Churchills in Normandy

Churchill tanks in Normandy By Richard Chambers THE NORMANDY CAMPAIGN Churchill tanks were amongst the first armoured vehicles to land on the beaches of Normandy in support of the Allied invasion of France on 6 June 1944. These were the specialised tanks of the 79th Armoured Division. Known as ’Hobart’s Funnies’, these first tanks ashore were specialised Churchill AVRE tanks developed to perform combat engineering tasks, not the standard Churchill’s of the Infantry Tank Brigades. The first proper Churchill tanks into combat, the 31st Tank Brigade (consisting of 7th and 9th Battalions, Royal Tank Regiment), landed at Juno Beach on 19 June. Later they were heavily involved in Operation Epsom, expanding the beachhead, and then Operation Jupiter, which sought to retake the infamous Hill 112.

In these operation the brigade fought with 15th (Scottish) Division, 43rd (Wessex) Division and 53rd (Welsh) Division. The 31st Tank Brigade later fought in Operations Totalize and Tractable that took it to Falaise. The 31st Tank Brigade’s third regiment, the 141st (The Buffs) Regiment, Royal Armoured Corps had been converted to have Churchill Crocodile flame-throwing tanks, prior to the invasion.

As such it was permanently attached to the 79th Armoured Division, and like all the other regiments of that division, was allocated out to different units along the front as the situation required. The 34th Tank Brigade (consisting of 107th (King’s Own), 147th (Hampshire) and 153rd (Essex) Regiments, Royal Armoured Corps) arrived in Normandy in early July and its first action was Operation Greenline on 15 July (a series of diversionary attacks to distract the Germans attention from Operation Goodwood) with the 15th Division. The raids also assisted in tying down the Panzer divisions to the British sector of the front, so they were unable to interfere with the planned breakout from the American sector.

The 6th Guards Tank Brigade (consisting of 4th Battalion Grenadier Guards, 4th Battalion Coldstream Guards and 3rd Battalion Scots Guards), landed over Gold and Juno beaches on 20 July. Their first action was Operation Bluecoat, which sought to take Hill 309 on the Caumont-l’Evente ridge from the German 326th Infantry Division, which would interfere with any attempt by the enemy to contain the American breakout. The attack proceeded well, but in the heavy Bocage country the tanks quickly began to outstrip their attendant infantry and in the end the plans were modified into what became the most concentrated infantry tank action of the war.

In the course of a day the Churchill tanks covered six miles through terrain that would have stopped any other tank, before taking Hill 309.

This was despite three heavy Jagdpanther tank-hunters from 654th schwere Panzerjägerabteilung ambushing ‘S’ Squadron, 3rd Scots Guards, destroying eleven Churchill tanks for the loss of two Jagdpanthers in the space of a few minutes. Churchill tanks from all three tank brigades participated in the battles the followed the capture of Caen and supported the infantry attacking the Falaise Pocket and the advance to the River Seine. The brigades were then given the opportunity to rest, retrain and restructure as the faster Armoured Divisions undertook the pursuit of what was left of the German Army in France.

Normandy Churchill Markings and Names 3rd Scots Guards, 6th Guards Tank Brigade Regimental Headquarters (named after Scottish Mountains)  Commanding Officer 2nd in Command Intelligence Officer  Adjutant CAIRNGORM BEN LAWERS BEN MACDHUI BEN NEVIS Churchill OP Churchill OP Churchill OP Churchill ARV BRAE RIACH BEN LEDI LOCHNAGAR KINDOM OF FIFE

A Squadron (named after Scottish Towns) Squadron Commander Squadron 2iC Chruchill ARV   GREENOCK PERTH OBAN   1st Platoon 2nd Platoon 3rd Platoon 4th Platoon 1 EDINBURGH 1A DUNDEE 1B AYRE 2 LOCHINVAR 2A INVERNESS 2B DUNKELD 3 STIRLING 3A ELGIN 3B KIRKCALDY 4 MONTROSE 4A ST ANDREWS 4B GLASGOW

B Squadron (named after Scottish Islands) Squadron Commander Squadron 2iC Chruchill ARV   COLL TYREE LEWIS   7th Platoon 8th Platoon 9th Platoon 10th Platoon 7 IONA 7A RONA 7B CANNA 8 SKYE 8A UIST 8B BARA 9 JURA 9A ISLAY 9B BUTE 10 STROMA 10A STAFFA 10B ARRAN

C Squadron (named after Scottish Rivers) Squadron Commander Squadron 2iC Chruchill ARV   ESK TWEED TUMMEL   11th Platoon 12th Platoon 14th Platoon 15th Platoon 11 DEE 11A DON 11B DERVON 12 ANNAN 12A BEAULY 12B FINDHORN 14 SPEY 14A CLYDE 14B GARRY 15 LYON 15A LEVEN 15B LOCHY

4th Coldstream Guards, 6th Guards Tank Brigade Regimental Headquarters  Commanding Officer Adjutant Churchill ARV  Churchill ARV EAGLE SEAGULL CYGNET OSTRICH Reconnaissance Troop SNIPE PEREGRINE HAWK KITE FALCON OSPREY FLYCATCHER MERLIN

A Squadron Squadron CO Churchill CS Chruchill CS Chruchill ARV   EQYPT BAROSSA PENINSULAR LOOS   No. 1 Troop No. 2 Troop No. 3 Troop No. 4 Troop No. 5 Troop  1 ALMA 1A AISNE 1B ARRAS 2 MARNE 2A MALPLAQUET 2B MODDER RIVER 3 SOMME 3A SUAKIN 3B SEVASTOPOL 4 TANGIERS 4A TALAVERY 4B TEL EL KEBIR 5 NIVE 5A WATERLOO 5B GIBRALTAR

B Squadron Squadron CO Chruchill CS Chruchill CS Chruchill ARV   TIGER JACKAL JAGUAR OX    No. 6 Troop No. 7 Troop No. 8 Troop No. 9 Troop No. 10 Troop 6 BUFFALO 6A BISON 6B BEAR 7 CHEETAH 7A CARIBOU 7B COUGAR 8 ELK 8A ELEPHANT 8B ELAND 9 LION 9A LEOPARD 9B LYNX 10 PANDA 10A PANTHER 10B PUMA

C Squadron Squadron CO Chruchill CS Chruchill CS Chruchill ARV   REVENGE RENOWN RESOLUTION RESOURCE   No. 11 Troop No. 12 Troop No. 13 Troop No. 14 Troop No. 15 Troop 11 BANDIT 11A BUCCANEER 11B BULLDOG 12 DREADNOUGHT 12A DEFIANT 12B DAUNTLESS 13 MINOTAUR 13A MINERVA 13B MEDUSA 14 TRIUMPH 14A TERROR 14B THUNDERBOLT 15 VINDICTIVE 15A VALIANT 15B VENOMOUS

9th Royal Tank Regiment, 31st Tank Brigade Regimental Headquarters  Commanding Officer 2nd in Command Intelligence Officer  Adjutant IRON DUKE IRONSIDE IRON RATION IRON CLAD

A Squadron Squadron CO Squadron 2IC Chruchill ARV     INVERNESS INVERGORDON IRON LUNG     1st Platoon 2nd Platoon 3rd Platoon 4th Platoon 5th Platoon  1 IMPUDENT 1A IMP 1B ? 2 ? 2A ICENI 2B ? 3 ? 3A IRATE 3B IMPETUOUS 4 ? 4A ILLUSIVE 4B IBEX 5 IRAQ 5A ISMAILIA 5C INDIA

B Squadron Squadron CO Squadron 2IC Chruchill ARV     IROQUOIS IMPERATOR ?      6th Platoon 7th Platoon 8th Platoon 9th Platoon 10th Platoon 6 INTACT 6A ? 6B ? 7 INVINCIBLE 7A IMPUNITY 7B IMPERIAL 8 INFERNAL 8A INFERNO 8B INFIDEL 9 INSPIRE 9A IMMUNE 9B IMPULSE 10 INTERCEPT 10A IMMORTAL 10B IMPRINT

C Squadron Squadron CO Squadron 2IC Chruchill ARV      INCREDIBLE ICH DIEN ?     11th Platoon 12th Platoon 13th Platoon 14th Platoon 15th Platoon 11 INCISIVE 11A INTENSIVE 11B IMPASSIVE 12 IBN EL KELB 12A INFAMOUS 12B IBN SAUD 13 IMPENITENT 13A INDEPENDENT 13B IMPERTINENT 14 INDOMITABLE 14A INDEFATIGABLE 14B IIMPREGNABLE 15 ILFORD 15A ILKLEY 15B IRLAM

31st Army Tank Brigade Created: 15 Jan 1941 NW Europe Campaign: 16 June 1944 to 31 August 1945 – In September 1944 the brigade was equipped with special vehicles and assigned to the 79th Armoured Division. Units   990 – Brigade HQ 991 - 7th Battalion, The Royal Tank Regiment 992 - 9th Battalion, The Royal Tank Regiment 993 – 141st Royal Armoured Corps (7 RTR leaves Brigade 17 October 44) (9 RTR leaves Brigade 31 August 44) (141 RAC leaves Brigade 21 June 44) Commander: Brigadier G.S. Knight

34th Army Tank Brigade Created: 1 Dec 1941 NW Europe Campaign: 3 July 1944 to 31 August 1945. Units   155 – Brigade HQ 156 – 107th Royal Armoured Corps 157 – 147th Royal Armoured Corps 158 – 153rd Royal Armoured Corps 5th Battalion Kings Own Royal Regt 10th Battalion Royal Hampshire Regt 8th Battalion Essex Regt (Replaced on 4 September 44 by the 9th RTR) Commander: Brigadier W.S. Clarke

6th Guards Tank Brigade Created: 15 Jan 1943 NW Europe Campaign: 18 July 1944 to 16 June 1945. Units 151 – Brigade HQ 152 – 4th Tank Battalion, Grenadier Guards 153 – 4th Tank Battalion, Coldstream Guards 154 – 3rd Tank Battalion, Scots Guards Commanders: Brigadier G.L. Verney Brigadier Sir W. Bartellot Bart, 3 August 1944, killed 18 August 44 Brigadier W.D.C. Greenacre, 18 August 1944

NORMANDY TANK SQUADRON The heart and soul of your tank squadron is the British-designed and built Churchill tank. Like the great man himself, the Churchill tank has had its fair share of problems, but these have been overcome and the tank is now a reliable fighting machine. In fact, the latest versions are the most heavily-armoured vehicles available to the Allies. As infantry tankers, however, you are there to support the ‘Poor Bloody Infantry’. They look to you when they come up against dug-in Jerries, machine-guns and even the Panzers.

You look to them to keep Jerry’s Panzerfausts and other tank hunters at a safe distance and to help you seize and hold the objectives. You are part of a unique, highly professional, integrated team, who having rehearsed this combined style of warfare safely in Britain, and are now putting the lessons you’ve learned into practice against the Hun.  To field them in Flames Of War see Turning Tide. More on Churchill Tanks...