Looking for an incident that killed 5 members of this unit on this date who are listed on the Brookwood Memorial & have no known grave. Any info gratefully received. Chris
Chris, Google 'Creully club' where you will find information about 4/7th Royal Dragoon Guards Regards Gill
There may have a grave then, as there were six drowned when six DD tanks sank whilst on Exercise Smash I near Poole: B Sqn Townson Cpl V N C Sqn Gould Lt C R Hartley Sgt V Park Cpl A J Kirby Tpr A Petty Tpr E G
Thanks very much to you both for the info; Im looking at the possibility of graves for these men now that I know where they died. Lt C R Gould is the only one with a known grave Cheers Chris
The history of the 4/7th, "The First And The Last", describes the incident as follows: At the beginning of April we moved yet again, this time to the South Coast., where the Regiment was centred around New Milton, Hampshire. "B" and "C" Squadrons were already at Poole, where they were able to continue their DD training, and just before the move, we heard that they had taken part in an exercise which had ended disastrously. Rumour had free play for a while and produced some fantastic figures; the was that six tanks were sunk and six men drowned, which was bad enough. in all conscience. The Colonel himself was present, having elected to take part in the exercise in one of "C" Squadron's tank, with a learner-driver "up". To the great credit of the latter he brought his half waterlogged craft safely to land. All the casualties with the exception of Lt Gould are listed on the Brookwood Memorial, so chances are they were simply swept out to sea.
Further re. "Exercise Smash" : BBC Four - Beach Live: Jurassic Coast Revealed, Series 1, Episode 2 There is this: "There are over 300 shipwrecks in Lyme Bay alone, from old galleons to submarines. Dan dives 15 metres deep in the Channel to discover the story behind some of the more unusual vessels, a number of top secret WWII tanks that sank in a D-Day landings rehearsal known as Exercise Smash. Dan joins divers who are carrying out an underwater survey to map these tanks in time for the 75th anniversary and whilst down there, they could come across the conger eels and cuttlefish that now call these tanks home." Just about to be broadcast (Wednesday 18th July 2018 - 8pm - on BBC4)
I was walking the coast path to Swanage and noticed two pairs of metal frame towers facing the sea; one pair near Anvil Polint lighthouse. The towers appear to originally have had large red arrows pointing inland towards Swanage/Studland beach. I wondered if they had anything to do with the Exercise Smash bombing runs?
BBC article (from 31st March 2019) Event marks 75 years since tanks sank Exhibition marks 75 years since Valentine tanks sank "Six weeks before D-Day, troops gathered in Studland to rehearse the Normandy landings operation of World War Two - including the testing of the amphibious Valentine tanks."
Noticed your post #8 above, these are nautical mile marker pylons used by shipping off the Dorset coast. West pair at 50.590921, -1.983800 East pair at 50.592834, -1.957815
I attended the inauguration ceremony for this Memorial and, if memory serves me correctly, it was unveiled by Mrs Park (widow of one of the casualties).
Damage to sunken WW2 tank in Studland Bay probed by police -- x -- Allied Armour, 1939–1945 -- x -- Fort Henry, Winston Churchill's WWII bunker in Studland, Dorset, awarded English Heritage listed status | Daily Mail Online
