Product Description

Troop Leader is a unique account of one man's experience of the battle for Europe in 1944 and 1945. Bill Bellamy was a young officer in the 8th King's Royal Irish Hussars from 1943 to 1955. He served in 7th Armoured Division in the North West Europe campaign, landing in Normandy on D+3, fought throughout the Battle for Normandy and into the Low Countries as a troop leader in Cromwell tanks, and was latterly a member of the initial occupying force in Berlin in May 1945. Against the rules, Bill kept diaries and notes of his experiences. His account is fresh and open, and his descriptions of battle are vivid. He witnessed many of his contemporaries killed in action, and this life-altering experience clearly informs his narrative. The accounts of tank fighting in the leafy Normandy bocage in the height of summer, or in the iron hard fields of Holland in winter, are graphic and compelling.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #357609 in Books
• Published on: 2005-02-17
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 224 pages

About the Author
Bill Bellamy was a regular officer with the 8th King's Royal Irish Hussars from 1943 until 1955, when he was forced to take early retirement on health grounds. He then purued a successful career in industry and was Managing Director of a number of companies. Now retired, he remains busy in a wide range of different activities. He lives in Northamptonshire and this is his first book.

Customer Reviews

Quietly Superb.
One thing I've found in the years I've been studying military history, and in particular World War Two, is that quite often, the very best accounts of life in war which one can hope to find is from those who are not considered heavyweights in this field of expertise.

The weighty tomes which the likes of Holmes, Beevor, and Keegan are wont to turn out are often towering works of collections of individual snapshots of combat collected into a collage of personal experiences which will often leave the reader shocked, appalled, enthralled, or inspired, but rarely all together; Rarely do these books, for me at least, encourage much empathy with the men and women whose experiences they describe; their desire to encompass as much as they can often leaves one cold.

Troop Leader, by dealing with one man's experiences alone, certainly help provide the 'personal' account of war which is so often lacking in the aforementioned styles of authoring. The book rarely deals with combat per se, but concentrates on the minutae of life with an armoured division; the trivia, the boredom, the randomly violent nature of warfare, and very occasionally the gruesomeness of events unfolding around him. Interspersed with humour, narrow escapes, and 'in hindsight' observations, Troop Leader is most certainly a great read, so much so that I read it in 24 hours.

If it lacks anything it is actually that the story stops too early. Bill Bellamy served on past the end of hostilies, and it would have really finished the story off if we could have been treated to his wry observations on the Challenger and Centurion tanks.

The only other point to mention for those seeking to learn about the visceral terror of combat (which in no way is to detract from Bellamy's efforts) is that as a Cromwell commander late in the war, don't expect much in the way of actual combat - Cromwells were predominantly armoured recce and were not often to be found 'in the thick of it' - tank-on-tank combat is limited to some 'SP Guns' (Sturmgeschutz by the sounds of it) and possibly a Panzer IV.

Recommended for those interested in the more day-to-day elements of armoured campaigning.

Troop Leader
Well written, thoughtful, and readable, - and without bravado. This is (with Stuart Hill`s memoir) one of the better accounts of a young officer`s experience in the NW European 1944 to 1945. I particularly like Bellamy`s description of the occasion when he "ticked off" both his commanding officer (Col Cuthy Goulburn, 8 Hussars) and his brigadier (Brigadier Loonie Hinde 22 Amd Bd) for giving away the position of his camouflaged tank by walking up to it.

He got away with it -both men had a sense of humour, and were quite un-pompous. Also, of course, Bellamy was right. But, he was told by his adjutant "not to do it again!"

Recommended

Andrew Sanders

Quiet reality
This book does not tell of mighty clashes of armour or glamorous dashes across France.It deals with the day to day business of tank men. Sometimes seemingly uneventful days,until the death of a friend is mentioned. Imagine fixing the tracks on a tank in the pouring rain,in the mud and then having to just get back in covered in mud and carry on as usual. If you are interested in tank warfare read this book. It may not 'wow' you, but it will make you think about what men like this quietly endured.