Here's another historical snippet I ran across. I posted it on my blog, but I thought I'd repost the text here. The Military Cross was given to Captain Richard Thomas Meurig Williams of 278 Battery 71 (Welsh) Anti-Tank Regiment of 53 (Welsh) Division. It was a “periodic” MC, meaning it was given for multiple acts of bravery rather than one specific incident. The fourth incident is the one I want to report: On 10 April 45 with two Valentine tanks and an SP 17-pr [Archer] he went to reinforce ‘C’ troop which had been cut off and were being heavily attacked by a determined force of German marines. On arrival he found the troop hemmed in by various parties of Germans working their way round in the woods and scrub. Completely disregarding the danger from panzerfausts and enemy anti-tank guns he proceeded to advance against the enemy with his two tanks leaving the SP to give covering fire. He scoured the copses and scrub shooting many Germans and so demoralized them that they withdrew into the village of Hulsen some running, some crawling, and some riding bicycles. He pursued them to the edge of the village and shot up any house from which the enemy opened fire. When all was quiet he returned to the troop position. From then on the enemy stopped all offensive action and was later dealt with by 7 RWF. I don’t know if this was the last action by Valentines during WW2, but it’s the latest I know in such detail.
Does he really mean Valentine gun tanks? What were they doing there? As an aside, didn't the Kiwis have some out in the Pacific?
A mixture of 6-pounder and 75mm Valentine tanks were issued to the commanders of batteries and troops in the anti-tank batteries which received Archers. They were "chargers" (really meant to just get an officer from point A to point B without being hit by shrapnel). No idea about the Kiwis!
I think the Soviets used a few Valentines during their invasion of Manchuria in August 1945. The New Zealanders' brief use of the Valentine in action can be viewed here under the link for "The 3rd New Zealand Tank Squadron".
On the Eastern Front e.g. the 6th Guards Cavalry Grodno Division operated NNW Berlin during the last days of April 1945. Its tank regiment had eleven combat-ready Valentines at that time, making 39% of the regiment’s combat ready AFVs, see http://tankarchives.blogspot.fi/2015/02/valentines-for-victory.html.
As a side note, I read something online about an old model kit of a Valentine XI with markings for 73 A/T Reg't (the corps regiment for 30 Corps) and someone was able to dig up a photo - so Valentine chargers were issued to some M10-equipped regiments too. The serial "2" and boar emblem of the Corps are clearly visible!