I'm a student of military history. I read a good deal of stuff on the Second World War, studying various battles and campaigns. A few months ago I read John Bierman and Colin Smith's book on the battle of Alamein, and it included information about a woman who'd been in the French Foreign Legion, and served during the battle of Gazala as General Pierre Koenig's driver, enduring the bombardment and siege of Bir Hakeim. I was interested in this, and obtained a copy of the book. Whoa! Susan Travers, now in her 90's, has a story to tell.

The daughter of well-to-do English parents who lived in France for most of her adolesence, Travers spent most of the thirties on the continent, playing tennis, gambling, and cavorting with a series of lovers who were all uninterested in settling down with her. When World War II began, she decided to turn her independant streak (which had led to her learning to drive a car) into an asset, and join the armed forces, fighting for the Allies somehow. She wound up in the French army, trained as a nurse, drove an ambulance briefly in Finland, and then wound up in Africa.

There she served briefly in the campaign in Ethiopia, then was moved to Syria. Here, the doctor that she usually drove for was greviously wounded, and his replacement couldn't stand the thought of a female driver. He complained to his superior, and the next thing Travers knew she was driving for Pierre Koenig, who at the time was a colonel in the Free French army fighting in Syria. Soon the campaign was over, and Travers could set up house with the married Koenig for several months, because the colonel's wife was conveniently absent.

Their affair, however, had to remain secret for the most part. She stayed his driver when the unit he commanded was transferred to the Western Desert in Libya. Soon, the British ordered all women out of the Front lines, but she contrived to make her way back, and was at the post the Free French brigade held for most of the battle. This was Bir Hakeim, a crossroads in the desert that had been fortified with trenches and bunkers dug in the desert floor. Bir Hakeim was the southernmost part of the Allied position at the Battle of Gazala, and it was an important one. After initially attempting to take it quickly by storm, the Germans bypassed it and left its capture to the Italians, who repeatedly failed. The Germans then returned and also failed, and when the post was finally worn down to the point defense was no longer an option, the garrison surprised everyone by breaking out and escaping in their vehicles.

The Bir Hakeim battle makes up the middle quarter or so of the book, and it's a marvelous story. Travers was Koenig's driver for the whole battle, which means that when the breakout occurred, she drove the general's car. The car was hit by numerous bullets, but she and her passengers survived without being harmed.

After the battle, she and the general had to separate (the German propaganda machine made a thing of their affair) and she spent most of the rest of the war driving an ambulance or doctors. When the war ended she managed to enlist in the Foreign Legion, and served several years in overseas posts. Eventually she married a legionnaire, had children, and left the legion herself. When her husband finally passed away, she decided it was time to tell her story. I'm very glad she did.

Wow, what a life! Let's be thankful that there were people who kept insisting that Susan Travers' story be written while she was still alive. And thanks to Wendy Holden that story makes such fascinating reading that you find it hard to believe this is the story of a real life. I did not know much about the events of the Second World War that took place in Africa. So, while having been interested in the personal story of this fascinating woman, I got quite a bit more insight into the political events of that time as well. This part is definitely Wendy Holden's second major contribution.

You read this book and ask yourself, "Is this true, did this really happen?" But of course it's true. Only an honest person could bare their soul as does Susan Travers, with the brilliantly sensitive prose of co-author Wendy Holden.

The story is spell-binding as our heroine bounces from battlefield to boudoir with breathtaking élan. So many words fall short- courageous, brave, intrepid, relentless, passionate and others- as she and her fellow Legionnaires take their stand on faraway battlefields, most notably Bir Hakeim in the desolate desert of North Africa.

But the most appropriate word to describe ajudant-chef Travers is probably "driven". She sums it up on page 267 as she bids farewell to her dying father: "I'd spent so much of my life seeking his approval that having never really obtained it, his death only left me feeling more empty. Any chance to impress him now was gone and I felt cheated".

'Tomorrow To Be Brave' is a work and a life. It speaks for itself. This woman knows herself and to herself she is true. How ironic and poignant that the "driven" hero of Bir Hakeim was in fact a driver (chauffeur) in the French Foreign Legion. Susan dodges pot-holes and pot-shots as she valiantly drives her paramour, the General, through the desert sands. She is truly an "angel of mercy" as she man-handles her ambulance in the muddy mountains of Italy.

So much history. So much romance. So much intrigue. So much honest pride. So much heartbreak. It's all there. Who needs fiction with a story like this! A little knowledge of French is helpful but read it anyway even if you don't know what "ma cherie" means.

Bon courage, La Miss. Merci!