By Tank into Normandy (Cassell Military Paperbacks) by Stuart Hills

Author:Stuart Hills [Hills, Stuart]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Publisher: Orion
Published: 2014-03-19T16:00:00+00:00

THE BERJOU BATTLE

Meanwhile Corporal Brooks was still cursing at the lack of support he was getting and I decided to take my own troop up there. The plan to take Berjou was falling apart under pressure of events, but there was a clear need to extricate Brooks and the infantry with him. We moved without infantry support ourselves and so were constantly swivelling our periscopes for Panzerfausts. I made sure that I kept my head down as much as possible but occasionally had to sneak a look out. At one point, just as we made the turn left, I heard what sounded like the buzz of a bumble-bee very close to my head and I realised there must be snipers about. We could not fire much ourselves because our own infantry were around and we did not know quite where. I had the good fortune that day to have two very experienced commanders in my troop – Sergeant-Major Robson and Sergeant Nesling – who boosted my morale considerably. When we reached the higher ground where Brooks was, I found that he had wounded aboard from Stan Perry’s tank, so I ordered him to go back to the field we had just left. I took up my position to the right of the track and waited for further infantry to arrive. The mortar and shellfire continued to be intense, and there seemed to be good observation posts for the enemy gunners in the woods opposite, so I asked the Essex Yeomanry to put down a barrage on them and we raked the posts with machine-gun fire.

Behind us there were all kinds of problems developing, the gist of which we picked up in bits and pieces over the radio. First came news of what had happened to Frank Galvin as his burning tank was found. Then his second tank commander, Sergeant Sleep, was drilled through the forehead by a sniper as he scanned the ground from an open hatch. Close by, the tank of Corporal Brooks was hit by a panzerfaust and he rolled off the tank wounded and down into the road, whereupon his close friend, Sergeant Guy Sanders, MM, who was following him, climbed down from his turret and ran to help him. Both of them were hit by the same panzerfaust and instantly killed. In a very short space of time C Squadron had lost six experienced tank commanders, four of them dead. It was a devastating blow.

I sat where I was as all this mayhem unfolded, fully aware that I was as vulnerable as anyone in such a forward position. My troop was effectively the only one left intact and had to conduct the advance alone. I now had not only my own infantry company from the DCLI but also Frank Galvin’s, which had just turned up. We moved forward along a high ridge open to fire from either flank. The country was a little like Box Hill in Surrey, although more wooded, and at one stage I could see for about fifteen miles to the left – little copses, villages and even German columns.

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