Sherman tanks in the JUNO beach area

Discussion in 'Weapons, Technology & Equipment' started by EKB, Dec 4, 2022.

  1. EKB

    EKB Well-Known Member

    Hi Tanker13A, I started this thread because I did not want to hijack the other thread with a divergent topic.

    I browsed the photo gallery at your 1st Hussars Web site and noticed a picture of a Sherman tank and bulldozer ‘22A’. I have attached a full frame copy of this image, and then cropped for details, shown below.

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    Not sure if you've noticed, but there is something amiss about the documentation for this picture. The Library and Archives Canada, and Imperial War Museum, both have a Web page for the same photo but identified the vehicles and location differently. A preview of the picture is missing from the Canada Archives page, but they did note this as Item No. 33951, which is exactly the same as the number marked at the edge of the photo.

    [Tanks of the 1st Hussars and troops of the Royal Winnipeg Rifles and Regina Rifles landing near Courseulles-sur-Mer, France, 6 June 1944.]
    D-DAY - ALLIED FORCES DURING THE INVASION OF NORMANDY 6 JUNE 1944

    Moreover, the initials of photographer Frank L. Dubervill are marked on the photo, but Canada Archives has Ken Bell assigned for picture credit. Another clue about the exact location of the photo is LCI(L) hull numbers 115, 125 and 135.

    ***

    Photographer Frank Dubervill went ashore near the train station at Berniéres sur Mer, as did Sgt. Bill Grant with his movie camera rolling when he landed in front of Villa Denise et Roger (now better known as Canada House). Note that Grant also filmed a bulldozer marked ‘22A’ with LCI(L) 115 visible in the background …

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    INVASION, BAYEUT; CANADIAN TROOPS GO ASHORE IN FRANCE; CANADIAN BEACHHEAD - LMWWIIHD144

    ***

    I believe that Lt. Dubervill was standing near Villa Denise et Roger when he made this photo. One of just two pictures that I’ve found showing a tank towing a sledge across the sand, both in the Juno Beach area.

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    Canadian troops crouch behind concrete wall before going inland, D-Day
     
    Last edited: Dec 4, 2022
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  2. Yes, this photo was definitely shot at Bernières (NAN WHITE Beach) and therefore shows a Sherman tank of the Fort Garry Horse, not First Hussars as it is often miscaptioned.
     
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  3. EKB

    EKB Well-Known Member

    Another Frank Dubervill picture captioned with the wrong location and photo credit to Ken Bell. LCI(L) 270 was beached in the background.

    FORUM A - LAC 3203112 33952 PA-132468.jpg
    FORUM B - LAC 3203112 33952 PA-132468.jpg
    Personnel of the Royal Winnipeg Rifles and Regina Rifles as well as tanks of the 1st Hussars

    ***

    LCI(L) 270 alongside LCI(L) 135. Probably photographed from the deck of LCI(L) 306.

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    D-DAY - ALLIED FORCES DURING THE INVASION OF NORMANDY 6 JUNE 1944

    ***

    As an aside, Lt. Bell was diverted to Berniéres sur Mer where he photographed this column of German prisoners marching on the beach, with the buildings Villa Denise et Roger and Les nouveaux Magasins de la Plage visible in the background.

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    German personnel captured on D-Day embarking for England
    German officers and other ranks who surrendered to Canadian troops at Bernières-sur-Mer, June 6th, 1944.
     
  4. Tanker13A

    Tanker13A Member

    Hi EKB, indeed it is not a 6 CAR tank. We were waffling between FGH or SF and were leaning towards SF. We leaned that way based on, it wasn't Coursuelles-sur-Mer and it was later in the day, so more towards the remaining assault force + reserves coming ashore.
     
  5. Sorry, my bad! You're right, it's not Fort Garry Horse but Sherbrooke Fusiliers, whose Mob Serial No 1044/1 can be read on the Stuart on the right of the non-cropped version of photo 33952.
     
  6. Temujin

    Temujin Member

    Look at the First photo, and the “tank” in the lead of the column coming down the beach I believe is a Stuart (followed by another Stuart) and its “chalk” marking I believe starts with 1044 which was the Unit Code for the 27th Armoured Regiment

    Opppps, same answer as above at the same time as post above, possible off the following Serials

    Serial 1718 is LCT4 938 carrying:
    27th Canadian Armoured Regiment (The Sherbrooke Fusiliers Regiment) - Lt A.R. Truax
    • 1 x Sherman Tank Vc with 4 crew
    • 4 x Sherman Tanks III with 25 crew each towing Porpoise with ammunition
    • 2 x Stuart Tanks with 10 crew
    • 1 x 3 ton Lorry GS with 2 crew
    Serial 1719 is LCT4 937 carrying:
    27th Canadian Armoured Regiment (The Sherbrooke Fusiliers Regiment) - Major G.S. Mahon
    • 1 x Sherman Tank Vc with 4 crew
    • 5 x Sherman Tanks III with 25 crew each towing Porpoise with ammunition
    • 2 x Stuart Tanks with 10 crew
    • 1 x 3 ton Lorry GS with 2 crew
    • 14 men from North Nova Scotia Highlanders
    Serial 1720 is LCT4 700 carrying:
    27th Canadian Armoured Regiment (The Sherbrooke Fusiliers Regiment) - Lt K.L. Steeves
    • 2 x Sherman Tank Vc with 8 crew
    • 4 x Sherman Tanks III with 20 crew towing Porpoise with ammunition
    • 2 x Stuart Tanks with 10 crew
    • 1 x 3 ton Lorry GS with 2 crew
    • 1 x Motorcycle and 1 crew carried in above vehicle
    Serial 1721 is LCT4 940 carrying:
    27th Canadian Armoured Regiment (The Sherbrooke Fusiliers Regiment) - Capt S.V. Radley Walters and Capt M.H. Bateman
    • 1 x Sherman Tank Vc with 4 crew
    • 5 x Sherman Tanks III with 25 crew towing Porpoise with ammunition
    • 2 x Stuart Tanks with 10 crew
    • 1 x 3 ton Lorry GS with 2 crew
    • 1 x Motorcycle and 1 crew carried in above vehicle
     
    Last edited: Dec 5, 2022
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  7. Tanker13A

    Tanker13A Member

    Another mystery solved
     
  8. EKB

    EKB Well-Known Member

    Full frames of the last two images from my previous message, and also to give an FYI about looking for pictures at Library and Archives Canada ...

    LAC 34048 : 34049 German POWs at Berniéres sur Mer.jpg

    The Item no. (creator) marked on the edge of the film is useless with the search engine, at least with my Web browser. If you know the Item ID number or copy negative number, you should get an immediate link to the correct page. To find the information pages for these two images, I typed "German" in the search box and looked through the list of links until I found the two pages with matching creator numbers.
     
    Last edited: Dec 6, 2022
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  9. EKB

    EKB Well-Known Member

    Fortunately the load marks were applied bigger and brighter than usual. During exercises in England some Canadian tanks had large I.D. numbers painted on the turret, but that does not appear to have been common practice in combat.

    Another view of the tank column at Bernières-sur-Mer; photo credited to Lt. Gilbert Milne on LCI(L) 306.

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    Personnel of the 9th Canadian Infantry Brigade landing from LCI(L) 125 of the 3rd Canadian (264th RN) Flotilla on 'Nan White' Beach on D-Day

    ***

    Just noticed that photo 33952 shows a portable bridge section on the seawall, which may or may not be the same as in the second photo.

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    Troops of the 9th Canadian Infantry Brigade (Stormont, Dundas, and Glengarry Highlanders) going ashore from LCI (L) 299 [Landing Craft Infantry], Bernières-sur-mer, Normandy, France, 6 June 1944
     
  10. EKB

    EKB Well-Known Member

    Wow, that was epic. The Canada archives did get the location wrong on at least one picture that you added to the Saunders thread. The caption writer was probably confused by the St. Aubin road sign, with the commercial property Les nouveaux Magasins de la Plage in the background.

    Storefront, which faced the train platform.
    LAC 3396075 PA-128789 01.jpg
    LAC 3396075 PA-128789 02.jpg
    [Canadian troops on the outskirts of St. Aubin-Sur-Mer, France, 6 June 1944.]

    ***

    Backside of same building, which faced the shore.
    LAC 3203113 PA-132469 01.jpg
    LAC 3203113 PA-132469 02.jpg
    German prisoners carrying wounded Canadian soldier

    ***

    Building to the right is Villa Denise et Roger.
    Postcard Bernieres train station and Canada House Les nouveaux Magasins de la Plage.jpg
    Delcampe - The collectors' marketplace
     
    Last edited: Dec 7, 2022
  11. klambie

    klambie Senior Member

    I share your frustration with the search engine, and with the caveat that they might have made changes, you might have some luck by including the photographers last name in your search. See towards the end of this thread:
    Canadian Film & Photo Unit going into battle / Operation Varsity
     
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  12. EKB

    EKB Well-Known Member

    Not certain if the crew of this flail tank was British or Canadian. The Sherman was stopped on the East side of Villa Denise et Roger and I believe that all of the images were recorded by the U.S. Army Special Coverage Unit. Hollywood filmmaker George Stevens was the officer commanding. For reasons unknown to me, Stevens landed at Bernières-sur-Mer with cameraman Richard Hoar and possibly a few other members of his team.

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    Sherman Crab D.jpg
    Sherman Crab E copy.jpg


    EDIT: It's an old book, but I forgot that I had this on Kindle:

    "The 80th Squadron, under the command of Major Wiltshire along with eleven Crabs of the 1st and 4th Troop, B Squadron, 22nd Dragoons, was to clear two lanes on Nan White and two on Nan Red for the 8th Canadian Infantry Brigade. The squadron strength, including the 55-man detachment of the 22nd Dragoons, was 11 officers and 180 other ranks. The officers and men of the 80th Squadron complained vehemently of the difficult Channel passage: “A bad crossing which caused most men to be seasick. Station keeping by RN [Royal Navy] was poor. Craft touched down far from simultaneously and in most cases, due to the tide, well to the left of their planned gaps.”

    ...

    Nan White Beach, Yellow Gap: 2nd Troop—Successful LCT-(1410) carried half the assault team, under Lt. Ian Charles Hammerton, commander of 1st Troop, B Squadron, 22nd Dragoons, with two Crabs and two A.V.R.E.’s (GP and Fascine). LCT-(1411) carried the other half, under the 2nd Troop, 80th Assault Squadron commander, Capt. Sir Francis Grant, with one Crab and three A.V.R.E.’s (GP, Fascine, and SBG). Both LCT’s landed together at 0805. According to the war diary, the troop touched down 500 yds E of planned gap. High tide and mined obstacles forced gap to be made opposite point of landing—wall 12’ high. Flails start flailing to the wall but br [bridge] shot away as it left the craft (comd cas [the A.V.R.E. commander was a casualty]). Second comd [commander] killed by MG fire. Two Petards out of action due to enemy fire. Ten dustbins [fired] at lip of wall but crater too steep and soft. Inf then began landing some way to right. Moved down beach towards ramp blocked by element C (10 shots). Flailed up ramp with two Flails. One Flail caught up in wire. Eventually clear after some hand clearance under smoke. Fascine dropped in A-tk ditch and ramped by hand. Second path made to by-pass Bernieres.

    Anderson, Richard C., Jr.. Cracking Hitler's Atlantic Wall . Stackpole Books. Kindle Edition.
     
    Last edited: Dec 30, 2022
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  13. Wg Cdr Luddite

    Wg Cdr Luddite Well-Known Member

    George Stevens also recorded some colour film footage of the beaches during his visit. Including rounding up random soldiers and posing them on that very tank to make it look operational.
     
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  14. EKB

    EKB Well-Known Member

    Scenes on the same road, filmed at different times by Bill Grant and Richard Hoar.

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    Chalk board included on British Pathé copy of footage at 2:09:


    The Sherman has what looks like ranging or azimuth marks on the turret. Found this statement which might be relevant to the tank in the picture:

    "Between 0850 and 0920 hours, it appears that at least six of the eight LCT(A)’s and LCT(HE)’s carrying the 4th Battery, 2nd (RM) Armoured Support Regiment, landed. They brought twelve Centaur tanks and probably three Sherman OP tanks."

    Anderson, Richard C., Jr.. Cracking Hitler's Atlantic Wall . Stackpole Books. Kindle Edition.

    Is this correct?
     
    Last edited: Dec 16, 2022
  15. EKB

    EKB Well-Known Member

    Found the color images on flickr, but those frames seem to be missing from the CHRONOS movie that I watched on YouTube. There must be different versions of the video.

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    Last edited: Dec 30, 2022
  16. EKB

    EKB Well-Known Member

    Train station office and Sherman BARV stopped near water well.

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    Attached Files:

    Last edited: Dec 30, 2022
  17. Wg Cdr Luddite

    Wg Cdr Luddite Well-Known Member

    Yes. All the RMASG tanks had those markings.
     
  18. EKB

    EKB Well-Known Member

    Is there another thread that explains how and when this Sherman flail was stopped? The tank is missing in the next photo, which is dated June 6, 1944.

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    Last edited: Dec 18, 2022
  19. Nope. This is the tank crew on their own, still operational tank.
     

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