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

by James Holland

From the bestselling author of Normandy '44 and Sicily '43 comes the untold story of the Sherwood Rangers

It took a certain type of courage to serve in a tank in World War Two. Encased in steel, surrounded by highly explosive shells, a big and slow-moving target, every crew member was utterly vulnerable to enemy attack from all sides. Living - and dying - in a tank was a brutal way to fight a war.

The Sherwood Rangers were one of the great tank regiments. They had learned their trade the hard way, under the burning sun of North Africa, on the battlefields of El Alamein and Alam el Halfa. By the time they landed on Gold Beach on D-Day, they were toughened by experience and ready for combat.

From that moment on, the Sherwood Rangers were in the thick of the action til the war's end. They and their Sherman tanks covered thousands of miles and endured some of the fiercest fighting in Western Europe. The first British unit to cross into Germany, their engagements stretch from the Normandy beaches, to the bridges at Eindhoven, and the grinding crossing of the Siegfried Line and on into the Nazi heartland.

Through compelling eye-witness testimony and James Holland's expert analysis of the war in the West, Brothers In Arms brings to vivid life the final bloody scramble across Europe and gives the most powerful account to date of what it was really like to fight in the dying days of World War Two.

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

Paperback

Published September 30, 2021

About the author

Librarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name

James Holland was born in Salisbury, Wiltshire, and studied history at Durham University. He has worked for several London publishing houses and has also written for a number of national newspapers and magazines. Married with a son, he lives near Salisbury.

Reviews

[JD · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was quite a voluminous and took me quite a while to get through. Though in the end I was rewarded with a great read about brave young men. The book is about the Sherwood Rangers tank men and their battles from D-Day to VE Day from the beaches and bocage of Normandy, through the Low Countries and into Germany itself.

Though the Rangers were hardened veterans from the North African desert campaigns, the close confines of battle in Europe was new to both veterans and green replacements, and new tactics had to be learned quickly to survive. Though the tide had turned for the Allies, the men of armor still lacked behind the Germans who had better tanks and anti tank weapons, and these men paid a heavy price for their victory with lots of great men lost along the way.

James Holland introduces us to a rich cast of characters who served in the Rangers, and you feel real sadness when one of the men is lost as you feel you get to know them well in theses pages. Holland also takes you into the action and you can really sense the tension and angst of the men as they moved forward just waiting to be shot at by Tigers, 88's or Panzerfausts. It is amazing how brave these ordinary men were, as when they had one tanks shot out from under them, they just gone into another one if alive and just moved out again.

The book is almost overly detailed, almost. But with all these details one gets the scope of what it took to keep and armored unit in the field, from the lead tank right back to the technicians who kept the tanks rolling forward into action each day. And how the line of replacement men and tanks kept the ranks filled to achieve final victory as soon as possible.

Highly recommended read!!

[Geevee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simply a very good book that provides an engrossing account of a British tank regiment at close quarters with the enemy from the beaches of Normandy through to war's end in Bremen.

James Holland uses interviews, diaries and contemporary sources to describe how the Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry (SRY) approached and operated in action, and how they lived and, all too often, died with their tanks.

There are some excellent accounts where the Shermans of the SRY are engaging German infantry armed with machine guns, panzerschrecks and mortars or tackling fearsome Tigers, Panthers, Jagpanthers/panzers and StuGs. Individuals come to the fore as we follow exploits and experiences such as the CO, Squadron, troop and tank leaders and other crew, plus the astonishingly courageous and conscientious Reverend Skinner, the regimental padre.
Good accounts of the difficulties and successes of landing at D-Day, operating in and over many varied landscapes in all weathers are given, as are working with British infantry, artillery and other units. There also includes good accounts of working with US infantry and airborne units, who the SRY gelled very well with and respected greatly.

In short, this is a detailed and superb book of and about young men who served in a county regiment doing their utmost to liberate NW Europe.

My copy was a Penguin paperback edition specially produced for Waterstones that provided additional interviews, photos and diagrams.

[Chris Wray · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a remarkable book, and quite possibly James Holland's best so far. He tells the story of the Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry, who started the war as mounted part-time cavalrymen in Palestine and ended it as a seasoned and professional tank regiment with the most battle honours of any unit in the British Army. Specifically, he is looking at their involvement in the NW Europe campaign from D-Day to VE Day.

It can be easy to truncate those 12 months and forget the brutal fighting that took place before victory in Europe was secured. D-Day and Market Garden are well known, but places like Villers-Bocage, Fontenay-le-Pesnil, Rauray, Gheel, Geilenkirchen, and Cleve, as well as operations like Epsom, Blackcock, Veritable, Goodwood, Clipper, Dragoon, Pepperpot and Totalize, are much less so. One of the most striking things about this book is the relentless nature of the fighting undertaken by the SRY, as they experienced well over 100% casualties among the tank crews in the period from June 1944 to May 1945. A constant succession of officers and enlisted men are wounded or killed right up to the last days of the war, and while experience counted for something more often, it was luck or happenstance that dictated who was cut down and who survived.

Among many such stories, I found Stuart Hill's reaction to the death of his friend Denis Elmore to be particularly moving. The letter he wrote to Elmore's mother is devastating and raw, and his response to VE Day sums up the bittersweet relief shared by many in the regiment: "Stuart Hills had been out with his troop that afternoon and it was getting dark as he headed back to RHQ in his Dingo. Suddenly, hundreds of brightly coloured Very lights were shooting up into the air like fireworks. 'That's either a signal for a night attack,' he said to his driver, Bert Crowhurst, 'or else peace has been declared. Step on it and we'll find out.' At RHQ it was mayhem, the party already in full swing. Hills felt stunned with relief and overwhelming joy - but then, after about half an hour or so, he missed Denis more than at any other moment and so he left the celebrations and went to bed."

I think that the above illustrates the greatest strength and achievement of this book; it is a great piece of military history, but also conveys the humanity of the men who made up the SRY. Travelling the unit's route through Northern Europe with David Christopherson, son of their last wartime CO, James Holland comments that: "As we travelled their old routes and delved deeper into the battles they had fought, both of us were struck by the relentlessness of their experiences - the grinding, debilitating violence, the endless casualties and deaths. And it was such a largely unknown, unappreciated sacrifice, too, a brutal, horrible business; and yet these men somehow, in some way, managed to keep their humanity - enough to notice a first snowdrop, or to lay on a Christmas spectacle for the children of a small Dutch town. They were a remarkable lot of young men."

[Joe Krakovsky · Rating 5 out of 5]

From D-Day to VE-Day, the Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry, a British armored regiment, fought their way across western Europe. "Brothers in Arms" is their story.

Battling German panzers, mines, mortars, snipers and even kids armed with panzerfausts (handheld missile launchers), they drove back the enemy, liberating towns and concentration camps. It came at a terrible cost. In less than a month after D-Day they had already lost some 40 tank commanders, many shot through the head. You see, a tank has thick armor to protect the crew, but what good is the armor if they can't see the threat? Hence the commanders rode with their hatches open with their heads stuck out to scan around them much like a fighter pilot.

British tank tactics were covered. This unit operated US Sherman tanks. Although the Sherman only had a 75mm gun it did have a gyrostabilizer for the gun enabling it to fire on the move. The gun itself was the fastest firing of that size. This mattered, as it was found that the German tanks rarely fired back when they were shot at. Although the 75mm couldn't penetrate the Panther and Tiger tanks from the front, the British 17-pounder mounted on the Sherman 'Firefly' as an 'aftermarket upgrade' could. So these tanks worked together.

I learned a lot from reading this book. War is hell but fate is finicky. A direct hit on a tank with a panzerfaust warhead could ignite the ammunition in a tank turning it into a blazing inferno in seconds, like in the movie "Fury," yet one blasted through the armor of another and passed harmlessly between a man's legs merely scorching his pant legs. It was the ammunition and not the gasoline fuel that caused the majority of the fires.

The text was some 434 pages long but included were maps, photos, and several appendices of interesting information.

[Jonny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Working heavily on his recurrent themes that German isn't necessarily better, and that the Allies don't necessarily get the credit they're due, James Holland follows An English tank Regiment across Northwest Europe in an excellent book.

It plainly owes a lot to Band of Brothers in concept, although thankfully written by a competent and unbiased historian, and takes in the brutal grinding match of Normandy, the pursuit across Belgium, Market and the Rhineland and the Final pursuit across North Germany.

Along the way, we're given any number of ministers - the British landings on D-Day weren't simply a nice day at the beach, for one - but it's also interesting to chart the development of the unit through its replacements. Sometimes there's a degree of self interest in the lessons:

By this time, the sun had risen and it promised to be a warm and sunny day. Render rolled up his battledress sleeves, which immediately prompted a rebuke from his instructor. Lesson No. 1 was to always protect the skin from unnecessary burns. Lesson No. 2 was to keep looking through his binoculars. Lesson No. 3: ‘Don’t get out of the tank and go swanning about. You get killed doing that.’ Fearn was clearly thinking of Keith Douglas. Lesson No. 4 was not to close the turret hatches down, because then the tank and crew were virtually blind. No. 5 was never to wear a helmet – it was an easy target for snipers and got in the way. No. 6 was to put it instead on the machine-gun bracket on the turret with goggles on the rim. ‘The German snipers often think it’s your head,’ Fearn said, ‘and shoot it instead.’ Finally, Lesson No. 7: ‘Don’t ever raise your voice excitedly over the radio net.’ It was all rather bewildering, but Render recognized he was being given sound advice and determined to follow it religiously.

and occasionally there's the absurd:

Aren’t you under a misapprehension about the target?’ Peter Selerie cut in. ‘Surely it is a cow? Over.’ ‘I’ve never seen a cow with a turret on it before,’ Dring replied. ‘Out.’

The unit's constant drip of casualties continue up to and then over the Rhine, with the acknowledgment that although some things improve, others stay the same:

So often in the war, technological advances in weaponry developed faster than man’s effective means of operating it. Lancaster bombers could drop immense amounts of ordnance with increasing accuracy as the war progressed, yet the men flying in these tin cans were no better protected by the end of the war than they were when the Lancaster was first delivered to front-line squadrons in early 1942. By August 1944, Fireflies had been issued with a new kind of shell: an APDS – armour-piercing discarding sabot – which when fired had a velocity of over 4,000 feet per second. The dreaded German 88mm fired at around 2,900 feet per second. That was quite a difference. Yet Shermans remained underarmoured – and were deeply uncomfortable places to be, the hatches barely big enough to offer an escape route, and the concoction of fumes, dust and grit as noxious as when they first appeared on the battlefield in North Africa. Shermans were so effective because there were lots and lots of them, and they were reliable and quick-firing. The overall aim of the Allies was to win the war as quickly as they could with as few casualties of their own as possible. However, the speed part of the deal meant that casualties were still inevitable, and that there would be lots of them.

And that ultimately, no matter how impressive, overengineered and difficult to operate Panthers, Tigers and Jagdpanthers (and there seem to be an awful lot of Jagdpanthers) are, ultimately the biggest danger was a guy with a metal pipe:

worst of all for any British troops moving along this road, men with panzerfausts. The Germans had spent the war designing, building and operating an array of incredibly complex and sophisticated weaponry, but this simple, mass-produced tube of metal was ensuring there was no easy ride for the Sherwood Rangers or any other Allied troops advancing deep into Germany.

All in all, the Rangers had a full war, but while the achievements are quite astounding:

They had begun the war as weekend part-time soldiers, then had been sent overseas on their horses, had performed cavalry charges with sabres drawn, had been converted to artillery, had survived the Siege of Tobruk, had been mechanized and had turned themselves into one of the finest armoured regiments in the British Army. During the war, they amassed an astonishing thirty battle honours, sixteen of them since D-Day: more than any other single unit ever in the entire British Army.

the human cost, as always, is what makes you stop, just for a second:

sitting talking to Stan Perry in his garden in the June sunshine, I asked him whether he thought much about the war and the terrible losses the regiment had suffered. He was, by this time, the last surviving troop leader from the Sherwood Rangers. ‘Thinking back over the years, you don’t forget,’ he told me. He reckoned he bore three types of scars from the war. ‘There’s the first, your conscience, that you actually killed some young chap who was probably not very different from you.’ The second was what he called the conscience of the mind. ‘The mind worry. The memory. Had you been a better soldier, had you deployed differently on a certain occasion, would that have saved the life of some of your men?’ It bothered him that the orders he had given had resulted in some of his men losing their lives. ‘That hangs about,’ he said. ‘And then the other scars you have, of course, are the physical scars from wounding.’

Far and away superior to the headline grabbing stuff published as books by journalists. Someone needs to pick this up and televise it. Some of the best history published in the last twelve months.

[Gram · Rating 4 out of 5]

A highly detailed account of the tank unit the Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry from D-Day on June 6th, 1944 to the end of World War II. The author James Holland uses documents, letters, photographs and other artifacts to tell the story of the SRY and his book was inspired by Stephen Ambrose's "Band of Brothers", so we learn not only of the battles involved but also the background of many of the men who fought to liberate Nazi occupied Europe.
Throughout the campaign the SRY suffered horrendous casualties with replacement soldiers, many in their early 20's taking the place of the dead and wounded as they fought their way from the Normandy beaches through France, Belgium and Holland across the river Rhine and into Germany.

[Igor · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good read but a bit repetitive:
- German tanks are complicated
- Allies have great logistics support
- high casualties in the frontline units
However, I found the description of the Battle of Geel informative.

About tanks, I preferred Spearhead: An American Tank Gunner, His Enemy, and a Collision of Lives In World War II

[Gary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brothers in Arms: A Legendary Tank Regiment's Bloody War from D-Day to VE Day is a terrific book – the history of the Sherwood Rangers Yoemanry (SRY), an armoured regiment in WWII. It tells the story of their war from D-Day to the end of the war. They were in the front line much of the time, suffered terribly and ended up the most highly decorated unit in the British Army, so you know they endured a lot of death and stress. Well written, this is another corker by James Holland, full of personal stories, as well as masses of detail about life 'in the field', the organisation of the regiment and its interactions with the infantry they supported. This is a must-read for WWII fans and anyone interested in the mechanics of armoured warfare.

Having just read An Englishman at War: The Wartime Diaries of Stanley Christopherson, DSO, MC and Bar 1939-1945, I had to read this one. Christopherson was with the regiment as a Second Lieutenant before the war – it was a Territorial (part time) unit, and by 1944 was its commanding officer.

You may wonder why I wanted to read both books because they are in large part based on Colonel Christopherson’s diaries; well, there are differences and both are definitely worth reading. The diaries book covers the regiment’s history from the beginning until the end of the war, whereas this book begins just before D-Day (thus leaving out Palestine and the North African campaign) and goes into much more detail about the Normandy campaign and the fight into Germany.

It is quite incredible what this regiment went through and the records they set. One squadron had Sherman DD (amphibious) tanks and had to ‘swim’ ashore on D-Day – luckily, the naval commanders transporting them realised they would never make it to shore in the stormy conditions had they been launched as per the plan – about six miles off shore! As it was, they lost a few to wind and waves but most made it to the beaches. Elements of the Sherwood Rangers Yoemanry were also the first armoured troops to enter Germany; possibly the first British troops. They also discovered a concentration camp in Germany, so adding to the distress and mental anguish they had already suffered from huge casualties along the way, although it also cemented their conviction that the war was a just one.

James Holland has done a super job of telling this amazing story and you’ll whizz through the book, which is full of personal; stories and fascinating information about the construct and operation of a WWII British armoured regiment. He talks about the logistics, the medical care, the weapons and the action, of course.

The Sherman tank has been criticised a lot over the decades for being too weakly armoured with an inadequate gun and too easy to ‘brew up’ when hit. In comparison with Panther and Tiger tanks, these criticisms are somewhat justified, but he puts this into context. The Sherman was quite fast, it was very mechanically reliable and its gun was rapid firing. The SRY officers quickly learned to fire first and keep firing when they spotted a German tank; they noticed that the German crews often stopped firing back when they were hit, even if the shells bounced off, and would bail out if hit a few times in fear of being killed. The more powerful German armour often destroyed the Shermans with the first shot but were unreliable, over-engineered and slow. The majority of German tanks were Panzer Mk 4s, which were pretty much equivalent to the Sherman.

I heartily recommend this excellent book, which also contains the organisation chart of a British armoured regiment, list of the regiment’s battle honours/medals and many photographs, not only of people but of some of the maps they used on D-Day, and modern aerial photos of battle areas marked up to show what happened. It’s a cracker.

[Paul Watterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating book, amazing true story, you just can’t believe the horrors they went through!

[Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

My goodness, what a great book. I have been looking forward to this book since James mentioned the idea in a poll on Twitter years ago (I voted yes btw!), and it did not disappoint at all. It’s a fantastic story of a tank regiment from D Day to VE Day. You get to know many of the characters of the regiment, the commander many of the senior and junior officers and some of the ncos. You get to know them through stories and actions and more personally through quotations from letters to home. As the losses mount through the war and continue to the very end you feel the losses and the terrible strain on the men that remain. I can’t recommend this book enough.

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

A relatable, well researched easy to read (while not diluting the story) account of a British regiment at war that I cannot recommend highly enough, truly a must read for anybody interested in WW2.

[Shrike58 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Considering the never-ending onslaught of books on World War II, I've been aware of James Holland for awhile, but nothing that he has previously written really seemed essential to me. However, the "Band of Brothers" treatment of a tank unit did seem like a worthwhile exercise, and from here on out I'm going to be paying attention to this author. While the focus is on the men who passed through this unit, and the sheer awfulness of the war of attrition that they were thrown into, Holland does a very good job of imparting hard information on just how all the moving parts worked, making no presumptions that the reader understands how such a basic tank unit does its job. There is really nothing to mark this book down for but it does peak early with its coverage of the battles to break out of Normandy, before settling into coverage of the grinding infantry-support battles that the Sherwood Rangers were involved in.

[Ron Baumer · Rating 5 out of 5]

An outstanding historical book regarding a tank regiment in WW2. The book is full of action as well as personal stories to heighten the readers experience. This book is truly inspirational.

Thank you to #NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

[David Slater · Rating 5 out of 5]

A stunningly detailed and moving account of a momentous time in our recent history.

[Tom Mott · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fantastically researched, exhaustive account of the Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry’s trails and tribulations throughout WW2. I struggled to keep track of all the personnel and locations but, eventually, I just accepted this and let the whole experience wash over me.

[Graeme Bell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is James Holland writing about WW2. It is above criticism.

[Mac · Rating 5 out of 5]

Buy.

Intimate journey through the eyes of single tank unit, the Sherwood Rangers. This is a real and sober taste of the horrors and, at times, thrills of war. The casualty rate is horrific and no matter how familiar you are with the period, you'll be shocked by the attrition rate of a unit that was near-constantly in the frontline.

[The Bauchler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Informative, sobering and gripping

[Andy Blanche · Rating 4 out of 5]

As it says on the tin, a blow by blow, intimate account of a regiment of tankers from D Day to VE Day.

It never ceases to amaze me when I read the exploits of service personnel in war; their suffering, courage and resourcefulness, and then am reminded that most of them were so young, often teenagers.

[Stuart · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a huge fan of James Holland and i was eagerly anticipating this book.

Holland often talks extensively and passionately about the SRY in his podcast ,(WeHaveWaysOfMakingYouTalk) and has written/edited An Englishman At Ear by Major Stanley Christopherson who is CO the SRY and features heavy in Brothers In Arms.

I would definitely recommend An Englishman At War, as it tells the story perfectly of the SRY before D-day.

Brothers in Arms, like Holland's other books is extremely well written. Holland has been involved with the SRY since 2004 and his knowledge of the regiments is impeccable. Having met and interviewed a number of the dwindling veterans. Sadly Stan Perry the last SRY passed away very recently, who i was lucky enough to meet and listen too at Warfest 2021.

This book is a testimony to Hollands handwork over the years of speaking to the veterans, their families and doing what he does best walking the ground.

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.

Its of course a rollercoaster story, a story that will probably remain with you for a while as you reflect on the sacrifices these men made and the hardships they entailed.

Personally, i believe this story could very easily be the next Band Of Brothers mini series.

Another great book James, thank you.

[Harry Phukjit]

James Holland's "Brothers In Arms" accurately accounts the hardships of the Officers and men of Sherwood Rangers during their time at the closing stages of World War two in Europe. “Brothers In Arms” accounts about the Sherwood Rangers experience mentioning how they were mobilized to Palestine during the interwar period before World War Two converting to a fully armoured division to fight in the desert of North Africa. Then later land in Normandy where the majority of the book is focused on with James Holland describing the brutal and grinding attrition warfare at the early stages of D-day, describing their account of the fighting towards the homeland of the German Third Reich.
James Holland had put a lot of work into this book such as finding the descendants of the men and soldiers of the Sherwood Rangers to get the first accounts, which allowed James Holland to produce a high-quality literature piece to honour the officer and men of Sherwood Rangers.
This book is suggested for those who wish to learn about the events that took place and what life was like for Britain’s most decorated armoured regiment during humanity's darkest hour of the 20th Century.
Overall James Holland has put in an incredible amount of work which allowed him to be able to successfully record and honour the accounts of the men and officers of Sherwood Rangers and I encourage readers to read and remember the men who served in the Sherwood Rangers.

[Hans · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book follows the exploits of the Sherwoods Rangers from D-Day to the end of the war.

This was my first book by James Holland and I must say it will not be my last. The author does a great job by taking the reader along, inside and outside of the tanks, to show what it was all about. He captures the horrors of war and the claustrophobic nature of tank warfare. But also the camaraderie between the men of the unit and the individual crews. It also shows the problems that they encountered when they had to support infantry on the chaotic battlefield. But it is also the other way around, the infantry supporting the tanks. Lessons had to be learned and relearned, Normandy being a very different type of battlefield compared to their earlier one in North Africa.

The eyewitness accounts really 'take you there'. You feel the fear, see the tension, experience the grief when a tank brews up. Some of it is really gruesome to read, but war is no fun. War is dirty, miserable, cruel. The winter of '44-'45 saw the NW European theater experience some of the worst, wettest and coldest weather in years. All this is portrayed really well.

What I also liked is that Hollland tells us what happend to a lot of the men mentioned in the book after the war. I always appreciate and author doing this.

In short, absolutely highly recommended!

[Kyle Nieman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent telling of the Sherwood Rangers’ story. It’s a thicker read with many locations, units, and frequently changing personnel (all of which entails war) that really conveys the seemingly incomprehensibly large scale of the complex operations needed to end the war. It took me a while to get through as it’s a detailed read, but it provides maps and diagrams to help visualize what is being described. Many intense scenes of action are described, and the short letter writings really give a sense of how the men were feeling about the dangers/terrors of the unknown horrors that were waiting for them around every corner. I really enjoyed the occasional light technical coverage of the tanks throughout as well. Definitely recommend!!

[Marshall Snyder · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is the story of a British Yeomanry regiment (roughly equivalent to a U.S. National Guard battalion) during the 11 months of the Northern European campaign of WW II. Landing in France on D-Day, the Sherwood Rangers fought their way through France, Belgium, Holland, and into Germany in their Sherman tanks. They had 150% casualties among their tank crews and lost dozens of tanks from mines and Panther and Tiger tanks. With numerous first person accounts, the most memorable character is their Chaplain, who had the horrible task of retrieving and burying their dead, often men who had burned to death in their blown up tanks.

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid 4 - Stars

I didn't really learn anything new about the war but that is kind of expected as much as I've devoured on the topic over the years. One enjoyable part of this read though was I honestly haven't gone through many stories from the British view of the Allied Forces. It was good to see many of the same emotions and situations that the Americans did and the inclusion of how these forces worked together during various operations was also interesting.

[Zach Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit like drinking from a fire hose with each page being information overload. Holland is a great battle descriptor and it balances dense passages of info with stories and more intimate looks into the men’s lives and relationships

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent history of individuals dealing with the horrors of war and individual courage. Has his usual detailed analysis linked to personal stories.

[Neil Lacey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bit of a harder read at times and not very engaging but got better as it went on as it focused more on the action rather than all the back stories although at times they were interesting too.

[Matty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good and sad and heroic and sometimes a crying a shame and sometimes glory filled and cool.

[Clyde · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book tells the story of the Sherwood Rangers, a British tank unit, in WW2. One of the most highly decorated units, they were in almost continuous action from D-Day until the end of the war. Casualties were very heavy, exceeding 150%. Basically, no-one made it through to war's end unscathed.
The story is very detailed and took me quite a while to get through. The numerous maps, photos, organization charts, and other details were a big help. Through James Holland's writing many of those brave young men took on real life for me.
Comparisons to Stephen E. Ambrose's Band of Brothers are natural. However, I think the Sherwood Ranger's war was even more brutal than that experienced by the BoB's E-Company.
Good book for anyone interested in Big-2, especially those who want to know more about tank warfare on the western front.
4.5 stars.