by
FIELD MARSHAL THE LORD INGE, GCB, DL
Chief of the Defence Staff 1994–1997 Colonel The Green Howards, 1982–1994
This is an excellent little book with some powerful messages. It is certainly more than merely a very good battlefield guide. I hope that it will be read by a much wider audience than just those with an interest in military history in general and the Normandy Invasion of June 1944 in particular.
I was fortunate enough to attend several Staff College Battlefield Tours which formed such an important part in the Staff College’s programme. I learnt something of importance every year. The tours, as the authors have made clear, were not designed to deal with military strategy or tactics, but rather to bring out some of the realities of war at the sharp end. The success of the tours was due to the wonderful team of ‘guest artists’, many of whose stories are told here. This book will be a small but permanent recognition of the debt which I and many thousands of Army Staff College students owe to this special group of men, who told their stories with great modesty and humility, but with an epic quality.
There are many lessons to be learnt from the stories told, but there are two which to me stand out above all others. First, as the authors have said, ‘the actions of one man who imposes himself on the situation can spell the difference between success and failure’. Second is the critical importance of firm, robust leadership, without which no campaign can ever be won. I only hope that in this era of instant media analysis, political correctness and litigation which seems to follow in its wake, we are not in danger of breeding bureaucratic managers rather than commanders prepared to take risks.
On a personal basis, this book gives me enormous pleasure on two accounts. The first is because my Regiment played such a key part in the Normandy campaign with Company Sergeant Major Stanley Hollis winning the only VC awarded on D-Day. Secondly because in Chapter 7, dealing with Villers-Bocage, it tells the story of the 1st/7th Queens, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Desmond Gordon, a Green Howard who later became a Major-General and Colonel of my Regiment. As a very junior officer I was fortunate enough to be his ADC. There is no-one to whom I owe a greater debt. He was a wonderful mentor to me from the time I was an Officer Cadet at RMA Sandhurst until I retired.
The authors praise, in Chapter 3, the Green Howards’ newly erected War Memorial at Crépon. I believe that the sculptor, James Butler, has managed quite brilliantly to sculpt a soldier who, at the end of D-Day, is reflecting: ‘It has been quite a day. I have lost many of my friends and a lot of action lies ahead of me’. This memorial would not have been possible without the initiative of Mr Ian Homersham and the great personal generosity of Sir Ernest Harrison, who in addition bought CSM Hollis’ VC and gave it to the Regiment. As Sir Ernest said, ‘That is where I and my family believe it belongs’.
Finally, I would like to congratulate Christopher Dunphie and Garry Johnson on producing this splendid book. I commend it to all young Army officers - and Ministers of Defence!
June 1999
Richmond,
North Yorkshire.