Yeomen of England

Yeomen of England were called to bring their own horses to form England's first Home Guard when a dictator assembled his army across the Channel in 1794. They went on to become one of the most famous mounted regiments of the British Army. During World War I they served on the frontline in the battles of Ypres, Neuve Chapelle, and Artois. In World War II they earned fame as one of the great tank regiments to be found on the frontline during the Normandy Landings, Battle of the Bulge, and the Rhine Crossings. This book weaves together military history and personal anecdotes to follow the regiment from its horsed days, parading under the Earl Spencer who promoted Nelson to fleet command, through moments of repressing civil rioters, on to the bloodiest of cavalry charges in World War I and exceptional achievement with tanks in World War II, only eventually to suffer what Napoleon, Kruger, the Kaiser, and Hitler could not do--be wiped out by government cuts in the 1960s. Ken Tout, who proudly served with the regiment during the Normandy landings, pays tribute to a much-loved part of the British Army.

Ken Tout served as a tank gunner and commander with the Northamptonshire Yeomanry after D-Day 1944 in Normandy and Holland, he was injured and evacuated. He went on to serve in Palestine in 1945-46. After the war he went on to work with the Salvation Army, Oxfam, and HelpAge developing a number of global aid projects. He has worked as a consultant to the United Nations on ageing and he was awarded an OBE for his services to the elderly Third World population. He has written numerous books on the war, including Shadow of Arnhem and The Bloody Battle for Tilly. He regularly conducts battlefield tours.