Robert "Jock" Watt served in 3 RTR throughout the Second World War. A prewar regular enlisted man, he became RSM and later was commissioned. Watt saw action in France, Greece, the Western Desert and Europe. He writes in a clear, non-flowery style and doesn't pull punches. If you're looking for indepth descriptions of battles this isn't the book for you. If you're looking for how it was to live as a tank crewman during the period of the war when the UK was dealing with setback after setback and how it felt when things began to turn then this is the book for you. I found it filled with little tidbits of information that are glossed over in more academic histories but help flesh out the story and the history. All in all I'd recommend this book for anyone with an interest in Commonwealth armour in WW2. And now I'll share some of the bits of information I picked up from this book that interested me: Page 67. Watt describes his first impressions of the "Honey" tank: Watt compares this unfavourably to the hydraulic rotation of British tanks. Page 82: He notes the following effect of inhaling cordite fumes inside the confines of a tank : On the feared 88 [p 98]: He describes how rear echelon troops navigated in the desert by chalking rudimentary sun compasses on the bonnets of their vehicles. And he provides another insight into the challenges the pursuit from El Alamein faced. On page 137 at the beginning of the chapter titled "The Chase is On", he notes the regiment was going to be carried by tank transporters, which he thought would mean quicker and easier travel. However he was soon disabused of this idea: All in all the journey was rougher and longer than might have been expected with transported tanks.
Orwell 1984 Many thanks for letting us know about the Honey in it's original role. As someone who was to go into action in the later, turret-less version, I just had to be interested. The only comment I can make is that there were times when the lack of a turret and the consequence of being completely exposed to enemy fire made one a little envious of the earlier users I've stopped buying "paper" books so I did a search on Amazon to see if they offered the book in a Kindle version but no luck there, I'm afraid. Best regards Ron
I think I might have had him confused in my head with Bill Close, but both of them started in the tanks and were commissioned? Also from Delaforce's book, Watt was possibly the youngest RSM upon promotion to that rank.
Just had a look on Amazon & saw there are 4 paper books for sale ranging in price from 30 quid to £105.75 plus 2.80 p&p
Abebooks is a far better source for used books. At least there is one reasonably priced copy there now.
You can find it a lot cheaper on Amazon US, it has free S+H, and the thing ships from the UK (Scotland, to be more precise). Dealer is Book Donors UK; here´s the link: Amazon.com: Buying Choices: A Tankie's Travels
Every time you do a internet search on an out of print book title you increase the price for the book.
