Big Lee is one of my favourite bloggers and from time to time he shares comments about his latest readings. A couple of months ago he posted this entry about a book called Tank Men written by Robert Kershaw. This guy in one of those rare breed of soldier, historian and writer that (frankly speaking) you only find in the anglo-saxon world and whom I met some years ago when I read his other excellent work "It Never Snows ins September" (Arnhem through th eyes of the German soldiers).
Big Lee's enthusiastic endorsement of Tank Men and my very good memories of the previous book were enough convincing to hit the Amazon website and order on-line (and by the way, try the "Amazon Market place" where you can find impressive bargains, even on newly released books).
Today I have just finished reading the over 400 pages book and I can say that Big Lee was even moderate in his comments. Important to notice the subtitle of the book to understand the content: "the human story of tanks at war". This a very compelling and sometimes moving recollection of the experiences of tank men, throuigh letters, diaries and interviews.
The fear, horror, brutality and cruelty (specially in the way many fell in battle) surrounding the world of these brave men are accurately reflected in this work... a must for anyone interested in tank warfare... and guess, next time I put in play my little models, I'm afraid I'm going to see the game through totally different eyes.
Good review, just as long as he's not your all time favourite.
ReplyDeleteOne of my favourite books. I've alreasy re-read it twice and have had it less than 6 months!
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ReplyDeleteThanks for the mention. Glad you enjoyed the book. Its easily one of the best books on armoured warfare that I have ever read. In fact its so good I recently picked up a second copy (this time in hardback) to take to Vetran events for signings.
ReplyDeleteWell if not my all-time favourite, it really ranks high now in my warfare history library. Being Spanish, I really like and admire this mixed historian+story telling style that you can find mostly in the anglo-saxon world and very least frequently in my native culture.
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