With the Royal Tank Regiment in Korea: Centurions on the Hook

Jim Selway’s memoir offers a vivid account of his experiences as a Royal Tank Regiment officer during the Korean War and Cold War.

＂This book tells of the awe in which the veterans of World War 2 were held by the post war generation, the close bonds of trust and loyalty within tank crews and the deep respect, often expressed through humour, between tanks and infantry. It also gives a human feel for the early Cold War conditions in the British Army of the Rhine.＂**- Brigadier Gavin Thompson, Colonel Commandant, The Royal Tank Regiment**

Jim (James) Selway, a subaltern with the Royal Tank Regiment in the Korean War - relates a young officer’s experiences from 1949 until his retirement from the army in 1959, initially as a Tank Troop Commander and later as B Squadron’s ’Battle Captain’. Jim’s hard-earned experience of soldiering in combat and peacetime gives a rare and fascinating flavour into the life of an RTR officer.

In Part One, Jim Selway writes about his initial service and training in the Post-war British army. He recalls the disappointment of Officer training which didn’t capitalise on real world lessons and the vastly more valuable training environment within the regiments. He talks about the experience of preparing for and travelling to a distant misunderstood war and his experiences on the ground as a troop commander in Korea, the last time British and United Nations forces held off an numerically overwhelming, politically indoctrinated but technically inferior force. The motto of the Royal Tank Regiment is ’Fear Naught’ and Jim’s account will show how the Regiment lived up to it in the face of what Brigadier Brian Parritt vividly described as ’Chinese Hordes and Human Waves’ in his book on the conflict.

Following the unrestrained fighting in Korea, Part Two of his memoirs describes, through the lived experience of postings to Suez, Britain, Germany and Norway, how budgetary constraints and the challenges of the Cold War diluted the focus of the army from operational excellence with the requirement to maintain morale. Jim argues that the brass’s insistence on various values, particularly the retention of sporting traditions, helped overcome the disappointments and challenges of ’budget’ soldiering in a peacetime army.

Technology may have changed much since the 50s, but this deeply personal memoir provides insight into the leadership styles and challenges faced by a generation long exposed to war and remains relevant for soldiers today. We should neither forget nor underestimate the value of their experience and knowledge.