Kicking The Hornet's Nest

Kicking the Hornets' Nest is one of only few available factional accounts of an English tank crew dealing with battle conditions in WW2. Written by a veteran who himself served in a Sherman Tank, it deals with this specific aspect of hostilities and will be enjoyed by anyone with an interest in this period. Using his personal experience as a tank crew member during the Overlord battles of 1944/5, Gerry Wells takes us into the somewhat surreal world of tank battles – and the relationships and camaraderie of the crews themselves.

Kicking the Hornets' Nest follows a tank crew as they face the dangers of war together. Matt, the commander, carries a heavy responsibility as the eyes of the crew from his place in the turret. An ability to read a situation, to have a sense of the rightness or wrongness emanating from a stretch of cover are invaluable assets, and Matt has to learn fast. Sometimes however the tank man's war can become something quite different, and when crew member Obie Walker searches for enemy positions missed by the reconnaissance units on foot – he must swap the bulk of the tank for stealth, and his knife and garrotte become his weapons....