Book Review 'Catch That Tiger' - Churchill's secret order that prompted the most dangerous mission of WW2

Posting this on behalf of Tom C, who I believe was having bother exporting it from a doc file:
~A
Review of “Catch that Tiger” by Tom Canning

On receiving my free copy of this book my first glance is to the pages relative to the backgrounds of the Authors, and other co contributors and was pleased to note that David Lidderdale was educated at Charterhouse. I was therefore assured of objective truth in all his notes of his Father's diaries as Charterhouse STILL celebrates a Requiem Mass on the Feast of all Souls with the proviso that since Vatican II ( 1962-65 ) many educational facilities have been penetrated by the various abuses which are the norm to-day as Truth appears to be Relative – but we live in Hope – or rather nearby at Agassiz !

The Bio of Co Author Bruce Montague was spoiled by the fact that he has written for Hollywood .....
his co author Noel Botham was born in York and educated at Dulwich – nothing wrong with that apart from being a very long commute to School whereas I complained at a six mile round trip to my school !

The hardback issue is well laid out – attractive – colourful – and ruined by the sub title of “ Churchill's secret order that launched the most astounding and dangerous mission of World War II “ – thus setting the stage for the unbridled and objective truth – which is most unfortunate as both Gerry Chester of the NIH of 25th Army Tank bde who has shown the results of his search of the Kew Archives and myself a member of 145th RAC and 21st Army Tank bde- and sister regiment to 48th RTR whose 4th Troop
actually killed this Tiger # 131and is the subject of the Bde's Legend which was disparaged on the WW2 Talk forum.....and so we begin.....

First three chapters are innocent enough pure fiction of course but readable – it's chapter four which goes sideways with late ” '42 – early '43 being bad for the allies “ – No – it wasn't – we had started to win with Monty at Wadi El Halfa and Alamein 3 of Oct '42 – NO Churchill's were being knocked out in the hundreds as they didn't arrive in Algiers until the 25th ATB in late January '43 - 21st ATB with 4th Div in March '43

Now this is the sloppy research performed by too many authors which gets me the reputation of being “ harsh” on authors - with some justification as the authors even ignore Churchill's erroneous statement that “ before Alamein we never had a victory and after Alamein we never had a defeat ” and ignoring the victories of Beda Fomm – Ethiopia – Syria - Tobruk – and the naval victories of Cape Matapan and Taranto - so very sloppy research and resented by many who took part in those victories !

Chapters 5 – 11 innocent enough with the love interest and journey to a well described and smelly Algiers – which is unforgettable.....then we have Chapter12 and how Rommel – incorrectly led his Tigers into Kasserine so that is not boding well........

Chapters 12 – 16 do not fail to register the fact that this is a book of unbounded fiction based on diaries
of an 29 year old Charterhouse educated Major of the REME sitting in Tunisia having the gaul to declare himself a “ Desert Rat “ ( page 95). This makes me doubt the veracity of this diary which
outlines his behaviour during a very short honeymoon. No one – in my experience of the North African campaign at any time ever denigrated the 8th Army's role in the desert of now Lybia by claiming to
share that honourable role. Then to describe the actions of a mortally wounded Tank Commander is
approaching the borders of the pale – while sitting some way off like an ancient Roman at the Coloseum.

Chapter 17 – is unbelievably bad - even for fiction and I shall have to rest to gain
the strength to read the other 21 Chapters awaiting me. This cannot be recorded in any diary...!

Chapters 18-21 are hair raising in that the Charterhouse graduate appears to have no compunction in
his downright lying to Churchill – Alanbrooke – Adams – Alexander – Anderson and many other higher ranking VIP's – not to forget HM King George V1 - with his account of how he and his stalwart team fought the crew of Tiger #131 to effect it's capture...........to say that I am surprised would be the understatement of all times but I should hope that the Heroic Major made an exceptionally good confession and received absolution for his sins prior to meeting his creator.

Whilst the photographs after the fact do point to some elements of Truth – Chapter 17 – finishes off this account as being unworthy to set before a naive and innocent public - I cannot go any further in reading this – as my good friend Gerry Chester states “ bloody rubbish “.....at the same time – I have no doubt that someone in Hollywood will make a film of the books main line of the heroic capture by the major and his team...to the detriment of the members of both 21st and 25th Army Tank Bdes involved
in the conflict.

However fairness must be paramount and so I shall struggle on to read to the finish to learn in some amazement of the intrigues going on in that quiet little town of Bone after spending many days in the town from our base 20 miles South at Pentheverie - beautiful female spies and mysterious spy catchers et al……

True fiction at it's best and extremely doubtful that this came from the diary of a well respected Officer as it becomes worse with an attack by a one man assassination gang to restore PzKwMkV1 to it's rightful owners - now that is a stretch as is the attack on a U Boat…..surely the potential book buyers have SOME Common sense
- or am I in the past…?

We then pass over the boredom of awaiting a convoy to arrive at Bone Harbour to Chapter 29 to read of Doenitz's order to the U Boat to seek and destroy this convoy……..This has to be a really BIG stretch

Then we have the hair raising voyage to Scotland with aircraft falling out of the skies with monotonous frequency until Major Lidderdale’s meeting with Churchill and his promotion to Lt. Colonel and I have little doubt that this was well earned for his recovery efforts but some – especially Chapter 17 should be dropped from the narrative as being a total lie and an insult in the same manner as the reference to being a “Desert Rat “ - totally insulting.

The epilogue notes that Brig. Tetley went back to the family Brewing business after the war but fails to mention that the actions of his 25th ATB at Operation Diadem in the Liri Valley gained them the
“Maple Leaf ” Battle Honour from the Canadian Corps Commander – Lt Gen. Tommy Burns and equally important was the bottle of Tetley's beer to every man in the Brigade despite heavy losses in both Tanks and manpower to the newly arrived “Panther” Tank in May 1944...

Sincerely
Tom Canning
ex 145th RAC
21st Army Tank Brigade

 

Aye, chaps - Only fair to say that I've removed a little chunk of posts at Gerry's suggestion (which I agree with).

No call to get too cynical yet, and hope nobody minds the edit - this one very much in Gerry's hands I feel.

~A