As the tank landing craft eased out of Portsmouth and past the Isle of Wight, Ian Hammerton was called up onto the bridge by the captain. “Looking back, I saw an incredible sight,” he said. “Four lines of landing craft were all moving behind us as far as the eye could see.
“It was as if a giant was pulling them out with great ropes. And we were in the front, because we had a job to do the minute we landed on the other side.”
Ian had joined a Territorial Army tank regiment shortly before the war started. His intensive training included digging slit trenches six feet deep, near Catterick, in North Yorkshire. “We had no sooner finished than a group of ATS girls drove up in little Austin Utility trucks. They were all busting, and our trenches offered the privacy they needed so they all jumped in. The trenches were well and truly Christened.”
Within a few months, Ian applied for a commission and was accepted on the basis that he played rugger. Up till then he had hardly seen a tank, but officer training at Sandhurst gave him some experience, mostly on obsolete machines.
Later some of the early Churchill tanks, fitted with 75mm guns, became available. As a full Lieutenant Ian now began training others in battle tactics, up on the moors of North Yorkshire. Training included being fired on with live ammunition, by Spitfires and Hurricane fighter planes.
After being posted to Stowe on the Wold, Ian’s regiment, the 61st Royal Tank Regiment, was visited by General Sir Percy Hobart. Hobart famously created modified tanks for specialist purposes, including flail tanks. Flails, also known as Crabs, were fitted with long jibs which held rotating barrels. These extended well beyond the front of the vehicle, and the barrels had robust chains attached.
As the Crab moved forward the chains beat the ground with a fearsome thump, to explode any mines that might be in the way.
“Hobart said to us: ‘I suppose you think you are going to go tally hoeing across France. Well I’ve got news for you. Before the Lord Mayor’s procession, someone has to go in front and sweep the streets clean. That’s where you come in. But instead of sweeping the streets, you will be clearing mines.’
“We had to work out how we were going to use these things. I was sent to a secret training area at Orford Ness where there were instructors to show us how to use flails.
“When I got back, we decided that we were going to have to clear paths two or three tanks wide. The only flat piece of ground at Stow on the Wold was the cricket pitch, so we flailed that.”
Now equipped with flail tanks, Ian’s group was sent down to Lymington, where they practised loading the tanks onto landing craft. The vehicles had to be reversed up the ramp, which was a scary process, as there was only about two inches to spare on either side.
“We were told we would be going across on June 5th, so we re-embarked the landing craft and went round to Southampton Docks. The vessels were so close together you could walk from one side of the dock to the other across their decks.
“The invasion was delayed until the 6th because of bad weather, but at 5.30 on the afternoon of June 5th we were given the word to go. After we crossed the bar, I was ordered to hand out maps for all the tanks on board. They were very detailed and very recent, showing us exactly where we had to go. We would land on Juno beach and head for Bernier sur Mere.
“I spent the rest of the night being sick over the back of the landing craft.
“Dawn came up and we found ourselves in amongst a lot of merchant ships, which were carrying follow-up troops. The engine started and we unshackled the tanks. As we went in, we scraped along the side of a Landing Ship Tank with 300 rocket launchers. It set of a flight of rockets as we did so.
“At the same time, I saw a lone Spitfire flying above the beach. He flew straight into the rockets. There was a puff of smoke and that was the end of the Spitfire.
“On our vessel we had three Crabs and two AVRES (assault vehicle Royal Engineers). One of the AVRES was designed to throw a 30ft bridge, which we had planned to put up onto the sea wall, to give access to the flails. Unfortunately, it got hit on the beach, so we couldn’t use it.
“I found a concrete ramp going up from the beach to the top of the sea wall. But the top of the ramp was blocked by two massive steel gates bound up with barbed wire. I moved my tank into position intending to fire a shell at the gates and destroy them. We were too close to use the sights, so I unloaded the shell, looked down the barrel, and took aim that way. I then had to tow the wreckage out of the way.
“As soon as the ramp was clear my other two Crabs went up onto the sea wall and began flailing. They it mines straight away – a lot of mines.”
Meanwhile the tide had come up and swamped the engine on Ian’s tank. The only thing to do was to grab the Browning machine gun and as much ammunition and hand grenades as they could carry, and abandon the vehicle.
Meanwhile Canadian infantry troops had landed on the beach and Ian witnessed the distressing sight of many being killed and wounded. He was able to set up the Browning on the sea wall and give covering fire.
The next task was to find the other two Crabs in his squadron. They had exploded so many mines that many of the chains had to be replaced.
Meanwhile the Canadians had moved forward, but one of their carriers had been blown up when they hit a minefield. Ian’s two remaining flails managed to clear a path through so the attack could continue.
“I was then told to clear a field near to sea that was wanted as an ammunition dump,” he said. “As we flailed round the edges of the field, DUKWs carrying ammo, petrol and other supplies, followed us round to dump their cargos.
“We finished that job at 1.30 in the morning. The crew of my tank had retrieved a few sodden blankets. We rolled up in these under some of the other tanks and went to sleep.
“It certainly had been a long day.”
Below: The map Ian took from a sandbag on the voyage across to Normandy on D-Day.