Wartime Wanderers - Bolton Wanderers- A Football Team at War (Paperback, New Ed)

The war against Germany is about to be declared. In front of a 23,000-strong crowd at Burndon Park, Bolton Wanderers captain, Harry Goslin, gives a rousing speech before leading the entire team to the Territorial Army Drill Hall where they all sign up. For the next six years, as gunners in the 53rd Field Regiment of the Bolton Artillary, they face some of the heaviest fighting in the Second World War, in France, North Africa and Italy, and also establish themselves as a formidable Regimental football team throughout the theatre of war. Of the full squad only one is killed in action - the remainder return home to their families and to their football careers. But this is much more than a war story. It is much more than a foot-ball story. It is the story of three individuals: ray Westwood, who is already a star; his inseparable team-mate Ernie Forest, whose ready wit carries him through in the face of adversity; and Nat Lofthouse, who is still only a schoolboy when war intervenes to link their destinies. This is the story of a team whose loyalty led them into a bloody world conflict, and whose indomitable spirit enabled them to survive it. Most of all it is the story of a football club whose very existence is an essential part of a town's soul.