In the original dustsheet. Black cloth binding with silver title on the spine.

F.B.A. provides an in-depth photographic presentation of this item to stimulate your feeling and touch. More traditional book descriptions are immediately available

A good solid collectable book

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 provides added value.

Review: This is a powerful, personal diary, from a man who went into Normandy, in 1944, as a trained, but completely inexperienced, member of the Royal Tank Regiment and came out of the war as a veteran. 9th Battalion, RTR, entered Normandy some days after D-Day and was thrown into the very thick of things, in its first action. It was mainly armed with Churchill tanks, dating from 1941, although up-gunned since then, so that it could compete with the Panzer IV, which always comprised the majority of the opposition.

The Churchill’s armour was thick, in parts, but not distributed very scientifically. Its 75mm gun was a lot better than the 2-pounder gun, with which the original model was armed, but didn’t let it compete with the more recent German tanks. A useful essay, supplied as an epilogue to Sergeant Greenwood’s diaries, points out that Churchill’s mechanical reliability, on the other hand, was greatly superior to that of the Panther, or of the two types of Tiger. It’s not likely that Trevor Greenwood could have deduced that from his own experiences. Having said that, he does refer extensively to the recovery and repair of tanks “disabled” by enemy action.

Trevor Greenwood served with the 9th Battalion Royal Tank Regiment from 1940-45. His diary, D-Day to Victory, covers the period of active service from D-Day to April 1945, but he also wrote almost daily to his wife Jess. Many of these letters contain substantial commentaries on his thoughts and feelings, adding another dimension to Trevor’s story and extending it beyond the period of the diary. Those which cover the period of diary, and many more, have been transcribed and can be seen along with archive photos, other background material and further information on the Trevor Greenwood website: www.trevorgreenwood.co.uk