3 days ago
Memorial for British soldiers killed in ‘forgotten corner of battlefield'
Nine British soldiers who were killed in the Second World War are to be honoured with a memorial after their tank was found buried in a Normandy hedgerow.
James Holland, an author and historian, stumbled upon the remains of Lieutenant Frank Galvin's tank near the village of Berjou, in the north-west of France.
Fragments of shells and shrapnel, and the cap badge from the beret of one of the men who died, were found on a nearby roadside.
'It was incredible to have such a palpable link to such a tragic moment,' said Mr Holland. 'A friend I was with suggested putting a memorial there, and that was the seed.'
Writing in his blog, Mr Holland said: 'The turret burst off like a champagne cork and the five men inside were incinerated.
'The only comfort is that they almost certainly would have known nothing about it. Tank warfare was – and is – absolutely brutal in its violence.'
Since his discovery, Mr Holland and his friends have raised over £19,000 for a memorial to be built.
The memorial, which will be unveiled on Aug 16, honours five crewmen of a Sherman tank and four other soldiers from the C Squadron of the Nottingham-based Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry (SRY) who lost their lives in the summer of 1944 during the Battle of Normandy.
'It's not on the D-Day beaches but far inland, a forgotten corner of the battlefield – but I've not forgotten them and I hope that many more will learn about their heroism,' he said.
Around a dozen former Sherwood Rangers are expected to attend the ceremony, including Chris Whitamore, chairman of the SRY. It will be hosted by the Berjou's Blackwater Musée de la Libération.
Mr Whitamore told The Telegraph that attention on the Normandy campaign usually focuses on D-Day, but 'the campaign continued for 10 further savage weeks before the Germans acknowledged defeat'.
He added: 'This memorial commemorates men who fought throughout to bring that about, some of whom had also fought through El Alamein and the desert campaign. They and their comrades deserve our respectful memory.'
Designed by architect Stuart Bertie, the memorial is fashioned out of steel, the same material used to build the wrecked tank, and contains the silhouettes of the fallen men cut out of the metal.
'It will be a poignant, moving and appropriate reminder of their heroism and sacrifice,' said Mr Holland.
The Rangers now lie in a large Commonwealth War Graves to the south-east of Caen. They were buried together because their remains were indistinguishable.
In July, Mr Holland joined a small group – including Mr Bertie and David Christopherson, the son of the SRY's commanding officer in 1944 – who walked the route the Rangers took as part of a partial retracing.
They travelled 70 miles from the D-Day landing zone on Gold Beach to Berjou, via Bayeux, Tilly-sur-Suelles, Caumont, Ondefontaine, and Proust to the River Noireau.
