Whether because the brief age of the battle tank has passed, or because five men confined together in a metal box allows for close observation of character, or because the evident inferiority of the tanks to the dreaded threat of the Tiger and the 88, stories of British tank warfare in World War Two always seem to be fascinating and of high quality. I'd also recommend Tank! by Ken Tout and the memoir Mailed Fist by John Foley, but Peter Elstob's Warriors for the Working Day is about as good as this topic can be rendered in prose.

Elstob, a tank man himself during the war, draws heavily on his own experience in his novel. There is an authenticity to the combat, the training, the personalities of the tank crew and the sheer terror and mental strain of being a perennial target to an unseen and dangerous enemy. The book follows the fresh-faced Michael Brook – a fictionalised version of the author, it seems – as he takes over command from the battle-fatigued tank commander Paddy Donovan. Marvelling at Donovan's composure before his eventual break, Brook, upon taking command, goes through the same stresses of command, combat and extreme mental and physical fatigue before his own inevitable end point. Bookending this, command is passed on to another junior NCO who steps up, and the cycle continues.

Not only is this evocation of strain and terror told excellently, building throughout the novel, it is also couched in some great storytelling. The book takes us from the Normandy breakout through Market Garden, the Bulge, V2 attacks and into Germany and the liberation of Belsen, drawing us into each event and the grind of warfare without ever becoming samey or indistinct. The characters feel realistic, and often have reassuringly British names like Taffy and Smudger, and when some of them are killed, frighteningly quickly and without warning, as happens in war, it impacts the reader. There are sudden deaths and casual horrors, but also small mercies, such as the meeting with the countess and the Belgian resistance, and some of those great little oddities that every soldier seems to encounter, such as the propaganda officer with speakers blasting music on his van, who doesn't realise that Tigers have broken through and he's right in the middle of the danger. There are a number of memorable scenes well-drawn by Elstob, and the book as a whole is an excellent experience. ( )