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VII. The Attack on Verrieres
Verrieres and Lingevres

We set off for the villages of Ling猫vres and Verri猫res; the latter was our objective. The column of tanks turned off the road and through a gap in the hedge. Standing by the gap was the Commanding Officer leaning on a walking stick, like a shepherd counting his sheep. In front was a low-lying belt of cornfields bordered in the distance by a wood, black in the June sunshine.
The tanks lined up with the infantry and the barrage opened up from the rear lines. The order to start was given and we
went forward accompanied by the infantry chest high in the corn. The Troop Leader鈥檚 tank was well spaced out and forward, the Sergeants and then ours all more or less in line abreast. After a short while, looking through my periscope, I noticed the Troop Leader鈥檚 tank was stationary with a thin vertical plume of black smoke issuing from the open turret. Then the Troop Sergeant's tank went into reverse, Fred, the driver frantically scrambled over the turret, across the engine casing and jumped down behind the reversing tank holding his hand against it to steady himself.
We stopped. An armour piercing shell from the German anti-tank gun in the distant wood slid with a flurry of red soil under the tank. The gunner no doubt believed we were moving forward and was allowing for this. In a second he would realise his mistake and elevate his gun. The distance was too far for our 75mm gun. There was no reaction from our commander. I shouted down the intercom that we should reverse. The driver waited a second for the commander鈥檚 order, which never came, so he reversed.
The infantry seeing that the supporting tanks were in trouble started to retreat but a Sergeant waved them forward gesticulating with his rifle. We reversed in a curve and landed up where we should have been in reserve.
Following the rest of the tanks the driver started to deviate to the right. There was a wounded German officer lying on the ground and the driver drove the tank towards him with the intention of running him over. Whether he really intended to do so, I don鈥檛 know. The Corporal saw what he was about to do and yelled down the intercom. 鈥淚f you run over that man I will put you on a charge鈥�.
We arrived at the village of Verri猫res without any more trouble. It was taken with the loss to the Germans of an anti-tank gun, two self-propelled guns and a 鈥楶anther鈥� tank.
Ling猫vres was taken by 鈥楢鈥欌�� Squadron. A Sergeant Harris with his gunner Trooper MacKillop knocked out five 鈥楶anther鈥� tanks with five shots.
Returning from the village in the late afternoon the Corporal dismounted to investigate a row of bodies of British infantry next to a shell hole. He returned to the turret and told us they were all right, just in a drunken stupor.
The villages were successfully taken with heavy casualties to the infantry. We learnt afterwards that the tanks in front had been diverted onto the right flank, that the creeping barrage did not creep far enough. Seven crewmembers in the two tanks were killed and there was one survivor. The consequences of traversing the open cornfield were inevitable, the result disastrous. In the evening the Padre went out to the burnt out Lieutenant鈥檚 tank. The driver and the co-driver had attempted to escape via the escape hatch in the floor of the driver鈥檚 cab, the hatches were obstructed or jammed and they had been overwhelmed
It was also learnt later that the Troop Sergeant鈥檚 tank when reversing hit a bank, turned round and went back the way it was originally going. The bodies of John and the Sergeant were never found. It would appear that because of the casualties suffered on the 11th June the Sergeant was acting as gunner, John as loader-operator with Fred as driver. The tank was short of two crewmembers. That night my mind was numb. It was impossible to think properly. I rolled up in my blankets by the tank and after briefly changing my position as my head was under the front track, went off soundly to sleep.
Fifty years on, the area has not changed, the hedge and ditch where the German defenders crouched firing their twelve machine guns with the aid of string on the triggers, is still there. It has an air about it as though nothing untoward had ever happened. A local French farmer told me during a visit to Verri猫res that the crop never grows where the Lieutenant鈥檚 tank burnt. He thought it was due to the battery acid that was spilt.
The casualties amongst the 6th Battalion Durham Light Infantry who were the infantry with us on that day were over one hundred killed, wounded or missing.
During the battle at Ling猫vres a mysterious 鈥楽herman鈥� appeared and Sergeant Harris had to hold his fire when he was engaging with the 鈥楶anther鈥� tanks. Could this have been the Sergeant鈥檚 tank which the Germans had taken over after removing the bodies?

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