大象传媒

IX. A Near Escape and a Successful Shoot
Montilly and Jurques

The days of action continued unrelentingly towards Tilly-sur-Seulles, which was the main centre of the German defences. A group of young Germans on being captured threw away their helmets and combed their long blond hair; probably the 12th SS who were allowed to wear their hair long. A young relief gunner joined our crew. During a morning attack the Browning machine gun which he had cleaned the night before would not function. He had assembled it incorrectly in the turret mounting. The Corporal ordered him out of the turret to fix it. Disgusted with the Corporal that he was risking the young lad鈥檚 life, I went out to give him a hand. Good fortune smiled on us and we returned to the comparative safety of the turret the job done.
It was now June 18th. Montilly was a village behind Tilly-sur-Seulles and the object of the offensive was to surround the Germans who had been defending the villages of Verrieres and Lingevres. We were briefed that we were 鈥楶oint Tank鈥� in 鈥楶oint Troop鈥� that is leading the attack. The Troop had been reformed with reinforcements and new 鈥楽hermans鈥�. Our gunner had left to join the new Troop Leader鈥檚 crew and we were joined by Ken, a Max Miller lookalike with grey humorous eyes and a life support supply of cigarettes which he had carefully amassed and which filled his small pack.
We set off from the 鈥楽tart Line鈥� at a fine pace. The countryside was made up of small meadows, orchards and high hedges with ditches and banks, in fact typical 鈥榖ocage鈥� country. As we bumped and bucked along, in a small orchard on our right and clearly visible parked against farm buildings, but partly obscured by trees was a tank. The Corporal yelled down the intercom to the gunner 鈥淭raverse right, tank, AP open fire鈥�. We did not stop to see the result of the shot. It transpired later that it was an empty Royal Marine鈥檚 recce tank that had come ashore on D-Day and had run out of fuel.
We belted on at a furious rate and then came to a shuddering halt, tipped nose forward. The crew got out. I took my time and stood up in the turret looking out to see what had happened. The 鈥楽herman鈥� had nose dived into a deep ditch and a high hedge on the other side of the ditch obscured my view. The crew shouted from the bottom of the ditch that the enemy was on the other side of the hedge. I hurriedly jumped down and at that moment there was a dreadful bang and a tank from another Troop which had passed through a gateway to our right reversed past with a clanking and rattling. There was a large black smoking hole in its engine compartment.
I joined the rest of the crew who were lying in the ditch. There was the infantry commander, radio operator and the second in command, the latter standing by a tree at the far end of the ditch looking through the hedge. The infantry commander, who was lying full length in the bottom of the ditch, ordered the Corporal to defend the ditch.
The Corporal told me to get up the bank and he would follow. I climbed the bank, grabbed a branch and pulled myself up next to the embedded tank. A machine gun burst, like a nest of hornets zipped through the hedge with a deafening clatter, splattering the front of the tank next to which I was crouching. The observant crew of the German tank in the next field had seen the hedge shake as I grabbed a branch. We slithered down the bank to the ditch bottom. The Corporal said he was not staying in the ditch and ordered us to follow him, passing the infantry commander. An armour piercing shell hit the tree next to where the second in command was standing showering him with bright yellow splinters of wood.
We turned left down a ditch on the far side of the meadow. The Corporal, who detected movement in front, drew his revolver and shouted a challenge. It turned out to be the crew of the other tank that had been hit. We spent the rest of the day in there until the tank was towed out in the evening.
I can only assume that the infantry in the ditch were
either killed or wounded by the 鈥楶anther鈥� which knew the ditch wasoccupied. Otherwise I am sure that the fact that orders had not
been obeyed would have been followed up.
And onwards to Jurques.

Order of Battle of the 49th West Riding Division

50th Infantry Brigade
10th Durham Light Infantry
11th Durham Light Infantry
1st Tyneside Scottish

14th Infantry Brigade
4th Lincolnshire Regiment
1st/4th King鈥檚 Own Yorkshire Light Infantry
Hallamshire Battalion of the York and Lancaster Regiment

147th Infantry Brigade
11th Royal Scots Fusiliers
6th Duke of Wellington鈥檚 Regiment
7th Duke of Wellington鈥檚 Regiment

The Squadron was given a rest at Hottot-les Bagues, South West of Tilly-sur-Seulles, which had taken so much time and effort to capture. Tilly-sur-Seulles was a heap of rubble with a pungent odour of death as we passed through to our location at Hottot.
The tanks harboured in line next to a hedge and for protection we dug a pit and drove the tank over it. During our rest we refuelled, checked over the ammo, wrote home and did our washing. We managed to get a good nights sleep under the tank, positioning ourselves to avoid the dripping oil. A Church parade was held in an open field and the Squadron told to attend voluntarily. During the service everyone was thinking that it would be just too bad if we were spotted by a German plane. For communion at the end of the service the field emptied leaving a few officers kneeling in front of the Padre. The troops voted with their feet. We had no wish to qualify for a fast ticket to heaven.
Ken, our gunner, organised walks close to the camp. On one walk we travelled further than we intended and it was dusk before we returned with Ken leading the way, revolver drawn. On another walk we entered a large country mansion which we thought was unoccupied. Ken was upstairs looking around and I was in the hall when the owner emerged from a rear room. I don鈥檛 know who was more surprised but it ended amicably when he took us to the greenhouse and gave us tomatoes.
The Troop had been reorganised with the addition of a 鈥楩irefly Sherman鈥� sporting a 17pounder gun firing Sabot ammunition. This tank went some way as an answer to the German 鈥楶anther鈥� tank.
Orders for the 3rd August were to move through a village called Jurques to Duval. We set out early in the morning through hilly countryside. Just before Jurques the road went round a hill, dropped down to a small wood and climbed up again. It was a bright sunny day and the countryside was free from the scars of conflict. No broken telegraph poles, smashed hedges, rubble or burnt out vehicles. The fields to both sides of the road which climbed up from the wood were rocky and pitted with ravines, which made it impossible for the 鈥楽hermans鈥� to go other than by road.
There was one tank in front of us from 3rd Troop 鈥樷�橞鈥� Squadron and we followed close behind as it went slowly up the hill, then it jerked sideways, the front lifting up as it slewed round with black smoke pouring out of the turret. We learnt later that three of the crew was killed and the commander wounded.
We could not go on as the road was blocked so we reversed down the hill to the small wood at the bottom. The infantry told us that a 鈥楶anther鈥� was dug in at the top of the hill. Typhoon tank buster planes were called up and made a pass over the wood. We threw out a yellow smoke canister; this was the signal of friend not foe. The Typhoons peeled off and rocketed the dug in 鈥楶anther鈥�. The infantry were monitoring it and let us know that it had left its dug-in position and was coming down the hill towards us. We waited in the wood, the sun shining through the birch trees, sparkly in the afternoon sun. Then in the distance we heard the crash of the 鈥楶anther鈥� knocking down the trees as it came for us. We glimpsed it through the vegetation and then the 鈥楽herman Firefly鈥� parked next to us and a little forward jerked as it fired a round of Sabot armour piercing shot at the 鈥楶anther鈥�. It reversed out of the wood and later we learnt that the shot had penetrated the turret; it retreated up the hill and it was found abandoned in a nearby wood.
Importantly the German tank could traverse the rocky terrain, which the 鈥楽herman鈥� was unable to negotiate. Probably the 鈥楶anther鈥� knew that our 75mm gun could not penetrate its frontal armour so decided to chase us; they hadn鈥檛 reckoned on the fact that we had a 鈥楩irefly鈥�.
During a visit to the area in 2003 the rocky terrain had disappeared. I wondered if the Germans had put rocks at the verges to direct the attacking tanks up the road, otherwise little has changed. The copse now comprises mature but rather bedraggled trees and a small electricity sub station has been built by entrance into it. There is a house on a level area where the Panther was dug in. Whether the house was there in 1944 I do not know
The Troop was now put in reserve whilst the action took place around Mont Pincon and down to St Pierre La Vieille. Harbouring for the night we went for our walk on high ground in a pinewood on top of an escarpment with flat country stretching to the North. The pinewood was honeycombed with elaborate dugout trenches with rooms off and observation holes perfectly dug out without any sign of a telltale spoil heap. On a dais on the edge of the escarpment was an old French 75mm field gun. In a ditch a young German soldier in full marching order lay face down. The water supply tank was encased in timber cladding, all purpose built by the boy soldiers in the training regiment. It looked similar to an Austrian chalet. Lying by the water tank, mug still clasped in one hand was an elderly German Sergeant with close-cropped hair and a buttoned up tunic.
We explored the area and noticed a booby-trapped German helmet that had exploded. I found a military map of Northern France, which I handed on our return to the Troop Leader.
After having pot shots with some of the rifles lying about, we returned to the tanks.
During the quiet times the tank was cleaned, overalls were cleaned in petrol and clothes and bodies washed using a cut down petrol tin as a basin.
From time to time a FFI 鈥揊ree From Infection 鈥� parade was held. The men assembled in a field 鈥� usually for some unaccountable reason near habitation; this was of great interest to the locals. We wore trousers and boots only, in front of the Medical Officer. Each man in turn walked up to the M.O. and raised his arms. Automatically his trousers fell down which enabled the M.O. to inspect. The inspectee then hobbled around, bent down and touched his toes enabling further inspection of that area.

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