Steel My Soldiers' Hearts

Steel My Soldiers' Hearts by Stewart, Neil J.. paperback edition. ISBN: 9781552124390.

Steel My Soldiers Hearts is the story, from D-Day to the armistice, of a Canadian tank man who fought the campaign in Northwest Europe at the sharp end - told from the fighting mans perspective. The armoured war involved the main battles for which WWII was famous: the Normandy landing; the battles to defend the beachhead; the fighting for Caen and Falaise; the pursuit across France and the Low Countries; the "Market Garden" exercise to capture the Rhine bridges at Arnhem; the Siegfried Line penetration and finally the Rhine crossing before the march deep into Germany. Stewarts personal war also involved the loss of three tanks and many gallant comrades. To accomplish their feats, the author and his colleagues had to "steel their hearts" indeed. This book contains comments (in separate chapters) which could have been made by officers in their messes, postulated via the authors knowledge of the history of WWII. However, since the author was not an officer during the war, these chapters are pure fancy, and this is why the work is called a novel - not an autobiography. The stories are exactly as Stewart experienced them, and the names are of people, many still alive, that were with the author.