while in Normandy the Sherwood Rangers came up against a considerable amount of defence as they advanced south with many of the Germans best tanks being brought into the region. I particularly enjoyed the one encounter they had early when a lone Tiger tank entered a village they had just captured Holland describes very well the Terror the men felt coming across that monster of a tank for the first time.

The Battle of Britain: Five Months That Changed History, May - October, 1940. London: Bantam Press. ISBN 978-0552156103.

War as it should be described - ordinary men facing extraordinary horror. Caught in the drama of battle, we sometimes forget the good men who died. Holland, to his credit, forces us to remember The Times BOOK OF THE WEEK This is narrative history as intimate, intricate tapestry . . . Mr. Holland’s success is built in part on an engaging writing style and in part on a genuinely fresh approach to events that have been so often—and apparently definitively—recounted . . . Exceptional . . . Epic.” — Wall Street Journal on The Rise of Germany Does not disappoint... Holland takes us down to the individual's experience' Times Literary Supplement Pritzker Military Presents – Episode: 'The War in the West: The Rise of Germany, 1939 – 1941 (PBS, 2015) In fact, the book reveals that other Sherman crews were also successful against German tanks. In truth, though, as Holland explains, most tank warfare in north-west Europe did not take the form of duels between tanks. Usually it was a case of ambush or be ambushed.

November 2018). The Eastern Front 1941–1943. illus. Keith Burns. London: Penguin. ISBN 978-0-7181-8651-7. Holland, James (1 June 2017). The Battle of Britain. illus. Keith Burns. London: Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-7181-8629-6. In August 2014, he was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to The Guardian expressing their hope that Scotland would vote to remain part of the United Kingdom in September's referendum on that issue. [33]

Inspired by Stephen Ambrose’s Band of Brothers, acclaimed WWII historian James Holland memorably profiles an extraordinary group of citizen soldiers constantly in harm’s way. The American-made Sherman tanks the Rangers fought in were as deadly as the shells they fired; their casualties were horrific, but their ranks immediately refilled. Informed by never-before-seen documents, letters, photographs, and other artifacts from Rangers’ families—an ongoing fraternity—and by his own deep knowledge of the war and personal experience driving a Sherman tank, Holland offers a uniquely intimate portrait of the war at ground level, introducing heretofore unknowns such as Commander Stanley Christopherson, squadron leader John Semken, and Sergeant George Dring. He weaves the Rangers’ exploits into the larger narrative and strategy of the war, and also brings to life the German forces against whom the Rangers struggled. Burma '44: The Battle That Turned Britain's War in the East. London: Bantam Press. ISBN 978-0593075852. In 2019 Holland appeared in the two-part BBC documentary series Lost home movies of Nazi Germany, where he was recorded reacting to personal footage captured in Germany and its occupied territories shortly before and during the Second World War. [29] Personal life [ edit ] The eyewitness accounts really 'take you there'. You feel the fear, see the tension, experience the grief when a tank brews up. Some of it is really gruesome to read, but war is no fun. War is dirty, miserable, cruel. The winter of '44-'45 saw the NW European theater experience some of the worst, wettest and coldest weather in years. All this is portrayed really well. Wollaston, Sam (9 November 2013). "Cold War, Hot Jets – TV review". Guardian . Retrieved 23 May 2019.

Holland appeared as one of the team of experts investigating the theory that Adolf Hitler could have survived World War II and escaped to South America, in the History Channel series Hunting Hitler (2015–2018). [27] He said of it: "I was certainly interested in learning more about how Nazis escaped, but was very careful never to mention on film that I thought either Hitler or Bormann escaped. Because they didn't." [28] Perkins, Roger (13 July 2008). "The Odin Mission: taking the King's shilling". Telegraph . Retrieved 22 May 2019. History Hit Podcast Network: James Holland on Imphal and Kohima". soundcloud. 31 January 2018 . Retrieved 23 May 2019. Holland was born in Salisbury, Wiltshire. [1] He was educated at Chafyn Grove School, Salisbury, and King's School, Bruton, and in 1992 attained a BA degree in history from St Chad's College, Durham. [2] His elder brother Tom Holland is a writer and historian. Holland clearly put a lot of effort into this book and I appreciate the fact he took the time to meet up with many of the descendants of the Regiment like Stanley Christopherson's son David who the book is dedicated to. he adds many first-hand accounts, letters and aerial recognisance photos which go along way toward putting their journey into perspective. the focus was put more on the individual soldier's experiences than the overall strategic outlook of the war, which made me empathise more with the soldiers and compounded my admiration for the bravery many of them showed throughout their dangerous journey.

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There is JUST TOO MUCH INTERSTITAL DETAIL in this book. I've no doubt it took the author painstaking years to pull all that stuff together? But that shite does not matter in the bigger picture of the story ! I EXPECTED ! this book was going to tell me? Prewar, the Sherwood Rangers had been a Territorial Army unit of part-time “Saturday Night Soldiers,” the British equivalent of the National Guard. But as Holland makes clear in this engrossing book, the Rangers evolved into a highly effective instrument of combat. Originally horse-mounted cavalry, the regiment converted to tanks and learned the hard way how to fight in the desert; it suffered badly at the Battle of El Alamein in 1942 but emerged as a tough and tested unit. Its 1944-45 campaign, which began on Normandy’s beaches and ended deep inside Germany, was bloody, but successful. With the invasion of France the following year taking shape, and hot on the heels of victory in Sicily, the Allies crossed into Southern Italy in September 1943. They expected to drive the Axis forces north and be in Rome by Christmas. And although Italy surrendered, the German forces resisted fiercely and the swift hoped-for victory descended into one of the most brutal battles of the war. From the bestselling author of Normandy '44 and Sicily '43 comes an extraordinary account of the last year of the Second World War