To War Without Arms: The D-Day Diary of an Army Chaplain - Hardcover

Reynolds RAChD, Rev. Alexander

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 178122014X ISBN 13: 9781781220146

Publisher: Sabrestorm Publishing, 2019

Synopsis

Among the millions of personnel who served in the north-west European campaign of 1944-5 were hundreds of military chaplains. Almost uniquely, despite the fact that they often worked at or close to the front lines, they went to war entirely unarmed.

This book contains the expertly-edited wartime journal of Revd. Alexander Reynolds, Royal Army Chaplains’ Department.

Twenty British Army chaplains died in Normandy, and many others bore the psychological scars of their experiences for the rest of their life. This book contains the wartime journal of one of them, Revd. Alexander (‘Sandy’) Reynolds, Royal Army Chaplains’ Department. The book casts new light on the human experience of the Normandy campaign, the Allied advance towards the Reich, and postwar occupation duties in a defeated Germany. Reynolds’ journal is expertly edited by Dr. Simon Trew, Sandhurst historian and an acknowledged authority on the Normandy campaign.

Reynolds’s journal provides vivid insights into the everyday experience of British military chaplains in Normandy and throughout the north-west European campaign of 1944-5. During his first week in France, Reynolds personally helped bury around 200 British and German soldiers who died during the D-Day assault.

A humane, honest and thoughtful witness of some of the most dramatic events in 20th-Century history, in this book Reynolds tells the story of the campaign in his own words.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements & Dedication 04
Preface 06
A note on editing 10
Introduction 12
Chapter 1:
Preparing for the Great Crusade 30
Chapter 2:
First Days in France: Burying the Dead 52
Chapter 3:
Life in the Bridgehead 70
Chapter 4:
After the Breakout 88
Epilogue 110
Appendix 1:
The Copper Cross 120
Appendix 2:
Montgomery and his chaplains 123
Appendix 3:
120th LAA Regiment, list of officers,
6 June 1944 126
Appendix 4:
‘Beach Dressing Station, June 6/44’ 128

About this title

About the Author

Dr. Simon Trew has taught for over 25 years in the War Studies Department at The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. He has written or edited many books, among them the 14-volume ‘Battle Zone Normandy’ series of battlefield tour guides (2004) and ‘D-Day and the Battle of Normandy: a Photographic History’ (2012). He has appeared in more than 50 television historical documentaries and live programmes, among them BBC commemorative anniversary broadcasts from Normandy. In 2009 he was nominated for a prestigious ‘Emmy’ award for his research in support of a BBC documentary about the American D-Day landings at Omaha Beach.

Edition details

• Publisher: Sabrestorm Publishing
• Publication date: 2019
• ISBN 10: 178122014X
• ISBN 13: 9781781220146
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 152
• Editor: Trew Dr. Simon