Book Reviews

[Mr Grumpy]

I (and doubtless many others) are really looking forward to the Book Review posts.
I have an extensive library of WWII books and the best of them is
"18 Platoon" by Sydney Jary. It is so good that numbers of copies were held in the Military College of Australia until quite recently.
It tells in real detail of the experiences of a young 1st Lieutenant in charge of No.18 Platoon in the 4th battalion of the Somerset Light Infantry which was part of the 43rd Wessex Division which was under the command of "Butcher" Thomas. As one of Thomas" men said " We weren't sure whether he was butchering the Germans or us."
It won't be easy to get but it is so real in depicting what it was like to find out how to lead a platoon. Jary found that most of the training was not applicable at the sharp end. He recalls that a florid, moustached major in a reinforcement camp near Bayeux told them
" Gentlemen, your life expectancy from the day you join your battalion will be precisely three weeks."

It was published in 1987 and 1988 by Sydney Jary Limited 28 Southway Casharlton Beeches Surrey SM5 4HW England
The ISBN number is 0-951 2078-0-6

Well i hope you will add some book reviews when the site goes live! :)