"The Shermans of the Sherwood Foresters" Topic

TANK ACTION by David Render with Stuart Tootal

ISBN 978-474-60328-7

Being a man of a certain age I started my military history reading with Mailed Fist by John Foley and Caen: Anvil of Victory by Alexander McKee. McKee later went on to a different fame by discovering Henry VIII's lost flagship, the Mary Rose. McKee gave a general view of the Normandy campaign from the top plus a few specific incidents and eye-witness accounts while Foley's was very much the personal view from a tank turret. Ironically Foley commanded a Churchill but the book cover, on my early copy, was a Sherman! Later editions fixed that error. It is one of the earliest books I ever owned and I still cherish it today.

While campaign histories and the 'what are the generals doing?' stuff is all very well, I have always been drawn to the nuts-and-bolts stuff in warfare; the view from the cockpit, the view from the tank turret or just from peeking over the edge of a wet trench. As wargamers, especially in games like Bolt Action, this kind of stuff is essential, both to get a 'feel' for the period but also to teach us if we are doing it right. Are we using the weapons the same way? Do our rules allow us to fight as they did? If the answer to the last question is NO then we have to change or amend the rules. Our art should imitate life, otherwise we might as well be playing chess.

Visiting my local market town here in Norfolk, England, I was drawn to the cheap paperbacks stall and naturally grabbed the obvious Richard III book, as I am a member of the Lance and Longbow Society. Nestling beside it was Tank Action by David Render with Stuart Tootal. I bought both in the 'two copies for £5.00 GBP' deal and I have not been able to put Tank Action down since then. It makes an interesting counter-point to Foley's Mailed Fist as Foley commanded early Churchills in Normandy while Render was a Sherman commander with the Sherwood Foresters (SF). The SF regiment was in an independent tank brigade and – despite being equipped with Shermans – spent much of its time in infantry support actions backing up the various infantry divisions which lacked their own organic armour. They even supported U.S. paras for several weeks in Holland and Germany.

The first thing I noted was that Render's crew were not exactly pleased to see him and told their brand new lieutenant to "(expletive deleted) off" the first time he tried to give any orders. One of these was to check his tank's gunsight for misalignment and he was nonplussed to discover that, while the barrel was pointing at a tree several hundred yards away, the gunsight was actually pointing at the ground! That might explain away a few 'misses' while playing Bolt Action or Flames of War. He was also not exactly taken with his troop sergeant who – instead of being the NCO stalwart of the troop – was reluctant to engage the enemy almost to the point of cowardice. And the sergeant remained that way until he was replaced – very much later – in Holland. What Render discovered was these ex-desert war tankers were war-weary and disillusioned. Even his own crew were reluctant to take risks at this stage in the war. So a point to note for rule writers… the hardened veteran troops on the table may be less likely to take casualties but they are likely to be much less 'gung-ho' than the rookies. They may get the job done but they will not relish close action, fast moves into danger or blind charges.

Although already in Normandy, the Sherwood Foresters were still using the older three-tank troop formation of just 3 x 75mm gun tanks while four 17-pounder Fireflies were off in a separate troop which tended to hang back in what the British call 'overwatch'. Basically a rear base of squadron level covering fire was able to concentrate the 17-pounders on a high value target as it appeared to threaten the 75s in front. I thought I had detected this at Villers Bocage (in another book) where all the Fireflies were – strangely – right up front on a hill and screened by trees while Wittmann was left to face only the 75mm tanks on the road. Within a few weeks of Render's arrival, the unit was re-organised and the Fireflies moved into the individual troops to make four tanks. The Firefly came with another sergeant (who was more reliable) and in an ideal deployment the 75s formed a sort of arrow moving forward with the Firefly back and rear in support. Naturally, in the bocage, this was very rarely achieved. Certainly they did not lead with the Firefly.

Tactical notes:
Working mainly in infantry support, the Shermans expended a lot of High Explosive (HE) shells. On one day late in the war his troop was lined up as artillery and they expended a total of nine tons of ammunition between them. However, the usual tactic in infantry support was called 'brassing up' by the SF. This involved halting at a Normandy hedge, just in front of them, and firing HE and .30 calibre Browning into the next hedge 50-250 yards ahead of them. They would work it over for about 10-20 minutes and then advance with the infantry, hitting any parts again from which German return fire came. His war-weary crew hated this as the re-ammunitioning of their tank would take a couple of hours and that cut into their rest time. Indeed that was why he had been told to 'go away' when he tried to issue his first orders.

Render's squadron leader was well aware of the threat posed by the Tiger and Panther and the mis-match between the 75mm gun and their frontal armour. However he preached rate-of-fire using HE rounds rather than AP. The theory was that it scared the Germans, it put them down into the tank – or caused exposed crew casualties – plus it could blow off a track, smash and splinter optics and vision devices and it could even set deck stowage on fire. Surprisingly it seemed to work (says Render) if only to drive them back. However in one clash it appears that AP was used to some effect on a Tiger frontally. Render had been in his tank facing a hedge with another long one to his right shielding a road which led to the village to his right rear. As Render was looking forward he could see a head and shoulders riding high above the hedge to his right and he saw a flash of paint. Shouting a warning on the radio to his squadron leader who was back behind and at the top of the road, in the village, Render drove forward and tried to get on the road to stalk the Tiger from behind. Meanwhile squadron leader Mr 'just use HE' had opened up on the Tiger from his position and pumped out six rounds of 75mm without any reply from the Germans. He must have been firing some AP as the base tracers filled the village street with phosphorus smoke. When this cleared the tank was clearly abandoned and it was later found that a 75mm AP round had deflected off of the under side of the Tiger's mantlet and struck the roof of the driving compartment.

Render also noted an interesting phenomenon. He said that Panthers put out so much heat from their engine compartment that it was sometimes possible to spot a hidden Panther by the heat haze shimmering above it. You will remember that Panthers at Kursk when into action with fires burning in the engine compartments while later Panthers had extra exhausts and piping added to them to try and clear away heat and exhaust gases. It is interesting the British crews could actually see it.

In some areas the tanks had to attack alone, without infantry support, and they hated this. In one action Render's Sherman led a tank move into a village held by German paras. They got across the village square, to the far side, when the first of TWO bazooka shots missed them. Panic ensued inside the tank (with a lot of expletives) after the first shot as the garden next to them was found to be full of German paras and the offending Panzerschreck team. The turret traversed and the co-axial gun opened up as the bazooka fired the second time (and again missed) but when the 75mm was on, the combined machine-gun and HE rounds from the 75 blasted about 20 paras apart at point-blank range as they fled. Render recovered the Panzerscreck, threw it up on the rear deck of his Sherman and drove back with it.

All-in-all an excellent read and one which I recommend.

Barry

Thanks, Barry, for a great review and synopsis. I'm going to look for a copy of this book!

My experience is similar to yours with Ken Foley's book along with Bob Crisp's Brazen Chariots, followed by Ken Tout's Tank series. I found David Renders book excellent!

Thanks for the review.

I am pretty certain it would have been Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry (SRY) in 8 Armoured Brigade not Sherwood Foresters (who were infantry).

There is at least one other first person SRY account from NW Europe – Stuart Hills 'By tank into Normandy', which I found a good read.

Regards

Edward

Definitely Sherwood Rangers. Render's book is excellent. His action depictions are great sources of potential scenarios.

I realised the regimental naming error JUST after it was too late to change it!

:(

Barry

Excellent review – thanks!

There is also 'An Englishman at War' by Stanley Christopherson, who was with the SRY from the Desert to the end of the war, by which time he'd become the commander of the regiment.

Of the SRY's Western Desert experiences there is 'From Alamein to Zem Zem' by Keith Douglas, a troop commander. He was killed in Normandy on 9th June 1944.

I am pretty certain it would have been Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry (SRY) in 8 Armoured Brigade not Sherwood Foresters (who were infantry).

So if I play this regiment in Flames of War do I get to name one of my tanks Robin??????

Hey, if these Nottinghamshire guys can call their track Akilla then why not!!!

This particular Firefly Achilla, destroyed 4 German tanks in one day.

There's a facebook group for them , link .

thanks, added that to the goodreads list

In Flames of War v3, the Desert Rats in Normandy are rated as Reluctant Veterans, which means 5+ to hit them and 5+ to recover from pinning. But they do have a re-roll to the 'get moving' roll if they weren't fired at in that turn, called 'Brave, not Stupid.'

I liked both touches, as it really drove home the point of troops that had been in combat for too long.

There's also INDEPENDENT ARMOURED SQUADRON (SHERWOOD) in
Overlord .

Just ordered Tank Action to accompany my Mailed Fist !!

You might like 'Warriors for the Working Day' by Peter Elstob, it's a novel about a tank crew from Normandy to the wars' end, and includes the 'friction' between desert veterans and new replacements. A good read. It shows expensive on Amazon but there are plenty of cheap second hand ones if you look. It was originally a Readers Digest book club print, with a mustard coloured cover.

Recommend Elstob's and Tout's books. There was also a Stackpole book about the Canadians in Normandy that gave a detailed analysis of the action where the Sherbrooke Fusiliers took out Michael Wittman. Sadly, I loaned my copy to someone and never got it back…..

I find Amazon expensive. I use ABE Books for my used book buys.

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X2 for Elstob, you might also like Kenneth Macksey's 'Battle' for a sort of 'integrated'account of an action. I found it riveting.

'Battle' is excellent too.

Warspite, I've read Render's book too – most excellent.
I have to admit that I haven't read all of your initial posting here, sorry!
The biggest take-away I drew from his book – the smothering of German tanks and SPs with mass HE fire from the Shermans was effective fire against the Panzers in Normandy…….with suppression effects, potential internal/external system damage, and general disruption that often caused the German crews to pull their tanks out of their positions.