Catch That Tiger
By Noel Botham and Bruce Montague
Imagine this! You live in England and it’s the midst of WWII. The man himself Winston Churchill calls on you and a few others to ship off to Africa and catch the deadliest and most infamous tank the world has seen. Can you handle the task?
The year is 1943 and Germany has just unleashed its brand new Tiger tank. “Fitted with an 88mm cannon, accurate to 2000 yards. (Botham-Montague, 6)” it’s the world’s deadliest machine! This killer is “twice as good as the Russians, three times as good as the Americans and four times better than the British” (Botham-Montague, 6).
The main plot is set in motion after the deadly Tigers are deployed to aid the Germans in the North Africa campaign. The protagonist is Doug Litterdale, a tank trainer, and mechanic that is assigned by Winston Churchill to lead a team of men to capture a German Tiger. The plan is for Doug and his crew to swipe one of the deadly tanks and smuggle it back to England. The plan is for the English engineers to dismantle and studied the weapon so that its advancements can be used to combat other German tanks later in the war. Readers will enjoy discovering how the incredible story of how Doug and his team managed to capture a Tiger, disable the crew and make it back to England undetected.
Honestly, when I first started reading the book, I had mixed feelings: boredom, frustration, curiosity, and admiration. A few times at the start of the first chapters I even almost lost interest and wanted to stop. However, every time I almost put the book down, I picked it back up and continued reading because something inside me said this is going to get good. Fortunately, I powered through the slow start and as the story progressed it grew more captivating and exciting - I couldn’t put the book down! My recommendation to the novice military enthusiasts is to be patient through the slow start; it leads to the good stuff. This never before told, true story came to light thanks to the discovery of the actual protagonist’s war diaries. If the diaries hadn’t been found the incredible and historic facts that contributed to the outcome of the war would have never come to light.
The other reason this book captivated my attention is that of how incredible this true story actually is. For a group of English engineers to single-handedly take out the fierce crew of one of the deadliest war machines of the time is absolutely jaw-dropping. These types of heroes are the type of people who write the past and with their enormously courageous actions changed the course of history. To just imagine if Doug and his men were never assigned to do this task or if they had failed then Hitler would have been right in saying “ nothing can stop us, we can go anywhere” (Botham-Montague, 6).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUBz05P2S3k
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