Tank Commander: From the Fall of France to the Defeat of Germany - The Memoirs of Bill Close

by Bill Close

Overview

Bill Close had a remarkable war. In campaign after campaign, from the defense of Calais in 1940 to the defeat of Germany in 1945, he served as a tank commander in the Royal Tank Regiment - and he survived. His tanks were hit eleven times by enemy shellfire and he bailed out. He was wounded three times. He finished the war as one of the most experienced and resourceful of British tank commanders, and in later life he set down his wartime experiences in graphic detail.

His book is not only an extraordinary memoir - it is also a compelling account of the exploits of the Royal Tank Regiment throughout the conflict. As a record of the day-to-day experience of the tank crew of seventy years ago - of the conditions they faced and the battles they fought - it has rarely been equaled.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781526766694
Publisher:	Pen and Sword
Publication date:	12/28/2021
Pages:	176
Sales rank:	654,141
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.20(h) x (d)

About the Author

Major Bill Close joined the Royal Tank Regiment as a trooper in 1933 and was posted to the 3rd Battalion RTR in 1934 where he held every non-commissioned rank up to regimental quartermaster sergeant before being commissioned in the field in 1942. He served in France in 1940, in Greece in 1941, in North Africa in 1941-3, and in France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany in 1944-5. After retiring from the army he was assistant bursar at Bryanston School and a manager at the electrical engineering firm Racal Redac. He married twice, had three sons and a daughter, and he died, aged 91, in 2006.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements vii

Foreword Brigadier Christopher Dunphie viii

Abbreviations x

Introduction: Paderborn: A Time for Reflection 1

1 1933: A Call to Arms 12

2 Fordingbridge: A Time for Counting 15

3 Calais: A Token Stand 24

4 A Greek Interlude, Part I 34

5 A Greek Interlude, Part II 42

6 A Time for Reorganisation 53

7 Operation Crusader 61

8 Sidi Rezegh: What a Shambles! 68

9 Back to the Delta 74

10 The Gazala Battle 78

11 The Alamein Battle: Early Problems 87

12 Mareth: The Left Hook 92

13 Enfidaville: The End of the Desert Campaign 99

14 Homeward Bound 104

15 Operation Epsom: The Battle for Hill 112 108

16 Operation Goodwood, Part I 113

17 Operation Goodwood, Part II 127

18 Back to the Bocage: Operation Bluecoat 132

19 A Continental Tour: Amiens 137

20 On to Antwerp 142

21 The Drive to the Baltic 150

Epilogue 161

A Wearing of the Green 163