Tank Action by David Render

[geordietaf]

I have just finished this newly published book. If you read only one history of the NW European Campaign this year, make it this one.

David Render joined the Sherwood Rangers Armoured Regiment which formed part of 8th Armoured Brigade just after D Day and served throughout the rest of the war in Europe as 2nd Lieutenant commander of 5 Troop in A Squadron. At that time 90% of troop leaders became casualties within two weeks. After the war, General Horrocks, commander of XXX Corps said that the Sherwood Rangers saw more fighting than any other unit in the British Army. And yet, thanks to generous helpings of good fortune, Render survived - becoming known as 'the inevitable Mr Render' The Sherwood Rangers operated with most of the infantry divisions of the British Army during the campaign and also supported 82 and 101 Airborne during Market Garden and 84 US Infantry Division during the battles around Geilenkirchen so there is much to interest both British and US readers.

As well as fascinating insights into sub-unit tactics, such as how to advance through the bocage, what to do with your Fireflies and how to deal with Tigers and Panthers Render is frank in his assessments of some senior commanders. He recounts a briefing by Montgomery to a crowd of 21st Army Group officers in Brussels being greeted with catcalls and jeers when he waffled about what 'we' were going to do next and he describes GOC of 43rd Infantry division Gen Ivor Thomas (and known to Render's regiment as 'Von Thoma' because his officers were more scared of him than the Germans) as a 'Sh1t'. He is frank about the effects of battle fatigue on officers and men as the war dragged to its conclusion and the last bloody battles were fought in March and April of '45.

The book is ably co-written by Stuart Tootal so that unlike some other veterans' stories the book reads well and follows a clear narrative.

[rocketman]

Thanks for the tip. Does it also describe how the tank crew work as a team under the stresses of combat? I've been looking for a book with insight into that.

[Lille Fiskerby]

Years ago I read Stuart Hills: "By Tank into Normandy". He was also in the Sherwood Rangers and saw a lot of combat, think he was in C Squadron commanded

by Stanley Christopherson.

[geordietaf]

Yes it does, including liberal use of the word 'fook' (Nottinghamshire dialect for... well... you know) Also interesting is the unwelcoming reaction of most of the crew to an inexperienced commander who might get them killed.

Hills book sounds very interesting. Christopherson became the third commander of the Regiment after two Cos were lost during the first week ashore, one wounded and the other killed.

[rocketman]

I read Hill a few years back and remember it as a good read. I'll definitely will have a look at Render.

[George MC]

Part way through. Worth getting. Interesting angle is the relationship between him and his crew. Him a fresh faced inexperienced Lieutenant straight out of training - his crew hard bitten war weary desert veterans. You can cross reference this with Hill's book "By Tank Into Normandy" - different perspective to the same events. Heartily recommend it.

[JonS]

Thanks Geordie. I'll snag a copy.

 

Quote

Does it also describe how the tank crew work as a team under the stresses of combat? I've been looking for a book with insight into that.

I haven't read it, but apparently "Tank!" by Ken Tout is excellent in this regard.

 

These ones I have read, and recommend all of them:

D Day to Victory; the diaries of a British tank commander
Sgt. Trevor Greenwood

Leakey's Luck: A Tank Commander with Nine Lives
Rea Leakey

Tank Tracks, 9th Battalion Royal Tank Regiment at War, 1940-45     
Peter Beale

El Alamein : a tank soldier's story
Arthur Reddish

Flame Thrower
Andrew Wilson

British Armour in the Normandy Campaign 1944 (Military History and Policy)
John Buckley

Troop Leader: A Tank Commander's Story     
Bill Bellamy

By Tank into Normandy
Stuart Hills

Edited July 5, 2016 by JonS

[rocketman]

12 hours ago, JonS said:

I haven't read it, but apparently "Tank!" by Ken Tout is excellent in this regard.

 

Had a look for it and it seems out of print and used copies were in the three figure dollar range.

But there is what appears to be a compilation of three of his books, including Tank!, which is called "By Tank:D to VE days". Probaby will get that one sometime soon.

[JonS]

No libraries near you?

(I like owning books too )

[rocketman]

Like you I like to own books, especially on military history. You never know when a scenario, game, campaign etc pops up and you want to read about it in detail. Also, here in Sweden the library system is slowly dying because of lowered funds. The ones still there have very small military history collections - basically only mainstream (Beevor/Ambrose) translated to Swedish or ones written by Swedish historians.

[JonS]

ah. that's sad (about the libraries, I mean)

[Michael Emrys]

12 hours ago, JonS said:

ah. that's sad (about the libraries, I mean)

I have my own tale of woe along those lines. When I first came to town, in 1984, one of the first things I did was to scope out the local library. There I discovered to my delight a shelf or two of really nifty books on our favorite subject which I looked forward to reading later on. It was a further two years before I was actually able to resettle, so when I went to get my library card, I was really looking forward to digging in to those books. But to my dismay, in the meantime the library had discarded most of those books. Their reason was that they had limited facilities for storing and handling and their priorities were oriented to whatever was in greatest demand, which meant acres of what might be termed "entertainment reading" of the best-seller variety, grade-B genre fiction and the like. Books that had not been checked out in the previous year disappeared regardless of whatever their lasting value might have been.

Michael

[JonS]

Yeah, I've had that happen, and it actually doesn't upset me that much. I mean, I'd like it if they could keep all their books forever, as well as constantly adding to their collection, but they can't, either financially or spatially. So they have to turn over their holdings, and it makes sense that they get rid of books that no one appears to be reading, regardless of how much you or I might value those particular books. The catch with the particular metric library's generally use - issues - for deciding which to keep and which to biff is that it makes no allowance for people using the books as a reference resource in the library. On the other hand, I've managed to pick up some pretty interesting books for, like, $1 when I've been in the library on the day they're getting rid of old stock.

But aggressively underfunding libraries, that to me is a much different, and much sadder, matter.