An Englishman at War: The Wartime Diaries of Stanley Christopherson DSO MC & Bar 1939-1945

An Englishman at War: The Wartime Diaries of Stanley Christopherson DSO MC & Bar 1939-1945

Summary

‘An astonishing record...There is no other wartime diary that can match the scope of these diaries’ James Holland

An outstanding contribution to the literature of the Second World War’Professor Gary Sheffield

From the outbreak of war in September 1939 to the smouldering ruins of Berlin in 1945, via Tobruk, El Alamein, D-Day and the crossing of the Rhine, An Englishman at War is a unique first-person account of the Second World War.
Stanley Christopherson’s regiment, the Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry, went to war as amateurs and ended up one of the most experienced, highly trained and most valued armoured units in the British Army.

A junior officer at the beginning of the war, Christopherson became the commanding officer of the regiment soon after the D-Day landings. What he and his regiment witnessed presents a unique overview of one of the most cataclysmic events in world history and gives an extraordinary insight, through tragedy and triumph, into what it felt like to be part of the push for victory.

Reviews

  • An astonishing record...There is no other wartime diary that can match the scope of these diaries, that can demonstrate the range of command within a British regiment, or that touches on so many of the key engagements of the British Army during the Second World War. Quite simply, there is nothing like it, and the opportunity to publish a complete narrative of the war, such as these diaries represent, will almost certainly never arise again.
    James Holland

About the author

Stanley Christopherson

Stanley Christopherson was born in 1912 and trained to be a lawyer before joining the Sherwood Rangers in the autumn of 1939. Apart from two weeks in hospital, he experienced the Second World War on the Western Front in its entirety and watched as the very nature of war changed and evolved. IN the North African campaign, he engaged in the Battles of Alam Halfa and El Alamein and the fall of Tunis. On D-Day he landed on the Gold Beach, before moving across France and Belgium and onto Holland where his regiment endured the terrible fighting in the aftermath of Operation Market Garden.

James Holland was born in Salisbury, Wiltshire, and studied history at Durham University. His books include Fortress Malta, Italy's Sorrow, The Battle of Britain and most recently, Dam Busters. He has also made acclaimed television programmes on the Battle of Britain and the Dambusters raid for BBC2, and is Co-Chair of the Chalke Valley History Festival.
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