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Message 1 - 79th Armoured

Posted on: 07 June 2005 by paul_i_w

Hi

The 79th Armoured Division was raised as an ordinary armoured div in 1942. But in April 1943 it was given the task of developing and training specialised armour for the invasion of Europe. Its commander was Major General Percy Hobart. The Division was all armoured. The types of vehicles it contained were the Sherman DD ‘swimming tanks’; the Crocodile flamethrower (based on the Churchill tank); the Sherman Crab flail tank — which had chains on a spinning drum to detonate mines ahead of it; the AVRE (Armoured Vehicle, Royal Engineers), based on the Churchill tank (which had a mortar instead of a gun, and could carry devices like a small bridge, and fascines for filling in ditches); and after the invasion the division had Buffalo and Terrapin amphibious vehicles for crossing the waterways in Belgium, Holland and Germany. The Division was not used as a whole, but the vehicles in it were ‘lent out’ to ‘ordinary’ formations to help them eg cross a stream, clear a path through a minefield, or destroy pillboxes and strongpoints.

Can you tell me any more about David Scott? When in 1945 was he there?