[John McGillivray]

Since tomorrow is the 7th of June, I thought that I should add some more detail to this thread. It concerns the action at St. Contest and the first tank kill by Radley-Walters who was the 2IC of “C” Sqn of the Sherbrooke Fusiliers. The following is from “Rad’s War: A Biographical Study of Sydney Valpy Radley-Walters from Mobilization to the end of the Normandy Campaign 1944” by Lawrence James Zaporzan.

“At that time we were nose to tail right in the centre of Buron...Bud Walsh pulled out two troops led by Naron Boyd and McLean and he sent them forward toward Authie. They got up beside B Squadron and were soon in the fight. Then Mel called again and asked for two more troops. So Elliot Spaford and Thompson backed up their troops out of town and went west around Buron toward Authie into the fight following much the same route as the other two troops. All that was left of C Squadron was three tanks; the OC, Bud Walsh. the 2IC [Captain] Rad-Walters, and the rear link [Lieutenant] Hector Beldon. The Germans were having some success and started pushing our troops back. [Lieutenant-Colonel] Mel Gordon became concerned about the left flank so he ordered C Squadron to St-Contest to block the German advance so the remainder of our force would not be cut off. He said. "Take the Squadron and go on up to St-Contest," but by then there was only the Squadron Headquarters left. So I asked him, "Can I have some of my sub-units sent back to me?" The Colonel just repeated his orders. "Enemy armour breaking through on the left. Take your Squadron to meet them." I looked around and I had no squadron, only the three of us. so we turned and went to a field outside of St-Contest on some high ground into a big grove of apple trees. We got the tanks into the orchard and we had a damn good position because our right was covered by the town of St-Contest. We saw the German infantry advancing on foot towards Buron and we fired at them with our machine guns. Then we saw that they had eight Mark IV tanks with them with their flank turned to us as they advanced on Buron.

“Rad and the Squadron headquarters were soon in the fight. They fired on the infantry and engaged the German tanks.

“By the end of our first engagement. Hector Beldon claimed two, I claimed one and Bud Walsh got one. The patter that went on! Bud Walsh said, "Did you see that? Yes!! What range was it at?" I think that we first saw...[the tanks]...at about 1000 yards. We fired but we were too far away. With the 75mm it was pointless to fire until they were 600 or 700 yards away from you. But the German tanks kept moving and never stopped until we knocked them out. There were two Mark IVs a couple of hundred yards apart. Hec Beldon said, "I'll take the right one, and you take the left one." We both fired and I think I fired three rounds. And then it started to burn. Bud told us to move back and take a better position in the orchard. I pulled back with Bud, but we left Hector out there. He was awfully mad because we left him out there 200 or 300 yards by himself!

“Major Walsh finally ordered us to move back towards Les Buissons because it looked like a route. On the way, Major Walsh's tank broke down and I picked him and his crew up. As I passed through D Company and I will always remember a German soldier who was bent over a trench with a commando knife in his back. In the trench beside him was a sergeant from the North Novas, and as I went by him he smiled and gave me the victory sign.”

This is from Hubert Meyer’s ‘the History of the 12. SS-Panzerdivision Hitlerjugend”

(p43) “After the III./25 and the Panzers of 5. and 6. Kompanie had captured Authie and were advancing further on Buron, the II./ 25 of Sturmbannfuhrer Scappini and the 7. Panzerkompanie joined the attack. The line-up was: to the right the 7. Kompanie under Obersturmfuhrer (1st It.) Heinz Schrott, to its left the 5. under Hauptsturmfuhrer (capt.) Kreilein, and staggered to the left rear the 6. Kompanie under Hauptsturmfuhrer Dr. Thirey. The 8. (heavy) Kompanie, led by Hauptsturmfuhrer Breinlich, had not yet arrived. The Panzers under the command of Hauptsturmfuhrer Bracker followed close behind in a wide wedge formation. St. Contest was captured without significant difficulties. Sturmbannfuhrer Scappini was at the point platoon of the 7. Kompanie, together with its commander, his adjutant, Obersturmfuhrer Franz Xaver Pfeffer, and the battalion physician, Dr. Sedlacek. Scappini ordered a short halt so that the companies to the left rear could catch up. While the staff was reconnoitering in the terrain, they were surprised by three advancing Canadian tanks. The staff took cover immediately, but they had obviously been already spotted. They came under heavy fire from the tank guns. Sturmbannfuhrer Scappini received a fatal wound. The regimental commander, who had come forward by motorcycle to determine the situation, ordered Obersturmfuhrer Heinz Schrott to take over command of the battalion. Obersturmfuhrer Kurt Havemeister took over from him. The Panzers of 7. Kompanie forced the three tanks to retreat. The battalion advanced further and was able to take Malon and Galmanche without encountering serious resistance, bothered only by artillery fire.”

(p45) “The II. /25, in action to their right, had 21 dead, among them Sturmbannfuhrer Hans Scappini, 38 wounded and 5 missing. The 7. Panzerkompanie, which attacked there, counted 2 dead soldiers, 2 wounded officers, 1 wounded NCO and 2 wounded soldiers. 3 Panzer IVs were probably total losses.”