"CB" Fireflies

[Mark W. Tonner]

Originally posted by John McGillivray
There is a possibilitiy that Zuehlke may be wrong in stating that the two Fireflies belonged to “C” Sqn. On the web site which I gave the link to, on the previous post, Lt Irving’s and Sgt. Lamb’s Fireflies are referred to under the section describing the landings of “B” Sqn. Also I have another book which lists the Officers of 1st Hussars’ “C” Sqn. just before D-Day as followers:

Major D’Arcy Marks; Capt. Harry Harrison; Capt. A.B. Conron; Lt. G. Stoner; Lt. G. Henry; Lt. F. Allen; Lt. “Rip” Gordon and Lt William McCormick.

Lt Irving is not listed as being a member of “C” Sqn.

It appears that while the four men in the ammunition detail may have belonged to “C” Sqn., while the two Fireflies and their crews were part of “B” Sqn.

Can someone else confirm this?

John;

This is a quote from the history of the 1st Hussars, page 59:

"During the actual landing operations two 17pdr Shermans commanded by Lieut. F.L. Irving and Sgt. Lamb, were to engage and destroy specific forts from their LCT. This scheme was carried out according to plan, but while proceeding inland Lieut Irving was killed when his tank was hit by a 50 mm. The tank, however, was repaired by the unit fitters and put back into action two days later".

The section that the above quote appears in, deals with the landings of "B" Sqn. I would assume that both Irving and Lamb, belonged to "B" Sqn and not "C" Sqn.

Also, on page 54, it mentions, that at approx. 1630hrs (6 Jun), two 17pdr Shermans (commanded by Sgt Doherty and Cpl. Boyle) of "C" Sqn (Wading), were given to Lieut. Mills to reform 2nd Troop ("A" Sqn).

Hope this helps.

Cheers