Just Finished Reading: The Killing Ground by Elleston Trevor (FP: 1956) [266pp] 

5th June 1944. Even as the landing craft waited for the bombardment to start some aboard still thought that the invasion was about to be called off. The sea was still rough from the recent passing storm and the sound of vomiting from the tank crews (to say nothing of the smell) was everywhere. Then, at the appointed time, all hell was let loose on the Atlantic Wall. The order was given as the landing crafts engines fired up – Man your tanks!  

Arriving on the beach not long after the ‘funnies’ had done their work of mine clearing and much else besides, the tank troop was immediately called to assist the infantry in suppression of accurate fire coming from the surviving machine-gun emplacements. Battle had begun and the Mk IV and Mk V Cromwell’s would be in the thick of things until the beach was secure and they could begin to move inland to their day's objectives.  

Yet again, this book has been on my shelves for DECADES unread. After reading another of his novels recently – based around and RAF station during the Battle of Britain (the author was a Flight Engineer during the war) – I thought it was high time to see how he managed armoured warfare. The answer: very well indeed. One of the things that I noticed immediately (as with his RAF novel) was the realism of the dialogue. Having spoken to a number of serving military over the years the conversations, both in combat and in the more peaceful pauses just sounded REAL which added to the immersion I felt reading this often-gripping book. As I’ve said on multiple occasions I do like good characterisation and people who you can relate to and root for in a novel. There’s nothing worse, I feel, than a book, even a well-written book, where you either don’t care about the characters or even actively dislike them. That was not the case here. There is, naturally, a downside to this. Especially in a war novel there’s going to be cases of death and injury to characters you like. Random death is definitely a thing! So, my advice is not to get TOO attached to anyone in this book. There's certainly quite the range of characters here: some are barely holding it together after years of fighting, some are just doing a job and doing it well, others are determined to disappear on the next home leave and never look back and some will find that combat will be the making of them once they move beyond the influence of their father... 

Taking place between the D-Day landings themselves and the Battle of the Falaise pocket, this is an excellent insight, albeit fictionalised, into armoured combat of the period. In many senses being behind a few inches of armour whilst being shot at is the place to be – except that as a valuable and dangerous asset on the field that tank is going to be a significant target to take out and the Axis have the fabled Flak-88 that can one-shot you! It's difficult to imagine the tension (and the smell to be honest!) inside that armoured hide. Definitely recommended for anyone interested in WW2 military fiction if you can source a copy.