I'm re-reading this autobiographical account of the campaign in NW Europe, specifically the actions of the 5th Battalion Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry, written by it's C.O. Brigadier George Taylor. My original copy was very warped and had seen better days but I found an immaculate replacement a few years ago while on holiday in the Cotswolds. The book itself is full of typos but very well written, with a definite emphasis on the Sharp End.
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| The Tiger Ambush (from the Osprey: Operation Market Garden 3) |
There are several really good accounts of platoon and company level engagements including the successful ambush of five Tiger's with PIATS (!) during the Market Garden rescue attempts in Holland. If you can find a copy, it's a brilliant read and very much on a par with Sidney Jary's 18 Platoon, especially as it covers similar ground and a fellow 43rd Wessex Division unit, albeit from a different brigade and at a regimental command level.
Interesting. If you go by CoC action reports, historically it was more effective to pelt German panzers with cream buns than use PIATs. Perhaps an upgrade is in order.
ReplyDeleteI think the Tigers in question were simultaneously hammered with three or four PIAT rounds each at very, very close range and in the half light on a rainy night, so they didn't have much of a chance? They had also run over a load of mines that disabled their tracks and forced two of them to ditch off the side of an embankment.
ReplyDeleteI've added an extract from the relevant Osprey describing the same ambush...pretty effective stuff!
ReplyDeleteA neat ambush! It seems the trick to PIATs is to use them en-masse at a sitting target. Interesting to note the lead Tiger fired flares to light the way.
ReplyDeleteNice little find. Worth keeping an eye open for next time I hit the second hand bookshops.
ReplyDeleteI have to ask if the tanks concerned were actually Tigers? or just the normal Panzer IVs identified as Tigers
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