Lt JJ Denovan and the AVRE
Lt JJ Denovan (not Donovan, apparently) was a liaison officer with the Tank Design Dept of the British Min of Supply at the time of Dieppe. He already saw the need to bring sappers up to support the initial assault. A few days after Dieppe the Special Devices branch of the Dept asked for ideas to get over obstacles without the crew being exposed. It was then that Denovan outlined his ideas, and even acquired a Churchill tank and illegally converted it to show what he had in mind! In Jan 1943 his ideas were accepted and development ordered to proceed on what became the Churchill AVRE.
When it was conceived it was envisaged it would use the petard. The petard mortar was already in existence, the brainchild of Stewart Blacker, inventor of the spigot mortar essentially. See the recent book by his grandson 'The Adventures and Inventions of Stewart Blacker' published by Pen & Sword in the UK.
The only info I have found on Denovan is in The official history of the Corps of Royal Canadian Engineers, Vol 2.
Regards
Paul, UK
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