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8 reviews

Tank Man - The Life and Times of Captain Bert Baker

£12.99 GBP
Tank Man - The Life and Times of Captain Bert Baker is one of the most complete stories of one man's service with the Tank Corps.

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Description

Tank Man - The Life and Times of Captain Bert Baker is one of the most complete stories of one man's service with the Tank Corps. 

Museum visitors will recognise Albert (Bert) Baker from the Tank Men exhibition, where he is featured alongside the Graincourt gun – his prize from the Battle of Cambrai.

His life up to that point had been confined to a small family dairy in south London. But like so many of those others, in the heat of battle he proved himself capable of extraordinary deeds of valour. Bert served in the trenches, but his wartime story is inextricably bound up with his service in the tanks.

The tanks had a painful infancy. But as an officer in the newly-created Tank Corps, Baker featured in two actions that helped establish it once and for all as a frontline weapon - winning a Military Cross in the first and a bar to it in the second.

Outside Ypres, Baker was part of the successful Cockroft raid. At Cambrai, tanks forced a spectacular advance that overcame the doubts of even the most skeptical commanders.

Drawing on Baker’s papers, Jonathan Baker tells his grandfather’s story from the eyewitness perspective of one of the first men to command a tank in battle.

Bert’s story is also a social history: growing up in the newly-emerging suburbia of London, the ins and outs of running an urban dairy, and his own post-war involvement, as a chemical analyst, in the efforts to produce milk that was safe to drink. 

Reviews (8)

Customer Reviews

Based on 8 reviews
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M
M.
I really enjoyed the book

I am relatively aware of WWI events and battles and honestly thought-mistakenly-that tanks were first deployed at Cambrai. I had no idea of the previous engagements and until I read the book no idea of the role Capt. Bert Baker played in these engagements.

The book also explains the absolute horror of conditions serving in the early tanks-heat, fumes, metal splinters flying around in almost total darkness. The thought of trying to steady oneself in the vehicle and only having red hot pipes to grab hold of makes the mind boggle.

Perhaps the most interesting part of the book is the life Bert Baker lived before joining the army. Working with dairy cows in London-sounds impossible and could have been nothing but-hot, smelly and extremely unpleasant work . Not a bad apprenticeship for tank work?! What an incredible man he was.

R
R.C.
Excellent

A very enjoyable read.

A
A.
Tanks For The Memory

A fine chronicle of the life of Bert Baker before, during and after the Great War - an ordinary man doing extraordinary things. Stylishly written and meticulously researched, it provides a vivid narrative of the evolution of the tank and the ordeal of the uncomplaining men who had to suffer the hell of being inside one for hours on end. The battle scenes are particularly well painted. A bonus is the study of the pre-war dairy industry in which Bert was employed and the development of the safe milk we all take for granted today. A thoroughly enjoyable read.

R
R.R.
Wonderfully Informative

Five Stars
Excellent
This is a very well written book by Jonathan Baker, and thoroughly worth purchasing and reading. Whilst this book also held a personal interest for me due to a close family connection (Bert Baker was my great uncle), I would say that it is a must read for anyone interested in the early history of tanks, the trials and tribulations of their acceptance in the WW1 battlefield environment, and their development thereafter. It is very well researched, very interesting and thoroughly recommended.

N
N.D.
A great addition to any bookshelf

Not only a social history of the times but a great insight into the life of an ordinary volunteer infantry soldier in WW1 who went on to play a role in the founding of the Tank Corps. As my own maternal grandfather father followed a similar path it was a fascinating insight into the fledgling Tank Corps and what he would have experienced.

12
TM Publications

Tank Man - The Life and Times of Captain Bert Baker

£12.99 GBP

Tank Man - The Life and Times of Captain Bert Baker is one of the most complete stories of one man's service with the Tank Corps. 

Museum visitors will recognise Albert (Bert) Baker from the Tank Men exhibition, where he is featured alongside the Graincourt gun – his prize from the Battle of Cambrai.

His life up to that point had been confined to a small family dairy in south London. But like so many of those others, in the heat of battle he proved himself capable of extraordinary deeds of valour. Bert served in the trenches, but his wartime story is inextricably bound up with his service in the tanks.

The tanks had a painful infancy. But as an officer in the newly-created Tank Corps, Baker featured in two actions that helped establish it once and for all as a frontline weapon - winning a Military Cross in the first and a bar to it in the second.

Outside Ypres, Baker was part of the successful Cockroft raid. At Cambrai, tanks forced a spectacular advance that overcame the doubts of even the most skeptical commanders.

Drawing on Baker’s papers, Jonathan Baker tells his grandfather’s story from the eyewitness perspective of one of the first men to command a tank in battle.

Bert’s story is also a social history: growing up in the newly-emerging suburbia of London, the ins and outs of running an urban dairy, and his own post-war involvement, as a chemical analyst, in the efforts to produce milk that was safe to drink. 

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