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Fitters' Ambush

The Setting

1 Aug 1944

The Regiment had made their triumphal entry into Le Beny Bocage where "the inhabitants went wild with delight and welcomed our men with joyous abandon". Aberdeen Press article, 3 Aug 1944.

My Dad, who thus far had been the co-driver of C Squadron's ARV, was approached by Sergeant George Beresford who suggested that he swap places with one of the Echelon fitters, Stanley Cull. George thought that Dad had been working hard and deserved a rest (and there was a card school in the offing!). Dad declined - he preferred to stay where he was. George didn't pull rank as the men were friends and so the following morning Dad set off with the fighting echelon to spend the worst time of the war (for him) on top of the Perrier Ridge.

Geoffrey Bishop agreed:

"it was destined to be the scene of probably the worst week I have ever lived through".

'The Battle - a Tank Officer Remembers', Page 74.

The Incident

4 Aug 1944

The men were having a torrid time up on the ridge. At times they were surrounded on three sides; they were bombed, shelled, mortared and shot at daily, and quite unable to manoeuvre. Many of their tanks

"were in need of mechanical attention from the fitters, and these we called forward from Le Beny Bocage, together with an ambulance for which George Mitchell had asked"

'Monkey Business, The Memoirs of General Sir Cecil Blacker', page 85.

A convoy was assembled consisting of a jeep, followed by the three fitters' half-tracks (C Squadron's leading), followed by the ambulance. There was no armoured escort.

Having spoken to several veterans about this incident, they were unanimous in declaring that the situation at that moment was, at best, 'uncertain' and questioned the wisdom of such a decision. That decision was to have devastating consequences.

The convoy passed through the village of Presles and was crossing a valley prior to ascending the Perrier Ridge.

"From our position we could see down the hill that we had come up the previous day; we could see down the hill to the village of Presles, where the bells had rung and they had been so pleased to see us. So with my prized binoculars we could see that road junction that we had had to come down and, to make our way up to Le Bas-Perrier and then across to Chenedolle. Well, what happened was that some of our support vehicles, including an ambulance, came round that corner with every intention of coming up to supply us or to take away wounded. But they had not got more than a couple of hundred yards up the road when behind them came two huge German tanks, round the corner by the church, onto that road, heading for us; we of course being about a kilometre away up the hill. So the unfortunates in the supply vehicles did not realize that they got these two tanks behind them until a shell came into the rear one."

Don Gillate, H Company, 8th Rifle Brigade.

The vehicle was the C Squadron fitters' half-track. Of the eight men on board, three were killed instantly; two more died shortly afterwards.

Amongst those killed were Sergeant George Beresford -

"ever willing, always the last man out of those Yorkshire bogs".

'Monkey Business, The Memoirs of General Sir Cecil Blacker', page 86

- and Trooper Stanley Cull. Dad's decision not to swap places with Stanley changed the destinies of both men.

One man stood tall; Lance Corporal Arnold Ralph Bradley. 'Jim' to his friends - "a young, quiet man" according to Monkey Blacker, 'Monkey Business, The Memoirs of General Sir Cecil Blacker', page 86, "mad scouser" according to my Dad. Though wounded himself, he pulled Jack Legg from the blazing vehicle, comforted the dying Robert Sives until the end, then set off with Legg to reach the Regiment on top of the ridge. Along the way - a distance of some three miles through enemy-occupied country - he shot three German soldiers, killing two and taking the third prisoner. At one point Jim, Jack and the German sat down and had a boiled sweet each, courtesy of Jim. Information from the Bradley family

Finally they reached the hilltop. Jim raged at the top brass for calling the fitters forward - at one point waving his pistol around - but instead of a court martial he was awarded the Military Medal. Shell-shocked, badly burned and with a burst eardrum, he was evacuated back to England for medical treatment.

"He was plagued with nightmares all his life about this day and often woke up screaming".

Information from the Bradley family.

Casualties



Part of the C Squadron Memorial panel in Bridlington Priory.

Killed

Wounded

Prisoners of War

Three A Squadron men were taken prisoner: