Service Record

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"Our objective for the first day was to drive inland and attack Caen - this was about 12 miles and somewhat optimistic. About a fortnight after the landing we had an orders group one night and it was decided from the powers that be above us that three Armoured divisions would concentrate for the attack on Borgebus Ridge, to the north of Caen. Borgebus was the strong German Defence line safeguarding Caen."

"We withdrew our infantry divisions and brought my Division, 11th Armoured Division, the Guards Armoured Division and the 7th Armoured Division, the Desert Rats, into the attack on Borgebus Ridge. That was the plan, get to the north of Caen and surrounded it. I think it was Montgomery's plan, operation Goodwood. The main obstacle for us to get to Caen was the river Orne. It was a a stumbling block because the three divisions had to get across the river and there were only a couple of bridges left. I remember our Colonel coming to see us before the attack and he said he'd been to see the brigadier and that he had been good enough to allow our Regiment, the 3rd Royal Tank Regiment, to lead the advance and he said that was a great honour. I didn't exactly agree with him, but that is how it was."

"We got across the Orne all right so we pushed on and the Fife and Forfar Yeomanry, tank regiment, was right behind supporting us. I think it was the Guards Armoured Division, they met a bottle-neck trying to cross the river and they couldn't keep up on our left. They were coming over in dribs and drabs so that the left flank was a little bit unprotected. We pushed on and then stopped and waited because 1000 bombers were going to bomb Borgebus ridge and we had to wait there at the bomb line. We stopped and watched the bombers going in first and it was a lovely day and the bombs came down, I think they carried 10 tons apiece. After that the ridge erupted and you wouldn't have thought a rat would have lived on it after that. The trouble was the bomb's started dropping short what with all the smoke and dust. As the later bombers came across their view was obscured of the target, so the bombs were dropping short and dropping amongst us, the Canadians who were on our far left they got it bad. They had quite a few men killed. I think we had about 30 casualties."

"After it was  over we went forward, it was all OK for an hour or so and then we hit the first small little farm houses which they had turned into strong points, it was all 88 mm anti-tank guns and they were starting to do us a lot of damage. We couldn't take the 88 fire, they could knock us out before we were in range. I think we went about six miles but at the end of the day there were nearly 400 tanks knocked out so the actual battle petered out. It was stalemate, we just stuck where we were. When you're down inside a tank trying to look through a visor the view is very obscured, so I climbed up with my head right out of the turret so I could see. The sight that met us, we were going through a cornfield and as I looked at the corn and I could see it all parting, just like a torpedo going through the sea - all different directions - their German anti-tank guns firing and the shells passing through the corn. Eventually we were hit, we got hit in the tracks. Luckily it was a glancing blow to the tracks which disabled us and we piled out. The turret had jammed and the tracks were useless so we abandoned the tank."

"We sat around a for a while and smoked a few cigarettes. We lay low in a ditch and towards evening things had quietened down, we started walking back in the dusk. We went back to the regimental HQ and had a stiff drink then next day we went back and collected another tank from the reserve. We had plenty of tanks, that wasn't the problem, it was personnel we were short of, there were plenty of tanks being brought ashore you just go down pick another one and come back again."

"There were some new people, replacements, and we had a few hours to get to know one another and then on to the next operation, operation Epsom. This was on the opposite side of Caen, we were sent round to the attack at Perrier ridge. Just as we were going to attack the Germans counter attacked all night. The SS Panzer Division counter attacked and things really did get hectic, nobody knew nothing about what was happening, it was every man for himself. The infantry around us were the Oxford and Bucks light Infantry and some were were running back, some were still firing. Our officer are was trying to make some sense of the situation but from the smoke and dirt we could see some tanks, German tanks, passing us and they never saw us. Some German infantry passed about 100 yards away on our left, things were a bit haywire it was total confusion. The officer was trying to make the best of the situation. He was trying to liaise with the infantry officers to hold the Ridge, there was a road junction there and it was very important for both sides to hold this road junction. I got out of my tank during the battle to mount a machine gun post with my co-driver and we were helping the infantry who were holding the line to give them covering fire. After everything calmed down we made our way back to the tank and as I was climbing back in a shell burst near by and blew me off the tank. I received various wounds - nothing serious - but it put me in the aid station for a week. Eventually the regiment pulled back and went back into the reserve for about four days to get cleaned up and re-kitted by then Caen was surrounded. The Americans had come round and the Canadians had gone round the other side and that more or less brought to an end the battle of Normandy."

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