Armoured guardsmen: a war diary : June 1944-April 1945

The outbreak of World War II brought many changes to Britain's Brigade of Guards.

The dress-parade units had always maintained a full combat capacity and made a relatively easy transition into a new unit, the Guards Armoured Division.

The Guards landed in Normandy on D+4 and steadily fought their way across northern Europe.Robert Boscowan was a tank commander in the 1st Coldstream Guards and had four tanks shot from under him.

On the fourth occasion he was badly wounded and burned, making a difficult postwar recovery.

The years after the war, however, also brought both business and political success, culminating in a 23-year career in Parliament.

Boscowan's account of Britain's elite at war is based on his wartime diaries.