Brothers in Arms

One Legendary Tank Regiment’s Bloody War from D-Day to VE-Day

De: James Holland

Narrado por: Al Murray

The renowned historian and author of Normandy ’44 recounts the operations and personal experiences of the legendary Sherwood Rangers during WWII.

One of the last cavalry units to ride horses into battle, the Sherwood Rangers were transformed into a “mechanized cavalry” of tanks in 1942. After winning acclaim in the North African campaign, they spearheaded one of the D-Day landings in Normandy and became the first British troops to cross into Germany. Their courage, skill, and tenacity contributed mightily to the surrender of Germany in 1945.

Inspired by Stephen Ambrose’s Band of Brothers, historian James Holland profiles this extraordinary group of citizen soldiers. Informed by never-before-seen documents, letters, photographs, and other artifacts from Sherwood Rangers’ families, Holland offers a uniquely intimate portrait of the war at ground level.

Brothers in Arms introduces heroes such as Commanding Officer Stanley Christopherson, squadron commander John Semken, Sergeant George Dring, and others who helped their regiment earn the most battle honors of any in British army history. Weaving their exploits into the larger narrative of D-Day to V-E Day, Holland offers fresh analysis and perspective on the endgame of WWII in Europe.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2021 Griffon Merlin Ltd. Recorded by arrangement with Atlantic Monthly Press, an imprint of Grove Atlantic, Inc. (P)2021 Penguin Audio

Just Incredible

Loved the incredible detail provided by the author. The tension, smells, sounds, and fear of being crammed into a steel can trying to hunt while being hunted.

From a “Yank”

Great historical documentary. As an American, I’ve found we do little venturing outside of U.S. accomplishments. I’m very moved by the story of so many Brave men whose stories generally go untold on this side of the pond.

All the details

Starts out slow in the sense that I was worried he would just be giving in personal and general descriptions of campaigns. But once they head to Normandy, it gets engrossing very quickly for those interested in military histories. He covers details from personal equipment and the relative merits of tanks, to the impact of the continuous stress on the emotions of the participants, to super interesting anecdotes about encounters with German prisoners. I loved the clipped style of writing for some of the battle sequences. It really gives you a picture of the moment by moment experience of fighting in Europe. And the narrator was really great. Perfect pacing.

GOLD STANDARD

This is how all history audiobooks should be produced. Excellent writing brought to life by a narrator who knows the material and is passionate about it supported by fabulous maps. Can’t wait for the next one! ACE!

Strongly competent telling

The amount of death these men has to endure is unimaginable, these become almost matter of fact in the book.

Al Murray is a decent narrator with a well known and obvious love of the material, his superb pronunciation of French and German villages is a thing of rare beauty

Great story!

A wonderful tribute to one of Britain’s finest armored divisions. A harrowing story that weaves the lives of the officers and men together as they faced the uncertainty of vigorous combat in Ww2. Was a bit hard to follow the details but nonetheless a well written account.

Awesome story and what the track crews went thru

The narrator should’ve not hit the speed, he spoke faster than anyone I’ve ever heard. Lost me sometimes go to the speed. Great book otherwise

Biased and gives a false narrative

The book is entertaining in its description if the action and characters, but is completely disappointing. The author foolishly takes the greatest single tank encounter in history and minimizes it down to a couple of sentences. What Michael Wittman did at Villers Broucage was remarkable. Regardless of which side he fought for, Wittman single handed annihilated a column of enemy armor and troop transports, then went into the town and destroyed at least 3 more tanks while his tank was knocked out. He kept fighting then climbed out and walked back to his line with his crew. The author's bias is ridiculous.

Superb

So grateful for James Holland’s heart as well as his narrative skill. Perfectly performed by Al Murray, could have picked no one better. God bless the memory of the Sherwood Rangers. Barry L, MN

Heartbreaking

Sometimes it was hard to follow names of enlisted men just because of the casual disposal this war took on their soul. I found myself feeling lucky to not endure this myself and even further that my grandpa even made it back to make a family. James Holland is an engaging writer (I found this book from a youtube channel he plugged it on) and it's a story I wasn't familiar with, considering my heavily American centric upbringing. The narration was great and easy to follow in spite of any accent. I had a few words to look up or ask my British friends for help with but given the context I kept up OK.