Interesting strange story.......
Churchill tank No. 337313EX was brought ashore at Sword Beach in late June, 1944, it was a ‘special’, built at the firm of Newton Chambers in Yorkshire. It was ‘special’ because of the new turret made of experimental laminated steel interior with the standard cast outer; ‘ 313EX’ was a ‘Boffin Dream’! the ‘EX’ standing for ‘Experimental’, a tank to be watched.
Fourty-eight hours later ‘313EX’ had been delivered to a forward squadron of the ‘Fife and Forfar Yeomanry’, a ‘Funnies’ regiment equipped with Churchill Flame throwing ‘Crocodiles’. The ‘Fifes’ had taken a loss of tank crews over the past days and a scratch crew was hastily made up for ‘313EX’, a red triangle was painted on the turret for ‘A’ Squadron and the name ‘Alice’ painted on either side, named after the wife of the oldest crewman, Ted the driver/mech, the ‘old man’ of the crew at the age of twenty eight.
Two days later, ‘Alice’ had been readied for action.
Gun and scope tested and adjusted, a few practice rounds fired , No.19 set installed and radio tested to the squadron setting, blankets and bedding, packs and old ammo boxes fixed to hull and the inevitable ‘brew can’ wired in a handy position.
On the first day of July ‘Alice’ was on her first patrol, leading two crocodiles towards a village supposedly unoccupied by the enemy. As she approached the village outskirts with a still burning farm house set back from the road, a lone German Anti Tank crew with a 5cm. gun observed the troops approach.
At twenty five yards and broadside on, ‘Alice’ was a bonus and so easy target. The German crew fired, the solid AP. shot hit ‘Alice’ just forward of the newly painted red triangle and sliced through the new laminated turret with no reduction in power. It hit the breech block and ricocheted to the far wall of the turret where it shattered and sprayed the interior.
The three man turret crew died instantly, Ted the ‘Old Man’ driver was hit by a piece of the ‘19’ set that just about decapitated him and died in seconds. The stunned and deafened co-driver tried to pull himself from his hatch but was caught by a burst of machine gun fire from the ‘AT’ guns position.
‘Alice’ slewed off the road into a dyke losing a track in the process. The following Crocodile had seen the flash of the ‘AT’ gun and squirted two burst of flame thrower fuel onto its position. The first jet unlit but the second ignited, the German crew died and the squadron of ‘Fifes’ moved on.
Later the bodies were removed from ‘Alice’, and buried by the farm, a recovery crew winched the stricken tank from the dyke, hosed down the interior, loaded it on to a trailer and returned her to Sword beach. The people at Newton Chambers wanted the tank back to view their new turret so ‘313Ex’ and trailer were quickly loaded onto an ‘LCT’ to begin the return journey to Yorkshire.
Landed at Newhaven and heading north to Sheffield and Newton Chambers ‘313EX’ had an uneventful journey until it entered the factory yard. While being unloaded from the trailer ‘313EX’ slid sideways off the concrete ramp and pinned the yard foreman and assistant worker against the ramp. Both died instantly bringing the death toll to seven. The ‘new’ turret was declared of no further experiment and the project was scrapped, the hole in the turret plugged and welded, the interior cleaned up, refitted and painted white, the outside given a fresh coat of drab green and readied for service again.
It was decided not to send to a combat unit as it still retained the suspect turret so was sent to a training regiment at Catterick. 57th Heavy Training Regt, Royal Armoured Corps’ received ‘313’ in December 45, at Waitwith Lines, just before Christmas, and training began in the new year. In February 46 an overnight scheme on Ipswell Moor involving new trainee crews was operated, ‘313’ was allocated to three trainees with an ‘old sweat’ sergeant and corporal as instructors. After a day of heavy rain the crews bedded down for the night, the two instructors hitched a lift back to the warmth and a bed at Catterick , quite wrongly, leaving the three lads to fend for them selves. The trainees, all of eighteen years old, were quite happy with this arrangement away from the NCO’s strict overseeing, so decided it would be a good idea to sleep beneath the warm engine compartment of the tank, so, spreading a tarpaulin double on the wet ground rolled into their blankets and settled down for the night. The night guards knowing that few NCO’s or officers were likely to check their rounds abandoned the walk around and stayed most of the night in their bedding in the Admin lorry.
At first light the army wise guards were up and about before the return of the NCO’s and officers. As they patrolled the ‘lagered’ tanks they realised that something was wrong with ‘313’, to their horror they saw that it was hull down to the ground the lower parts of the tracks buried in the mud. Over night the heavy churchill had settled down until its belly was flat on the ground. The tank was driven forward to reveal that the three trainees had been crushed into the ground in their sleep, bringing the death toll to ten.
Catterick being Catterick and the Army being the Army the incident was hushed up at the enquiry, the NCO’s and officers covered their backs and three families were informed that their sons had died during training. For the sake of morale and secrecy tank No.313. was ‘posted’ from Catterick to the RAC Gunnery School at Lulworth Cove in Dorset to begin a new career training tank gunners and specialist gun fitters.
The warmth of the Dorset coast and the easy going life at the School after a training regiment seemed to suit ‘313’ and all went well until October 46. In that month firing was taking place on Bindon Hill as it had for many years, a trainee gunner following his instructors order to fire had a missfire. Nothing happened, in a case of a missfire the procedure was as follows, (or should have been.), wait two minutes, drive the tank well onto the range, clear the driver and any crew from the vehicle, open the breech, eject the shell, place it on the ground and return to firing point. In this case it did not happen, the Range Control officer in charge of the firing that day, fancied himself as a driver, so dismissing the proper driver he climbed into the driving seat and drove ‘313’ on to the range. When he decided he was far enough from the trainees he stopped the tank, climbed into the turret and opened the breech. At that moment the shell ‘cooked’ off’ as the breech opened the heated detonator fired and the 95mm shell exploded into the turret, instant death for the Control Officer,….. Death toll now eleven.
At this stage the army decided that enough was enough with ‘313’, so the Lulworth fitters gutted and stripped it of all usable parts and left it on Bindon Hill as a target. For many years ‘313’ was shot at by the new Centurians, Chieftains and any tank wanting a target, gradually rusting and breaking down into a heap of scrap metal.
In August 2004, a walker, a German student taking advantage of the Ministry of Defence’s right to walk on army ranges, was using the pathway by Bindon Hill. In mid-afternoon storm clouds gathered over Lulworth Cove and penny sized Summer rain drops began to fall. The walker, ignoring all the MOD rules of Range walking and red notices placed beside the paths decided to take shelter by a rusted hulk of a tank a few hundred yards away, he chose ‘313’. As the rain and storm got heavier he unrolled a plastic sheet from his rucksack, experienced as he was the sheet was eyeleted and strung and quickly fixed to the leeward side of the hulk with a few strategically placed tent pegs holding it as a fine shelter. Small gas stove lit and coffee laced with Asbach Brandy the walker was settled.
The torrential rain continued, also a summer thunder and lightening storm boiled and cracked over head. A streak of forked lightening earthed on to the hulk of ‘313’, the late ‘Alice, as it did so a tremendous explosion ripped the ground beneath as some ancient mine, shell or even a cache of ordnance buried years before erupted in a massive blast, throwing what was left of ‘313’ into the air and also the student walker. Death toll now twelve. Enquiries from Germany with last posting pointing to Dorset and the Ranges found bits of camping gear, documents and small pieces of human remains in the area, and a German family mourned what is the last death connected with the ‘Jinxed Tank’337313EX., or is it?
Matt
