TANKFEST 2010

The annual 'Tankfest' took place over the weekend of 26 & 27 June, 2010. I was pleased to be invited to the Sunday event - otherwise my absence for a whole weekend and the cost of the 530 mile round trip would have been hard to justify to wife and daughters.

Let there be no doubt, Bovington has long been the best tank museum in the world - hence its title: 'The Tank Museum'. And however often you visit, there always seems to be something new. It is a delight to see the collection so well preserved. There are limits, of course. Some of the First World War tanks can barely support their own weight, let alone ever again be driven. But much of the collection remains mobile: oiled, fueled, ready to go. I recall an ex-Army friend entering the museum, inhaling deeply, and announcing, 'Ahh... the smell of tank sheds!'

The show begins - Bovington Historian David Fletcher adding commentary from the viewing tower.

Research confirms that most visitors do not know one tank from another. On a wet summer day, do they keep the children amused by seeing tanks or visiting Monkey World just up the road? So it makes excellent sense to preserve the most rare 'runners' for special occasions. Like Tankfest. Then, the discriminating audience is treated to the sight and sound (and smell, and dust!) of all our favourites.

And we all have our favourites. Many gravitate to the famous Tiger I. Personally, I am at least as much impressed by the sight of an immaculate Jagdpanther strutting its stuff. My guest on the day, David Schofield, confessed to a particular interest in the SU100. If pressed, I would say I was most pleased by the sight of the A11, Infantry Tank Mark I, 'Matilda'. Not only in good running order, but surrounded by a group of 1940 reenactment enthusiasts, delighted to have been given a 'real' 1940 tank to enhance their display.

PLEASE NOTE: Among other photos taken that day are a series of  'inside and out' shots, which will appear in the 'puzzles' section of my website.

HUNTING STURMTIGER

Many who wargame the Second World War have a fascination for the weird and wonderful, and the Sturmtiger is one such. A heavily armoured platform for a 38cm naval mortar firing a 330kg bomb! The fact that this was entirely the sort of weapon the German army did NOT need in 1944-45 does not reduce its appeal for the wargamer. Nor does the fact that only a tiny number were even produced (*) deter wargamers from seeking accounts of Sturmtiger apprearing in action.

(* up to 18, of which barely half may have been completed)

One account that has been quoted by various people concerns the 1st Oxf & Bucks, at Gyhum, near Zeven, on 24 April 1945. While researching the use of the British Universal Carrier, this author became briefly intrigued by this tale and traced it to its origins. As is so often the case, all published accounts turned out to stem from one single source.

The source: 'View From a Forgotten Hedgerow'. The author: Desmond Milligan (comedian Spike's elder brother).

24 April found Corporal Milligan wading through a muddy field, weighed down by the Bren magazines he was carrying forward to the Carrier Platoon. British artillery shells and mortar bombs were streaming overhead while German mortar bombs were impacting all around. Then, Milligan became aware of something bigger 'incoming': 'With a mighty roar it spewed a giant column of earth and smoke that appeared large enouhg for an erupting Vesuvius.'

Then, the key to the story. 'Looking back today,' (i.e., 1993,a half-century later!) 'I believe that this was a 365mm mortar mounted on a Tiger tank.' Maybe it was. When I spoke to Desmond (on the telephone, to his home in Australia), he confessed that this was pure supposition, based on his reading long after the event.

Website Announced!

They said it would never happen.

They were almost right.

But at last, I felt the http://www.iandaglish.co.uk/ website was about ready to announce to the world.

I am sorry it's not a 'dot.com'. I have got the domain name, but the people I got it from do not seem able to host it properly, and frankly I'd rather get going without waiting for them to exdigitate.

Anyway, welcome. Come in and have a look around. And do feel free to post any comments, here on the blog or via the contact page on the website itelf!

Ian

STICKY BOMBS?

Researching some local history for a book of historical anecdotes we are compiling about our village, I came across some fascinating pieces in the local newspaper.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FRIDAY, June 27, 1947
Local MP (Member of Parliament) Lt.-Col. Bromley-Davenport, speaking during the Committee Stage of the Finance Bill, urged removal of the purchase tax on tooth brushes: ‘a poor bill [which] already has too many teeth in it’.and then...
LOCAL FIRM’S STICKY BOMB CLAIM
A submission to the Royal Commission on Awards to Inventors has been made by Messrs Kay Brothers, flypaper manufacturers of Stockport. Chemist H. J Hartley was involved in the design and development of the ‘Sticky Bomb’ of which 2,500,000 were made.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This sparked a thought. Some time ago I wrote a piece for a magazine about 'sticky bombs'. I then looked on the Internet. To my great dismay, website after website confuses true 'Sticky Bombs' (= the British ‘Grenade, Hand, Anti-Tank No. 74’) with the stockinet 'Gammon Bomb', named after Captain R J Gammon, MC (Jock), and used extensively by both British and American paratroops in Normandy.

Surprise, surprise. The culprit misleading so many people is that all-time accurate (NOT!) movie 'Saving Private Ryan'. In which people apparently extemporize explosives, socks, fuses, and some sticky tar to create a firework capable of destroying a Tiger tank. Or at least... a T34 thinly disguised. Oh dear.

If any reader would like to read my original article, about actual 'Sticky Bombs' and more!,  please feel free to request a copy via 'contact me' on my website.

MEDMENHAM

Saturday 20 June, I was present at the Annual General Meeting of The Medmenham Club held at the Joint Services Intelligence HQ at Chicksands. As well as visiting the excellent museum there, I made some very interesting contacts.

One man present had flown Swordfish (the famous 'Stringbag' biplane) in the Battle of the Atlantic. With 836 Squadron, Fleet Air Arm, he flew off decked-over oil and grain tankers. The oilers had no hangars, only room for three aircraft kept on the flight deck, exposed to the elements as well as missed approaches! No wonder an Atlantic crossing rarely ended with a full complement of aircraft. The job, incidentally, was to fly around the convoy spotting U Boats, occasionally attacking but more often forcing them to stay submerged, where they could not overtake the convoy for a night attack.

Another interesting contact was a remarkably young looking gentleman who fought from Normandy to the end with the 2nd (Armoured) Grenadier Guards. Most interesting of all, Frank was in the Recce Troop, in Honeys and latterly in 1945 in Chaffees. As so ofen, the Grenadiers' Recce Troop gets not a word in their regimental history. So, a useful source. More on this later!

Normandy June 2010

I just returned from a successful week in Normandy!

I normally would avoid the 6 June media scrum, but was invited to present my books at the second annual book fair ('Salon du Livre') at Tilly-sur-Seulles. The fair was a great success, both for the organiser Stéphane Jacquet, and for the exhibitors. My good friend Kevin Baverstock captured the event with a spectacular image which you can view at: http://www.kbaverstock.co.uk/salondulivre

Why avoid 6 June? Well, I find it rather annoying that the media turn out in force on 6 June then all go home the next day. For (most of) the soldiers who landed in 1944, 6 June was not the end, but the beginning of a long and bitter campaign. It was to drag on for seven weeks, during which time loss rates equalled the First World War. And only in hindsight do we see that it was 'only' seven weeks. There were serious fears that the campaign might turn into prolonged trench warfare.

I even heard recently a veteran who landed with the 'follow up' formations some time after 6 June expaining that he was at 'the D Day landings'. He was not trying to mislead; the media have simply reduced the whole campaign to the single, sexy brand name.

Maybe my books on the Normandy campaign would sell better if we plastered 'D Day' over the covers. Hmm... maybe not.