大象传媒

This story has been written onto the 大象传媒 People鈥檚 War site by CSV Storygatherer Robin.D.Bailey on behalf of the author Victor Donald Delves. They fully understand the terms and conditions of the site.

On one occasion we were being heavily shelled and had nowhere to go to take cover. So on seeing a Sherman Tank, which had not been there long, my army friend and myself decided to go under it to avoid being hit with shrapnel. I think the Tank had a problem of some kind as it had no crew.

We slid in under the Tank to take shelter for a little while and to get a few minutes rest; We were both pretty tired, having had little sleep in recent days.

After a while I felt a little pressure on my chest and quickly realised that the 30 ton Tank was gradually sinking into the ground. I had a bit of a struggle to drag myself out and called to my friend who was so tired, he had not noticed what was happening. He was a little stouter than
me, and when told that he was gradually being trapped. He shouted 鈥淗elp me, I am unable to get out quickly.鈥� The heavy weight was beginning to press and hold him. I caught hold of his ankles and began to pull, gradually he came out and sat for a minute saying that we were lucky.

We rarely took shelter under any tanks again, and even when we did, we made sure that the crew were not inside. No one would go near a tank for shelter, if it was thought that it may move.

The Germans called our tanks 鈥淭ommy Cookers鈥� because they would catch fire when hit. The Sherman Tank ran on petrol not diesel and could travel at 25 mph; It had a 75mm gun which was a 6 pounder. It was I think the most popular tank in the war, although the German Mk 6 was more powerful; It had the 88mm gun which was very accurate and powerful.

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