British Sherman Firefly WWII

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M4A4 Sherman VC 17pdr Page 1

WW2 Colourised Photos - Lieutenant Robert Boscawen on the left with radiophones, commander of 2 Troop, 1st Battalion, Coldstream Guards, Guards Armoured Division, XXX Corps, in a Sherman Firefly IC Hybrid with a 17-pounder anti-tank gun as it's main armament, Patrolling the river Muese at Namur in Belgium. Monday, December 25, 1944 Note camouflage cloth on the hull, extra road wheels, and tracks on front hull and turret. The number "52" indicates the 1st Armoured Batt. Coldstream Guards. This tank, actually commanded by Sergeant Bastone (kneeling on right), and the rest of 1st Battalion cut off the German advance through the Ardennes to the Meuse. The IC Hybrid was an American-built late production M4 Sherman with a cast composite hull that mounted a specially designed 17-pounder 77mm (3 inch) anti-tank gun. Sherman Fireflies were the only Allied tank capable of penetrating the German Tiger and Panther panzers. As the situation on the Ardennes front grew critical on December 17-18, 1944, the 21st Army Group realised that the German offensive either targeted the port of Antwerp or Paris itself. Several divisions, including the Guards Armoured, were to reinforce XXX Corps. While scratch units of supply troops and light infantry were immediately rushed in from France, Holland and England on December the 17th to secure the bridges and the vast supply dumps along the Meuse, heavy mechanised formations arrived on December 19th. The 1st Battalion of the Coldstream Guards took up positions in Namur, one of the few remaining bridges. The masonry bridge had been blown by the retreating Germans in August 1944 and repaired by an American engineering unit with a Bailey Bridge. Boscawen survived hits on four tanks that were burned out or "brewed" during the war. The fourth loss caused severe burns to him and his driver; the rest of the crew died. He was severely wounded and left disfigured, with burns to his face and body, when an enemy shell pierced his tank in April 1945 - the last month of the war. He was evacuated to the pioneering plastic surgery unit at East Grinstead, West Sussex - known as the Guinea Pig Club - where he spent three years in and out of hospital recovering alongside Battle of Britain Spitfire pilots. Robert "Bob" Thomas Boscawen, MC, PC (17 March 1923 - 28 December 2013) also served as an MP in the British Parliament until 1992. (Colourised by Royston Leonard UK) https://www.facebook.com/pages/Colourized-pictures-of-the-world-wars-and-other-periods-in-time/182158581977012 | Facebook