Sherwood Boys: The Biography of a Battalion

About the Event

Author Talk with Michael Somervill

Join author Michael Somervill and hear the powerful true story of the 2/5th Sherwood Foresters – ordinary Derbyshire Men who became extraordinary soldiers during the Second World War.

This is the story of the 2/5th Sherwood Foresters, a Territorial battalion that during the full span of the Second World War developed from a group of untrained young men from Derbyshire into a hardened unit of veterans from every corner of Britain, capable of facing, and beating, the might of the Wehrmacht. It provides a unique view on the British army through the lens of a single battalion, drawing on over 150 personal accounts, both oral and written, as well as official documents.

The first volume follows the battalion from its formation in 1939, through its baptism of fire at Dunkirk and reconstruction in the UK, to victory in North Africa. This second volume picks up the story with the landings at Salerno and subsequent battles in Italy and ends with a post-war Europe edging towards the Cold War as veterans of the war against Nazi Germany found themselves confronting communist forces in eastern Europe. Together they describe the exertions of training, the terrors of battle, the hardships of captivity, and the challenges brought by peace.

Sherwood Boys is a battalion epic researched, assembled and written for readers wanting to comprehend the Second World War from the perspective of the ordinary British soldier. It is written as a tribute to those ordinary men who were called upon to do the extraordinary—and did so.

Michael Somerville graduated with a degree in History from Cambridge University, and in 2017 after a career in IT Consultancy was awarded a doctorate in Military History by the University of Buckingham for his thesis on how the American Civil War influenced the Victorian British Army, published as Bull Run to Boer War. His father served in Italy with the 2/5th Sherwood Foresters in the Second World War, which prompted him to write the history of the battalion.

Booking essential - please pop into Chellaston Library or call 01332 640063 to book.

Dates & Times

Prices & Offers

• Free