Tank Commander

1943: 18-year old Arnold Kessel and the 5th Division/81st Tank Battalion hit the beach at Normandy. In two days he’s baptized by fire as Patton/Hodges race through France to trap 100,000 Germans in the Falaise Gap. Surviving the Hurtgen Forest & Battle of the Bulge, Arnold arrives on the banks of the Elbe, 50 miles from Berlin. After serving in Korea, Kessel puts the six Bronze Stars he’s earned in the wars, in a box and forgets them, but he can’t forget what he saw and did. Karen Schutte artfully pulls her readers into the harrowing depths and struggles of a WWII Sherman Tank Commander, the freezing struggle against the North Koreans and Chinese, and the haunting memories of endless battles that shadow Kessel’s life.