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This story was submitted to the People’s War site by Bernie Hawkins and has been added to the website on behalf of Les Russell with his permission and he fully understands the site’s terms and conditions.

I was called up in 1941 at the age of 18, after being granted a six-month deferment to finish my apprenticeship. After 12 weeks basic training at Saighton Camp, near Chester, 2 out of 900 of us were posted to the 53rd Tank Training Regiment based at Catterick, where we began training as tank crew. Following this I had six months at Bovington Camp, Dorset before I joined the regiment, the 1st East Riding of Yorkshire Yeomanry at Rendlesham, Suffolk.

Here we began training underwater at Fritton Lake. There were 30 feet deep pits filled with water, with a tank stationary on the bottom. We had to sit in our positions in the tank and two 9 inch water flows were opened. When the water reached our chins, we put on our Davis Apparatus (an oxygen supply strapped to our chest) and a clip on the nose, open the hatch, and get to the surface. It was tough and dangerous and we lost 7 men in training. I couldn’t swim then and I still can’t. I was scared stiff, but at the age of 18 and in wartime you just had to get on with it.

After this we were sent to Elgin and Forres in Scotland, on exercises to prepare us for the invasion of Europe. It was bitterly cold, but the Scots were marvellous to us. The tanks were parked in the street and they would bring down mattresses and blankets to their hallways so at least some of us could get indoors and get some warmth. They were wonderful. I’m sure some of us would have frozen to death if it weren’t for them.

Then it was back to Fritton Lake for more intensive amphibious training, including using ramps to get the tanks in and out of the water. In the four months prior to D-Day we were confined to Petworth Park in Sussex, not allowed to write to or contact anybody. We passed the time maintaining and waterproofing the tanks. We didn’t know where we would be going or when — only that we would be landing on beaches and there was a feeling that it would be soon.

By this time we were a specialised amphibious tank brigade, the 27th Armoured Brigade formed from the 1st East Riding of Yorkshire Yeomanry, the 13th / 18th Hussars and the Staffordshire Yeomanry.

Then, in the last week of May, 1944, we got orders to move. We packed up and got to Gosport, where the tanks were loaded on to landing craft. For 2 days before D-Day we were stationed off Ryde — so frustratingly close to my home on the Isle of Wight. After the 24 hour delay for bad weather in the Channel, we sailed.

We landed on Sword Beach at 7:30 on the morning of D-Day, supporting the 1st Special Service Brigade of the Royal Marine Commandos. Luckily, we came off into water and progressed up the beach under heavy fire through a hole which had been blown in the sea wall. We lost three of our 27 tanks in the first quarter hour. I was gunner / mechanic, operating a Browning sub-machine gun in the front of the tank. It was total confusion. I was firing at anything I took to be enemy positions so the infantry could move up. My thoughts were with them, at least I had armour around me!

After that we made good progress — almost to the outskirts of Caen, where we were held waiting for the infantry to catch up. If we hadn’t stopped things may have been different. On Day 3 our tank was hit. Fortunately, the driver and I escaped, but I lost three comrades. I was slightly wounded and sent back to a field service station for two days. Then it was back to the regiment as crews were put together from the men and tanks that were left, and from reinforcements which were arriving.

It was hard battles then for the next six weeks until Caen fell. It was estimated that we lost 27 out of 63 tanks in the Regiment in that time. After Caen, we moved on through Rouen to Lisieux. Ours was the first tank into the town. (After the War I was invited back every two or three years, and was given the freedom of the town. If I went to live there now I wouldn’t have to pay rates or any admission charges! The French people have always shown a lot of gratitude to the liberating forces. I also have medals presented by the towns of Caen and Lisieux.)

We reached Holland and Belgium, were there was more heavy fighting towards the end of 1944, but then we were pulled out of the line and sent to Ardennes to support the American troops against the German breakthrough, their last offensive. It took us four days to get there, driving the tanks. It was bitterly cold and it was difficult driving the tanks on the narrow mountain roads, but we lost only one tank. We carried on from there to the German submarine base in Kiel.

I was back in Holland — near Antwerp — when I heard of the German surrender, but the War wasn’t quite over for us, as German resistance carried on where we were for a week or so. I was browned off hearing about the celebrations back home and we were still fighting!

Les Russel's account of his previous service with the Home Guard at Chillerton, Isle of Wight, can be read at A7613651.

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