By Tank Into Normandy [Hardcover]

Stuart Hills (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 28, 2002

A World War Two tank commander gives a direct, harrowing, and exciting account of fighting at the invasion front. On June 4, 1944, 20-year old Stuart Hills, fresh from Officer Cadet Training, went to war. Two days later, his tank sunk, and he and his crew landed from a rubber dinghy with just the clothes they had on. Then came the struggles through Normandy in a replacement tank, where he engaged the enemy in a constant round of close encounters-swiftly becoming a master of tank warfare in the process. A remarkable story of survival.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Stuart Hills survived his war to become a successful businessman.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Cassell; First Edition edition (October 28, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0304362166
• ISBN-13: 978-0304362165
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,699,871 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good tanker's tale, February 19, 2004

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: By Tank Into Normandy (Hardcover)

First off I should say this book probably deserves five stars just for its very existence. Tankers from WW2 do not seem to have written very much and any works are sorely needed. Perhaps the casualty rate for tankers was too high. Anyway, Mr Hills delivers a solid account of his time as a tank and scout platoon leader (Sherman and Stuart tanks) with the British Sherwood Rangers. Mr Hills saw considerable action from D-Day itself through to the end of war in Germany. Overall he does a fine job of describing his experiences.

What keeps the book form earning five stars is that, first of all, he skimps on the details of most of his actions as well as his equipment and day-to-day duties. Mr Hills had a real opportunity to inform the reader of what it was really like to be a tanker. Unfortunately he just does not go into enough detail. He doesn't even tell you what versions of the Sherman he was on (and every German gun is an 88mm). A couple of his battle accounts approach a fair level of detail but always end-up just shy of really letting you know what happened and he rarely makes you feel like you are reliving the action with him.

My second complaint is that Mr Hills is British and unfortunately, for readers not from the UK, writes like one. What I mean is that he uses lots of references to all things British that are simply lost on the non-British reader. Starting with his childhood school experiences right through to various pop-culture references he simply assumes the reader understands all things British. This is not a huge distraction from the book but does add to the somewhat distant feel too it (along with the semi-formal, British stiff-upper-lip thing). This tendency combined with the lack of overall detail makes for a less than stellar read and is certainly history's loss.

Overall Mr Hill does do a good job and the book is interesting and informative. The problem is simply that there are so few tankers' tales that it is a shame he did not take the book the extra mile.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very good British tankers memoir, January 8, 2009

By 

John E. Larsen "Larso" (Brisbane, Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: By Tank Into Normandy (Cassell Military Paperbacks) (Paperback)

This is an excellent memoir indeed. The author served with the Nottinghamshire Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry, an armoured regt with the 8th Armoured Bde, from D-day to VE Day.

He spends a bit of time on his youth, in particular his school days. I found this to be fascinating as it gave a very clear picture of what life was like for many English boys in the inter-war years. He writes of cricket and football, his stays with various guardians (his parents were Hong Kong residents and his recollections regarding life there are also very interesting) and watching the Battle of Britain dogfights. Then at the completion of school, he enlists and shortly thereafter finds himself as a 19 year troop leader of Sherman DD tanks.

As such he participates in the D Day landings. Following this is the long and dangerous fighting around Caen and through the bocage country. He writes briefly of being up against Panzer Lehr and 12 SS Panzer, among others and discusses, again briefly the merits of each side's tanks. One particular day, a Tiger tries to do a 'Wittmann' on his column. All the trapped Shermans furiously fired smoke at the Tiger to put off its aim until saved by a section of Typhoons, whose attack leaves the Tiger on it's side and minus it's turret. An interesting story given some peoples doubts about the success of such air attacks at Mortain and in Falaise.

The author is continually at the forefront of the fighting, his worse days coming in Belgium. Indeed, the number of casualties he recounts makes for very sobering reading. The types of things that can happen to human bodies in tank fighting is also made clear. So too is the tension of being the leading tank, of the leading troop, of the leading Sqn, of the leading Regt of a whole Corp's advance!! He gets through mostly unscathed but the same cannot be said for many of his colleagues.

This is a very well written book indeed. The writing is clear and polished, yet matter of fact. It seems typically English in its detail, honestly informative but without becoming overwrought. I did want a little more detail about actual combat though. This said, I felt it to be a suitable testimony for many men of that generation. I strongly recommend this book to those with an interest in the period and in tank fighting in particular. It also speaks volumes about the England of the day.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Remarkable Memoir, January 31, 2007

By 

Peter J. O'Donnell "jamieod" (Hong Kong) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: By Tank Into Normandy (Hardcover)

This book was passed on to me by a friend -- a Scot. I doubt that as an American I would have come across it myself. Which is a pity for American readers, especially any with an interest in the European campaign from D-Day til Gemany's surrender. This was a book which grew on me as I continued to read it. I agree wth my fellow reviewer's comments about the lack of operating detail involved in Mr. Hill's memoir; but as I read I came to understand that Mr. Hills is describing not the detail of his or his fellow soldiers' day to day existence but how profoundly the war affected and changed what had been normal lives. And it shows how men like Mr. Hills made remarkable sacrifices that probably they could not have imagined themselves doing. In this sense the book is more like some great WW1 memoirs, like "Goodbye To All That".

Mr. Hills writes as well with admirable restraint and humility (he barely mentions his MC) and yes he is English so modesty is a virtue. But in my view this adds to the remarkableness of this book. On reflection you wonder how these men did it. One reason there are so few tanker memoirs is that not many front-line tankers survived. The tankers, like Mr Hills, knew this yet they got back into their tanks day after day.

At book's end Mr. Hills writes "When I am asked these days, especially by the younger generation, what it was like to fight a war, I get some odd looks when I deliberately understate that it was pretty stressful... I know that war is a distressing, ghastly harrowing, fearsome and deplorable business. How can its awfulness be described to anyone? I have done my best." He has, for our benefit. Put this on your list of WW2 memoirs that must be read.