Bibliography - Gerry Wells
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Growing Up in Sussex: From Schoolboy to Soldier, by Gerry Wells, published 1 March 2009 (128 pp., The History Press, ISBN-10: 0752449672 & ISBN-13: 9780752449678) accessible at: West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries

This compelling memoir starts with a boy's journey through the early years of the 1930s: days of the rag and bone man, street lamplighters, Hercule Poirot, and in the background, Hitler. Then life gets real: at school where cane and cricket bat rule and where the mustard sandwich fills a hungry corner, and even more real with army call-up and training. Then, in 1944/45, comes the crunch of combat in Operation Overlord - a boy's growing-up time. And after all that, with his ears still ringing a bit, comes the blessed call of demob and a taste of new delights: days of farming and finding a woman daft enough to marry him before settling on a farm to start his life as a man. In this nostalgic book evoking recollections of childhood and wartime in Sussex, the memories are the author's, however the sights and events are those that will be remembered by many others, and readers will warm to the narrator, who has found the perfect balance of humour and sensitivity.

Kicking the Hornets' Nest, by Gerry Wells, published 1 June 2012 (224 pp., Matador, ISBN-10: 1780881568 & ISBN-13: 9781780881560) accessible at: West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries

Kicking the Hornets' Nest is one of only few available factional accounts of an English tank crew dealing with battle conditions in WW2. Written by a veteran who himself served in a Sherman Tank, it deals with this specific aspect of hostilities and will be enjoyed by anyone with an interest in this period. Using his personal experience as a tank crew member during the Overlord battles of 1944/5, Gerry Wells takes us into the terrifying and exhilarating world of tank battles - and the relationships and camaraderie of the crews themselves. Kicking the Hornets' Nest follows a tank crew as they face the dangers of war together. Matt, the commander, carries a heavy responsibility as the eyes of the crew from his place in the turret. An ability to read a situation, to have a sense of the rightness or wrongness emanating from a stretch of cover are invaluable assets, and Matt has to learn fast. Sometimes however the tank man's war can become something quite different, and when crew member Obie Walker searches for enemy positions missed by the reconnaissance units on foot - he must swap the bulk of the tank for stealth, and his knife and garrotte become his weapons …