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By the afternoon of 6 June 1944 - D-Day - the men and Sherman tanks of the 4th County of London Yeomanry, the Sharpshooters, found themselves in their landing craft just off the Normandy beaches waiting to go ashore. It was around sunset the following morning that they began to be land on the sweeping sands of Gold Beach.
From there, the Sharpshooters immediately moved inland to support the expanding Allied beachhead. In the days that followed, 4 CLY advanced south toward Tilly-sur-Seulles, fighting in the restrictive bocage countryside alongside the 50th (Northumbrian) Division.
On 13 June, the regiment became embroiled in the dramatic battle at Villers-Bocage, one of the most famous tank actions of the Normandy campaign. During the events that day, 'A' Squadron was ambushed by SS-Obersturmführer Michael Wittmann's Tiger I, suffering heavy losses.
One of the men in 'A' Squadron, and more specifically 1 Troop, was John Fisher. Having enlisted in Derby in 1943, John eventually found himself posted to the 4th County of London Yeomanry as a crewman in one of its Sherman tanks. Having survived the initial maelstrom of Operation Overlord, John, and indeed the rest of 4 CLY, remained engaged throughout the Normandy Campaign. Having participated in Operation Bluecoat, an offensive against German forces in the Caen region, the survivors battled on across northern France. After pushing the enemy back across the Seine, they then advanced through Belgium and into the Netherlands.
In 1945, John took part in the final assault on Germany itself, supporting attacks across the Rhine. By the time of the Third Reich's surrender in May 1945, the Sharpshooters, John included, had reached the River Elbe and the city of Hamburg. Sherman Tank Crewman is his account of the part he played in the liberation of Europe.
