Tandjiesberg, the blue-grey slab which runs east to west on the remote plains of the Camdeboo, is a landmark that can be seen from afar. The jagged teeth on its crest are a barrier to the natural secrets it holds. It is home to large troops of baboons, kudu and numerous other wildlife species native to the Karoo. It was also home to Jack McNaughton, who was born on the slopes of Tandjiesberg. Mountains were an integral feature of Jack’s life: he was born on a mountain; grew up to farm the mountains; and then went off to fight the Germans in the mountains of Italy in the Second World War.

Jack’s War is the must-read story of, a young Karoo sheep farmer, who commanded a Vickers machine gun platoon in the 6th South African Armoured Division in in Italy in 1944. The division was the spearhead of the brutal and protracted Allied campaign up the mountainous spine of Italy, climaxing in the bloody, but decisive, battle of Monte Salvaro. And how in the aftermath of the battle Jack fell gravely ill and was saved by an Italian woman who nursed him back to health.

It tells the story of those who were left behind: his wife, Elise, who fought to keep the farm going on her own whilst bringing up three small boys. Surrounded by whispers of sabotage by local German sympathisers and even the discovery of a Nazi spy ring in nearby sleepy Graaff-Reinet.

It is the story of how, 76 years later Jack’s sons set out to find the Italian woman’s descendants, discovering that the South African 6th are still remembered and celebrated in Italy for the sacrifices the regiment made in their liberation.

It is a story that everyone whose own family members fought for freedom from fascism will instantly recognise as one that could be their own.