"CB" Fireflies

[John Tapsell]

John,
Thanks for your reply - much appreciated.

Although it may have no relevance to your own query, the same confusion over who crewed the CB Fireflies exists with 13/18 Hussars.

The 13/18 tanks were commanded by Lt Knowles and Sgt Ellis, with Ellis being assigned to A Sqn after landing and Knowles to B Sqn. What is not clear however is where they came from.

At the moment, the most likely explanation is that these CB tanks were crewed by "1st reinforcement" (reserve) crews, but even that isn't 100% certain.

I was recently shown a photo that includes a pair of Fireflies on an LCT in Southampton - the LCT is surrounded by engineer assault team LCTs. I'll see if I can track it down as i believe that they are probably Canadian CBs, rather than 13/18 H (the photo isn't good enough to show markings unfortunately).

Cheers,
John