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.
Brilliant. A really important source for the study of British war-making during the Second World War. It is also a tremendously observant account from the perspective of a brave and resolute army officer. -- Professor Jeremy Black There are many published diaries of British army officers in the Second World War, but Stanley Christopherson's is one of the best I have read. He gives a detailed picture of life as a tank officer in the Desert and Normandy, and pulls no punches. This is an outstanding contribution to the literature of the Second World War. -- Professor Gary Sheffield The Sherwood Rangers was one of the outstanding armoured regiments of the Second World War and Stanley Christopherson's diary, taking us through the desert war and the whole of Northwest Europe from Normandy to the end is a rare and valuable account. -- Antony Beevor 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 *