TANK TRACKS: 9th BATTALION ROYAL TANK REGIMENT AT WAR 1940-45.

UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn thus.[First and originally published in 1995 by Alan Sutton Publishing Limited,an imprint of Sutton Publishing Limited.This edn published 1997 by Budding Books,an imprint of Sutton Publishing Limited.] FINE/FINE.No owner inscrptn (unsure as to front free endpaper removed?) and no price-clip to dw/dj.Bright,crisp, clean,glossy,contemporary monochrome photographic illustrated dw/dj with red+b/w lettering to front; with negligible shelf-wear or creasing to edges and corners - no nicks or tears present.Top+fore-edges bright and clean; contents bright,tight,clean,solid and sound - pristine - no dog-ear reading creases to any pages' corners,appears unread - apart from my own collation.Bright,crisp,clean,sharp-cornered, publisher's original glazed boards with dw/dj design/illustration repeated to same,white printed letters to spine/backstrip,and immaculate plain white endpapers.UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn,v-xivpp+ 1-238pp [paginated] includes contents list/table,acknowledgements, Overtures I+II,11 chapters and Envoi,illus with b/w operations maps+ diagrams and contemporary b/w photographs throughout,appendices (I-III),a glossary,a bibliography and index; plus [unpaginated] half-title+ title pages.
From shortly after D-Day on 6 June 1944 up until the end of the war in Europe on 8 May 1945,the men and Churchill tanks of the 9th Battalion Royal Tank Regiment saw plenty of combat.After crossing the English Channel in th ferocious storm of 18-20 June 1944,the 9th formed up for their first action in support of the 15th (Scottish) Infantry Division in Operation 'Epsom'.
More battles swiftly followed in which the battalion repelled the weight of several German armoured divisions.They fought alongside the Canadians on the way to Falaise,helped the 49th Division to force crossings of five rivers on the way to the Seine, and fought again alongside the 49th in the capture of Le Havre.
Moving up to Holland,the 9th helped to enlarge the Arnhem salient in September and then spent several days in heavy fighting which ended with the capture of Roosendaal by the Allies.Advancing into Germany at the end of 1944,they were suddenly called upon to help repulse the German counter-offensive in the Ardennes.Successful in their task,the 9th returned in February to spend weeks fighting their way through the Reichswald Forest on the borders of Germany,then across the Rhine and finally into the Fatherland itself before the war ended in May.
'Tank Tracks' makes extensive use of the (the Battalion's War Diary, interwoven with letters,personal recollections and the author's own narrative.It describes the formation of a heavy tank battalion in the UK in 1940,its exhaustive training for operations,and then its subsequent deployment for action in North West Europe following D-Day in 1944.
Complemented by more than forty rare photographs and a selection of specially drawn maps,'Tank Tracks' graphically reveals to the reader just what it was like to live and fight as a member of a British heavy tank battalion during the Second World War.
The author himself,is name checked in his and the book's narrative. He served with the battalion from early 1943 to July 1945 as a troop leader in a sabre squadron.He was wounded twice during the North West Europe campaign.
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