Remember

Today is Remembrance Sunday in the UK, so as I normally do, I've selected something a bit more thought provoking than my usual fare.
Last year I visited the American cemetery at Madingley for this article. Some of the Photographs I took didn't go into the For the Record Article. They were short pieces on some of the fallen commemorated at the cemetery.

1st Lieutenant Sidney Dunagan

Pilot of a C47

Lieutenant Murray Blum

US Merchant Marine officer

Technical  Sergeant Arizona Harris 

Dorsal turret gunner on a B17

The Reich Strikes back

Part one.

The Coldstreamers then fell back from the position they'd reached to give hill 309 some safety distance because at 1500 a bomber strike was scheduled to prepare the hill. Shortly after vacating their position a pair of FW-190's appeared and launched rocket attacks on the line that the Coldstreamers had previously occupied, the attack did nothing more than plough up some fields.
The Coldstreamers found much the same problem at La Morichesse as the Scots Guards had encountered as Les Loges, they also had to detour. The terrain was particularly bad going and three tanks bogged down, one tank rolled over which set off a grenade inside the tank wounding the turret crew. The troop commander of the three bogged down tanks and one of the unwounded crew from the rolled tank set off to find medical help. However, they were unsuccessful and on their way back they ran into a German infantry platoon, accompanied by a Jagdpanther.

During battles a single Churchill tank was kept as a rear link. Its job was to maintain radio communication between the forward units and the HQ. In this case the rear link tank didn't learn of the detour around La Morichesse and entered the town, only to be destroyed by a point blank shot from a Panther tank. Despite all this by 1600 Hill 309 was occupied.

Meanwhile the Grenadier Guards had collected together the infantry and were trying to transport them to the front, first of all they got snarled up in a traffic jam, and didn't clear that until 1630. Then they ran into the stiffening resistance at La Morichesse, and were unable to bypass with the ease the Coldstreamers had done. Their problems continued to mount as ME-109's would make strafing runs on the column, orders were getting confused in the jumble and then the light began to fade.

At the hill near Les Loges the Scots were still on their own. Just as they tuned into the 1800 BBC Broadcast, they heard the news about the battle they were currently in. With curious timing the Germans then laid an artillery barrage onto the hill, followed shortly after by three high velocity cannon shots. The three rounds each knocked out a Churchill on the left flank, destroying the troop of tanks in that location, and leaving the flank open. Unable to raise anyone on the left flank the Squadron 2nd in command moved his tank over to see what was going on, and met three Jagdpanthers at point blank range.

After knocking out the flank troop the Jagdpanthers had used the cover of a hedge line, and finally a cottage to get into the wooded area on the hill. Their long 88's easily punched a round through the 2IC’s tank and caused its ammunition to detonate, blowing the turret off.
The Jagdpanthers then fell upon the Scots Guards from behind at point blank range, pushing through the line. Their fire knocked out a further seven Churchills. As the Jagdpanthers withdrew over the crest  of a nearby swell in the ground they were taken under fire by the remaining Scots Guards. The Churchills quickly knocked out two of the attackers.

By early evening the Coldstreamers had finally linked up with the infantry support, they had brought their anti-tank guns up by manhandling them as the terrain was to rough for Carriers and other tows. Even resupply was done by transferring supplies to M3 half tracks and then using those to get as close as they could to the front line; the supplies were then manhandled up to the front line.

A quiet if tense night was spent at the front. Then in the morning a Churchill was hit from the flank in the turret, the round had come from the left rear of the Churchill's position from the village of La Ferriere, thankfully it caused no damage. A brief gunfight followed and a single German self propelled gun was seen to withdraw from the position. For the rest of the day regular salvos of artillery fell upon the Coldstreamers position. But that was all that happened that day, apart from the armoured divisions moving forwards along the road to continue the attack.

On the 1st of August the dawn stillness was shattered by a massive German bombardment at 0530. Shortly after that infantry was observed leaving their positions in La Ferriere and from cover to the front. Then above the din of exploding rounds tank engines could be heard. The Germans were attacking the Coldstreamers position from the flank and to their front. The first wave of the infantry attacked at 0645. The Churchills laid down a devastating blanket of fire which stopped the attack dead.
Almost immediately a second attack came in this time with armour support. Again the firepower the Churchills put down forced the attack to retreat. The enemy then started trying to snipe tanks from long range with Jagdpanthers. The Coldstreamers returned the compliment but were aghast to see their shells bounce harmlessly off the thick armour. Even so the Churchills position meant they were difficult targets and the Jagdpanthers scored no further hits.
One thing the Coldstreamers were not short of was artillery support and they liberally applied this to the enemy positions. The quick response and famously rapid rate of fire from the British artillery severely hampered the enemy. One of the Squadron Commanders won a Military Cross for his actions in commanding his squadron and directing the artillery. Soon the Germans began to retire from the battle, one column was badly shot up by the Coldstreamers as it withdrew from La Ferriere. Everything seemed quiet for a while, then four German deserters surrendered in the evening. They warned of a German attack being prepared in an orchard  behind the Coldstreamers position. Quickly every available gun and mortar was directed towards this orchard, along with the direct fire from the Churchills. After a short while of this battering, an infantry battalion and several German Tigers retreated from the orchard.

With this last force withdrawing no more fighting took place, the base of Operation Bluecoat was secure, and later Bluecoat secured the flank of Operation Cobra.

Opening the Blue Coat

There's a famous quote by Bernard Montgomery that he wanted 1/3rd of the Churchill tanks armed with a six pounder gun. This may have had some impact on the 6th Guards Tank Brigade. In the run up to D-Day they rearmed all their tanks to the 75mm gun, including their Churchill MKIII's, but they were never deployed. The Guardsmen preferred the 75mm over the six pounder. Despite this they started rearming the required one third of their tanks back. However this may not have been enough and they still weren't ordered to cross the channel. Eventually the Brigade’s commander went to see the King, whom in turn went to see Prime Minister Churchill; Churchill then ordered the unit deployed. They landed on French soil on the 20th of July. Once in their marshalling area several officers visited tank graveyards to view the effects of German weaponry, their visits prompted a massive up armouring program across the brigade. Most of the time this was just spare track links welded all over the tank and turret but sometimes it was actual plate. There exists a few odd pictures of a Churchill MKIII*, a MKIII tank with extra armour on the front of the turret and armed with a 75mm gun.

On the 25th of July the US forces launched operation Cobra. Their famous drive to the south through the weakened German forces distracted by the British armoured drives to the east. Despite early success the operation began to look a bit shaky. The Germans on the high ground east of the penetration were causing some disruption with their fires into the flank of the advance. This ground was directly in front of the British 2nd Army, and on the 28th the US forces requested that the British deal with this problem.
A hasty plan was formed, and named Operation Bluecoat. It involved the 6th Guards, consisting of the 4th Coldstream Guards, 4th Grenadier Guards and the 3rd Scots Guards.  The orders were to push the front line back to secure a better jumping off point, followed by an armoured force pushing through the Germans to capture the high ground and hence cut off the German 7th Army. The front line at that time was along a feature called Caumont ridge, which was eight miles west of Caen. The countryside was all bocage with a road network forming a rough triangle, with the tip at Caumont ridge in the north. The 6th Guards with the 15th Scottish Infantry Division were to assault into this area and capture it.
Due to the haste required no reconnaissance time was available, and on the 28th at 1900 the order to move out was received, with the first tank moving two hours later. By the afternoon of the 29th the Brigade was in position, and the plan laid out.

The first action of the day, after a pummelling artillery barrage was for the Grenadier Guards with infantry support to assault Lutain wood and Sept Vents, this frontage covered the top of the triangle. As they were the first wave Crocodiles and Sherman Crabs were provided.
The Scots Guards would then drive for a hill and a small settlement called Les Loges roughly in the middle of the Triangle. Meanwhile the Coldstreamers would drive down the west side of the triangle and capture the village of La Morichesse and hill 309 beyond. This would clear the road at the base of the triangle and allow the armoured breakout.

The quickness of the action caught the Germans off guard. The 326th Infantry Division had no warning of the impending attack, having been previously informed that they were only facing a few understrength American units. Then at dawn on July 30th a massive whirlwind of artillery fell on them, followed by a brigade of Churchill's. Almost instantly the officers broke and fled and although the infantry tried their best the wall of armour and Crocodiles brutally shoved them out of their positions. Five of the Grenadier Guards tanks were knocked out by mines, and two tank commanders were killed by sniper fire. One of them was the youngest member of the House of Commons. By 0830 both objectives were secured, it had taken less than 30 minutes.

When I say "Germans" it's not strictly accurate. The haul of prisoners consisted of Poles and "Russians". It is reported that two "Japanese" were also captured, although the former are more likely to be Eastern Europeans.

Next the Scots Guards and Coldstreamers moved out. However the next phase of the operation was dogged by one problem. Whilst the Churchill's could advance, often the Germans would lie low and let them pass. The following infantry were then ambushed and slowed. Add to that German mortar fire was also slowing the infantry down. To maintain the cover from the walking barrage that started at 0930 the Coldstreamers and Scots Guards advanced behind the bombardment, hoping their infantry support could catch up.
The Coldstreamers during their rapid advance captured a dressing station, manned by an Italian, who annoyed the Brigade intelligence officer by continually repeating "Me goes to England, you goes further away!" Despite this some valuable intelligence was gained from the prisoner.

By 1215 the Scots Guards halted and waited for the infantry to catch up. However after an hour there was no sign of the link up, so they decided not to capture Les Loges but instead swing around the position to capture the hill beyond it.

Part two  can be found here.

Image credits:
www.warhistoryonline.com, www.flamesofwar.com and www.kingsownmuseum.plus.com

Timewarp

A couple of weekends ago my wife mentioned to me that a village called Holme was having a 1940's weekend. So we decided to take a trip down there. Here's some of the pictures I took. In truth it seemed to have a bit of a wider scope than just the 1940's with a large number of classic cars kicking around, and lots of reenactors. The other interesting thing that was the entire village was closed off and everyone in the village got dressed up, including one chap who amusingly was dressed as an undertaker complete with his tape measure!

It is I, Leclerc!

The reenactors and a few of the stalls had a large collection of firearms on display, so I dropped some hints about a SMLE Mk.III and birthdays, I have no idea if the wife was listening though.

No idea what this one is

Due to the quaint rural village feel and the lots of people dressed in period costume, there were quite a few opportunities if you were quick enough to get photographs that could have been taken in the 1940's.

Curse you Phone box for ruining the shot

One lady had a large collection of memorabilia which she'd selected some items from and laid out on a stall. One which caught my eye was this magazine, and the two page spread inside. Ignore what it says though, the Char 2C was never anywhere near the Germans.

As we strolled around the reenactors camp I did hear one German ask "Are we winning or losing today?" which made me chuckle. Later on there was meant to be a battle between the Germans and the Allies. Unfortunately we had been already been invited to a christening later so were unable to stay for the battle. I did suggest to my wife that she go to the christening then come back later to pick me up. This cunning and subtle plan was vetoed by the long haired CO.

As we were heading towards the car park there had been a few outbreaks of firing going on, we spotted this bunch of chaps in a field loosing off a few shots. They must have seen some Germans lurking in the bushes!

The good news is the wife enjoyed the day out. So it's likely we'll get back to another one and get a full day out of it, including the mock battle.

Some other pictures I took through the day:

Needs more armour plate.

Just can't see someone in this BMW driving like a modern one

Needs more armour plate

The Caernarvon Conqueror

Sorry to turn this into another WOT related post, but again we need too. I must also stress this is just me thinking out loud for a few moments, it's not what will be happening, it might not even be the answer, but it's just some ideas I've had following on from the news.

On Rita's blog, including the Q&A several questions have been answered by Storm or SerB regarding the Caernarvon and the Action X turret, which they freely admit is a fantasy made up combo. Two of the quotes are:

 - Storm confirms that the Action X turret on Caernarvon hull is a WG fake, but there was no other way to increase the armor of the turret

- The solution for the Caernarvon (fake top turret) is not good but for now WG sees no other solution

 There are more, however I think you get the gist of it. That's what this post is about.

To put it simply the change from the standard to the HD model for the Centurion turret has not treated it kindly, reducing her armour by quite an appreciable amount. This in turn has had a knock on effect to the heavy tanks that use the turret. As you can see WG don't see a way out, the simple answer is because they are not well read in the field. This is by no means their fault, there's too much research to cover for even a small group.

However there are options, one that would get a premium tank out of it, and would be mostly historically accurate.

Gratuitous Conqueror picture

 At the moment we have three turrets in game, across several vehicles. The Centurion turret, the Conqueror turret and the improved Conqueror turret that I found.

Whilst I'm on that last point, as I discovered that turret I'm sure there's some law from the days of empire that allows me to name it, right? Well I've going to name it after my wife, and a friend has already worked out an acronym to allow me to do it: C.L.A.I.R.E: Conqueror Late Armour Improvement REdesign. The closest it's got to a name in the documents is a description of it, where they call it "unorthodox turret". I should point out that the above naming idea isn't popular amongst all the historians I talk to.

The later turret is currently meant for some "Super Conqueror" at tier 10. Regular readers will know that I've long argued for placing it as the elite turret on the tier nine Conqueror, with the current upgraded turret as the stock one. But doing so leaves us with an issue, as Wargaming want to use that as a tier ten tank. Well there is one other option. The files talk of a 1949 dated two man turret with an improved ballistic shape. This was achieved by removing the gunner, and giving that roll to the commander. With the gunner removed it allowed the current Conqueror turret design to be narrowed, meaning the armour improves quite a lot. As you can't change the number of crew in a tank when changing turrets this later one Wargaming could happily invent as there's no pictures or armour values.

So with the Conqueror solved, we come to the Caernarvon. Here's where we can make a premium. Turn the FV221 into a tier seven heavy tank premium, and replace it with a FV201. Hang on you're all yelling, isn't the FV201 already a tier seven premium? Yes, and no. Wargaming have modelled a very specific variant, which could easily be called the A45 as the premium. Every single document I've seen has the FV201 with a 20 pdr. The in game version has the 17 pdr.

 Now we come onto the advantages of this; Firstly the hull of the FV201 is already modelled and secondly one of the complaints levelled at the Caernarvon is that its fire-power is woeful. Well documents talk of fitting a 4.5 inch gun to the FV201, and it's a high velocity weapon as well. Equally if you still want more than three gun options then there's the FV202 AVRE with its 6.5 inch demolition gun. But what of the turret? Well we know what the FV201's turret looked like, externally very similar to the Centurions. But I've never seen an armour schematic, possibly because it wasn't fully designed. Again this leaves Wargaming leeway to alter the armour values as they deem fit. 

The ideas above are just thoughts I've had, and might not even work under closer scrutiny. But as an idea it bares a closer look, I think.

Better than the Luftwaffe

Last week I wrote about the 340th Bomb Group on Corsica after its capture during Operation Vesuvius. Well since then it has moved across to Italy and is now flying from an airfield near Naples. The airfield is named after a nearby settlement, which goes by the name of Pompeii.
Towering above Pompeii and Naples is the volcano Vesuvius. With a height of about 1260m above sea level this volcano had been mostly quiet since the 5th of July 1913, emitting a small plume of white smoke from a conelet. This plume of smoke was no more than you might see from a factory chimney. The first indication something was happening was when the conelet collapsed on the 13th of March 1944.

At 1630 on the 18th of March a flow of lava burst from the conelet and flowed out of the volcano's crater and down the sides like a fiery waterfall. Where it met trees they burst into flames filling the night sky with a red glow. Advancing at a speed of around 10 miles an hour the lava flow was a wall 30ft high. Two reporters from the Advanced Press Headquarters took a portable transmitter and climbed up the volcano. They arrived at the town of San Sebastiano but the lava had reached this town at about 0100-0200 on the morning of the 21st. The veteran war reporters who later visited the town were shocked by the power and utter destruction which was more complete and effective than all the best of man’s explosives. Walking round the town it was utterly silent except for the crackle of flames and the pop and gurgle as the lava advanced. The black crust with white hot edges sluggishly crawled towards the buildings, radiated heat caused the buildings to catch fire when it approached. When the lava reached a building it would flow treacle like through windows and doors filling the building like a mould, then the pressure and heat would cause the building to collapse into the lava and it is gone for ever.

The lava flow engulfing a village

In the early morning of the 22nd the volcano's rumbling and explosions began to change. At about 0115 it began in the words of one eyewitness to sound like it was panting, followed by a large explosion. This cycle of events carried on with increased ferocity through the rest of the night. The next morning a giant plume of ash reached up into the sky. Slowly it spread over Pompeii airfield, and the planes of the 340th Bomb Group. From the plume hot ash fell much like the occurrence that had buried the famous village in 79AD.

The B-25 bombers on the airfield became weighted down with ash and tipped up on their tails. Elsewhere tents began to collapse. The heat of the ash burnt the fabric of the planes, and crazed and cracked the plexiglass canopies. About 78 to 88 planes were destroyed, more than the number knocked out by the best efforts of the Luftwaffe the previous year.

Most people under the cloud were wearing helmets or other head coverings, some even used saucepans to protect their heads from the larger lumps of falling rock. Some were injured when lava entered a water tank causing it to explode, and some were killed when their houses collapsed under the weight of the ash fall.

Reported casualties included some who died of asphyxia in the smog of ash and rock that formed afterwards, but within the 340th Bomb Group injuries were minimal apart from a few cuts and one man suffered a sprained wrist.


Image credits:
All the images came from this website, and the site owner has gotten together a huge collection from the eruption. If you want to see me then head there. I'd recommend you do.

The Real Catch 22

In July 1943 Operation Vesuvius (remember that codename) liberated Corsica from German occupation. After its capture the US used it as an air base and began using it as an unsinkable aircraft carrier right off the coast of France and Italy. The 340th Bomb Group was one of the units deployed, this seems to have been the inspiration for one of the units bombardiers, one Joseph Heller. Heller famously wrote the novel Catch-22. Life was pretty relaxed on the island with sunny beaches to relax on between missions. The 340th was based at two airfields: Borgo-Poretta and Alesani.

US personnel enjoying the beaches on Corsica

 Overnight on 12-13th May 1944 at three and a half minutes to 2200 a single flare burst in the darkness over Borgo-Poretta at an altitude of 3000 meters. Heartbeats later a string of flares started bursting in a curve to the south and west encircling the base. At this point the ground defences began to wake up. The airfields defences began to squirt strings of tracer upwards, their only target was the flares, so they used these as an aiming point.

At 2200 the last of the flares appeared, the airfield was brightly lit, all the planes were clearly visible. Then came the first bomb. It was a canister of incendiaries which impacted in the middle of the field to act as a marker. Suddenly the air was filled with the sounds of Jumo engines, as the second wave of JU-88 bombers screamed in at 1200m altitude. The first wave had dropped the incendiaries. The second wave used high explosive bombs aiming for the aircraft. Suddenly a column of fire rose to several hundred meters, and formed a raging inferno, the bombs had hit the main fuel dump on the island. Then the night became still apart from the roar of flames as the Germans left.

On board the German planes they dived to sea level. As they flew away they could see the glow of the fires they left behind them. As it faded they climbed to about 3000m to clear the mountains and about an hour an half later they landed at Ghedi airfield, Italy. The exultant pilots filed their reports, and took a break, having a drink and a meal. By the time they'd finished their planes had been bombed back up.

They repeated their navigation, with the group assembling over Modena, the pathfinder aircraft leaving the group five minutes before the main party. They would drop down to about 150m over the Florence countryside. Over the sea they dropped even lower, to under 20m. The land behind, and the low approach path meant that the defenders radar couldn't pick them up on their approach. After skimming across the sea, passing Elba, the planes climbed up to 50m over the Corsican coast. This time their target was Alesani but they could see fires and damage they'd caused at Borgo-Poretta. Again they hit the target and made their way out, landing back home without loss, at just after 0600.

This was possibly the last offensive mass bombing raid of the Luftwaffe, 59 JU-88's were involved in the raid, and for no loss on the German side they destroyed and damaged about 65 planes and wiped out large stocks of fuel. US losses were 24 killed and 115 wounded.

Image credits:
http://www.warwingsart.com and http://www.reddog1944.com

For Further details and reading see this links:
www.reddog1944.com/May_12-13_1944_German_Raid_On_Alesan_Airbase.htm
 

Wallace and Hardy

Last week I wrote about the battle of Galatas, and the actions of a MKVIB tank commander called Lieutenant Roy Farran, when we left him Lt Farran was in a hospital in Crete which had just been over run by the Germans and Lt Farran made a prisoner of war. He was moved from the makeshift field hospital to a dedicated POW hospital at Athens, which he promptly started trying to escape from. After several failures Lt Farran successfully made it out by crawling under the wire. He linked up with a group of other British and Commonwealth soldiers and after taking a loan of money from the Greeks, hired a small open topped boat and set out to cross the Mediterranean. Blown off course by storms, running out of water, and a soldier going mad with thirst were some of the issues that Lt Farran had to face. However after nine days the boat was rescued by a British destroyer. Lt Farran had a bar awarded to the Military Cross he won during the fighting at Crete.

Lt Farran is the one sitting in the Jeep.

The next few years saw Lt Farran in several roles and eventually he was wounded and returned to the UK. However he was back in the desert in February 1943, where he met an officer by the name of Lieutenant Colonel Bill Stirling.
Lt Col Stirling was the brother of the founder of the SAS, and after training Farran joined 2 SAS, and was in action getting a second bar to his Military Cross.

By now the second front was well under way, and the Germans were being pushed back across France. The SAS saw an opportunity for raiding and mayhem on a grand scale and hampering the German war efforts. Farran, by now a Major, was landed at Rennes with sixty men and twenty Jeeps. These formed the core of Operation Wallace. They set off overland to link up with Operation Hardy, which had been dropped into the Chatillon forest area to set up a supply base to operate the Jeeps out of. 

The long overland trek had several hair raising moments including a German ambush which led to a fierce firefight lasting about an hour. At one point the Germans rushed the Jeep column, despite taking heavy casualties they made it into the British positions. Eventually the Jeeps withdrew. They had to drive very slowly along dry dirt roads lest the columns of dust kicked up alerted the Germans to their location. Days later as they approached the forest the column halted near a railway line. Suddenly a train heaved into sight. Major Farran ordered the train to be taken under fire. The engine was shredded by the columns Vickers K guns. These were lightweight guns used on aircraft, and so had a ferocious rate of fire. The train leaking steam shuddered to a halt. The SAS men engaged the German troops in the rear of the train while the French driver and stoker bailed out the front. After the Germans had been dealt with the French civilians stood talking to the SAS men as they watched the train burn.

After several raids including hitting a column of fuel trucks that burnt with some vigour Maj Farran and several of his offers were invited to a meal with the local Maquis Commander. Intelligence had been received by the French that the local German forces were changing units, and as such the local garrison was reduced to only 150 men. The Maquis promised 500 men to help with an attack. The attack was to be launched the next day, August the 30th 1944.

The plan was simple, place patrols at the two main crossroads in the area, then capture every crossroad heading to the market square. Then a group would form a blocking force to stop Germans attacking from the Château which was the garrison HQ. While all this was going on the forces single 3" mortar would bombard the château, then when the 500 Maquis would move in and help secure the town.

At about 0700 the mortar started firing the first of the 48 shells it would fire that day. The blocking force began to rake the Château's north side with Bren Gun fire. About fifteen minutes later a large column of German trucks approached the Montbard-Dijon Cross roads, which were in British hands. Sitting in the middle of the crossroads was a single SAS Jeep. The Germans obviously didn't recognise it as hostile, thinking that the local Maquis didn't have transport and so approached. When the column was within 20 yards the gunners on the Jeep opened fire. The hail of .303 set the first two trucks on fire, which as it happens were carrying ammunition. The detonation was such that a motorcycle with sidecar still on the bridge crashed through the barrier into the stream below. The SAS men, including Major Farran who was armed with a Bren Gun now opened up on the rest of the column causing heavy casualties. The battle raged for the rest of the morning with firing coming from all three sides of the town. Major Farran describes one memory he had of the fight:

"A pretty girl with long black hair wearing a bright red frock put her head out of a top window to give me a "V" Sign. Her smile ridiculed the bullets."

Other French civilians were doing what they could for the very few SAS causalities. However by mid morning the Germans began a serious push towards the town centre from the Château. The column that had been ambushed towards Montbard was also becoming more organised and bringing up reinforcements. The Maquis hadn't shown up, so Major Farran decided it was time to leave. He walked into the middle of the road, paused to wave to the French lady, and fired off two Very flares, the signal to withdraw.

There were further firefights throughout the rest of the day, across the surrounding countryside, including a second assault on the town itself, when a party of seven SAS men led 60 Maquis, who had been found waiting near by. However they came under an attack from a large force of Germans. Despite destroying the Germans armoured car they had to withdraw. Equally the war was not over for Major Farran, he fought back in Italy, including one operation where he'd been ordered to command his troops from the rear areas. He convinced the aircrew of the plane he was in to say he'd fallen out, then jumped with the rest of his men. He then raised a mixed force of British Italian partisans and freed Russian prisoners of war and led them in action in Italy.

After the war he was stationed at Palestine, where Jewish terrorists tried to frame him for the murder of a youth, by claiming the hat found at the scene of the crime had Farran's name tag on it. He was placed under arrest, despite an alibi, so he escaped to argue his cause to his superiors, then returned and was arrested again. Once again he escaped, but returned for his trial. At his trial a combination of lack of a body, Major Farran's alibi, and the fact all the eyewitnesses couldn't identify Major Farran in an ID parade meant he was acquitted.
The Jewish terrorists didn't take kindly to this, and Major Farran's younger brother was killed by a letter bomb sent to his home address.

After this Roy Farran led a full life living in Rhodesia and the UK before settling in Alberta Canada, where he became involved in politics. In 1996, aged 75 Roy Farran travelled to Zambia to follow the path of a cattle drive by one of his brothers just after the end of the war. During this he was held up by some rebels, and had a fight with a lion. As Roy Farran lived to the age of 85, I think we can assume he won both times.


Image credits:
www.m201.com, www.nevingtonwarmuseum.com, www.defensemedianetwork.com and www.my-crete-site.co.uk

Galatas

In late May 1941 the Germans started the invasion of Crete with mostly light forces. What followed was a vicious campaign with a lot of bitter fighting and heavy losses on both sides. Late in the afternoon of the 25th of May the 100th Gebirgsjäger Regiment with close air support forced a scratch defensive force of Commonwealth troops out of the small village of Galatas.

Knowing the line was in trouble the commanding officer of the New Zealand forces facing Galatas decided to try and re-take the position with a hasty counterattack. At his disposal were two MKVIB light tanks and two companies of Maori infantry, against a dug in German force.  The two tanks were commanded by Lieutenant Roy Farran. A fair haired young officer, he had been born on January 2, 1921 in India. His father was a Warrant Officer in the RAF. The two MKVIB light tanks immediately on arrival at the front launched a headlong charge straight into Galatas as a form of reconnaissance. Machine guns blazing they swept in and out of the village, and when they returned from their dashing recce Lt Farran reported that the village was "...stiff with Germans". The two light tanks vulnerability was also highlighted as both the turret crew in the second tank had been wounded during the run through the village. When asked if he'd attack again, Lt Farran asked for volunteers to replace the wounded men, and two infantry who knew how to serve Vickers guns stepped forwards. Lt Farran gave them a quick briefing and some instruction while the infantry formed up.

The plan was simple, due to the speed with which the counter attack was organised. The two tanks would advance up the road to Galatas, with one each of the companies of infantry on each side of the road. The column would storm up the road and re-take the village. A runner was dispatched to the neighbouring battalion advising them to attack as soon as they could. With the tanks ready, the force moved off into the dusk.

The two VIB's raced ahead in a cloud of dust, the infantry companies began to chant Hakka's as they charged towards the nearest houses. Most were empty, and clearing them was losing the charges momentum. So the decision was made to not clear the houses and continue the advance. Ahead the machine guns from the two light tanks could be heard.

LT Farran had raced to the main square. Lt Farran describes what happened next:

"There was a blinding flash inside the tank and my gunner sank groaning to the bottom of the turret.  He said that he had been hit.  I felt a sort of burn in my thigh and thought it probable that I also had been wounded.  I told the driver to turn round, but as he swung broadside to the enemy we were hit again.  My driver was wounded in the shoulder and in consequence pulled the tiller too hard, putting us into the ditch.  We sat there, crouched in the bottom of the turret, while the anti-tank rifle carved big chunks out of the top.  I was hit twice more - in both legs and in the right arm.  Stannard, my gunner, was in a bad way, having stopped one in the stomach.  I pushed them both out through the driver's hatch and crawled out myself.  I pulled myself along on my elbows until I was under cover of a low stone wall. There I lay in the infernal din (for the Germans were still shooting bits out of the tank), praying for the New Zealanders."

Upon seeing the tank knocked out and in a very unfamiliar and frightening experience (being inside a tank in a street fight for the first time) the other MKVIB turned and ran. As it fled down the narrow streets it came across a platoon led by Lieutenant W.B. 'Sandy' Thomas. He leapt out in front of the oncoming tank and caused it to halt. After an argument with the commander Lt Thomas pulled out his pistol and threatened the driver with it. The driver, the only original tank crew member in the crew replied:

"I'm game sir, there's no need for that. It’s the bastard above who needs the pistol!"

The driver immediately began to rotate the tank, smashing the walls on either side of the road out of the way. The infantry man acting as the commander is reported to have clambered from the tank and fled screaming, only to be shot by a private.

As the second MKVIB advanced, a German NCO, leader of the HMG platoon, lurked in a doorway with a bundle of grenades.

Picture from Galatas

 As the tank drew parallel to him he leapt out of his hiding spot and raced towards the tank. The gunner saw him coming and started to turn the turret, spewing bullets from the Vickers .50. Just as the stream of heavy slugs was about to reach the German, he lobbed the bundle of grenades and dove behind a wall. The bundle of grenades landed on the ground wide of the tank, the Germans aim spoiled by being forced to duck.

The MKVIB halted his tank about five meters away from the building and began to saw it into chunks with both machine guns blasting away, while return fire sparked off his tank. As the Maori infantry rushed up behind him the Germans fell back from the position.

As they reached the square they could hear LT Farran yelling "Come on New Zealand!" and other words of encouragement. The Germans were firing from the other side of the square, fire sparking off the tank's armour. The infantry then launched a charge towards the Germans. As they began Lt Farran spotted a German on the roof and yelled a warning, however it was too late. The German’s grenade wounded Lt Thomas. The infantry were across the square quickly carrying the bayonet charge into the Germans. Under this relentless assault the Germans began to fall back. Eventually they were pushed all the way out of the village with heavy casualties. As the fighting moved away from the square the Germans began to land mortar rounds on it, believing the fighting was still going on there. While these rounds were falling the civilians of Galatas emerged to help the wounded bringing water and milk to the men.
Eventually all the wounded were evacuated back to a hospital, LT Farran was rescued by one of his own squadron's tanks. Whilst in the hospital Crete fell and LT Farran was captured. But for Lt Farran, the war was not over!

Image Credits:
www.nzhistory.net.nz, eng.world-war.ru and nzetc.victoria.ac.nz