Black Watch by Tom Renouf

 

Tom Renouf well remembers his first taste of alcohol; it was home-brewed cider provided by French farmers as he and his fellow Black Watch soldiers completed a tough six mile march “under a blistering sun along dusty, makeshift roads” in an area of recently liberated France. When it offers this kind of small, personal detail, Renouf’s book genuinely sparkles. Unfortunately, all too often, this supposed “epic story of the 51st Highland Division and a searing personal account of one man’s courage in war” is subtly undermined by its dry narrative of numerous military strategies and the fact that Renouf wasn’t always there to witness the events being described — such as the Highland Division’s surrender at St Valéry, several years before he was called up, or the liberation of the Belsen concentration camp a couple of weeks before he passed it en route to the advancing frontline.To cover this, Renouf nobly quotes fellow veterans. While certainly contributing to the bigger picture, and selflessly giving a voice to brave men who might otherwise never be heard, it nevertheless highlights the book’s own shortcomings and contributes to a more fractured narrative than you might expect from the publisher’s blurb. [Paul F Cockburn]