James Holland, military historian: ‘The Tiger tank is overrated’

Considered one of the most popular British military historians to have picked up the torch from the previous generation — that of Antony Beevor and Max Hastings — James Holland (Salisbury, 55 years old) looks at you with the same blue eyes with which Brad Pitt surveyed the battlefield from atop the turret of his Sherman tank in Fury (a film that the historian, incidentally, detests). The comparison is reinforced by the fact that Holland is wearing a World War II military jacket, a conflict to which he has dedicated sensational books and about which he has now published Brothers in Arms (Penguin Random House, 2025), the story of a British armored regiment, the Sherwood Rangers, throughout the war, somewhat in the style of what Stephen Ambrose did with Easy Company in Band of Brothers.

Question. What was fighting like in a tank during World War II?

Answer. Brutal and stark. And extremely dangerous. The numbers for the Sherwood Rangers are staggering: statistically, the chance of any of the regiment’s tank crews emerging unscathed from the war was zero. Not a single tank crew from the unit that landed in Normandy on D-Day had escaped being hit by shells by the end of the war. Luck determined whether you were incinerated inside, blown to bits, lost a limb, or suffered only a minor injury; but something was bound to hit you. The human body is incredibly vulnerable.

Q. Beevor thought being a paratrooper was worse…

A. The tank gives a false sense of protection, but when you’re hit, it becomes a hellish place. People vomited when they recovered the charred remains of their comrades inside. It’s also true that if an armored vehicle runs you over… images of soldiers crushed on the roads are recurring in the regiment’s testimonies.

Q. Interestingly, more Sherwood Rangers tank crewmen died outside the tank than inside. Partly because of drinking tea.

A. Yes, leaving the tank was very risky, 75% of the casualties — like that of the poet Keith Douglas — occurred outside the vehicle, and quite a few while the crews were making tea: that’s what it’s like to be British. And many commanders died with half their bodies hanging out of the turret, which was essential for observation, of course. It was crucial to see the enemy before they saw you. Warfare in a tank required immense courage and concentration.

Q. How would we feel inside one of those tanks?

A. A tank is a place where you can experience extreme heat and cold, darkness, dampness, dirt, claustrophobia, and in the field you are at constant risk. You can’t hide. You can be hit in many ways; in fact, tank-on-tank combat represents only 10% of the tank combat experience.

Q. You’re not a fan of Fury.

A. I think it’s awful. Three Shermans (precisely the American tanks that the Sherwoods used) attacking in a line, almost side by side and completely exposed, when their advantage was mobility and a high rate of fire. It’s a movie, of course, but the whole battle with the Tiger is ridiculous. And the dialogue: tank crews didn’t talk like that, we have recordings. In the film they sound like they’re playing computer games… And the final scene is ridiculous: in reality, the crew would have called in the air force.

Q. Do you think the Tiger tank, that icon of the Panzer divisions and the Third Reich, is overrated?

A. Yes. I know it has many fans, and if I were a soldier in World War II, I’d rather face a Sherman than a Tiger. It was a huge, ugly tank, and very impressive. But very few were manufactured; they were expensive and complicated. Driving a Sherman is simple; I’ve done it. If you know how to drive a car, you can. But the Tiger was very complex. Almost more of them were lost to mechanical failures than to enemy fire.

Q. Do you think young people are losing interest in World War II?

A. No, it’s still a very common theme in films, series, documentaries, and games; museums dedicated to it are very popular, and on my podcast, for example, the average listener is 35. It still offers many lessons.

Q. You are currently writing a book about the Battle of the Atlantic.

A. Yes, regarding the first part, there are incredible naval actions such as the sinkings of the Hood and the Bismarck, valor, horror… In short, it was the most important theater of the war.

Q. Tank or submarine?

A. Uh, I still prefer a tank. I’m no sea dog, and sinking in a submarine must be terrifying, although in Brothers in Arms I describe the hair-raising experience of the amphibious Shermans that sank during the Normandy landings.

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