In 1939 Dick Gorle was already a professional soldier but stationed in India. After the Dunkirk disaster he was recalled and initially involved in training recruits at Plymouth before going north to form the Highland Division Gunners. We hear of the journey to Egypt and thereafter it is intense action at El Alamein under Monty and the long grueling advance to Tripoli. The invasion of Sicily followed and Gorle describes the horrors of war in the mountains and towns while the locals appeared almost oblivious to the momentous events unfolding around them. Called back to attend Staff College, Gorle rejoined the fray in North West Europe as his Regiment, part of the Lowland Division, received thanks and welcome from those liberated, and fierce and deadly resistance from the retreating Germans. His memoir sums up the elation of victory, the closeness of comradeship and the desperate sadness of losses. SELLING POINTS: ? A delightfully fresh well-written account of war at the sharp end of North Africa, Sicily and North West Europe ? As well as the author's own small world, he perceptively analyses the wider war situation ? A memoir of underrated competence in the face of constantly harrowing, dangerous and unexpected events. ILLUSTRATIONS: 16 pp monoplates
