D-Day To Arnhem with the Hertfordshire Gunners A Personal Account

 

There are many books about D-Day and the subsequent defeat of the German Army in Normandy between June and August 1944, but not many have been written by those who took part in the fighting on the ground. Furthermore, most of the films and documentaries made have been with the large American market in mind. This account, drawn from the diaries and memories of the author and others in the Hertfordshire Yeomanry 86th Field Regiment RA, provides a vivid picture of their basic training, preparations for D-Day, the landing itself, the fierce battles in the Normandy bocage country until the August breakthrough, and the rapid advance to Antwerp, where the author was wounded and evacuated in early September. A brief postscript carries the Regiment on to its disbandment in April 1946. The 86th Field Regiment RA was the first British regiment to be self-propelled, becoming in effect gunners on tanks. During 1943 and 1944 the Regiment pioneered the concept of artillery support in an opposed landing. They worked out and wrote a scenario for others, and together put it into effect on D-Day with conspicuous success. Major Kiln reminds us that the Normandy campaign was primarily a British success, with by far the largest share of fighting against the German armour carried out by the British, Canadians and Poles under the command of General Montgomery. It was therefore the last time that the British Army earned the major honours in a battle of world importance.

 

Major Robert Kiln

Hardcover 228pp

Book Code:  EX1643