By Tank: D to VE Days

By Ken Tout

Normandy 1944. Like most of his comrades Ken Tout was just 20 years old. Not until many years later did he feel able to gather their memoirs in three Hale books, "Tank!", "Tanks, Advance!" and "To Hell with Tanks!". Now these adventures are condensed into this one continuous narrative.

Follow the ordinary young lads of the Northamptonshire Yeomanry through the massive enemy defences on Bourguebus Ridge, to the snows of the Ardennes, to the night crossing of the River Rhine, and finally to Grote KerkI, where they celebrated with liberated Dutch citizens.

They were not professional soldiers but young conscripts willing to 'do their bit', knowing that their Shermans were outgunned by the enemy's much heavier Tiger and Panther tanks. "By Tank: D Day to VE Days" vividly recalls, in one complete volume, the whole experience of battle with utter authenticity: the fear, confusion, boredom, excitement and grief.