0:00:16 > 0:00:21The Second World War was the ultimate conflict of the machine age.
0:00:21 > 0:00:25And this machine was an iconic symbol,
0:00:25 > 0:00:28the decisive weapon of the war on land.
0:00:28 > 0:00:31From North Africa to the Russian front,
0:00:31 > 0:00:33the tank ruled the battlefield
0:00:33 > 0:00:38and if you didn't master armoured warfare, you faced annihilation.
0:00:38 > 0:00:40GUNFIRE
0:00:41 > 0:00:44It's quite terrifying, really, because
0:00:44 > 0:00:47you can see these flashes from the enemy's guns
0:00:47 > 0:00:48in the distance and you think,
0:00:48 > 0:00:51any minute, one of them is going to hit me.
0:00:53 > 0:00:56'Tanks were at the beginning of the war and the end,
0:00:56 > 0:01:01'giving their crews a unique view of the entire conflict,
0:01:01 > 0:01:05'from the fall of France to North Africa, D-Day
0:01:05 > 0:01:07'and final victory in Germany.'
0:01:09 > 0:01:11As a trainee officer in the Royal Tank Regiment,
0:01:11 > 0:01:14I was indoctrinated in their exploits.
0:01:14 > 0:01:17And who could fail to have been awe-inspired
0:01:17 > 0:01:22by the way those men faced death, time and time again,
0:01:22 > 0:01:24in these iron-clad monsters?
0:01:29 > 0:01:30When I first went in,
0:01:30 > 0:01:34I thought it was going to be great fun and all that,
0:01:34 > 0:01:36'but I realised it wasn't.
0:01:36 > 0:01:39'This tank near me, I saw it just blown to bits...
0:01:39 > 0:01:42'A couple of my mates were in that.'
0:01:42 > 0:01:44It was terrible.
0:01:44 > 0:01:47'This is the story of six remarkable men
0:01:47 > 0:01:49'from one armoured unit,
0:01:49 > 0:01:52'The 5th Royal Tank Regiment, 5RTR,
0:01:52 > 0:01:55'or to those who really knew them really well,
0:01:55 > 0:01:58'The Filthy 5th.
0:01:58 > 0:02:00'Their war is brought to life,
0:02:00 > 0:02:02'not only by the last surviving veterans,
0:02:02 > 0:02:06'but also by previously unseen letters and diaries,
0:02:06 > 0:02:10'that give us a real insight into the visceral reality
0:02:10 > 0:02:11'of tank warfare.'
0:02:13 > 0:02:15Each man had his own story.
0:02:15 > 0:02:20Some were wounded, some captured, and some were killed.
0:02:20 > 0:02:23A few, very few, made it all the way through.
0:02:23 > 0:02:28Taken together, those accounts form a unique picture of the war.
0:02:37 > 0:02:38EXPLOSIONS
0:02:45 > 0:02:47'For three long years,
0:02:47 > 0:02:49'the men of the 5th Tanks had been fighting
0:02:49 > 0:02:51'in the deserts of North Africa,
0:02:51 > 0:02:55'as part of 7th Armoured Division, The Desert Rats.
0:02:56 > 0:03:00'Inside their tanks, facing a sudden, fiery death,
0:03:00 > 0:03:02'the crews formed close friendships,
0:03:02 > 0:03:06'like the one between Bill Chorley and Bob Lay.
0:03:06 > 0:03:10'They'd joined the 5th at the same time in 1942.
0:03:11 > 0:03:13'The bond you established,
0:03:13 > 0:03:17'was not the normal relationships of friends.'
0:03:17 > 0:03:19You were a partnership,
0:03:19 > 0:03:23it was closer than friendship. And, er...
0:03:24 > 0:03:27..that crew, um...
0:03:29 > 0:03:31..were friends for life.
0:03:36 > 0:03:41'The Allied victory at Alamein in November 1942,
0:03:41 > 0:03:44'was a turning point in the war.
0:03:44 > 0:03:47'The Desert Rats became celebrated heroes
0:03:47 > 0:03:50'and the 5th Tanks returned home to Britain
0:03:50 > 0:03:52'expecting a well-earned rest.'
0:03:53 > 0:03:57'Instead, Montgomery, architect of that desert victory,
0:03:57 > 0:04:01'sent them in secret to a run-down camp in Norfolk
0:04:01 > 0:04:05'called Shakers Wood to prepare for a new fight,
0:04:05 > 0:04:07'one that would require very different skills
0:04:07 > 0:04:10'to the ones they'd learned in North Africa.'
0:04:11 > 0:04:14'The 5th Tanks were now going to spearhead
0:04:14 > 0:04:17'the invasion of Europe, D-Day.
0:04:17 > 0:04:22'Sergeant Gerry Solomon, a former greengrocer,
0:04:22 > 0:04:26'had survived the last three years of combat in the desert.
0:04:26 > 0:04:27'He didn't relish the prospect
0:04:27 > 0:04:31'of a murderous, close-quarters fight in Normandy.'
0:04:31 > 0:04:35We thought we'd had enough. Let somebody else have a go.
0:04:35 > 0:04:39But you see, they wanted seasoned troops
0:04:39 > 0:04:41and there weren't many seasoned troops.
0:04:43 > 0:04:47'What I find extraordinary is that even by this stage in 1944,
0:04:47 > 0:04:49'after nearly five years of war,'
0:04:49 > 0:04:53less than half of the British army had seen active combat.
0:04:53 > 0:04:58They were people in support units, garrisons and training bases.
0:04:58 > 0:05:00The 5th Tanks on the other hand,
0:05:00 > 0:05:03had fought all the way through North Africa and Italy.
0:05:03 > 0:05:07They felt they'd done their bit and who can blame them?
0:05:07 > 0:05:09But the army had other ideas.
0:05:09 > 0:05:11They were tried and tested
0:05:11 > 0:05:15and Monty knew he could rely on them to deliver.
0:05:16 > 0:05:21'Before D-Day, the 5th Tanks received hundreds of new recruits.
0:05:21 > 0:05:24'The first was 19-year-old Roy Dixon,
0:05:24 > 0:05:26'a 2nd Lieutenant fresh from officer training,
0:05:26 > 0:05:31'making him the only man without the Africa Star campaign medal,
0:05:31 > 0:05:33'yet expected to lead veterans.'
0:05:34 > 0:05:38'Fitting into 5RTR was a little bit of a problem,
0:05:38 > 0:05:41'because they had had so much more experience
0:05:41 > 0:05:43'and they all knew each other well'
0:05:43 > 0:05:46and it didn't help that they spoke
0:05:46 > 0:05:49in a sort of special language of their own, partly Arabic.
0:05:49 > 0:05:54And so one did feel a bit of an outsider,
0:05:54 > 0:05:56but they were all extremely friendly.
0:06:01 > 0:06:05'The battalion didn't just get new men as it was re-built for D-Day.
0:06:05 > 0:06:08'The 5th Tanks and their fellow Desert Rats
0:06:08 > 0:06:12'also took delivery of a brand new fighting machine.'
0:06:12 > 0:06:16When the soldiers saw their new British made Cromwell tanks,
0:06:16 > 0:06:19they were aghast. There was so much wrong with it.
0:06:19 > 0:06:22The first thing, obvious to the eye, is that so much of the armour,
0:06:22 > 0:06:25unlike many other tanks around by that time,
0:06:25 > 0:06:27is flat on towards the enemy.
0:06:27 > 0:06:29And that meant that a shell striking it
0:06:29 > 0:06:33was much less likely to glance off.
0:06:33 > 0:06:35There was a serious problem with the gun too.
0:06:35 > 0:06:39The 75mm gun performed well enough against Mark IIIs
0:06:39 > 0:06:41and Mark IVs in the desert,
0:06:41 > 0:06:43but it simply lacked the punch
0:06:43 > 0:06:46to defeat the latest German heavy Tiger tanks.
0:06:46 > 0:06:51'29-year-old Scotsman, Sergeant Jake Wardrop,
0:06:51 > 0:06:53'one of The Fifth's hardened Tank Commanders,
0:06:53 > 0:06:55'was all too aware of the differences
0:06:55 > 0:06:59'between the new British and German tanks.
0:06:59 > 0:07:02'In a remarkably candid diary he kept throughout the war,
0:07:02 > 0:07:04'he was scathing...'
0:07:04 > 0:07:07"The big difference between the Cromwell and the Tiger
0:07:07 > 0:07:12"made it possible for the Boche to stand back at 2000 metres
0:07:12 > 0:07:15"and pick the Cromwells off like a rifle range.
0:07:15 > 0:07:18"At that distance, the 75 on the Cromwell
0:07:18 > 0:07:22"would not look at the four inch armour of a Tiger,
0:07:22 > 0:07:24"while the long barrelled 88
0:07:24 > 0:07:27"tore through the Cromwell, like a knife through butter."
0:07:32 > 0:07:37Getting into the Cromwell, typical British tank, is a tight fit.
0:07:37 > 0:07:40But of course, for the men, it was getting out
0:07:40 > 0:07:43that was more important, because many had escaped
0:07:43 > 0:07:47with seconds to spare from burning tanks in the desert.
0:07:47 > 0:07:51And more generally, they'd got used to the bigger American tanks,
0:07:51 > 0:07:53they were roomier inside,
0:07:53 > 0:07:57and coming back to this was like coming back to a tiny flat.
0:07:58 > 0:08:02'Hadn't they listened to our experiences in the desert?
0:08:02 > 0:08:04'Hadn't they learned anything?'
0:08:04 > 0:08:07I expressed my views very forcefully
0:08:07 > 0:08:10and eventually I was told that if I said any more
0:08:10 > 0:08:11I'd be court marshalled.
0:08:20 > 0:08:22GUNFIRE AND EXPLOSIONS
0:08:27 > 0:08:30'1944, on June 6th,
0:08:30 > 0:08:34'136,000 US, British and Canadian troops
0:08:34 > 0:08:37'land on the beaches of Normandy.'
0:08:40 > 0:08:44'It's the biggest amphibious landing ever attempted.
0:08:44 > 0:08:46'D-Day has dawned at last.
0:08:46 > 0:08:48'On Gold Beach,
0:08:48 > 0:08:51'the 50th Northumbrian Division, led the assault
0:08:51 > 0:08:54'and captured it after a fierce fight
0:08:54 > 0:08:58'during which over 400 were killed, wounded or missing.'
0:09:09 > 0:09:11'The 5th tanks were still out at sea.
0:09:11 > 0:09:14'They had been delayed by bad weather.'
0:09:14 > 0:09:18And it wasn't until 3pm the next day, June 7th,
0:09:18 > 0:09:21that they came thundering across these sands.
0:09:21 > 0:09:27'80 tanks and 730 men, all keyed-up...
0:09:27 > 0:09:30'only to find the battle for the beach was already over.'
0:09:33 > 0:09:35'It wasn't what I expected at all.'
0:09:35 > 0:09:40I imagined fighting my way up the beach, but it didn't happen to me.
0:09:41 > 0:09:46'The invasion had taken the Germans completely by surprise.
0:09:46 > 0:09:49'In command was the 5th Tank's old foe, Erwin Rommel.
0:09:49 > 0:09:55'In 1940, he'd chased them out of France. They, in turn,
0:09:55 > 0:09:59'had beaten the so-called Desert Fox in North Africa.
0:09:59 > 0:10:02'Rushing back from his wife's birthday in Germany,
0:10:02 > 0:10:06'Rommel was now to meet with Montgomery and the 5th Tanks
0:10:06 > 0:10:08'for the decisive battle.'
0:10:08 > 0:10:10Rommel knew he had to contain the British
0:10:10 > 0:10:15and other landing forces, before throwing them back into the sea.
0:10:15 > 0:10:18He feared that unless he managed that quickly,
0:10:18 > 0:10:21Allied air superiority would be so overwhelming
0:10:21 > 0:10:24that his own armoured forces would be destroyed
0:10:24 > 0:10:26before they could come into action
0:10:26 > 0:10:29and that would make Germany's defeat inevitable.
0:10:32 > 0:10:35'Both Montgomery and Rommel knew the city of Caen
0:10:35 > 0:10:38'was central to the battle for Normandy.
0:10:38 > 0:10:42'The Allies had to capture this important road hub.
0:10:42 > 0:10:45'Doing so would mean breaking out of the bridgehead
0:10:45 > 0:10:47'and through the German defences.'
0:10:49 > 0:10:54'Montgomery had nurtured some hope of capturing Caen on D-Day.
0:10:54 > 0:10:56'But it proved much tougher than that,
0:10:56 > 0:11:00'and the city's fate became central to the Normandy campaign.
0:11:01 > 0:11:02'Three days on,
0:11:02 > 0:11:05'the Allies only had a toe-hold a few miles deep,
0:11:05 > 0:11:09'having failed to break out through German lines containing them,
0:11:09 > 0:11:11'or advance inland as far as planned.'
0:11:13 > 0:11:18'New boy, Roy Dixon, was one of the first in 5th Tanks to see action.'
0:11:20 > 0:11:23'The first encounter we had was about a mile,'
0:11:23 > 0:11:26a mile and a half away from the beach, where a party of Germans,
0:11:26 > 0:11:28or a group of Germans had been, sort of bypassed
0:11:28 > 0:11:33by the initial infantry and they were holding out for themselves.
0:11:33 > 0:11:35And we had to attack them.
0:11:35 > 0:11:36DISTANT GUNFIRE
0:11:36 > 0:11:40'We came to this great big chateaux, there were Germans in there
0:11:40 > 0:11:42'and they were rattling away with them machine guns.'
0:11:42 > 0:11:48Well, I...I badly wanted to fire a shot into the...
0:11:48 > 0:11:50into the chateaux, but no, they wouldn't let me do that.
0:11:50 > 0:11:53They said, "Oh, no, you can't do that."
0:11:53 > 0:11:55- HE LAUGHS - Not cricket, I suppose!
0:11:55 > 0:11:57DISTANT GUNFIRE
0:11:57 > 0:11:59'They put up, actually, quite a good fight,
0:11:59 > 0:12:03'including climbing onto one of the tanks.'
0:12:03 > 0:12:05So, a little fear, not very bad,
0:12:05 > 0:12:10but a nice little action just to get us used to it really,
0:12:10 > 0:12:11so we knew what was going on.
0:12:16 > 0:12:18'The Normandy terrain came as a real shock
0:12:18 > 0:12:20'to desert veterans in the 5th.'
0:12:20 > 0:12:25Out in North Africa, if the enemy got within 500 metres of you,
0:12:25 > 0:12:27that was getting too near.
0:12:27 > 0:12:31Whereas with these hedges, there could be Germans on the other side
0:12:31 > 0:12:33'and you wouldn't even know about it.'
0:12:36 > 0:12:38GUNFIRE
0:12:38 > 0:12:41'This close terrain was a frightening new experience
0:12:41 > 0:12:44'for many of the 5th Tank's old sweats,
0:12:44 > 0:12:47'and some were simply unable to cope.'
0:12:47 > 0:12:50'Corporal Bridges, he was a desert veteran...'
0:12:50 > 0:12:53he came to me and said, "I'm terribly sorry about this,
0:12:53 > 0:12:57"but I really can't go on, I've had it in a big way.
0:12:57 > 0:13:03"I was shaking like a leaf and I can't face doing another day."
0:13:03 > 0:13:04So I said -
0:13:04 > 0:13:07this is one o'clock in the morning of course by this time -
0:13:07 > 0:13:10so I said, "Well, OK,
0:13:10 > 0:13:13"but there's obviously nothing I can do about it at this time of night.
0:13:13 > 0:13:16"We're going to have to go off in the morning.
0:13:16 > 0:13:20"But I will do my best to see if we can get you replaced the next day."
0:13:23 > 0:13:25'The next day we moved off
0:13:25 > 0:13:29'and the first shot that was fired hit at the turret, ring level...
0:13:29 > 0:13:32'and took half of him off, killed instantly.
0:13:32 > 0:13:35'And so I then ran across to see what had happened,'
0:13:35 > 0:13:37climbed up onto this tank and looked down
0:13:37 > 0:13:40and not a very good sight to see, as you can imagine.
0:13:40 > 0:13:44The whole place pouring in blood and a headless body at the bottom...
0:13:44 > 0:13:47Very nasty indeed. That was my first initiation,
0:13:47 > 0:13:51that's when I realised that this war wasn't going to be so much fun.
0:13:53 > 0:13:57Inside you are safer, but there is a distinct limit to what you can see
0:13:57 > 0:14:02through these vision blocks, so most of the commanders kept their heads
0:14:04 > 0:14:06out of the turret.
0:14:06 > 0:14:09Now, that was more dangerous, of course,
0:14:09 > 0:14:12but it gave them a much better idea of what was going on around them.
0:14:12 > 0:14:14GUNFIRE
0:14:16 > 0:14:19'And that was vital in these narrow lanes and high hedgerows,
0:14:19 > 0:14:25'called "bocage", because it was ideal country to ambush tanks.'
0:14:31 > 0:14:33EXPLOSIONS
0:14:33 > 0:14:37Any hedgerow could be concealing a Panzer or an infantryman,
0:14:37 > 0:14:40armed with one of these, the Panzerfaust.
0:14:40 > 0:14:43It's a handheld anti-tank weapon.
0:14:43 > 0:14:48Germany produced more than six million of these during the war.
0:14:48 > 0:14:51This variant has a range of 60 metres.
0:14:51 > 0:14:54Now, that would be pathetically inadequate in the desert.
0:14:54 > 0:14:57You'd be killed before you could get that near.
0:14:57 > 0:14:59But in the close country of Europe,
0:14:59 > 0:15:02'it allowed the humble infantryman the chance
0:15:02 > 0:15:05'to take out any Allied armoured vehicle.
0:15:05 > 0:15:09'And for many in the 5th tanks, it proved to be their undoing.'
0:15:10 > 0:15:12EXPLOSIONS
0:15:17 > 0:15:21The Panzefaust imploded into the tank, blew it up.
0:15:21 > 0:15:24You were all finished if that hit.
0:15:24 > 0:15:28'So, you were virtually with the infantry all the time,
0:15:28 > 0:15:30'you needed infantry to protect you.'
0:15:34 > 0:15:39Breaking out of the bocage to the open countryside beyond was vital
0:15:39 > 0:15:44if the pent-up Allied armour was to flow as an unstoppable torrent.
0:15:44 > 0:15:47The alternative was unthinkable.
0:15:47 > 0:15:49German containment of the Allied bridgehead,
0:15:49 > 0:15:52a war of attrition in the hedgerows
0:15:52 > 0:15:55and in the worst-case scenario, failure.
0:15:57 > 0:15:58'One week after D-Day,
0:15:58 > 0:16:02the Americans forced a gap in the German front line
0:16:02 > 0:16:07'and an opportunity appeared to break out towards the city of Caen.
0:16:07 > 0:16:10'Montgomery seized his chance to open up the battle
0:16:10 > 0:16:12'and rout the Germans.
0:16:12 > 0:16:15'The 7th Armoured Division, including 5th Tanks,
0:16:15 > 0:16:19'was ordered to push through the gap as fast as possible.'
0:16:19 > 0:16:23They advanced six miles through the Norman countryside
0:16:23 > 0:16:26and arrived along this high street in Villers-Bocage.
0:16:28 > 0:16:32The people of the town came to their balconies and open windows
0:16:32 > 0:16:35to cheer the British tanks and throw flowers on them.
0:16:35 > 0:16:39The Commander of that leading battle group felt they'd done it
0:16:39 > 0:16:42and ordered everybody to stop while the men made tea.
0:16:42 > 0:16:46The 5th Tanks meanwhile, the second battle group
0:16:46 > 0:16:48were on a nearby hillside,
0:16:48 > 0:16:52oblivious to the fact that a disaster was about to unfold.
0:16:56 > 0:17:00'So far, the dreaded German Tiger tank
0:17:00 > 0:17:03'had failed to make an appearance in Normandy,
0:17:03 > 0:17:07'but now it was to make its spectacular debut,
0:17:07 > 0:17:11'confirming the worst fears about the Cromwell tank's vulnerability
0:17:11 > 0:17:13'and lack of fire power.'
0:17:16 > 0:17:19'You knew very well that if you came up against a Tiger,
0:17:19 > 0:17:21'you weren't going to be able to penetrate it.'
0:17:21 > 0:17:25So you've got to blooming well avoid it. That's all there was to it.
0:17:25 > 0:17:26EXPLOSIONS
0:17:30 > 0:17:34'A Tiger tank appeared, commanded by Michael Wittmann,
0:17:34 > 0:17:39'a Panzer ace with 137 kills to his credit.
0:17:39 > 0:17:44'With this talent for mayhem, he was quick to seize his chance.'
0:17:48 > 0:17:52It was along this road that Wittmann sowed a trail of destruction.
0:17:52 > 0:17:54Appearing here with a couple of other Tigers,
0:17:54 > 0:17:59he first engaged the rear-most tanks of the leading British group,
0:17:59 > 0:18:01who were up on that hill.
0:18:01 > 0:18:05That was to stop them taking any further part in what was to follow.
0:18:05 > 0:18:07He then set off down this road,
0:18:07 > 0:18:10engaging half-tracks and Cromwells as he went.
0:18:10 > 0:18:15Within minutes, 25 British vehicles were ablaze.
0:18:15 > 0:18:16EXPLOSIONS
0:18:24 > 0:18:27In this particular spot,
0:18:27 > 0:18:32one of the British tanks managed to stalk the German vehicle.
0:18:32 > 0:18:37They came up to within 100 metres of the back of Wittmann's tank
0:18:37 > 0:18:39and fired twice at it.
0:18:39 > 0:18:42They watched their own shells bounce off,
0:18:42 > 0:18:44and then in horror,
0:18:44 > 0:18:48as the German tank traversed its turret to the rear,
0:18:48 > 0:18:51pointed its 88mm gun at them and opened up,
0:18:51 > 0:18:53destroying the Cromwell instantly.
0:18:53 > 0:18:55EXPLOSION
0:18:55 > 0:18:58'Almost single-handedly, Wittmann had brought
0:18:58 > 0:19:01'the British Army's advance in Normandy to a halt.'
0:19:02 > 0:19:05JAKE WARDROP: "I hold the design of the Cromwell tank
0:19:05 > 0:19:09"and the men who ordered its production personally responsible
0:19:09 > 0:19:10"for the death of hundreds of men
0:19:10 > 0:19:15"who fought in those tanks and had a lot more guts than common sense."
0:19:16 > 0:19:20'British and German reinforcements, including more Tiger tanks,
0:19:20 > 0:19:25'now poured in to the village, feeding the fierce fight there.
0:19:25 > 0:19:27'The British decided to pull back.
0:19:29 > 0:19:31'The 5th Tanks on the hillside
0:19:31 > 0:19:34'waited nervously, as the sounds of battle came closer.'
0:19:34 > 0:19:36DISTANT GUNFIRE
0:19:43 > 0:19:46'We just didn't quite know what was going on.
0:19:46 > 0:19:48'We knew there were Tiger tanks there.
0:19:48 > 0:19:50'That was all we knew about it.'
0:19:50 > 0:19:55And we were unaware of what really a serious situation it was.
0:19:55 > 0:19:59We didn't realise that they were being massacred in the town
0:19:59 > 0:20:02and a whole regiment had gone. We didn't realise that at all.
0:20:07 > 0:20:13'Now it was the turn of 5th Tanks to face the formidable Tiger.
0:20:13 > 0:20:14'But, as well as Cromwells,
0:20:14 > 0:20:19'they were equipped with another new tank, the British Sherman Firefly.'
0:20:21 > 0:20:22Now, this is an American copy,
0:20:22 > 0:20:27but the Firefly combined the proven Sherman hull
0:20:27 > 0:20:30with a powerful 17 pounder anti-tank gun.
0:20:30 > 0:20:32It was such a beast of a weapon,
0:20:32 > 0:20:34that it fired its anti-tank projectile
0:20:34 > 0:20:36at three times the speed of sound.
0:20:36 > 0:20:41And it could punch a hole in any German tank of the time.
0:20:41 > 0:20:42GUNFIRE
0:20:42 > 0:20:46'The Sherman Firefly, yes, very good tank...'
0:20:46 > 0:20:49The 17 pounder, yeah.
0:20:49 > 0:20:53That's...that was an entirely new gun.
0:20:53 > 0:20:57Muzzle velocity, 2,000 feet per second.
0:20:57 > 0:20:59That's going some.
0:20:59 > 0:21:03'That weapon produced such a flash and bang'
0:21:03 > 0:21:07that it could easily give away the position of the tank.
0:21:07 > 0:21:09And for the crew inside the turret,
0:21:09 > 0:21:12they could be temporarily blinded by that blast,
0:21:12 > 0:21:16or even have their hair singed. It all made it vital
0:21:16 > 0:21:20to get that first round on target accurately.
0:21:23 > 0:21:28'When we received these new Sherman 17-pounders, the Firefly,'
0:21:28 > 0:21:30the decision was made
0:21:30 > 0:21:34that troops would consist of three Cromwells and one Sherman.
0:21:34 > 0:21:39So that gave one a really good hitting power within the troop.
0:21:43 > 0:21:45'But of course, that's all very well,'
0:21:45 > 0:21:49but when tanks get spread out in battle,
0:21:49 > 0:21:53the Firefly's not where you want it when you need it.
0:21:53 > 0:21:56But it was a vast improvement and it did knock out Tigers.
0:21:58 > 0:22:02'And using the Sherman itself also was a mixed blessing.
0:22:02 > 0:22:05'The British Army knew the tank very well,'
0:22:05 > 0:22:09but it was in Normandy that it was discovered just how easily
0:22:09 > 0:22:12it set fire when it was hit or brewed up,
0:22:12 > 0:22:15leaving the British crews to nickname them Ronsons
0:22:15 > 0:22:17after the popular lighter
0:22:17 > 0:22:19and the Germans to dub them Tommy Cookers.
0:22:21 > 0:22:24'The one dozen Sherman Fireflies in the 5th Tanks
0:22:24 > 0:22:28'were commanded by its most experienced sergeants and corporals,
0:22:28 > 0:22:30'all of them desert veterans,
0:22:30 > 0:22:34'including Gerry Solomon and Jake Wardrop.'
0:22:34 > 0:22:37OK, movement spotted. Use the AP rounds.
0:22:37 > 0:22:40JAKE WARDROP: "Back on our front, somebody had seen a couple of Tigers
0:22:40 > 0:22:43"and we got ready to engage them.
0:22:43 > 0:22:47"By sitting on top of the turret and looking through the trees,
0:22:47 > 0:22:50"I could see the thing about 150 yards away.
0:22:51 > 0:22:55"It was closer now so I said, 'Well, fire anyhow,
0:22:55 > 0:22:57"'or the bloody thing will be alongside.'
0:22:57 > 0:23:00"Like the stout lad he is,
0:23:00 > 0:23:03"no sooner had the empty case rattled on the floor,
0:23:03 > 0:23:05"than Woody had slammed another one up."
0:23:05 > 0:23:07"The Tiger halted now,
0:23:07 > 0:23:11"so I gave the gunner aim little left and fire again.
0:23:11 > 0:23:14"They had the wind up on the Tiger by now
0:23:14 > 0:23:17"and it was reversing as fast as it could go.
0:23:17 > 0:23:20"I was kicking myself for not brewing it up,
0:23:20 > 0:23:23"but we had twisted the tail of the big brave Tiger
0:23:23 > 0:23:27"and he had run away and my morale was way up."
0:23:27 > 0:23:30Well, whether or not 5th Tanks hit any of the Tigers
0:23:30 > 0:23:34moving up that valley, German records show 16 of them
0:23:34 > 0:23:37were put out of action during the three days
0:23:37 > 0:23:42of the Villers-Bocage battle. Nine of those Tigers destroyed.
0:23:42 > 0:23:46A couple of dozen other types of German tanks were also knocked out.
0:23:50 > 0:23:54'But it wasn't just Panzers that the 5th Tanks had to face.
0:23:54 > 0:23:57'The Germans also threw their infantry into the battle.'
0:23:59 > 0:24:03'I got out of the tank to water the grass,'
0:24:03 > 0:24:04Jock got out...
0:24:06 > 0:24:08..and did the same,
0:24:08 > 0:24:11and when he got back in and was adjusting his overcoat,
0:24:11 > 0:24:13he got a dum-dum bullet to his head.
0:24:14 > 0:24:17There were snipers about.
0:24:17 > 0:24:18So I count myself lucky.
0:24:21 > 0:24:24'The battle raged for two days
0:24:24 > 0:24:27'and as the death of Bob's commander demonstrated,
0:24:27 > 0:24:32'it was far too risky to leave the protection of the tank.'
0:24:33 > 0:24:36When you're closed down inside for long periods,
0:24:36 > 0:24:40it can be very tough mentally as well as physically.
0:24:40 > 0:24:45I remember doing it for 20 hours on a Cold War exercise in Germany
0:24:45 > 0:24:49and pretty soon, because I couldn't stand up or stretch,
0:24:49 > 0:24:51I was very uncomfortable.
0:24:51 > 0:24:54My legs and the knee were singing with pain
0:24:54 > 0:24:58and there was a voice in my head, pleading with me to get out.
0:24:58 > 0:25:02In Normandy, because of the threat of artillery and snipers,
0:25:02 > 0:25:05they had to do it for long periods
0:25:05 > 0:25:08and of course the smell must have been pretty terrible,
0:25:08 > 0:25:10people were getting on one another's nerves
0:25:10 > 0:25:13and having to urinate into shell cases.
0:25:13 > 0:25:14Must have been a nightmare.
0:25:17 > 0:25:20'Bill Chorley had abandoned his tank when it broke down.
0:25:20 > 0:25:24'He'd seen Cromwell crews, including his own commander,
0:25:24 > 0:25:28'abandon their vehicles in panic when the Tigers appeared.
0:25:28 > 0:25:31'Now Bill, just 23 years old that day,
0:25:31 > 0:25:36'tried to sneak back to his own lines with two other crew members.'
0:25:36 > 0:25:39BILL: "We crept through the hedgerows, which took a long time,
0:25:39 > 0:25:41"until we came to the main road.
0:25:41 > 0:25:45"It seemed all quiet, so I got up and suddenly heard,
0:25:45 > 0:25:47"Hande hoch, Englander!
0:25:47 > 0:25:50"Followed by a burst of machine gun fire.
0:25:50 > 0:25:52"We had no weapons, so had to surrender.
0:25:53 > 0:26:00I heard a burst of mauser fire and I thought, God, they've got him
0:26:00 > 0:26:03and I firmly believed that he'd been killed.
0:26:09 > 0:26:12'Devastated, absolutely, he was...'
0:26:12 > 0:26:16He was my best friend... Marvellous chap as well.
0:26:16 > 0:26:18Er, but...
0:26:20 > 0:26:22..by the time we'd reached the Seine,
0:26:22 > 0:26:25I'd lost all my friends.
0:26:25 > 0:26:28When that happens, you're on your own.
0:26:30 > 0:26:33'Allied aircraft dominated the skies over Normandy,
0:26:33 > 0:26:36'striking fear into the Germans.
0:26:36 > 0:26:40'5th Tanks now witnessed a massive air attack on Villers-Bocage,
0:26:40 > 0:26:42'where earlier that day,
0:26:42 > 0:26:45'French civilians had greeted the triumphant British.'
0:26:45 > 0:26:47EXPLOSIONS
0:26:53 > 0:26:56'They just stonked the place, flattened it altogether.
0:26:56 > 0:26:59'You couldn't mess about with things like that,
0:26:59 > 0:27:03'you had to get on with it. It was desperate times...'
0:27:03 > 0:27:07We were in a bridgehead and wanted to get out...
0:27:07 > 0:27:12and, you know, you couldn't worry about details like that.
0:27:12 > 0:27:15'If the RAF came and hit the target, well,
0:27:15 > 0:27:19'so be it. As far as we were concerned, it was a good thing.'
0:27:19 > 0:27:23Because war is war and there's no half measures.
0:27:29 > 0:27:32'Allied air power was a blunt instrument.
0:27:32 > 0:27:36'Its bombs killed about 70,000 French people.
0:27:36 > 0:27:40'A third more killed by accident than the British suffered
0:27:40 > 0:27:43'from the Luftwaffe's deliberate bombing during the blitz.'
0:27:51 > 0:27:55'British Infantry divisions had failed to link up
0:27:55 > 0:27:58'with the 5th Tanks and 7th Armoured Division.
0:27:58 > 0:28:01'So on June 14th, the order came to retreat,
0:28:01 > 0:28:06'giving up all the ground they'd captured over the past days.
0:28:06 > 0:28:08'They'd inflicted heavy casualties on the Germans,
0:28:08 > 0:28:13'but they were isolated six miles forward of Allied lines.
0:28:13 > 0:28:15'It was feared only a matter of time
0:28:15 > 0:28:17'before they'd run out of supplies.
0:28:19 > 0:28:22'5th Tanks, acting as rearguard, was the last to leave.'
0:28:26 > 0:28:30'Captain Arthur Crickmay was the 5th Tank's Adjutant,
0:28:30 > 0:28:34'right-hand man of the battalion's Commanding Officer.
0:28:34 > 0:28:36'He'd been fighting since 1939
0:28:36 > 0:28:39'and had won the military cross for bravery.'
0:28:39 > 0:28:43ARTHUR: "We moved off in pitch dark and clouds of choking dust,
0:28:43 > 0:28:46"to the steady clanking of tracks
0:28:46 > 0:28:49"and the dull roar of Rolls Royce engines.
0:28:49 > 0:28:53"It seemed too much to expect of the enemy to let us go unmolested.
0:28:53 > 0:28:55"But they did. They'd had enough."
0:29:01 > 0:29:03The true vision of Arthur
0:29:03 > 0:29:05was somebody who was absolutely immaculate.
0:29:07 > 0:29:09We hadn't had any sleep for about five nights,
0:29:09 > 0:29:12we had tablets to keep ourselves awake
0:29:12 > 0:29:16and when we pulled out, most people flopped out and went to sleep
0:29:16 > 0:29:17and I was still on my feet.
0:29:17 > 0:29:22So I was required to go to Arthur's tank,
0:29:22 > 0:29:24and Arthur was shaving.
0:29:24 > 0:29:28And so there he goes, Americans arrived.
0:29:28 > 0:29:32And one wanted to know what the position was.
0:29:32 > 0:29:35And Arthur finished his shaving
0:29:35 > 0:29:39and slowly told them,
0:29:39 > 0:29:42quite quietly and slowly, what was happening.
0:29:42 > 0:29:47But he wasn't going to be rushed by any Americans while he was shaving.
0:29:47 > 0:29:49HE CHUCKLES
0:29:53 > 0:29:55So what actually happened here?
0:29:55 > 0:29:58Well, on the morning of the 13th, no doubt about it,
0:29:58 > 0:30:00the 7th Armoured Division took a beating.
0:30:00 > 0:30:04But later that day, and on the 14th of June,
0:30:04 > 0:30:07it was the Germans who got the drubbing.
0:30:07 > 0:30:11So in my view, Villers-Bocage was a score draw.
0:30:11 > 0:30:15The Germans quite understandably made great propaganda play
0:30:15 > 0:30:17out of Wittmann's actions,
0:30:17 > 0:30:20and painted it as a great British defeat.
0:30:20 > 0:30:24Far less understandable or forgivable was the fact that
0:30:24 > 0:30:28certain British armchair critics took the same line.
0:30:28 > 0:30:31The commanders of the 7th Armoured Division were sacked,
0:30:31 > 0:30:36despite the fact that it was the infantry who failed to follow up
0:30:36 > 0:30:37on their gains.
0:30:37 > 0:30:42And some historians also unforgivably have bought the line
0:30:42 > 0:30:46that, after this battle, the 7th Armoured Division was traumatised,
0:30:46 > 0:30:48sticky, afraid to get into a fight.
0:30:51 > 0:30:56There are criticisms of the 5th Tanks for being over-cautious.
0:30:57 > 0:31:01But when you had the experience that we had,
0:31:01 > 0:31:05you know when to go and when not to go.
0:31:05 > 0:31:07And, er...
0:31:09 > 0:31:11..that experience saved many lives.
0:31:12 > 0:31:16We'd moved from a different type of terrain for warfare.
0:31:16 > 0:31:20It was open desert, but here we were close country.
0:31:20 > 0:31:22That was why we were cautious.
0:31:24 > 0:31:28Stalking their enemies through the Normandy countryside,
0:31:28 > 0:31:32many of the tank soldiers were struggling with inner demons.
0:31:32 > 0:31:35Today we would call it post-traumatic stress.
0:31:35 > 0:31:38Jake Wardrop, in his diary, mentions more than once
0:31:38 > 0:31:40attacks of the jitters.
0:31:40 > 0:31:44Mastering those feelings of fear and panic
0:31:44 > 0:31:48was one of the biggest challenges facing the veteran tank commanders.
0:31:49 > 0:31:53I think the general feeling amongst most fighting men was
0:31:53 > 0:31:55that people only have a certain amount of stamina,
0:31:55 > 0:31:58and when it's run out, that's it.
0:31:58 > 0:32:01And you're lucky if you've got the stamina to keep going.
0:32:01 > 0:32:06So we didn't blame them, really, when their nerves went.
0:32:07 > 0:32:10Scared? Oh, yes. Everybody was scared.
0:32:10 > 0:32:16Eventually I got to the stage where I was saying to myself,
0:32:16 > 0:32:17"You keep getting away with it.
0:32:17 > 0:32:20"God, you must have a charmed life."
0:32:20 > 0:32:23And then I thought...
0:32:23 > 0:32:25then later I thought to myself,
0:32:25 > 0:32:28"Yeah, but my odds are getting shorter, surely."
0:32:29 > 0:32:32Having failed to surround the city of Caen,
0:32:32 > 0:32:37the 5th Tanks were pulled out of the front line for rest and to resupply.
0:32:38 > 0:32:42"There was a cinema and baths in Bayeux which we visited,
0:32:42 > 0:32:46"and in the improving weather we lay around and started to get tanned.
0:32:46 > 0:32:50"At night we just simply sat around and read, wrote letters
0:32:50 > 0:32:51"and took things easy."
0:32:57 > 0:33:00GUNFIRE
0:33:01 > 0:33:04Thirteen days after D-day, on the 19th of June,
0:33:04 > 0:33:07a devastating storm hit the Channel.
0:33:09 > 0:33:11Supplies fell to a trickle.
0:33:11 > 0:33:16And since the 5th Tanks alone needed 650 tonnes of fuel, ammunition
0:33:16 > 0:33:21and rations each day in combat, many operations had to be postponed.
0:33:22 > 0:33:26While they rested, in the west, American units,
0:33:26 > 0:33:28some with just three days of ammunition left,
0:33:28 > 0:33:32were painfully grinding their way south against fierce resistance.
0:33:35 > 0:33:39In the east, Monty kept up the war of attrition in the hedgerows,
0:33:39 > 0:33:43trying to capture Caen and break out of the bridgehead.
0:33:48 > 0:33:50With losses continuing day after day,
0:33:50 > 0:33:53British infantry casualty rates were approaching those
0:33:53 > 0:33:55of the First World War.
0:33:55 > 0:33:59After years of fighting and worldwide commitments,
0:33:59 > 0:34:02Britain was running out of foot soldiers.
0:34:02 > 0:34:05Pressure was on Montgomery to get a move on.
0:34:09 > 0:34:14On the 8th and 9th of July, he ordered a massive aerial bombardment
0:34:14 > 0:34:17that devastated Caen and its civilian population.
0:34:19 > 0:34:22After three major offensives
0:34:22 > 0:34:24and 30 days of bloody fighting,
0:34:24 > 0:34:29the city he'd hoped to take on D-day itself finally fell.
0:34:32 > 0:34:37One week later, the Germans suffered another serious blow.
0:34:37 > 0:34:41General Rommel had always feared Allied air superiority
0:34:41 > 0:34:45and now he became one of its victims, seriously wounded
0:34:45 > 0:34:48when his staff car was strafed by British fighters.
0:34:48 > 0:34:51His war was over, but for the 5th Tanks
0:34:51 > 0:34:53and others at the front, it continued.
0:34:53 > 0:34:57General Montgomery called forward the Desert Rats
0:34:57 > 0:34:59to play a key part in a coming offensive.
0:35:02 > 0:35:06Operation Goodwood was to be a tank thrust across
0:35:06 > 0:35:09the open countryside beyond Caen.
0:35:09 > 0:35:13After weeks of suffering by his infantry, Montgomery intended
0:35:13 > 0:35:16to use all three of his armoured divisions
0:35:16 > 0:35:18to punch his way out of the bridgehead.
0:35:21 > 0:35:24Over 1,000 tanks,
0:35:24 > 0:35:27more than 60,000 infantry
0:35:27 > 0:35:31and 700 pieces of artillery
0:35:31 > 0:35:35guided into position, and then the rumble of thunder.
0:35:36 > 0:35:39In the distance, 2,000 Allied bombers,
0:35:39 > 0:35:43the largest number ever launched in support of ground forces,
0:35:43 > 0:35:45pummelled the Norman fields.
0:35:45 > 0:35:47BOMBS WHIR
0:35:52 > 0:35:57We saw the bombing raid which preceded the Goodwood.
0:35:57 > 0:35:59And that was enormous.
0:35:59 > 0:36:04And you would have thought nobody could have lived through it.
0:36:04 > 0:36:09In places, 56-tonne Tigers were hurled upside down.
0:36:09 > 0:36:11German infantry went mad.
0:36:11 > 0:36:13Some even committed suicide.
0:36:15 > 0:36:17So began Operation Goodwood,
0:36:17 > 0:36:21the biggest tank attack in the history of the British Army.
0:36:23 > 0:36:26SOUND OF EXPLOSIONS
0:36:29 > 0:36:32Today, the ground over which Goodwood was fought
0:36:32 > 0:36:33is pretty much unchanged.
0:36:33 > 0:36:37From this higher ground, the Germans had a grandstand view
0:36:37 > 0:36:42as all three British armoured divisions in Normandy advanced,
0:36:42 > 0:36:47from behind me, along an axis in line with these rows of crops.
0:36:48 > 0:36:53The Germans had prepared defences, the villages had been fortified.
0:36:56 > 0:37:02And the woods concealed scores of the feared 88mm anti-tank guns.
0:37:08 > 0:37:13An 88 can knock out a Cromwell at 2,000 yards.
0:37:13 > 0:37:15One 88 covers 4,000 yards.
0:37:15 > 0:37:19They had lots of them together with Panthers and Tigers.
0:37:19 > 0:37:21We were really up against it.
0:37:21 > 0:37:23EXPLOSIONS
0:37:25 > 0:37:28You know it's a 88 because you hear a tearing of paper.
0:37:30 > 0:37:32And you move.
0:37:32 > 0:37:34If you didn't hear it...
0:37:34 > 0:37:36that was the end of you.
0:37:39 > 0:37:44Despite the huge aerial bombardment, the Germans had hardly been harmed.
0:37:44 > 0:37:47They had been expecting an attack for days
0:37:47 > 0:37:50and had dug in five lines of defence,
0:37:50 > 0:37:52stretching nine miles deep.
0:37:52 > 0:37:57When Goodwood started, it's been likened to the French cavalry attack
0:37:57 > 0:38:01at Agincourt or the Charge of the Light Brigade at Balaclava.
0:38:01 > 0:38:05The British advanced down a narrow corridor of death.
0:38:08 > 0:38:14On the first day of Goodwood, nearly 200 Allied tanks were knocked out.
0:38:14 > 0:38:17But 5th Tanks, along with the rest of 7th Armoured Division,
0:38:17 > 0:38:21the most experienced of the three armoured divisions taking part,
0:38:21 > 0:38:23was late getting to the fight.
0:38:23 > 0:38:28They were stuck in a huge traffic jam near the Orne River.
0:38:28 > 0:38:32But on day two of the battle, it was their turn to run the gauntlet
0:38:32 > 0:38:35with 5th Tanks leading the way.
0:38:35 > 0:38:38Going up a slope and looking down the other side,
0:38:38 > 0:38:41my main thing was horror,
0:38:41 > 0:38:47seeing a whole squadron of Shermans, in squadron formation, knocked out.
0:38:51 > 0:38:54The place was littered with burning tanks everywhere
0:38:54 > 0:38:57and there were bodies everywhere as well.
0:38:57 > 0:38:59It was all very unpleasant indeed.
0:38:59 > 0:39:01There were sort of half bodies around the place,
0:39:01 > 0:39:05where people had been blown up. It was all very, very nasty.
0:39:07 > 0:39:12As Jake Wardrop's troop approached a village across open fields,
0:39:12 > 0:39:15an anti-tank gun concealed in woods opened fire.
0:39:17 > 0:39:19"Then it happened.
0:39:19 > 0:39:23"There was a loud thud behind, the tank slowed and stopped
0:39:23 > 0:39:25"and the turret was full of flames,
0:39:25 > 0:39:28"so I yelled, 'Jump!' and bailed for it.
0:39:28 > 0:39:32"Poor Woody had been burned on the face and hands,
0:39:32 > 0:39:34"they were starting to blister.
0:39:34 > 0:39:36"We had lost all our kit."
0:39:41 > 0:39:45For its crew, a tank is also a mobile home.
0:39:45 > 0:39:50And when Jake Wardrop's Firefly went up in flames in this field,
0:39:50 > 0:39:54they lost all their possessions. He was particularly upset
0:39:54 > 0:39:58about losing a blue sweater he'd had since the desert battles,
0:39:58 > 0:40:01and some chapters from his diary.
0:40:01 > 0:40:04And they weren't the only people to get burnt out
0:40:04 > 0:40:06of their vehicle that day.
0:40:06 > 0:40:09The 5th lost three other tanks too,
0:40:09 > 0:40:12and Roy Dixon had a close escape.
0:40:12 > 0:40:15I had got out of my seat and was sitting on the turret ring,
0:40:15 > 0:40:18so that I was higher up, so that I could see a bit better.
0:40:18 > 0:40:22And an airburst went off above me.
0:40:22 > 0:40:26And a bit of the shrapnel came down straight between my legs
0:40:26 > 0:40:27and straight into the gunner.
0:40:27 > 0:40:31I was incredibly lucky, it missed by about that much.
0:40:31 > 0:40:33And the poor old gunner, we had to get him out of the tank
0:40:33 > 0:40:37and getting a wounded man out of a tank is extremely difficult.
0:40:37 > 0:40:39He subsequently died, regrettably.
0:40:39 > 0:40:41You just had to accept it.
0:40:41 > 0:40:46Everybody said, "Too bad, but, you know, make way for the new man."
0:40:46 > 0:40:48You had to do that.
0:40:48 > 0:40:51You couldn't go round...
0:40:51 > 0:40:53weeping about it all, really.
0:40:53 > 0:40:56When the operation ended on the 20th of July,
0:40:56 > 0:41:01the British had advanced seven miles and taken this high ground.
0:41:01 > 0:41:04But the cost of Goodwood had been high.
0:41:04 > 0:41:09Critics made much of the fact the British had 400 tanks knocked out,
0:41:09 > 0:41:13never mind that only half of them had actually been destroyed,
0:41:13 > 0:41:16the rest could be repaired.
0:41:16 > 0:41:185th Tanks got off relatively lightly.
0:41:18 > 0:41:21Sergeant Wardrop had survived being knocked out,
0:41:21 > 0:41:26Gerry Solomon and Bob Lay had come through unscathed.
0:41:26 > 0:41:30But the fact was, it wasn't the breakthrough that many had hoped for.
0:41:34 > 0:41:37Goodwood was seen by many as a disaster
0:41:37 > 0:41:39and Montgomery was nearly sacked.
0:41:39 > 0:41:42But the Germans lost thousands of troops here,
0:41:42 > 0:41:48scores of anti-tank guns and around 80 tanks and self-propelled guns.
0:41:48 > 0:41:52And whereas the Allies were able to top up their tanks
0:41:52 > 0:41:56to the original level within 36 hours of Goodwood,
0:41:56 > 0:42:00the Germans had only succeeded, in all the weeks since D-day,
0:42:00 > 0:42:05in replacing 17 out of 1,700 lost Panzers.
0:42:11 > 0:42:15Two-thirds of the German Army was tied up fighting the Soviets
0:42:15 > 0:42:17on the Eastern Front.
0:42:17 > 0:42:21In France, Allied airpower strafed almost anything that moved.
0:42:24 > 0:42:27As Rommel had feared, even though German tank production
0:42:27 > 0:42:30was at its height, most were sent east,
0:42:30 > 0:42:33while in France the resupply system had broken down
0:42:33 > 0:42:35under pressure of air attack.
0:42:37 > 0:42:41The Germans were being ground down and, bound by Hitler's orders
0:42:41 > 0:42:44not to yield an inch of Normandy,
0:42:44 > 0:42:47were becoming vulnerable to break-out and encirclement.
0:42:53 > 0:42:57Just five days after Goodwood, on the 25th July,
0:42:57 > 0:43:02the Americans launched Operation Cobra to great success.
0:43:02 > 0:43:06The British had sucked most of Rommel's Panzer divisions
0:43:06 > 0:43:08into the fight for Caen.
0:43:08 > 0:43:11That helped the Americans break into open country.
0:43:12 > 0:43:17The dream of mobile armoured warfare was now a reality.
0:43:17 > 0:43:20In four days, they advanced 30 miles.
0:43:21 > 0:43:25Meanwhile, 5th Tanks found themselves in their fiercest battle
0:43:25 > 0:43:27of the Normandy campaign so far,
0:43:27 > 0:43:31fighting to keep the Germans tied down in their sector.
0:43:31 > 0:43:34So the Americans could exploit their break-out,
0:43:34 > 0:43:36the 5th found themselves surrounded.
0:43:39 > 0:43:45British infantry and tanks had to operate closely together as a team.
0:43:45 > 0:43:50But this time it broke down, and the British infantry bugged out,
0:43:50 > 0:43:54leaving the 5th Tanks to the mercy of SS Panzer grenadiers.
0:43:59 > 0:44:02We were clustered there in a group and we were told we were going
0:44:02 > 0:44:07to wait until the moon got a bit higher, give us a bit more light.
0:44:07 > 0:44:09Then we were going to break out.
0:44:09 > 0:44:13But, unfortunately, the enemy beat us to it.
0:44:24 > 0:44:27I knew the tank had been hit.
0:44:27 > 0:44:31I felt my right-hand side go numb.
0:44:34 > 0:44:36Come on. Stand up.
0:44:36 > 0:44:40Gerry Solomon had got through all the North Africa battles,
0:44:40 > 0:44:43from Crusader to El Alamein,
0:44:43 > 0:44:45and he'd been one of the first men into Tunis.
0:44:45 > 0:44:50He'd been in Italy, in Villers-Bocage and on Operation Goodwood, too.
0:44:50 > 0:44:53He knew he was living on borrowed time.
0:44:53 > 0:44:57But true to the honour code of the 5th's sergeants and corporals,
0:44:57 > 0:45:02the key tank commanders, he refused to put in for a cushier job.
0:45:02 > 0:45:06Being seriously wounded had given him an honourable way out.
0:45:06 > 0:45:10When I was injured, I wasn't sorry to be going home
0:45:10 > 0:45:14because I'd been there for two months and, you know,
0:45:14 > 0:45:18I thought all I'd done in the war, I'd done my bit anyway.
0:45:21 > 0:45:25The British succeeded in holding the German Army in place.
0:45:25 > 0:45:29For Gerry and the 5th, that came at quite a price.
0:45:29 > 0:45:33They lost seven tanks and 25 casualties in one day.
0:45:33 > 0:45:37But the bigger picture was the German Army was now trapped
0:45:37 > 0:45:39and annihilated.
0:45:39 > 0:45:44On the 25th of August, the Battle of Normandy was declared over.
0:45:44 > 0:45:46The cost had been high.
0:45:46 > 0:45:51In 80 days of fighting, the Allies had over 200,000 casualties,
0:45:51 > 0:45:56the Germans around 300,000 out of a smaller force.
0:45:56 > 0:46:00Of the 2,300 German tanks committed to the battle,
0:46:00 > 0:46:05less than 120 were brought back across the Seine.
0:46:05 > 0:46:08The Allies lost many more tanks - 4,000.
0:46:08 > 0:46:11But all of them were rapidly replaced.
0:46:13 > 0:46:17Jake Wardrop, Bob Lay, Arthur Crickmay and Roy Dixon had all
0:46:17 > 0:46:20come through relatively unscathed.
0:46:20 > 0:46:24On the 31st of August, after nearly three months of fighting
0:46:24 > 0:46:27in the hedgerows, they crossed the River Seine,
0:46:27 > 0:46:30about here, and left behind the horrors of Normandy.
0:46:33 > 0:46:36The tanks now sped across France,
0:46:36 > 0:46:41driving in hours across the Flanders fields their fathers had contested
0:46:41 > 0:46:43for years during the First World War.
0:46:43 > 0:46:45In just five days,
0:46:45 > 0:46:49they travelled 200 miles, the 5th Tanks being the first
0:46:49 > 0:46:52Allied unit to liberate the Belgian city of Ghent.
0:46:52 > 0:46:54DISTANT CHEERING
0:46:54 > 0:46:57When we got to Ghent, it was tremendous, it was a big city.
0:46:57 > 0:46:58Everybody turned out.
0:46:58 > 0:47:02Girls leaping on your tank and, you know, embracing you.
0:47:02 > 0:47:03And it was good stuff.
0:47:12 > 0:47:16Parts of Ghent were still occupied by the Germans,
0:47:16 > 0:47:20so Arthur Crickmay, now a major, came here to their headquarters,
0:47:20 > 0:47:24in an attempt to persuade the German commander to surrender.
0:47:24 > 0:47:28After five days on the road, though, Crickmay was painfully aware
0:47:28 > 0:47:32that his usually immaculate standards had slipped
0:47:32 > 0:47:35and that he was living up to the nickname of the Filthy 5th.
0:47:36 > 0:47:40"To describe my kit - overalls tanked in, slept in,
0:47:40 > 0:47:45"non-stop for a week - as a mess, would be understating a condition
0:47:45 > 0:47:48"that compared most unfavourably with that of General Bruhn.
0:47:48 > 0:47:52"He took this in and, being appraised of my meagre rank,
0:47:52 > 0:47:56"immediately took off on his thesis, often repeated, that surrender
0:47:56 > 0:48:01"could only be made to a British officer of equal rank to himself."
0:48:01 > 0:48:04The 5th Tanks had advanced so rapidly, though,
0:48:04 > 0:48:06that there were no generals to hand.
0:48:06 > 0:48:10So Major Crickmay persuaded his boss, the commanding officer
0:48:10 > 0:48:13of the battalion, Lieutenant Colonel Holliman, to act the part.
0:48:13 > 0:48:17Unfortunately, the German general guessed what was going on
0:48:17 > 0:48:22and still refused to surrender. But he did agree to pull his troops
0:48:22 > 0:48:26back to the north of the city, and so the 5th Tanks played
0:48:26 > 0:48:30their part in saving the historic centre of Ghent from destruction.
0:48:30 > 0:48:31EXPLOSIONS
0:48:31 > 0:48:36It was now September, and fighting raged to the north of the city.
0:48:36 > 0:48:40The tide of war had moved decisively against Germany,
0:48:40 > 0:48:44but they fought on, much to the frustration of many British soldiers.
0:48:48 > 0:48:51"The stupid, pig-headed Boches infantry came at us,
0:48:51 > 0:48:56"marching across the open fields. When they were good and close
0:48:56 > 0:48:58"we went to town with the machine guns.
0:48:58 > 0:49:01"There was no cover and we kept firing and firing.
0:49:01 > 0:49:03"It was great.
0:49:03 > 0:49:07"One was waving a white flag so we didn't fire
0:49:07 > 0:49:10"but they didn't come in. Perhaps they were wounded.
0:49:10 > 0:49:12"At any rate, I nipped down to pick them up
0:49:12 > 0:49:17"when just then the Boche started to lob over more mortar.
0:49:17 > 0:49:20"They dropped quite close and I picked up a small splinter
0:49:20 > 0:49:22"in my face. That settled it.
0:49:22 > 0:49:26"I got back on the tank, gave Jimmy the word
0:49:26 > 0:49:27"and he chopped them down."
0:49:33 > 0:49:37Jake's attitude to war was very belligerent.
0:49:37 > 0:49:41He wanted to get at them and knock them out
0:49:41 > 0:49:43and that may have been great satisfaction.
0:49:45 > 0:49:47Not everybody felt that way.
0:49:49 > 0:49:53Jake Wardrop testified to the bitterness of the fighting.
0:49:53 > 0:49:57Near here he saw two wounded Germans being finished off with head shots,
0:49:57 > 0:50:01after they'd surrendered, by a British soldier.
0:50:01 > 0:50:04It wasn't a good thing to do, he wrote, but at least it saved
0:50:04 > 0:50:08the danger of sending a British stretcher party to get them.
0:50:08 > 0:50:13The 5th, by this stage of the war, contained some very hard men,
0:50:13 > 0:50:16many of whom fought according to their own rules.
0:50:16 > 0:50:19Another sergeant in the battalion wrote that he had become
0:50:19 > 0:50:23"a bloodthirsty fighter who just longed for the next battle".
0:50:23 > 0:50:26They wanted to get home too, of course,
0:50:26 > 0:50:30but that just added to their anger with the Germans who fought on.
0:50:32 > 0:50:36By the 14th of September, the whole of Belgium
0:50:36 > 0:50:38and Luxembourg was in Allied hands.
0:50:38 > 0:50:42Now they crept into Holland, nearer the German border.
0:50:42 > 0:50:44Progress was slow.
0:50:44 > 0:50:47There were simply not enough supplies coming through
0:50:47 > 0:50:50to an Allied Army that now numbered three million men.
0:50:50 > 0:50:54For the 5th Tanks, the war now came to a pause.
0:50:56 > 0:51:01The battalion's casualty record for November shows just how inactive
0:51:01 > 0:51:05they were at that stage of the war. It records just two deaths.
0:51:05 > 0:51:09One from artillery fire, the other from a heart attack.
0:51:09 > 0:51:12And it was that second one that shocked the men.
0:51:12 > 0:51:16For them, natural death had become unnatural.
0:51:16 > 0:51:20MORTAR AND GUNFIRE
0:51:20 > 0:51:24While war raged elsewhere in Europe, over the winter months
0:51:24 > 0:51:28the 5th Tanks' biggest battle was keeping warm.
0:51:30 > 0:51:34After months of inactivity, the 5th Tanks crossed the Rhine
0:51:34 > 0:51:36on the 27th of March.
0:51:36 > 0:51:39I can only imagine how hard it must have been for the likes
0:51:39 > 0:51:43of Arthur Crickmay or Jake Wardrop, who had been at war for five years
0:51:43 > 0:51:45and had so many close escapes,
0:51:45 > 0:51:48to steel themselves for battle once more,
0:51:48 > 0:51:52knowing they had probably used up their nine lives.
0:51:57 > 0:52:01The 5th Tanks was now fighting in the last desperate battles
0:52:01 > 0:52:03against a crumbling Third Reich,
0:52:03 > 0:52:07their objective, Hamburg, 200 miles away.
0:52:10 > 0:52:14For 5th Tanks, the last major engagement of the war
0:52:14 > 0:52:16was at a place called Rethem.
0:52:16 > 0:52:19Small in the overall scheme of things perhaps,
0:52:19 > 0:52:23but for the battalion it was a place of huge significance.
0:52:28 > 0:52:32Jake Wardrop was advancing through woods just south of Rethem
0:52:32 > 0:52:35when all hell broke loose.
0:52:38 > 0:52:41CACOPHONY OF GUNFIRE
0:52:47 > 0:52:49HE GROANS
0:52:50 > 0:52:53Jake was found, pistol in hand.
0:52:53 > 0:52:56Wounded in the legs, he had fought to the last
0:52:56 > 0:52:59but finally succumbed to a bullet in the heart.
0:53:05 > 0:53:09When Jake was shot, the regiment was really upset.
0:53:09 > 0:53:13Because he was such a very widely respected guy in the regiment.
0:53:16 > 0:53:18Everybody in the regiment knew about him
0:53:18 > 0:53:21so his loss was particularly badly felt.
0:53:28 > 0:53:33When Jake's tank was knocked out and another one shortly afterwards,
0:53:33 > 0:53:38we had lost great characters who were a great treasure
0:53:38 > 0:53:40to the regiment.
0:53:40 > 0:53:42And nine people altogether
0:53:42 > 0:53:46out of 75 crew members of C Squadron
0:53:46 > 0:53:49just at the end of the war.
0:53:49 > 0:53:51And that...that hurt.
0:53:52 > 0:53:54It was very...
0:53:55 > 0:53:56..very tragic.
0:53:59 > 0:54:03Jake Wardrop's precious diary was recovered from his tank
0:54:03 > 0:54:05and eventually made its way home.
0:54:05 > 0:54:09His best epitaph perhaps comes in his own words to his mother,
0:54:09 > 0:54:14explaining, in a letter, why he wouldn't take a safer job.
0:54:14 > 0:54:18"I am a tank commander and I shall continue to be one
0:54:18 > 0:54:22"until the end. Should it be the wrong one, don't worry.
0:54:22 > 0:54:27"I've played the game as it seemed to me the right way to play it.
0:54:27 > 0:54:30"I have respected the women and given my rations to the little
0:54:30 > 0:54:34"children because they were hungry, and I've shot the Germans down
0:54:34 > 0:54:39"and laughed because of friends lost and, in any case, they started it."
0:54:41 > 0:54:45Wardrop had been killed less than a month before the end of the war.
0:54:50 > 0:54:52The 5th Tanks, in their drive to Hamburg,
0:54:52 > 0:54:56now encountered Allied prisoner of war camps.
0:54:56 > 0:54:58By an amazing coincidence,
0:54:58 > 0:55:01Bill Chorley, captured eight months earlier in Normandy,
0:55:01 > 0:55:04was liberated by his own division.
0:55:04 > 0:55:06He was lucky to be alive.
0:55:06 > 0:55:11Used for slave labour in Poland, when Russian forces approached
0:55:11 > 0:55:14his captors forced him on a death march west.
0:55:14 > 0:55:18It was the depths of winter. Many prisoners never made it.
0:55:18 > 0:55:20MEN CHEER
0:55:20 > 0:55:22By God, I was delighted.
0:55:22 > 0:55:24He weighed six-and-a-half stone.
0:55:34 > 0:55:38On the 3rd of May, the 5th Tanks crossed the Elbe into Hamburg.
0:55:38 > 0:55:42There was no resistance at this moment of triumph.
0:55:42 > 0:55:44In 11 months since landing at Normandy,
0:55:44 > 0:55:49they'd suffered 84 killed and two dozen tanks destroyed.
0:55:53 > 0:55:56Driving into Hamburg was an amazing experience.
0:55:56 > 0:55:58The war hadn't technically finished
0:55:58 > 0:56:02but in all senses fighting had stopped, and we drove through
0:56:02 > 0:56:05what was a completely shattered city.
0:56:05 > 0:56:07It was an appalling sight, really.
0:56:19 > 0:56:20On the 4th of May,
0:56:20 > 0:56:24General Montgomery accepted the unconditional surrender
0:56:24 > 0:56:27of all German forces in Holland and Northwest Germany.
0:56:30 > 0:56:35Four days later, Victory in Europe was declared.
0:56:38 > 0:56:41We knew. We'd made it.
0:56:41 > 0:56:44And we didn't know what to do.
0:56:44 > 0:56:48And we just hugged each other and we threw our berets in the air,
0:56:48 > 0:56:52never got our own berets again. But that was it.
0:56:52 > 0:56:55That was the end of the war for us.
0:56:56 > 0:56:58A marvellous moment.
0:57:07 > 0:57:10The war had been an extraordinarily hard experience
0:57:10 > 0:57:12for the men of 5th Tanks.
0:57:12 > 0:57:16By VE Day there were just a few dozen, less than 50 serving
0:57:16 > 0:57:20in its ranks, who had been there at the outbreak of the conflict.
0:57:22 > 0:57:27Their odyssey had lasted six years, carrying them across thousands
0:57:27 > 0:57:32of miles and costing the lives of 240 of their men.
0:57:32 > 0:57:35Their advances across North Africa and France
0:57:35 > 0:57:39equalled the achievement of Hitler's Panzer divisions.
0:57:39 > 0:57:43But our tank soldiers were citizens in a democracy
0:57:43 > 0:57:47and modest with it, their achievements even now understated
0:57:47 > 0:57:49and distinctly British.
0:57:51 > 0:57:56It is a terrible thing, in a way, to admit one was taking part
0:57:56 > 0:57:58in a sort of war of destruction,
0:57:58 > 0:58:03but from a personal point of view, as a very young man,
0:58:03 > 0:58:06it was some of the happiest days of my life
0:58:06 > 0:58:10because you were living in a little compact group, in this case
0:58:10 > 0:58:13the troop, who were great sort of pals.
0:58:13 > 0:58:16You had no responsibilities other than keeping yourself alive
0:58:16 > 0:58:18and doing the job.
0:58:18 > 0:58:20CHEERING
0:58:22 > 0:58:25The people in the services had a job to do.
0:58:26 > 0:58:28It had to be done.
0:58:29 > 0:58:31And we'd done it.
0:58:32 > 0:58:35It wasn't a matter of rejoicing.
0:58:35 > 0:58:38I didn't go to the parade in Berlin.
0:58:39 > 0:58:42I didn't see anything to rejoice about.
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