James Holland on The Sherwood Rangers: Legendary Tank Regiment

Dan Snow's History Hit

History Hit

History

4.7 • 12.9K Ratings

🗓️ 2 October 2021

⏱️ 39 minutes

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Summary

Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry was one of the best tank regiments of the Second World War and was at the speartip of the British Army from the North Africa campaign to Northern Europe right up to the fall of the Third Reich in 1945. They saw an incredible amount of action as one of the first British units ashore on D-Day and were also the first British unit to fight on German soil in 1944. The regiment's story is also one of remarkable transformation reflecting the rapidly changing face of war. They started the war as a cavalry unit still mounted on chargers and ended it as the tank regiment as which they are perhaps best known. In this episode of the podcast, Dan is joined by the Legendary James Holland whose new book, Brothers in Arms: A Legendary Tank Regiment's Bloody War from D-Day to VE Day, charts the story of the regiment throughout this titanic conflict. James and Dan discuss the path of the regiment to become an armoured unit, the incredible bravery and stoicism of its men in the face of death and injury and what it was like to fight in a tank in Northern Europe during the Second World War.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	I'd be welcome to Dan Snow's history here.
0:02.7	Here's guys talking to James Holland, the renowned best-selling author, broadcaster, podcaster,
0:08.6	or ad legend.
0:09.6	Now, some of his next work was going to be, he told me it was going to be a history of
0:14.4	a tank unit, the Sherwood Rangers.
0:17.3	I said, I wasn't expecting you to say that, but then he enlarged on it, took me through
0:21.9	his sinking, and I realized it was an act of genius.
0:24.9	The Sherwood Rangers were the great tank regiments of the Second World War.
0:28.3	They fought away through North Africa, and they landed on Gold Beach on D-Day, or as
0:33.8	one of the most battle-hardened combat-ready armored units in the British Army.
0:39.1	I've been lucky enough to meet veterans of the Sherwood Rangers, so it was a great pleasure
0:44.7	reading James' at times, harrowing book about what that unit went through on the march from
0:50.6	D-Day to North Germany and V-Day nearly a year later on.
0:55.7	It was great to have James on this podcast, and he was able to talk me through what this
0:59.4	unit did, how they served, what they suffered, and what they saw in this huge, titanic year
1:06.0	of fighting that finished off the Second World War in Europe.
1:09.7	If you want to watch James Holland talking about armored warfare, we've got a series on
1:14.3	the history hit.tv, which we've just launched.
1:17.6	James Holland talked about the tanks of the Second World War.
1:20.2	He goes through the various tanks, the various nations, and minute detail.
1:24.5	We're going to love it if you have an interest in that period.
1:27.4	So please get a history hit.tv. It's like Netflix for history, all the history documentaries
	...

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