The title of a new book by James Holland, a British military historian. It follows, in detail and with a very human side to it, a British armoured regiment (The Sherwood Rangers) in WW2. Initially in North Africa but mostly D-Day and beyond. I'm only part-way through but it's already very gripping; the author interviewed the few survivors and their close relatives in some depth.  

A couple of initial points struck me: one was the general agreement that the one essential personality requirement, in all ranks, was a sense of humour.

The other concerned the performance of the Sherman tanks in comparison with the bigger German tanks. In NW Europe the regiment mostly had Sherman V tanks with the medium-velocity 75mm gun, but with one Sherman VC 17pdr (Firefly) for every three Mk V. Interestingly, the 75mm Shermans were not outclassed. They were reliable and agile, and above all had a very high rate of fire, around 20 rounds per minute. The Firefly of course could not match this, and the German tanks were also much slower to load and get on target. SOP for the 75mm Sherman was to instantly throw absolutely everything at the target meaning that the air was full of high-velocity steel fragments which made it very hazardous for the German tank commanders to put their heads out. This really only worked in the bocage, where engagement ranges were usually very short (the situation was completely different in Africa where the tankers could often see the enemy coming from miles away). The Fireflies would have been very useful in Africa, but in Europe they were usually held at the back of the line, reserved for dealing with targets the others couldn't manage.

Interesting so far!

Have you listened to the 'We Have Ways of Making You Talk' podcasts, mainly on World War 2 history that James Holland does with Al Murray? They have over 500 episodes now, including several on tanks and small arms.

No, podcasts are in the same category as social media as far as I'm concerned - life's too short!

Some podcasts are definitely worth the time.

I know exactly what you mean about social media, however I quite like to listen to podcasts whilst having my daily stroll to get a bit of exercise. The 'We have ways' podcast does seem to have more adverts at the moment, however I am prepared to tolerate this as it is free.