Book Review: Once a Hussar by Ray Ellis

Man of la BookApril 14, 2026Post a Comment

About:

Once a Hussar: A Memoir of Battle, Capture and Escape in the Second World War by Ray Ellis is the wartime memoir of the former gunner. After the war Mr. Elis became a teacher and wrote this book once he retired.

248 pages
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Skyhorse
Language ‏ : ‎ English
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1628737298

My rating for Once a Hussar - 5
Buy Once a Hussar from Amazon.com*
More books by Ray Ellis*

Thoughts:

This is an insightful and vivid memoir, well-written and deeply personal. I accidentally found this book, and it turned out to be one of those hidden gems all of us bibliophiles always look for.

Mr. Ellis joined the South Notts Hussars in 1939 as an artilleryman. He joined just at the Hussars transitioned from horse-mounted to motorized artillery, one of the many changes he will encounter.

This book is a rare, front-row seat to one of the most jarring "technological pivots" in military history. As an IT/Cyber professional, the interest lies not just in the combat, but in the organizational restructuring required to turn a Yeomanry cavalry unit into a high-functioning 25-pounder (88mm) field artillery battery

Expert's Note: How modern military units are currently undergoing a similar "AI pivot," much like the Hussars' "Motorization pivot"

As a techie, the interest lies not just in the combat, but in the organizational restructuring required to turn a Yeomanry cavalry unit into a high-functioning 25-pounder (88mm) field artillery battery.

Interoperability Challenge
The South Notts Hussars had to abandon the "élan" of the saddle for the cold mathematics of the gunnery slide rule. Hardware aside, it must have been a nightmare to also overhaul their operational logic.
Cavalry Logic: High mobility, visual scouting, and decentralized decision-making.
Artillery Logic: Static stability, ballistic trajectories, and centralized fire control.

From "Gut Instinct" to Algorithmic Fire Control
Just as the Hussars had to stop relying on visual scouting and start trusting ballistic tables and indirect fire coordinates, modern analysts are moving from manual code review to AI-augmented vulnerability detection.

Mr. Ellis notes the old guard’s skepticism of "mechanical" warfare. Today, we see a similar friction where senior leadership struggles to trust a "Black Box" model over their 30 years of "gut feeling.
The Maintenance Debt
The Hussars quickly learned that a motorized battery is only as good as its Morris C8 Quads. If the trucks didn't run, the guns didn't move. In the digital world, our "trucks" are our data pipelines.

In today's reality, you can have the best AI model (the 25-pounder), but if your data (the fuel) is "dirty" or your infrastructure (the Quad) is unpatched, the system is a liability.
Skill Obsolescence and Re-Training
Mr. Ellis’s memoir is a masterclass in rapid upskilling. He didn't have years to learn artillery; he had months.

Whether it’s a 1940s Hussar learning to lay a field gun in the desert or a 2026 techie learning to prompt engineer an LLM, the core challenge remains the same: Technology changes the tools, but the 'Hussar Spirit'—the adaptability and grit of the operator—is what wins the battle

Private Ellis was sent overseas to Mandatory Palestine and Egypt, taking part in some notable battles at Torbruk and Knightsbridge. Miraculously surviving, he was captured and sent to a POW camp in Italy. Once he escaped, he survived a whole year in the mountainous area of central Italy with help from kind strangers.

Once a Hussar by Ray Ellis is filled with self-deprecating humor, an old defense mechanism of soldiers to deal with the horrors they've seen. He is writing this memoir with decades behind him with clarity and fondness for the life he has lived.

The book does contain some gore, and Mr. Ellis does not shy away from describing the realities of combat as he saw it. But the core of the book is his triumph over adversity, and his incredible luck at surviving under circumstances which, if were fictionalized, would seem unbelievable.

Mr. Ellis wasn't born a warrior, like many others he answered the call of his country and history. He transformed from an eager teenager to a seasoned soldier in a short amount of time, but that seems to be one of the common occurrences in all the military memoirs I read.

This is one of the best memoirs I've read, it really gives you an idea of what it was like to be a grunt during that era. The grit and wit Ray Ellis showed during his escape and survival are reminiscent, and worth of, a proto-Fleming thriller.

Buy Once a Hussar from Amazon.com*
More books by Ray Ellis*