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Denis Knight (my father) counted himself lucky to stay with the two same comrades in his tank crew throughout: Tom Denning as gunner, and driver Bert Arrowsmith, with Denis as co-driver/machine-gunner. Tom died aged 95 in 2004, and at his funeral this was Denis鈥檚 鈥渢ribute to my friend, Tom Denning:

There are some people we meet whose names, over the slow course of a lifetime, become for us a personal embodiment of certain qualities and ideals to which we all strive - qualities not found in quite the same way in anyone else we come across. When a man lives his life as long and as well as did Tom, there will be many perspectives and many ways of knowing him: if you met him late in his life, he perhaps will be to you that gallant old gentleman, whose mental strength and character never faded to the very end. But for me, the name Tom Denning has been synonymous with unbendable resolution, unfailing good sense, and quiet kindness ever since I met him in 1942, when I was twenty-one and he was thirty-two. I was newly planted in the war, but Tom was a seasoned Desert Rat already, a survivor of the bloody victory at El Alamein.

Tom was the man behind the 75mm gun in our Sherman tank, and in charge of driving it was his very good friend and mine, Bert Arrowsmith. My job was to co-drive and look after the machine-gun, and the three of us stayed together till the end. If Tom felt fear, it was not his main concern, which was invariably the task at hand. Only the hit or the miss. His was not a hand that trembled, and I owe my life to Tom many times over. I owe him, for example, the duel of shells between our flimsy Sherman and an unexpected Panzer met around a corner, head-to-head and barrel to barrel. Tom that day was quick but calm, as always. He stayed behind that gun through Sicily, through Italy, then Normandy and on to Holland. He was still behind it when we crossed the Rhine and dug our tracks into the German heartlands. Whether he was making war or making tea, Tom always did things right. That was his special gift, and one he kept until the last day of his life.鈥�

The 鈥渉ead-to-head and barrel to barrel鈥� duel happened after the crossing of the River Moro and the capture of Rualti (or 鈥楻oalti鈥� or 鈥榁illa Roatti鈥� in some versions), as the Eighth Army pushed north up the Italian Adriatic coast in late 1943. The full story of Denis and Tom鈥檚 part in this action was vividly described in correspondence between the two some 44 years after the event. Early in 1988, Tom wrote his account:

鈥淎t the end of October 1943 the 44th Royal Tank Regiment were "standing down" - on short notice to move - in the area of Fossacessia, Abbrezzi province, north of the
River Sangro on the eastern side of Italy.

On 1st December we were hurriedly ordered to move at first light towards San Vito. Ken Sinden, the wireless-op on our tank, had trouble with a boil swollen-up on the back of his neck, and in no way fit to go into action. His place was taken by Sgt Ted Tirbutt. Our tank commander Capt. Tug Wilson, 2nd in command 'C' squadron, together with tank driver Bert Arrowsmith, Denis Knight, and myself, Tom Denning - gunner, made up the crew.

We travelled north towards San Vito and the River Moro, where Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry [P.P.C.L.I.] had just established a small bridgehead across the River Moro, the furthest point north the Eighth Army advance had reached at the time, and were in urgent need of our tank support, as it was clear the Germans would return with their tank support to force the Canadian infantry back, and regain the bridgehead.

It was a very very steep and difficult climb by way of a track up from the small river to the Canadian position. Only 'C' squadron 44th Royal Tank Regiment took part, not all of which managed to "make it" to where the Canadians had established their position in the small village of Rualti.

All was quiet as our tank moved into a large green field on the outskirts of the village and waited, keeping a watchful eye forward for any signs of enemy approach. Meanwhile we had a "brew-up" of tea, and went into a nearby one-room village school, which the Germans had been using as a field first aid post, where a range of medical equipment was spread out.

One of our tanks suddenly reported movement on the horizon, with the approach of German tanks and infantry. As we waited with gun loaded with armour piercing shell, a German tank together with infantry came into view some 500 yards distant. I fired but could not see the result - the fourth shot however detonated the ammunition on board with an absolutely tremendous and violent explosion, huge flames shooting from underneath the bottom of the tank. We let up a cheer!! and I continued firing the Browning machine gun at the approaching German infantry, who fell to the ground.

Our tank was ordered to return to the village into which German Panzer tanks Mark IV Specials - armed with long barrel high velocity, 75mm gun, accurate at one mile - had now penetrated. As we approached a house by the roadside, our tank commander (Tug Wilson) spotted a German tank behind the house, in the garden. We pulled up sharply, and waited: he on one side of the house, we on the other side. I turned the gun over the back-side of our tank, and waited, my eyes glued to the periscope, saying to myself "it is either you or me now Karl". Machine gun bullets were flying about. Tank gunfire reverberated, and echoed around the surrounding hills and mountains (we were on the edge of the Apennine mountain ridge).

I think the German tank expected our gun to be pointing directly ahead in the direction we had been moving, as gradually the nose of the German tank appeared from behind the house. I dare not fire too soon, anxious fractions of a second passed!! with only 20 or so yards between us, we both more or less fired at the same time, then horror of horrors, the fine misty drizzle now falling and the still air caused the blue smoke of my gun to hang in the air at the end of the gun barrel, obliterating my view, and I could not see. With automatic loading by the wireless-op, I did not take my foot off the firing button and rapidly fired again - still unable to see through the blue smoke, having eased my gun slightly to the right, judging he was still moving forward across my front.

Bert and Denis had not witnessed the drama now being played out by the second behind them, as they faced the opposite direction. Likewise the wireless-op having no periscope could not see anything taking place outside. After the action I was able to ascertain what had happened. My first shot had hit the German tank dead central, jammed the tank track, and brought it to a "stand-still". The following shot slightly to the right punched a hole by the German co-driver's head.

Our attempt to move was prevented, our engine would not start-up and we had to "bale-out鈥�. The German first shot had skimmed a piece of metal from the louvre of our tank into the tappets of one engine. As we all "baled out" I took my Sten gun with me. Tug Wilson grabbed a German rifle he had acquired. Sgt Ted Tirbutt , finding himself with nothing as we crossed the road to jump down into a garden, demanded I should give him my Sten gun. Although taking a dim view of such a demand I had to comply. Denis, Bert, and myself sought cover in a deserted one-room house. Standing in the doorway attracted a sudden burst of machine gun fire, bullets ricocheting off a low flint stone wall leading to the doorway. Luckily none of us were hit.

Towards evening, having suffered losses, the Germans were no longer able to continue their attack and decided to withdraw. It was not long before they started to send a few shells into the area we occupied. As darkness fell guards were arranged in co-operation with the infantry; the night proved uneventful. [The day鈥檚 events (6 December 1943) as seen by the Canadian infantry are described in 鈥淩EPORT NO. 165, HISTORICAL SECTION CANADIAN MILITARY HEADQUARTERS; OPERATIONS OF 1 CDN INF DIV AND 1 CDN ARMD BDE IN ITALY, 25 NOV 43 - 4 JAN 44; paragraph (86): The day's fighting, during which the Battalion withstood its first counter-attack, was for the Patricias the heaviest since the Italian campaign opened. P.P.C.L.I. casualties amounted to eight killed, nine missing believed prisoners of war, and 60 wounded. Much of the success was due to the indomitable efforts of the crews of 44 Royal Tank Regiment, who, realizing the situation depended on their timely arrival, had not failed. In the struggle with the river bed and steep incline to the village, the tank crews had climbed out to clear their own path through the mines. Two of the Shermans had been lost in the fighting. (W.D., H.Q. 2 Cdn Inf Bde, 6 Dec 43).鈥� per ^{About links}
]

The next day I was able to go up and look at the first tank "knocked-out". The Germans left abandoned the anti-tank gun they had placed at the side of their "knocked-out" tank. The tremendous explosion had blown the whole turret completely off, it lay upside down at the side!! The four shots fired had key-holed together underneath the gun mantlet, a weak spot in the armament. "Text book shooting". The German Panzer tank crew in their black uniforms, with pressed metal "Deaths Head" emblem on each collar lapel, lay motionless nearby, struck down by my machine gun.

Shelling of our position became more intense with the passage of time, adding 5 and 10 barrel Nebelwefers, firing rocket-type high explosive projectiles nicknamed "moaning minnies", which describes the vibrating screeching noise one could hear as they "started-up".

It is a few days into December 1943. A detachment from 8th Indian Division arrived to take over from Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry. Packed on the backs of mules, rations came up by "mule train", the only means of transport able to climb up to our position, together with a message of congratulations from Montgomery to all troops in Rualti.

During night-time a guard tank to support infantry is posted on the outskirts of Rualti village. During one night at around 3 a.m. commotion and noise erupted as a German patrol stealthily endeavoured to fasten a limpet mine (a magnetic device with explosive charge) on to the side of the guard tank. Having failed, they retired leaving their wounded, including one I saw next morning horribly slashed across the face by a bullet. A German Red Cross medical orderly remained with him.

Sudden intensive shelling following long quiet periods was designed to catch one unawares, little can be done other than immediately throw oneself down and flatly hug the ground, or dash under the nearest tank for cover. This bombardment was a frequent daily occurrence throughout the action. Sheltering for the night with others fully clothed, on the floor of a bare upstairs room of a house, in an endeavour to catch a few hours sleep, while near-miss shells whined and swooshed disquietly close overhead, and tiles rattled off the roof, made it a forlorn hope.

Although our tank could only function on one engine we took our turn to go up as guard tank to support the infantry at night, who were installed in a nearby building at the side of the approach road on the outskirts of the village. The night was bitterly cold in so far as my teeth chattered, nothing much happened until a couple of hours or so after midnight, when suddenly terrific explosions some few yards to our front - fortunately no damage to ourselves. Although we could not see anything of the enemy, heavy mortars is what they had launched. The infantry rattled away into the darkness with their Bren guns, after which things quieten down.

Our fitters came up to service our tanks. They also managed to start up the engine and repair the track of the second German Mark IV Special tank I had "knocked-out". We took it with us when we moved back at the end of the action. Unfortunately it seized-up on a hill on the road to San Vito and had to be abandoned. The green field our tank moved into upon arrival, after a week of heavy shelling, had the appearance of a ploughed-up field, a cratered, barren wasteland, not a blade of grass to be seen.

General Montgomery has now decided to open up the front to our far left, starting with an attack pushing north by the 8th Indian Division. We were told to expect shelling of our position to result, as the Germans would think the far left attack was merely a diversion, and the real push forward would come from our position, which of course it was not to be. The real advance on the far left succeeded, we endured the expected shelling. Thereafter the pressure on our front became less. A squadron of tanks from 50th Royal Tank Regiment arrived around 10th December together with infantry and anti-tank guns.

For their part in the action Major Foster, Squadron Commander, and Captain Tug Wilson 2nd i/c "C" Squadron, were awarded Military Crosses. After a short while "C" Squadron tanks moved back down to Lanciano, where we spent Christmas. Rumours of 'home' began to be heard. For the 44th Royal Tank Regiment, fighting in "sunny" Italy had ended with the memory of cold, mud, and heavy rain. At the end of January we moved down to Taranto to embark on the good ship "Ranchi鈥�, arriving at Gourock in Scotland early February, en route to Worthing in Sussex from where we were soon "whisked-off" on leave.

After which, we were actively engaged preparing new tanks for the next task: test firing in Scotland, waterproofing the underneath of our tanks with Bostik, etc. General Montgomery came to visit us at Worthing, and gave us a pep talk, it was a prelude to what was to come - the break into fortress Europe. Taking our tanks with us, chained to the hull floor of the tank landing craft, we became part of the forces to be employed in the huge operation, the invasion of Normandy - France. That is another story.鈥�

[see A7174721 for Denis' account.]

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