Feldgrau.net

Not everything was straightforward.....

A couple of photos taken at the NSKK Training School, Wriezen, 1943:

I think it was a case of 'all hands to the pump'.

Blacker did say that his gunner was 'no less a personage than the Regimental Sergeant Major', which suggests it was unusual.

Hi Alan,

Yes it does sound strange. I don't know how long this situation lasted - but certainly long enough forWass to account for at least one German tank.

PS

Having just read Blacker's 'Soldier in the Saddle', the only detail I can add is that his gunner (whilst in HQ SQuadron) was the Regimental Sgt Major. This I know to be RSM Wass.

Hi Spreaders, Monkey Blacker was initially 'C' Squadron Leader. We know the members of his tank crew because he names them in his autobiography 'Monkey Business' : Bert Horrobin (operator), Sam English (driver), 'Oscar' Ward (gunner) and 'Buttons' McGrath (co-driver). In July 1944 Blacker was promot...

Hi Simon H,

It's not something I would be keen on doing under any circumstances

Spoke to Dad last night (a Sherman driver). He reckons on hard ground you would have about 14" clearance. Less, probably much less, on soft ground. He said escapes by this method were very rare.

Thanks Rich. That makes sense - I understand the Fireflies were often commanded by lower-ranking men (a corporal in this case) because they were usually the first to be targeted.

I confess I didn't know about the escape hatch - was it usable when the tank was upright?

A 'then and now' from my trip to Normandy last week:

The following extracts are taken from The Battle: A Tank Officer Remembers by Lt. Geoffrey Bishop MC, 23rd Hussars. Published privately (no date). All comments [within brackets] are my own. Page 42 "Later in the afternoon my fourth tank arrived and I met the crew for the first time. Corporal Gi...

Very grateful for that. Many thanks.

Two more inscriptions on the reverse of some photographs. The first shows a group of tanks in a field, the second has some young soldiers on a tank in what is probably the NSKK school at Wriesen. Thanks in advance.

That's great. Thanks men.