Considered one of the most popular British military historians to have taken up the baton of the previous generation – that of Antony Beevor and Max Hastings – James Holland (Salisbury, 55 years old) looks at you with the same blue eyes with which Brad Pitt observed the battlefield from the top of the turret of his Sherman tank in Fury (a film that the historian, among other things, detests). The comparison is strengthened by the fact that Holland is wearing a military jacket from the Second World War, a conflict to which he has dedicated sensational books and about which he has now published Brothers in arms (Penguin Random House, 2025), the story of a British armored regiment, the Sherwood Rangers, throughout the war, somewhat in the style of what Stephen Ambrose did with Easy Company in band of brothers.
Request. What was it like to fight in a tank during World War II?
Answer. Brutal and raw. And extremely dangerous. The Sherwood Rangers’ numbers are staggering: statistically, the chance of any of the regiment’s tank crews emerging from the war unscathed was zero. By the end of the war, not a single tank from the unit that landed in Normandy on D-Day had managed to avoid being hit by shells. Luck determined whether you were incinerated on the inside, blown to pieces, lost a limb, or suffered only a minor injury; but something was bound to hit you. The human body is incredibly vulnerable.
Q. Beevor thought being a paratrooper was worse…
TO. The tank gives a false sense of protection, but when you get hit it becomes a hellish place. People vomited when they recovered the charred remains of their comrades inside. It is also true that if an armored vehicle hits you… images of soldiers crushed on the roads are recurrent in the regiment’s testimonies.
Q. Interestingly, more Sherwood Rangers tank crew members died outside the tank than inside. Partly because I drank tea.
TO. Yes, getting out of the tank was very risky, 75% of the casualties — like that of the poet Keith Douglas — occurred outside the vehicle, and quite a few while the crews were making tea: this is what it means to be English. And many commanders died with half their bodies protruding from the turret, which was obviously essential for observation. It was essential to see the enemy before he saw you. War in a tank required immense courage and concentration.
Q. How would we feel inside one of those tanks?
TO. A tank is a place where you can experience extreme heat and cold, darkness, humidity, dirt, claustrophobia, and in the field you are constantly at risk. You can’t hide. You can be affected in many ways; In fact, tank combat represents only 10% of the tank combat experience.
Q. You’re not a fan of Fury.
TO. I think it’s terrible. Three Shermans (specifically the American tanks used by the Sherwoods) attacked in line, almost side by side and completely exposed, when their advantage was mobility and a high rate of fire. It’s a movie, obviously, but the whole battle with the Tiger is ridiculous. And the dialogue: the tank crews didn’t talk like that, we have recordings. In the film it seems like they are playing a computer game… And the final scene is ridiculous: in reality the crew would have called the air force.
Q. Do you think the Tiger tank, icon of the Panzer divisions and the Third Reich, is overrated?
TO. Forks. I know it has a lot of fans, and if I were a WWII soldier, I’d rather take on a Sherman than a Tiger. It was a huge, ugly and very impressive tank. But very few were produced; they were expensive and complicated. Driving a Sherman is simple; I did it. If you know how to drive a car, you can do it. But the Tiger was very complex. Almost more of them were lost to mechanical failures than to enemy fire.
Q. Do you think young people are losing interest in World War II?
TO. No, it’s still a very common theme in films, series, documentaries and games; the museums dedicated to it are very popular and in my podcast, for example, the average listener is 35 years old. However, it offers many lessons.
Q. You are currently writing a book about the Battle of the Atlantic.
TO. Yes, regarding the first part there are incredible naval actions such as the sinkings of the Hood and the Bismarckcourage, horror… In short, it was the most important theater of the war.
Q. Tank or submarine?
TO. Uh, I still prefer a tank. I’m not a sea dog and sinking in a submarine must be terrifying, even inside Brothers in arms I describe the thrilling experience of the amphibious Shermans sunk during the Normandy landings.
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