John Towlson volunteered for a tank regiment because he thought he would be safter surrounded by steel plates several inches thick. But in the action that earned him his military medal, he found himself outside the tank, fighting off German attackers with Sten and Bren guns, while attempting to dig his tank out of a trap in the Reichwald Forest.
John joined up at Bovington, Dorset, the home of the British Tank Regiment. This was in 1941 when he was 18. He spent six months with an officer training unit and could have been awarded a commission but turned it down. When asked why he said: “To be blunt, my parents couldn’t afford for me to be an officer.”
After training, he joined the 9th Tank Regiment then based at Charing. “I was a tank driver at this point,” he said. “We trained with infantry and other tank regiments, performing all kinds of manoeuvres. I think we all knew there would be an invasion of Europe before long.”
As D-Day approached the 9th Regiment headed for Eastbourne, where their tanks were loaded onto landing craft. The vehicles had been sealed with the Bostik material which had an explosive charge running through it. Six-foot extensions were added to the exhaust pipes leading up above the top of the tank.
“When we got onto the beaches I had to push a plug, and the sealing material exploded so the tank became fully operational. The turret could swivel and the guns could fire.
“We actually landed under water when we came off the landing craft,” he said. “There was about three or four feet of water above the tank. I had this horrible feeling that the engine might cut out, leaving us stranded under the sea, as happened to some crews.
“My first impression was of all the bodies floating in the water, mostly Americans.
“We landed on Gold Beach. It was the day after D-Day, so we met no resistance. The front line was about three miles away, so we had to get there, driving across fields.
“You didn’t know what was what when you first landed. I remember seeing this light which seemed to be coming towards us quite slowly. Then it suddenly flashed by like greased lightening about a foot from the side of the tank. We realised later it was German armour piercing shot probably fired from an 88mm gun. This could go through four inches of steel from 1,000 yards.
“After about a mile and a half we began to meet gunfire. You always had this silly feeling: ‘I’m in a tank, I’ve got so much steel in front of me’. So you felt safe.
“Then you saw the tank in front of you explode, and the four-ton turret blown off, and you realised you weren’t that safe after all. Plus, you had 80 gallons of petrol on board ready to go up, and large quantities of ammunition for the six-pounder gun.
“When we were about two and a half miles in, we saw flashes, which turned out to be enemy tanks firing at us. Of course we returned fire. At night you slept in the tank, but you didn’t get much sleep. At one point I was on Hill 112, which was a vital position that we just had to take. It was pretty savage, especially for the infantry.
“We fought our way through France. In one action we had 15 of our 18 tanks knocked out. Of course, not all the crews were killed. Our tank, named Indomitable, took some hits. I remember one shell hit the side of the turret at an oblique angle so it kind of skidded off. But it spun the turret which wrecked the gearing, so we had to have a new tank.”
On another occasion an armour piercing shell came through the side of the tank, just missing John’s legs, and those of his co-driver. In a Churchill tank, the driver sat so that his legs were projecting forward, making them vulnerable to a side shot.
“After France we went into Belgium and then Holland,” said John. “Most of the people were pleased to see you, but some had seen their homes wrecked by our guns or bombs, so they were less happy.
“In the Reichwald Forest we fell into a tank trap. Our officer clambered onto another tank, and we were left behind. The others just drove off and left us. There was a lot of firing. I only remember vaguely how we got out. There was lots of firing, I remember that.
“A tank trap is basically a big hole. You had to either get towed out or dig your way out, which is what we did. It was terrifying being stuck there with the enemy firing at you.”
The action was recorded in the citation for John’s Military Medal. It reads: “During the battle for the Reichwald Forest, a Churchill squadron attacked the Siegfried Line extension at 2230hrs on the night of 8/9 February 1945. The night was dark except for artificial moonlight, and unfortunately the troop commander’s tank, of which Lance-Corporal Towlson was the driver, fell into a large, well-camouflaged dugout. All efforts failed to extricate the tank from the dugout, with the result that it had to be left, and the troop leader mounted another tank.
“The advance continued and the crew were left alone in the middle of this part of the forest with no protection apart from their own personal weapons. There were many enemy left around the position including bazooka teams who repeatedly attacked. A Spandau team worked its way towards the tank and engaged the crew who replied with Bren and Sten. Later they came under enemy artillery fire. Despite all this Lance-Corporal Towlson rallied the crew together and worked unceasingly throughout the night to free the tank.
“By this display of courage and devotion to duty in the face of the enemy, a valuable piece of equipment was saved from destruction, and furthermore was brought back into action at the earliest opportunity when it was badly needed.
Lance-Corporal Towlson has earned a reputation with his colleagues, who have applauded his example, and inspired them at a time when the hazards of war were at their worst, all with complete disregard for his own personal safety.”
The medal was authorised by Field Marshall Bernard Montgomery himself.
Subsequently John was made up to tank commander and posted to Italy. This was to prepare for the invasion of Japan. But the Americans famously dropped the atom bomb, and the war in the Pacific came to an abrupt end.
