Noel Coward's In Which We Serve once got a lot of flag-waving mileage out of the plight of a wartime ship and her devoted crew; now in Barbara Wayne Robinson uses the same device, only this time the titular heroine becomes a 34-ton General Sherman tank and her beloved men are reduced to five. The battle scenes are stirring, the live-fight-and-die-with- 'em heroics are familiar but effective and the individuals involved emerge sharply defined, graphically exciting. Headman Sgt. Baskra finds his long-lost capacity to love returned to him with a Belgian waif; handsome Lee, runty Morris and walloping Prokelli go through their gritty routines with ease. The bow-gunner's position makes for a heartbreaking jinx: first baby-face Phillip hits the dust, then his replacements, sensitive Resistance fighter Andre and strapping young Mike fresh from Ft. Knox. Launched from her LCT boat on D Day Barbara thunders through Normandy, Brittany, the Rhine and the Ruhr; steel-cleated and turreted with a 75 mm, Barbara proves a mighty lady indeed. This is a bustling warm and bulky narrative expertly designed for the war-novel addict. The author, Wayne Robinson (1916-2011), served in Western Europe with the 743rd Tank Battalion, U.S. Army during World War II. The novel is a fictionalized account of his unit's combat experiences.