With the Jocks

by Peter White

Book Overview

As a 24-year-old lieutenant in the King's Own Scottish Borderers, Peter kept an unauthorised journal of his regiment's advance through the Low Countries and into Germany in the closing months of the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0750930578
• ISBN13: 9780750930574
• Release Date: October 2002
• Publisher: History Press Ltd
• Length: 576 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.9" x 5.0" x 7.8"

Customer Reviews

Unmissable Memoir of an Infantry Officer

If you are interested in first person accounts then this is a must-read book. Peter White was a second Lieutenant and platoon commander in the King's Own Scots Borderers, in 52nd Division, and saw service from October 1944 to May 1945. During this time he participated in the assault on Walcheren, the defense of the Meuse, Operation "Blackcock", the clearing of the western banks of the Rhine, the battle for Wesel, the battle for Ibbenbüren, and the final operations east and west of the Weser river towards Bremen, good worm's eye perspective descriptions of which are included in this book because, against orders, he kept a diary, and it is based on this that the memoir was written. Unlike his colleague Sydney Jary, author of the famous memoir "18 Platoon" and the longest-surviving platoon commander on the western Front in 1944-45, French was not born for war, and least of all for the infantry business of killing people up close. He was also a very religious man, a teetotaller and had a strong artistic bent, which shows in the very high quality of the good number of sketches which illustrate the book. This distance to the business he had to perform is what gives the book a unique quality. French volunteered for service and served in the anti-aircraft artillery before being transferred to the infantry in 1944. He started with the AA section of the battalion before being transferred to command of a rifle platoon. French's observations on the life of the infantry are sobering. When reading the book, the amount of misery and hardship endured by the soldiers is overwhelming at times. Unlike other authors, French does never stop to consider the life lived by him and his soldiers as something extraordinary and weird. His diary is full of reflections on this life, his thoughts about the civilians through whose life he is passing - either being taken in by newly liberated Dutch, or turning out Germans of their homes requisitioned for his platoon. At times, the writing has a lyrical quality about it that lets one enter into the scene easily. "The occupants of the flat I had selected for Platoon HQ were a very well dressed, portly, red-faced man who was suffering from most obvious mental turmoil in trying to know what manner to adopt towards us. [...] The mother, like the daughter, had a sleek, trim elegance akin to a Dresden figure which was added to by expensive well-cut clothes in soft tasteful colours. In their startling contrast to the Jocks, they made the latter look like heaps of mud-smeared vegetables." White also writes a lot about his thoughts of the men he is commanding, their attitudes and behaviour, and the book provides a list of all those who did not make it through the war, a large part of the men who he commanded, while he himself escaped unscathed. There are harrowing accounts of combat, the worst of which is probably the battle accident (friendly fire incident) at Ibbenbüren when his platoon is shot up by a platoon of B

at the sharp end of an infantry unit.......

An officer with the Scottish 52nd Lowland Division, Peter White shares the real discomfort caused by lack of sleep, hours without meals, inadequate clothing while at the sharp end of an infantry unit. Through the winter of 1944, White's unit fought and suffered horrendous casualties in NW Europe. White details the self-inflicted wounds, the "bomb-happy" soldiers, the friendly fire victims, the mundane life-taking accidents, and the AWOL types, all the way to the other end of the spectrum detailing the gallantry and courage of many other men of his unit in combat. Peter White examines the role chance had in own survival when he describes how two platoons were detailed to work up each side of a farm track. His platoon made it okay but the other platoon was cut down by concealed MG-42s. With the Jocks is one of the best personal combat memoirs of WWII.

A Superb World War II Memoir

This is the best kind of memoir: filled with details about the actions, thoughts, emotions and terrifying events this fine officer went through with the greatest courage. I could not put it down. Those who want to get a glimpse of the real horror of war and the truly awe-inspiring courage of these men must get this book. It ranks among my top ten best memoirs of that war. These men were truly amazing.

Great book from the "Jock" point of view

Peter White was an officer with the 52nd Lowland Division in WWII. The Division was sent to NW Europe after the Market Garden fiasco (A battle the Division was planned to be in) and fought all the way to VE-Day. White is an interesting person himself and his disdain of swearing and his gentlemanly manners are evident to the reader. White is also an artist who contributes some of the illustrations in the book, he also illustrates to the reader the life of the British Soldier at war. You see the life and death struggle with the enemy and the boredom of the soldiers' life in great detail. White also details the attitude of his men towards the German civilians in the last days of the war. The book is quite long, and I have top admit losing the author in some places (cultural differences perhaps) but overall I enjoyed the book.