Nufsed Posted October 23, 2019 Posted October 23, 2019 (edited) My Dad (pictured below) landed on Sword beach on June 6th in Sherman Duplex Drive tank fitted with a 17lb (Tiger Killer) gun. The action in which they engaged the Tiger happened in a village called " Waldefeucht ". Bobcat II (They all named their tanks in the 13th/18th Hussars) lay in ambush between two semi demolished houses, waiting for the Tiger that had been hunting them for the past two hours. the tension, as you can imagine, was very high, suddenly the commander spots the Tiger, but it's approaching from a different direction! The Gunner races to bring the turret to bare only to have it jam! ( it was a book that the gunner had been reading and carelessly put down on the turret traversing ring). The Tiger, has by now, seen them and fires! the armour piercing shell entered just behind the drivers head (my Dad) and out the other side. When in action they didn't have a co-driver and his position was filled with spare ammo. A second round went through the engine and Bobcat II's crew started to bail! Which left my Dad, wounded and trapped in a now burning tank. By now he could hear heavy machine gun fire pinging off the armour and knew his only way out was to crawl across the stack of ammo and out of the escape hatch! Below is part of a letter sent by my Dads best mate. "I can never forget that day in a little German village called Waldefeucht. I came tearing up the main street with a Tiger tank after me! I turned into a gap between two houses, turned the tank around to await the Tiger and there across the road beside the house opposite was Les's tank, knocked out. I had to sit there for two hours before I could go over and see if he were alive or not. I could see where the armour piercing shell had gone through the drivers compartment where he sat. I later heard that he had been wounded and taken to hospital". I'm very glad to say that my Dad survived, after release from hospital he was given the job of company movie operator showing films to the troops of the dangers of unprotected sex! Yes he always was a lucky bastard!!.....;-) https://www.facebook.com/D-Day-a-Tribute-to-Leslie-Frank-Collins-and-the-Amphibious-Sherman-Tank-779381888762668/ http://www.duplexdrivetanks.co.uk/DUPLEXPAGES/index.html?fbclid=IwAR0SO3gLjivxdUh7zSjPWTbdh04lm_4v-uJBXCVCt4EdWxe6gZPqVrjOusc Edited October 24, 2019 by Nufsed 5 2
Retnek Posted October 23, 2019 Posted October 23, 2019 Thx for the reading! Could have happened here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waldfeucht https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waldfeucht (in German, some more pictures) 1
Nufsed Posted October 24, 2019 Author Posted October 24, 2019 Yes, this was the place. Thank you. This was Waldefeucht in 1944 1
Retnek Posted October 25, 2019 Posted October 25, 2019 Hm, I a bit in doubt. Looking at google maps and wikipedia, Waldfeucht was and is a small village with a few thousand inhabitants. One- or two-storey-buidlings mostly, a very small town of medieval origin. It is contemplative countryside over there, gardens, lot's of fertile farmland. The largest building still is the church. The ruins above show a typical urban area with skeletons of multi-storey-buildings from larger cities with ten-thousands of citizens. Most of the larger German cities looked that way in 1945, at least partly. Near Waldfeucht this might be at Mönchengladbach, Neuss, Krefeld or Düsseldorf.
chrisarmyknife Posted October 25, 2019 Posted October 25, 2019 firefly's didn't have any dd versions , gun was too big.
Retnek Posted October 25, 2019 Posted October 25, 2019 13 minutes ago, chrisarmyknife said: firefly's didn't have any dd versions , gun was too big. That might be the reason the Tiger hit "Bobcat II" - the dd-version (named "Bobcat I", I presume) was no longer in service. At least not with this unit.
chrisarmyknife Posted October 25, 2019 Posted October 25, 2019 31 minutes ago, JG4_Retnek said: That might be the reason the Tiger hit "Bobcat II" - the dd-version (named "Bobcat I", I presume) was no longer in service. At least not with this unit. " landed on Sword beach on June 6th in Sherman Duplex Drive tank fitted with a 17lb (Tiger Killer) gun." 1
Retnek Posted October 25, 2019 Posted October 25, 2019 21 minutes ago, chrisarmyknife said: " landed on Sword beach on June 6th in Sherman Duplex Drive tank fitted with a 17lb (Tiger Killer) gun." Yes, dear friend, seen that. There might have been a first DD-Sherman III or V called "Bobcat" (with a poor little tiny non-Tiger-killing 75 mm M3 L/40 gun) followed by a second Tiger-killing Sherman named "Bobcat II". "II" because of being the second tank named Bobcat for that crew. I suspect Nufsed might have considered that hint, too.
MiloMorai Posted October 27, 2019 Posted October 27, 2019 On 10/25/2019 at 10:57 AM, JG4_Retnek said: Hm, I a bit in doubt. Looking at google maps and wikipedia, Waldfeucht was and is a small village with a few thousand inhabitants. One- or two-storey-buidlings mostly, a very small town of medieval origin. It is contemplative countryside over there, gardens, lot's of fertile farmland. The largest building still is the church. The ruins above show a typical urban area with skeletons of multi-storey-buildings from larger cities with ten-thousands of citizens. Most of the larger German cities looked that way in 1945, at least partly. Near Waldfeucht this might be at Mönchengladbach, Neuss, Krefeld or Düsseldorf. About 1:00 into the video is a road sign > 71 km to Dusseldorf. This shot is in Waldfeucht. 1 2
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