[Crewman]

Hi guys,

Some time ago I was intrigued by the fragment of Ken Tout's book under the title of "A Fine Night For Tanks. The Road to Falaise". As you perhaps know Ken Tout is WWII veteran and ex-tanker of the British 1st Northamptonshire Regiment. In his book he wrote among others:

Originally written by Ken Tout

Each tank crew member could hear the external messages filtered through into the i/c (intercom) system. In a leading tank Bill's wireless was picking up the series bleeps which was intended to keep a tank column on target. It was like an aircraft control system, dashes if the vehicle went too far left and dots if it veered right. A steady stream of green tracer shells from Bofors gun firing overhead also indicated the direction of the target. Added to the dots and dashes in Bill's headphones was the babble of voices, made more irritating for him because the Canadians seemed to be using a different wireless procedure from the British. Or perhaps no procedure at all. It made the head buzz while the eyes were wearied from incessant flashes in many colours. (pages 1-2 of the book)

The Poles had their own code names, which may have added to the wireless confusion mentioned by Bill and others. In place of Lombard, Valentino and Opium, the Poles were moving from Markiza (Bras) to Semafor (Saint-Aignan) and aiming for Ygrek (Saint-Sylvain) on their left flank and from Markiza to Cewka (Cramesnil), aiming for Lina (Gaumesnil).

Perhaps brief words here would clarify the armour's wireless system. (Never say "radio", command the operators in their memoirs. We never had a "radio". It was a "wireless"!). A Sherman tank had an intercom system on its wireless set, by which crew members could converse and not be heard outside the tank. They could, however, hear outside broadcasts filter through into "i.c.". To speak outside the tank the commander or operator would switch to "A" set, when all that was spoken within the tank could be heard throughout the regiment. Uncomplimentary references were often leaked in that way, to the squadron leader's profound ire. There was also a "B" set, which was a mystery to most troopers, but which fed back on a kind of restricted circuit to headquarters. (page 45)


Source:
Ken Tout
A Fine Night For Tanks. The Road to Falaise
Sutton Publishing Ltd., Stroud 1998
ISBN 0-7509-1730-X
pages 1-2 and 45 (the numbers of pages for hard cover edition)

And now something from my collection of the interviews with the WWII veterans. Writing the article and a book on various aspects of the Canadian-Polish relations and cooperation at Normandy and being intrigued by Ken Tout's text I asked for the comment ex-tanker of the Polish 1st Armoured Division, 2nd Lt. (ret.) Willie Glaser. He was a loader/signaller in the Cromwell tank codenamed "Barbara 2" that belonged to 1st Squadron of the 10th Mounted Rifles Regiment we discussed here. Willie Glaser lives in Canada today but he uses in his interview the Polish name of the Regiment so for your information "10. PSK" means 10th MRR.

Originally written by Willie Glaser for Crewman's article only

Sgt. Ken Tout's observation, does not explain a lot, his observation "There was also a "B" set, which was a mystery to most troopers…". The "B" set might have been a mystery to Sgt. Tout, but is was not a mystery to me or any other radio operator in the Polish 1st Armoured Division, as explained here: The Cromwell tanks of the 10. PSK were equipped with a wireless set number 19 Mk II or MK III. The 19 set had two components: A-set and B-set. A-set was used for speech and Morse code (Morse never used), range about 14 km. B-set was for speech only, range about 1200 m. B-set transmitted on a certain wave only, I do not remember exactly, I think it was called a ground wave and could only be used when you could see the other tank. In addition the tanks of the 10. PSK were equipped with an external telephone. I think because the 10. PSK was a reconnaissance unit. The external telephone consisted of a head phone to listen and a "Throat mike" (microphone) to speak. As the name indicates, the throat mike was fastened to the throat and picked up sound from speech vibrations in the throat.

It had two very long wires connected to a receiver in the turret. I used the external phone several times, once my tank was in a "hull down" position, meaning the tank was sitting behind a little hill, the tank commander knew from radio reports, that a couple of Tiger or Panther tanks were in front of us. I climbed the little hill to see if I can see any movements in the high hedges in front of us, sure enough, I barely recognized some panzers hidden behind the hedges. I reported my observation to the tank commander over the external phone and we drove another way to our destination. At this distance our Cromwell tank had no chance against a Tiger or Panther tank.

I do not think we had different radio procedures, our radio instructures went to radio schools in England with English instructures. I never had a problem with number 19 wireless set. A few times a tube failed, I had replacement tubes, no problem fixing.

Would you like to comment it additionally?


Best regards

C.