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By Tank: D to VE Days
by Ken Tout.
This is an excellent memoir of the Normandy campaign, written with brutal honesty, by a British Sherman commander. I read it earlier this year, but the feeling of sheer terror Tout manages to invoke as he describes going into action against German high velocity guns is unforgetable. Even as I was reading Greenwood's diary, that feeling of pure fear that Greenwood never really manages to capture, gave the latter book an edge it really didn't seem to have. I was especially taken by the description of using the tank's machine guns as a serious weapon too. Neither Greenwood not Carius really talk about this, but Tout describes how he sprays every bush, barn and hedgerow with automatic fire and how the machine guns are just as important a weapon as the main gun is.
I have seen some people write that Tout fictionalized his account, but I don't know if thats true or not. I only know that there is a poetic authenticity in this book that left a lasting impression on me. It is probably the best book I have read thus far in 2019.
Interesting to note, that as of this date, Ken Tout is still alive at the grand old age of 95!
5/5
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D-Day to Victory: The Diaries of a British Tank Commander
by Sgt Trevor Greenwood.
As mentioned above, Greenwood's diary doesn't really compare to Tout's memoir. I put this down to a number of factors, foremost of which must be Tout seems to have experienced much more actual combat. I suppose this is because Tout was in a Sherman unit, tasked with engaging enemy armour, where as Greenwood was in a Churchill unit, tasked with infantry support. Also, Greenwood seems to have spent a lot of his time being held in reserve.
Both men have very different characters too. Tout is not as easy to read as Greenwood, who is admittedly an older citizen soldier, and who spent much of his time (understandably) lamenting the war, and his absence from his family. One interesting aspect of Greenwood's descriptions of tank warfare though, is that he describes how, when tanks are hit the crews often bail out even if the tank has not been penetrated. The fear of being caught inside a 'brewing' tank negated any sense of bravado. This actually gave me a better understanding of the psychological impact of tank warfare than Tout's far more candid descriptions. Both books are well worth reading.
4/5
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Tigers in the Mud
By Otto Carius
If there is one thing I can't stand, then it is the online idolisation of Michael Wittmann that I encounter almost every where I look when researching German tank warfare. I find it depressing that Knispel, Carius and Bölter are all over looked in favour of a dead Nazi who got himself and his crew killed by foolishly charging across an open field - like some arrogant French knight at Agincourt. For a long time I held off reading about the Germans in World War Two, but eventually I decided to read Carius's account and I am glad I did. Carius was a regular German patriot as far as I can tell - willing to do his duty and follow orders with an easy conscience and he never really deals with Germany's war crimes in his book. I can't say I blame him though that elephant in his room is something that he really ought to have addressed. I get the feeling however that to do so though would have been too much like disloyalty for him.
Most of Carius's time was spent fighting the Soviets on the Eastern front and so a lot of the book is about life as a Tiger commander - portraying Carius as almost single-handedly holding back the Russian advance until he eventually gets shot, after having left his tank to scout for targets. After that he was sent back to Germany to recover and after a period of R&R he was re-assigned to a Jagdtiger on the western front though lack of fuel essentially prevents him from being very effective.
As an account of tank warfare, Carius never really comes close to Tout or Greenwood, though this could be because a Tiger commander probably never really had the fear of being killed that a Sherman or a Churchill commander would have had or maybe Carius - as a German soldier, could never openly admit to any weaknesses? At no point in the narrative does it really feel like Carius is in fear of his life. Still, this is a decent book and well worth the read if you are interested in tank warfare.
3/5
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