary:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obit...

He was demobilised in 1946, and joined the Malayan Civil Service four years later.

He served during the turbulent years of the Emergency and returned to England in 1958 to join Associated Octel, a subsidiary of Shell. Responsibility for the company's business in the Far East involved many months of travel each year; he made 92 trips to Japan.

Hills retired in 1986 and lived at Tonbridge, where he enjoyed golf and watching his old school play cricket and rugby. In 2002, he published By Tank into Normandy (2002).

Stuart Hills died on May 29. He married, in 1953, Dorothy Knight, who survives him together with their three daughters.

[Robert Hepple · Rating 4 out of 5]

First published in 2002, By Tank Into Normandy tells Second Lieutenant Stuart Hills story as he commanded a Sherman tank of the Nottinghamshire Sherwood Rangers from 1944 onwards. His tale takes him through training, D-Day, the Normandy battles, Arnhem and the final battles of the war in Europe. There are a few places where he gets things a little muddled, but it is mostly right and that is pretty good after all that time. His experiences of the gritty realities of tank warfare are gripping, as is his sincere sense of loss in respect of comrades along the way.

[John Lomnicki, · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reality- a perspective

Well written reflection of tank fighting in Europe. Insights into everyday difficulty as well as the fog of war. Glad that I read this volume.

[Peter Grant · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a gripping personal account of the extraordinary experiences of a tank commander who went from D-Day to the fall of Germany. He starts with his early life as the son of what were presumably near aristocratic parents living in Hong Kong. At the age of 7, he was sent to England to go to boarding school, something which he took in his stride and got on with it in a stiff upper lip way which permeates the whole of the story. He rarely saw his parents but, as he got older, he flourished especially at sports like cricket and rugger. He left school and, with a close friend, enlisted in the army, enduring all sorts of privations as the war was well and truely in progress. Following officer training at Sandhurst he became a tank commander and embarked on intensive training for D-Day. For the first time he expresses doubt; would he be upt to commanding a tank in a regiment containing battle hardened troops who had been all the way through North Africa? Nevertheless, off he goes in one of the swimming Sherman tanks that promised to be such an innovation but in which many unfortunate soldiers drowned. Indeed, the flotation device for his tank was damaged by shell fire and his crew had to bail out into a small dinghy that, ignominously for them, did not reach the shore until the following day. From there on, he was involved in almost continuous action for the next 11 months and all the while the death toll mounts along with the number of tanks that 'brewed up'. Needless to say he wins the approval of his older colleagues especially in the many situations where it seemed life or death was just a flip of a coin. He also had a phenomenal memory for the many soldiers he served with, their units, their backgrounds, details of their injuries or how they died and, what seemed very important to him, what medals they were awarded. This really was real life being the best story, no plots or story arcs, just cold hard facts as told by one of the bravest generations of young men. Thoroughly recommended.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good account by a British tank commander of leading tanks in World War II. Pretty full with observations on actions he was in, the structure of a British tank brigade, and armor-infantry coordination. Hills is also open about the emotions he felt, even walking us through what he was thinking and why he wrote what he wrote in letters home.
There also is perspective on pre-war colonial life, and what it was like to be finishing school with the war going on.
Hills also discusses his interactions with Keith Douglas.

[Mark Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I superb and gripping account of a tank commander in WW2. Stuart Hills is very honest and tells you when he was just plain scared or upset when another friend is killed. I don't know how they did it!
He served with the Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry, there's a couple more books by veteran's and a very good account by James Holland. It was a remarkable regiment full of remarkable men. Highly recommended.

[Fredrick Danysh · Rating 2 out of 5]

While supposedly a memoir of an English tank officer's events in World War II in France, it spends most of the time coming across as a social status work. The author used many terms from his social class and really gave very historically perspective to the invasion of Normandy. Therefore, I'm shelving this one as a biography but not as history.

[Larry Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Warm bonhomie

History certainly need its moments of grandeur, its Antietams, bulges,and its larger than life leaders, but none of this happens without those people, from yeoman to Royalty who get up and put skin in the game. The higher the pyramid, the larger the base of people who do their job every day.
This book is filled with the warmth of personal history intersecting with those large events. And like much of history, the book began with a trickle of daily life, reminiscent of a movie: "Goodbye Mr. Chips". it then moves into and through those battles that have become the watershed moment of that greatest generation.

[Jorge3 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent Story

The author recounts his experiences vividly and with great detail. Although a bit difficult for an American to be familiar with the British habits and military terminology, the essence of the story comes through. I would like to thank the author for sharing his stories, emotions, and life with me.

[Robert Clancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Memoirs of a British tanker in World War II

An interesting account of a young British officer who led a tank crew in World War II. No hyperbole or overly dramatic memories, just the day in and day out stress of fighting the Germans in Europe. The author lost many close friends in battle, and in fact, was lucky to survive.

[David Gahris · Rating 4 out of 5]

New point of view.

I read a lot of military history ,but from the American point of view. I forget that the war was fought by many nations and this book showed me another side of the fighting. It was a good reminder that it was other countries that contributed to the victory in Europe.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

BEST book to follow the progression of the Sherwood Rangers during Normandy Campaign and their fighting in the European theater.
The only thing : not many maps to illustrate their combat into strategic towns or villages.

[Susan Kemler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Required reading for every high school student!!!

Required reading for every high school student!!! Freedom and liberty are not free and not to be wasted on todays ridiculous social issues.

[Philip Len Massey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good book

Very informative good photos not a big British fan but well worth the time I can relate to his feelings

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good read

[Todd A · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good details and perspective. Pretty high level view of the war, but it seems like it would be when you hearing someone’s story. The perspective will be limited.

Very enjoyable.

[Freddie Gay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Terribly sad

[Lady · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to the audiobook and definitely recommend it it was so very interesting and so relaxing to listen to.

[Will · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very well written and concise. This book offers the reader an incredible firsthand account of the tank and infantry operations on D-Day and beyond. I thoroughly recommend it!

[Edward · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stuart Hills served in Normandy with the Sherwood Foresters Yeomanry, a pre-war reserve cavalry formation converted into an armoured regiment for World War II. As a result, he found himself in some of the fiercest fighting of the war between June and July of 1944, when the British smashed their way through the German defensive lines around Caen.

The book is clearly the work of an amateur memoirist, rather than a professional writer, and as such, Hills doesn't seem very interesting in recalling the worst parts of the war; cooped up in his Sherman V, with its laughably inadequate 75mm gun, weak armour, and a horrifying propensity to explode, he faced off against vastly more potent German tanks and came out alive, which is no mean feat. A few anecdotes do stand out: the Regimental Chaplain insisting on burying all of the Regiment's dead himself, so that nobody else had to see what being trapped in an exploding tank did to a man; a brief encounter with Keith Douglas, one of the most brilliant war poets, killed on June 9, 1944; coming ashore on D-Day in a rubber dinghy, to be greeted with a sardonic "There'll be consternation in Berlin now" by a Royal Navy officer. It's by no means a hard, uncompromising look at war. But there's a quiet dignity and sense of tenacity to it noentheless.

[Stephan Neff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good read to show a different side of D-Day and the end of the 3rd Reich

By Tank into Normandy
Stuart Hill’s account of tank warfare in 1944 and 1945 is well written and in fact very informative. As part of the Sherwood Rangers, Stuart was part of the Allied spearhead and his unit saw more action than many others.
The writing has an old-English elegance to it, which at times made me smile and whilst I do not understand the cricket references I accept them as part of the author’s life. What really made this book interesting was the balance with which the author addressed his own feelings in response to the slaughter that he witnessed, first in Normandy, then in the chase of the retreating German forces. It is one thing to understand that a Sherman tank was vulnerable, it is a very different story when the author describes again and again how his friends burned up in their “Ronson lighters”. Frequently, the padre of the Sherwood rangers makes a cameo in Stuart’s book who had taken on the role of removing the bodies from the burned-out tanks. Between the author’s story and the voices of his friends and colleagues, I developed an intimate insight into those fateful months from June 1944 and May 1945. A really good read in my opinion.

[Carolyn (in SC) C234D · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book! The author entered WWII in 1944 as a twenty-year-old Second Lieutenant in the British Rangers. He writes a little about his youth, which provides valuable background. He describes his unit’s journey to Normandy on D-Day, and beyond. Along the way, he was awarded the Military Cross. Besides describing the battles they were involved in, he offers many personal details and anecdotes. I appreciated that he mentioned so many of the casualties by name; they are not just numbers. The work of their chaplain, Padre Skinner, was amazing. He buried all their casualties himself, held a service, and kept a diary and casualty book. The last few lines: “I know that war is a distressing, ghastly, harrowing,, horrific, fearsome and deplorable business. How can it’s actual awfulness be described to anyone? I have done my best.” And he has done it well. I am so happy to have been lucky enough to discover this book.


(I wonder why Goodreads has this same book listed several times, rather than once, like most books. Makes it problematic where to make your entry.)

[Matthew Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

A magnificent work, filled with incredibly insights into the realities of the Second World War (several of which I recognise as having been recycled into fictional works). While "the action" is good and personal, for me the real eye-opening 'joy' of this book was the war's effect on the author's own family - a Hong Kong boy at school in England loses contact with both his parents due to the Japanese capture of Hong Kong; only by some postal miracle does a letter sent in 1942 eventually reach him (at the front in NE Europe no less) from his father in 1944. The general idea of WW2 focuses on parents at home while their children are away fighting, so to be confronted with the story of a boy who grows to adulthood and goes to war, all not knowing whether his parents are living or dead, was remarkably eye-opening and touching.

[The Bauchler · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent personal account of D-Day and onwards.

It is very much a record of the experiences of the upper echelons of British society as Hills is clearly a product of a comfortably well off family and a good public school education.

As other reviewers have commented the first few chapters concern his upbringing and schooling prior to the war which is quite pedestrian but necessary to set the scene.

There is a certain amount of the 'stiff upper lip' in his accounts but he is also very upfront about the emotional effects of his time as a tank commander.

One thing to note: the audio version is read by a chap who pronounces a number of words...oddly.

He calls Bovington Camp 'Bow-ving-ton', for example, and these can distract a tad.

However, this is still well worth reading.

[Andrew Herbert · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is very readable, a nice unit history and quite moving.

The book is heart-breaking as he describes the death and injury of so many of his friends. His discussion of how various crew became bomb-happy and the intervention of the medics makes clear the difficulties all faced, including Mr. Hills. Given the actions he describes, he was at the sharp end a lot of the time. Mr. Hills gives a very thorough account of his time in the war, and I only wish he'd told us a little more about how things turned out for him and his family after the war. Regardless, this is one of the best WW2 memoirs I've read, and we're lucky it was published.

[Larry Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

History certainly need its moments of grandeur, its Antietams, bulges,and its larger than life leaders, but none of this happens without those people, from yeoman to Royalty who get up and put skin in the game. The higher the pyramid, the larger the base of people who do their job every day.
This book is filled with the warmth of personal history intersecting with those large events. And like much of history, the book began with a trickle of daily life, reminiscent of a movie: "Goodbye Mr. Chips". it then moves into and through those battles that have become the watershed moment of that greatest generation.

[Stuart Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an amazing man. He was 20 when he landed on the D-Day beaches facing almost certain death as a tank commander. He tells the story of his and his regiment's fight from the landing beaches to Germany.

Like most of his contemporaries, he plays down his courage (despite having been awarded a battlefield Military Cross) despite his frequent mentions of his colleagues bravery.

The reader's attention is held to the end when fate deals him a bitter blow which remains with him for the rest of his life. (He died in 2004)

[Carl · Rating 4 out of 5]

This memoir starts before the war providing the authors background, before turning to Normandy and the drive across Europe. At times, the narrative is brutal and full of the authors sorrow at the loss of his comrades. The graphic descriptions allow one an insight into the horror of war. Diagrams support the text, and there is a collection of photographs from the author's collection that further aids the work. The only flaw would be the background chapters, which I felt could have been cut down or even omitted.

[Trawets · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stuart Hills was just twenty years old when he commanded a Sherman tank swimming to the Normandy Beaches on D Day in 1944.
He continued to command a tank right up to the end of the war in Europe taking part in the bitterest of the fighting. His book is a wonderful and honest insight into the experience of those who liberated Europe.

[Jonathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Should be read with David Render “Tank Action” which deals with the same time period in the same Sherwood Rangers regiment. A quite humbling book to read. Impressive that a 20 year old can command a tank squadron let alone survive in the world at war at that time. The sadness and loss in war is “writ large”. Incredible read, please read it.