So Few Got Through: Gordon Highlanders with the 51st Division from Normandy to the Baltic

by Martin Lindsay

This classic WWII memoir by the distinguished commander of the 1st Battalion Gordon Highlanders recounts their harrowing exploits in Normandy.

As part of the 51st Highland Division, the 1st Battalion, Gordon Highlanders, part of the 51st Highlander Division took part in the D-Day invasion of Normandy. By the time the British infantry unit reached Bremen the following April, after ten months continuous fighting, the 1st Gordons had lost 75 officers and 986 men in battle.

So few got through, but amongst them was Martin Lindsay. Lindsay, an author and former polar explorer, commanded the Battalion in 16 operations. Wounded in battle and mentioned in dispatches, he was awarded the DSO. His epic story takes readers inside the life of a regimental officer and along the harrowing path to victory. Through his vivid recounting, we follow the 1st Gordons from Normandy through the orchards of Calvados and across the mudflats of Holland, along the Ardennes, the Siegfried Line Break-through, the crossing of the Rhine, and on to the heart of Germany

Genres: History, World War II

301 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 22, 2000

Reviews

[MR ANDREW TUCKER · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a regiment

Reading this book I was amazed by the amount of fighting this division did a brave commander who took over platoons because of the high officer casualties. A really good read

[Jack Kefferty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read

Felt like you were with them every step of the way , brings home the brutality and devastation that war creates

[John Pearse · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good factual account, recounting what soldiers had to go through during.that bloody war.

[J S · Rating 4 out of 5]

Classic Officer's memoire from WWII. Tends to underplay the drama and emotion, as so many of his generation do, but a good read.

[Michel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very nice read on the British side of the Campaign from Normandy to the heart of Germany.
At times difficult to follow / understand because of the language used (not being a native speaker), the many names and all the units with their typical names.

Lindsay gives a good insight in the day-to-day live of a British officer.
What struck me were two things: the distance between officer's and "ordinary jocks" and the heartfelt grief on so many friends that were killed.

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book very much. A fascinating account by an officer who obviously had a tremendous affection for the men he commanded. It reads a little but as though he used a personal diary as its basis, very much against regulations.