Hill 112

The author made this book a joy. The book is so well written that it really did feel I could have been there. The tone is gentle and it is very much as if I was having my hand held and walked through the sussex coast, the Normandy fields and ultimately hill 112. The key players are well rounded and the every day items that we see through their eyes make the story all the more powerful, be it the vomit flecks on trousers, the churned up earth or the charred and violated shells of men left behind. The camaraderie is shown in all its power and the ending is both beautiful shown through delicate embroidery and heart wrenching with the gore of a shell explosion. An absolute must read.

Great read of the battle in Normandy in the days after the Normandy landings.
seen through the eyes of three school friends it follows the action to take Hill 112 one of the minor hills across the battlefront as each side in turns assaults retreats and then re-takes it again. Reminded me of the book 'Warrior for the Working day' that I read many years ago by Peter Elstob which followed a tank crew from D Day to the end of the way.
This book follows a Tank crew and Two infantry sections during the first 30 or so days from D Day.
Brings home the sheer stress ordinary men who did extraordinary things for hours on end under extreme stress.

The preparations and then the first 30 days following D Day as seen through the eyes of three school friends. Now fighting in both infantry and a tank crew and of different ranks this story tells of the struggles, the suffering and the horror of warfare as the Allied forces attempt to first land on the Normandy beaches and then start to fight their way inland.
An extremely good read.
My thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC in exchange for an unbiased and honest review.

D-Day - 6 June 1944 - was the largest amphibious invasion in the history of warfare. The statistics of D-Day, codenamed Operation Overlord, are staggering. The Allies used over 5,000 ships and landing craft to land more than 150,000 troops on five beaches in Normandy. The landings marked the start of a long and costly campaign in north west Europe, which ultimately convinced the German high command that defeat was inevitable.

One can only imagine the horror that awaited the allied forces, with some soldiers shot exiting landing craft. Others were drowned in the waters of the Bay of the Seine, weighted down by their equipment. On the beach, the soldiers crossed open sand with ridges and water filled troughs, exposed to gunfire. They also had to maneuver around man-made seawalls covered in razor wire.
After years of planning, it was D-Day - the allied invasion had begun.

In the three months after the landings, the Allies who had survived were tasked with launching a series of additional offensives to try and advance further inland. Not all of these ops were successful as they faced strong and determined German resistance.

This then is the backdrop for our fictional story of three protagonists - former school mates from South Wales - one in an armoured regiment and two in an infantry battalion.

James was the school cricket captain. Now, a few short years later, he is in charge of a troop of Sherman tanks.

Mark, just nineteen, must lead a platoon of infantrymen into battle.

And Bill, always something of a loner, sees the heart of the fighting as a private soldier.

Not much more than boys really, but will these lads survive to manhood? Sadly, one thing’s for certain, in the normally beautiful and peaceful landscape of Normandy, they face the most unimaginable horrors as combatants of one of the bloodiest and most brutal parts of the Normandy campaign, sometimes for very small territorial gains. Every field, every ravaged wood and orchard, every little house of every little village had to be fought for, then fought for again as the inevitable counter attacks came in.

Though fictional, ‘Hill 112’ is based on real events and records, and reminiscences of those who were there, and is published to coincide with the 80th anniversary of D-Day.

It gives an accurate, albeit terrifying insight, into how it really felt to be part of that campaign, gets right inside hearts and minds, and the effect that it had, both physically and mentally on those involved. Despite the horrors, the banter and camaraderie are evident and provide something of a release from all the madness and mayhem, albeit momentarily, for our protagonists. Unsurprisingly, there were times when no one was in the mood for talking at all, their minds quietly trying to process the horrors that they were experiencing.
A stupendous read, that follows three characters, placed at the heart of one of the biggest battles in history. Simply Superb!