Cassell, 2002, $29.95, ISBN 0-304-36216-6, 255 pages, hardback

This magnificent memoir offers a turret-eye-view of WWII tank warfare in the Sherwood Rangers (Nottinghamshire Yeomanry, 8th Armor Brigade). From the invasion of Gold Beach on D-Day, across France and into Germany, Hills imparts the hundred of little details of a tanker off to war.

Indeed, the action between British and German troops gets told in a matter-of-fact manner, as if Hills is describing a job rather than detailing a minute-by-minute account. Certainly, some of his more harrowing experiences--I’m thinking of the Battle for Gheel in particular, along with Barjou--receive greater attention and increased detail. I suppose they stood out more in his memory, as they certainly stand out in mine.

Hills, by the way, is incredibly fortunate. He survives artillery, mortars, anti-tank shells, and panzerfausts during his year in combat. His tank is hit often and he successfully bails out multiple times in the course of the campaign. Others are not so lucky, and he recounts with sadness the ever dwindling number of North African desert veterans as the unit fights its way out of the boscage and across France, through Belgium and Holland, and then into Germany.

As he survives, he does a variety of jobs: commander of a three-tank troop, intelligence officer, commander of a recce squadron, and so on. Each one carries its own responsibilities, and Hills excels at explaining what he had to do and when. His description of churning towards the beach in a Sherman DD (a propeller-augmented “floating tank”) is priceless for its first-person perspective. Of interest is the attachment of the Sherwood Rangers to the US 82nd Airborne and 84th Infantry Divisions at various times.

I enthusiastically applaud Hills for his well-written memoir, and suggest you seek this out to add to your WWII library.