Introduction

This book takes up the story of the Allied forces on D-Day 8, when the 144th Regiment, Royal Armoured Corps started to land their tanks on Gold Beach as part of the landings in Normandy. The men of the 144th would soon find themselves in the thick of the action, and face a bitter conflict against the Germans which would see them travel across Europe and enter the heart of Germany. On the way the 144th took part in various actions including, Operation Totalize, a Canadian led attack that was one of the final steps to breaking the Caen bridgehead. This unit also helped to push the Germans back during the German offensive in the Ardennes, and as a consequence was the first unit to cross the Rhine.

Review

This is a hard back book published by Frontline Books, an imprint of Pen and Sword publishing is priced at £25.00 and written by Charles Moore (The Road to Dunkirk, Churchill’s Desert Rats in North-West Europe), a fellow of the Royal Historical Society. The book consists of 216 pages with scattered maps and a glossy section of black and white photographs depicting tanks, countryside and the men of the 144th. The author’s late father in law had taken part in this operation and was an officer during this campaign, Mr Moore builds on this with the use of other sources of information and the archives of a fellow officer called Marcus Cunliffe.

Marcus Cunliffe had kept a detailed and graphic diary in which he wrote accounts of the encounters; these are now kept in the George Washington University in Washington DC. This book explores the aspects of army life, and the social interaction of a active military unit.

The list of contents is as follows:

List of Illustrations
List of Maps
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Arromanches to Noyers
Operation Totalize
Advance to the Seine
Holland and the Ardennes
The Rhine to the Elbe
The Experience of War
Regimental Ins and Outs
Conclusion

Abbreviations and Glossary
Notes
Sources and Bibliography
Index

This book explains the role of the British armoured regiment and their part in the Allied campaign to liberate Europe. The 144th (who then became the 4th Royal Tank Regiment) took part in this long and drawn out campaign being in action for 11 months.

Conclusion

I found this book to be very informative, and well written. This book is full of documentation which in many other cases is missing and gives a unique insight into the interaction of those who took part in these most uncertain times in the last century. It is also a comparison of how the two sides of this war measured up to each other. This book covers many areas of the conflict and contains many points that could only have been written by someone who was there.