Welcome to today’s stop on the blog tour for Mailed Fist by John Foley. My thanks to Anne at Random Things Tours for inviting me to take part in the tour and to the Imperial War Museum for my advance review copy.
About the Book
In April 1943, newly commissioned John Foley is posted to command Five Troop and their trusty Churchill tanks Avenger, Alert, and Angler – thus begins his initiation into the Royal Armoured Corps. Covering the trials of training, embarkation to France and battle experience through Normandy, the Netherlands, the Ardennes campaign and into Germany, Foley’s intimate and detailed account follows the fate of this group of men in the latter stages of the Second World War.
‘If this book can be said to be a history of anything, it is a history of Five Troop. Not of the squadron, or of the regiment. If anybody wants to know what happened in other troops, or in other squadrons, it’s all recorded painstakingly in the War Diaries and lodged in a Records Office somewhere.’
Format: Paperback (176 pages) Publisher: Imperial War Museum
Publication date: 21st April 2022 Genre: Modern Classics
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My Review
Mailed Fist is the latest in the Imperial War Museum’s excellent Wartime Classics series comprising new editions of books from the Second World War. All the books in the series have an introduction putting the work into its historical context.
Mailed Fist is a fictionalised memoir closely based on the author’s own experience as a troop commander from April 1943 until the end of the Second World War. The author gives us a ‘fly on the wall’ insight into what it was like to command a troop of three Churchill tanks, as well as what it was like for the five-man crews who operated them in cramped, dirty and very basic living conditions.
There’s a lot of humour in the book such as Foley and his fellow officers’ attempts to scupper the daily orderly report they’re required to complete, his attempts at doing his own laundry and how the ‘Love Affairs of Trooper Cooper’ lighten the task of censoring his troop’s letters home.
Periods of inactivity are punctuated by hours of intense fighting, attempting to destroy German artillery, support infantry attacks or take up defensive positions in towns vacated by the retreating enemy. When it comes to the serious business of battle, based on firepower alone the Churchill tanks are no match for the German Tiger tanks but sometimes ingenuity can overcome seemingly impossible odds. Often Five Troop are literally in the ‘fog of war’ as smoke bombs confuse not just the enemy but their own side. Unfortunately, not all of Five Troop will come out of these encounters unscathed. Besides physical wounds, there are psychological ones as well. An episode I found particularly chilling is when, bivouaced for the night, Foley overhears tank crew members talking in their sleep, reliving episodes from the battle they’ve just fought.
Foley comes across as a dedicated, level-headed and steadfast leader of his troop, prepared to muck in where required and aware of his responsibility for keeping up morale (sometimes at the expense of his own dignity). I really enjoyed seeing the camaraderie between the members of the troop, each with their nickname.
The story is peppered with army slang. For example, we learn that a ‘brew up’ is something more deadly than stopping to make a pot of tea (although a more heartwarming occasion involving tea occurs when Five Troop reach Eindhoven).
At the end of the book Foley muses to a comrade, ‘I was just thinking… Do you think anybody would want to read a book about what we’ve done?’ The answer to that is an unequivocal yes.
In three words: Authentic, immersive, fascinating
Try something similar: Warriors for the Working Day by Peter Elstob
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About the Author
John Foley (1917–1974) served in the British Army from 1936 until 1954. He attended the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, and passed out from officer training in 1943. Foley became a troop commander in the 107th Regiment, Royal Armoured Corps (King’s Own), and was awarded an MBE for his service in North-West Europe. Later Foley worked in public relations and was an author, broadcaster and scriptwriter. He died in 1974.
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