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A remarkable picture taken on Sword beach as the first wave of 79th Armoured touch down at 0725 on D-Day. I don’t think this picture has been published before (my collection). It was taken by the Naval correspondent…1/7 @rgpoulussen @RobertGlenniePT
of the Daily Mail, Lambton Burn, who was on LCT109 that touched down on Lane 5, and is looking west along Queen White from 109. The LCT in the murky distance is LCT111. An AVRE carrying a Small Box Girder (SBG) bridge, the bridge sticking up at an angle in front of the tank,2/7
.that of Lt Tennant, 1C, can be seen travelling through sea towards the shore . An AVRE Bobbin can be seen just coming ashore, from 1 or 2 Troop, and there may be Crabs near to it. The nearer LCT is 112, and Sjt Mayhill’s SBG AVRE, 2B, can be just seen approaching the ramp..3/7
There are numerous DDs touching down from ‘A’ Squadron 13/18th Hussars. The DDs had drifted to the left because of the sea. LCT109 carried specialised armour, two Crabs from 22nd Dragoons, and 4 AVREs. On board also was Col Cocks, the CO of 5 Assault Regiment RE….4/7
Shortly after this photo was taken LCT109 was devastated by fire. The first flail had come off, the second was struck, the commander killed and the tank blocked the exit. Heavy fire and shrapnel hit the LCT and two bangalore torpedoes on one of the AVREs exploded. 5/7
Col Cocks was killed, and the tank sergeant. The demolition NCO, Joe Williams had to take over. 2 others were killed and 4 wounded. Amazingly the LCT was able to get back to England after various holes were filled, and the Flail could not be budged. 6/7
Lambton Burn wrote a book of his wartime experience ‘Down Ramps’, and this incident is in one of the chapters. I interviewed Joe a few years back and he signed my copy of the book (pic taken back in England), and also gave me a memorable description of his D-Day. 7/7
