Normandy: The Search for Sidney = Normandie: A La Recherche de Sidney [Hardcover]

Tom Bates (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2000

A dual-language, English and French in parallel columns, book about the Normandy campaign in 1944. It tells of the search for the battlefield in the Norman bocage on which Corporal Sidney Bates (no relation) of the 1st Battalion The Royal Norfolk Regiment of the British 3 Division earned the posthumous award of the Victoria Cross on August 6, 1944. It is also a 'search' for the personality of this brave cockney boy – he was 23 years old when he died – in preparation for the forthcoming biography about him to be titled: Sidney Bates, VC, A True Camberwell Boy.

The book also exposes slanders perpetrated by Daryl Zanuck in his movie of Cornelius Ryan's splendid book, The Longest Day, and by Chester Wilmot in his much-acclaimed book, The Struggle for Europe.

It has been well received by such noted authors of the Normandy campaign as Carlo D'Este, Sir John Keegan, Paul Fussell, Sir David Fraser and others.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"I don't toss around the word 'noble' but this performance of yours deserves that term." Paul Fussell. -- Private letter

Essential reading for anyone interested in the British side of D-Day. Carlo D'Este -- private letter

Have read it from beginning to end, find it very moving particularly the detailed reminiscences of D-Day. Sir John Keegan -- private letter

About the Author

As a very junior subaltern, Tom Bates served as second-in-command of 48 Indian Infantry Brigade Signal Section of 17 Indian Infantry Division, the famous Black Cat division of the British/Indian XIV Army. He was in the fighting in World War II against the Japanese in Burma and Manipur State, India. Born, brought up and educated in India, after the war he set out to find out who his father was. It was while researching Bateses that he came across the story of Sidney Bates, the 'true Camberwell boy'. Although he is not, as far as he knows, related to Sidney Bates, VC, he spent 17 years researching this book in England, Scotland, Wales, Canada and Normandy.

Tom Bates, approaching 80, is now an American citizen. He lives in Berkeley, California. He continues to write books, mainly about military history, and is still searching for 'Daddy'!

Product Details

• Hardcover: 210 pages
• Publisher: Bates Books (March 1, 2000)
• ISBN-10: 0945992033
• ISBN-13: 978-0945992035
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 8.7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,340,105 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Outstanding Addition to any Library, December 9, 2002

By 

P. A TILLERY "kilroywashere-org" (Pensacola, FL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Normandy: The Search for Sidney = Normandie: A La Recherche de Sidney (Hardcover)

Many of us dream of visiting the sites of great battles of WWII or Korea. That is, indeed, the reason KilroyWasHere.org was started. See the Foreword (Volume 2). Tom has actually done it and written a gripping, historic book about his adventure. We have read a lot about the landings at Omaha (USA 1st Div.), at Utah, (USA 4th Div.), but little about the landings at Gold (British 50th Div.), Juno (Canadian 3rd Div.), or Sword (British 4rd Div.) This great book changes that about Sword in an up close and personal way.

It is really three books. Each could be a book by itself and well worth the read! The first is Tom's own. He discovered and was intrigued by Corporal Sidney Bates (same last name but not related) whose single-handed efforts, firing a Bren gun from the hip, stopped an attack by panzer grenadiers after D-day. For this he won The Victoria Cross, ". . . his sovereign's highest decoration for valour . . . " Tom's search is for the exact place where Sidney gave his all. Tom, himself a WWII veteran in Burma, was helped by two Sword survivors and many French locals who ". . . gladly gave their liberators the 'freedom of their fields' in return for the blood their comrades had spilt there."

An interesting aside is that the book is written in English and French side by side in two columns per page. It is done this way as a tribute to a very brave French woman, Madam Lenauld whose story is told in the second book. Her father was the gallant French mayor maligned in the Movie "The Longest Day."

The third book is a detailed battlefield account of the 1st Battalion, The Suffolk Regiment who, having survived Dunkirk, landed at Sword.

All three are worthy of being stand alone books but together, they make an outstanding addition to any library.

5.0 out of 5 stars An amazingly detailed chronicle of the 1 Suffolk infantry, December 7, 2002

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Normandy: The Search for Sidney = Normandie: A La Recherche de Sidney (Hardcover)

A dual language book with its text in both English and French, Normandy: The Search For Sidney by Thomas J. Bates and Eric Lummis is an extensively, meticulously researched history and vividly presented narrative journey, which reveals the authors' search for the battle site in Normandy where one man, Corporal Sidney Bates, held back a force of panzer-grenadiers almost singlehandedly and paid for his valor with his life. Normandy: The Search For Sidney also reveals the courage of a French woman and her family in the tumultuous events up to and surrounding D-Day, and an amazingly detailed chronicle of the 1 Suffolk infantry during the D-Day battles that changed history. Black-and-white photography enhances this vivid, visceral narrative which is an especially recommended contribution to Military History collections in general, and World War II European Theatre military buff in particular.