{"product_id":"flame-thrower-memoir-of-a-crocodile-tank-commander-d-day-to-the-rhine-9798358913462","title":"Flame Thrower: Memoir of a Crocodile Tank Commander, D-Day to the Rhine","description":"\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e'One of the most vivid battle stories of the Second World War' \u003ci\u003eSIR BASIL LIDDELL HART\u003c\/i\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe only memoir by a Churchill Crocodile tank commander.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThis Spitfire Publishers 2022 edition features a new introduction by the author.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNormandy, June 1944. Tank commander Andrew Wilson, a twenty-year-old lieutenant, is in charge of a troop of three British Churchill Crocodile flame-throwing tanks. The fearsome Crocodile was one of 'Hobart's Funnies' - top secret armoured vehicles designed to punch a hole through Hitler's Atlantic Wall defences during D-Day. But there was nothing remotely humorous about the Crocodile. This terror-weapon reduced German fortifications to raging infernos of clinging liquid fire in seconds, incinerating its occupants. It was truly a horrific weapon. The flame projector, firing a crude form of napalm, was also a powerful psychological weapon, so feared by the Germans that many surrendered after the first ranging shots.\u003cbr\u003e Andrew Wilson, MC, vividly describes battling across 1,800 miles of enemy-held territory, the vicious street-to-street fighting, the constant risk of ambush from anti-tank \u003ci\u003epanzerfausts\u003c\/i\u003e and 88s, Tiger and Panther tanks. From Noyers Ridge and the Falaise Gap through to the final confrontation at the Rhine, here is a first-hand account of tank warfare at its deadliest. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eABOUT THE AUTHOR \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAndrew Wilson, MC, was an English journalist and writer whose career spanned the \u003ci\u003eDaily Express\u003c\/i\u003e, the \u003ci\u003eBBC World Service\u003c\/i\u003e to his long-term home at \u003ci\u003eThe Observer\u003c\/i\u003e. Born in Herne Bay, Kent he volunteered on his 18th birthday and served in the Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment) becoming a captain commanding a troop of Churchill Crocodile flame-throwing tanks from D-Day through France, Holland and into Germany. After the war he read PPE at Oxford University and embarked on his almost 40-year journalism career. He wrote several books including his first-hand account of his experiences as a tank commander, \u003ci\u003eFlame Thrower\u003c\/i\u003e, and as co-translator of Helmut Pabst's Eastern Front memoir, \u003ci\u003eThe Outermost Frontier: A German Soldier in the Russian Campaign\u003c\/i\u003e ('A masterpiece' \u003ci\u003eThe Observer\u003c\/i\u003e). He was awarded a PhD in military history from the Catholic University of Leuven in 2009. He died in 2020 aged 97.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Independently Published","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51346221465874,"sku":"9798358913462","price":15.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_d8682197-87a8-412d-adde-084949212579.jpg?v=1749036574","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/flame-thrower-memoir-of-a-crocodile-tank-commander-d-day-to-the-rhine-9798358913462","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}