John Foley (1) (1917–1974)

There's little better than a British World War Two story, and Mailed Fist, John Foley's memoir of commanding Churchill tanks against the Germans post-D-Day, does not disappoint. The book is told with a natural charm and a more-than-decent turn-of-phrase, and there's plenty of action, even if, by Foley's own admission, "nothing very hair-raising like the Commando-types or the Airborne boys" (pg. 189).

Rather, the delight in the book is that stories like this aren't really told anymore; this is show more not boy's-own, but it's not sober, anti-war philosophising either. It's a normal bloke's war; a collection of anecdotes – lucky shots, improbable feats, peculiar encounters, and so on – told with the sort of mild eccentricity that fuelled the British war effort. Splendid. show less

A great book. Poignant and hilarious. The channel crossing alone is worth the money.