A book I can highly recommend for an "unusual" angle on tank warfare...
D-Day to Victory: The Diaries of a British Tank Commander by Sgt Trevor Greenwood
A truely real account of what it was like to on a day to day basis, with plenty of funny episodes to lighten the mood...
To quote the blurb:-
"Tank Commander Sgt Trevor Greenwood of C Squadron, the 9th Royal Tank
Regiment, sailed for France in June 1944 as part of the Allied invasion
of Normandy. From D-Day until April 1945, he kept a daily diary of his
experiences of the final push through France and into Germany, often
writing in secret and in terrible conditions. Under fire, outgunned and
facing a bitter winter, he never loses his moral compass or his sense of
humour - finding time to brew tea and maintain morale with characterful
British reserve. He writes candidly of his frustration and despair of
seeing Bomber Command mistakenly bomb Allied lines near Caen (August
1944), the liberation of Le Havre (September 1944), the fighting around
Roosendaal, Holland (October 1944), the reception of soldiers by the
Dutch families on whom they were billeted (December 1944), and concludes
with 'mopping up' operations in northern Germany (April 1945). His
astonishing diary has left us a unique record of the war in Europe from
the rarely-seen perspective of an ordinary soldier. An accompanying
essay about the tank battles of Normandy by Duxford Museum's tank expert
provide added value."
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