Trooper J R Smalley 1 RTR

Discussion in 'NW Europe' started by Rich Payne, Oct 19, 2014.

  1. Rich Payne

    Rich Payne Rivet Counter Patron 1940 Obsessive

    I've failed to find a suitable thread for this post (mods feel free to move it). Unfortunately, forum search function doesn't seem to accept 'RTR'

    A recent eBay auction showed an image of an abandoned Cromwell with, in the foreground, a temporary marker to 883466 Tpr. Smalley J.R.


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    He now lies at Banneville-La-Campagne to the east of Caen and CWGC gives date of death as 25/7/1944. Is there anything known about action on this date ?

    http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2323823/SMALLEY,%20JOHN%20ROBERT

    I assume based on the style that this is a British temporary marker ?
     
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  2. idler

    idler GeneralList

    Haven't got the WD for July, but C Sqn '5' is listed in May as being Capt JAA Shambrook's vehicle - that's assuming the other callsigns (5A, 5B 5C) were written in full within the squadron circle. The tank's census number recorded in May was T121748.

    Anyway, the point - such as it is - is that if it is an officer's mount, there's a better chance of it being mentioned in the WD.

    From Delaforce's Battles With Panzers and the battle for Tilly-la-Campagne/Verrieres (not to be confuised with Tilly-sur-Seulles/Verrieres!):

     
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  3. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    Listed as Missing in the July WD
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  4. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    I think he was more likely to have been killed on the 24th of July:
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  5. idler

    idler GeneralList

    Hmm... Roach P wounded on the same day... where's his book...

    Not much to tell, he was acting as an LO with the Canadian troops involved. He records that a number of tanks had been lost to 'Tigers' but no more detail than that. He was wounded later that evening during an air raid.
     
  6. Rich Payne

    Rich Payne Rivet Counter Patron 1940 Obsessive

    Thanks, chaps. I hope, with the details and the photo posted here, that if anyone is researching, they will chance across it. It seemed too important to let disappear into the eBay archives or a secret collection. :poppy:
     
  7. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    The Field Return list him as missing on the 25th July along with some of his comrades. It may be worth checking them on CWGC. I suspect they went with the 25th as that was when they were reported missing. Sadly the diary is very thin on appendices which is probably where the loss of the tank would have been recorded.
     
  8. m kenny

    m kenny Senior Member

    There are 2 photos of this Cromwell. It appears in the book 'Album Memorial, Bataille De Caen' page 434 and the location is given as Fontenay Le Marmion but these descriptions are not always correct.
    I sent all this to Les Dinning in 2002.

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  9. idler

    idler GeneralList

    For the record: T190024 was C Sqn 1Tp '5B' Sgt McCarty in the May 1944 list - perhaps they didn't show the callsigns in full!
     
  10. Rich Payne

    Rich Payne Rivet Counter Patron 1940 Obsessive

    The second view is of course identical....The question is who took it and how did it turn up on German eBay ? maybe from a British source ? Does the 'Album Memorial' credit a photo source ?
     
  11. m kenny

    m kenny Senior Member

    The photos are not in the main body of the book but a 'scrap metal' section at the back. Various views of wrecks obviously taken after the war (note snow on the Cromwell frontal view) and as is usualy the case credited as 'authors collection' or as I like to call it 'no I wont tell you where I got them'!
    They for sure are not UK or German 'Official photos'.
    I know that a lot of these pictures are incorrectly located and just a fortnight ago was able to identify a de-turreted Tiger photo that Bernage very specificaly says is one of the Tigers lost with Wittmann at St Aignan de Crasmesnil on Aug 8th as a Tiger that was actually lost on June 16th north of Villers Bocage.

    The EBay photo is cropped slightly different from the Bernage one so it is not a scan of the specific book photo but as Heimdal recycle a lot of stuff it might be another book and someone scanning and passing off the scans as originals.
     
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  12. Richard Somerset

    Richard Somerset New Member

    It is crazy to say JOHN ROBERT SMALLEY was my great uncle I've just started to look into his service career and just found this Thank you so much for posting this means so much to me.
     
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