'Digging out a bogged tank', Hankley Common, Surrey, 1940

Photograph compiled by Major Wilfred Herbert James Sale, MC, 3rd/4th County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters), 1940.

Soldiers attempt to recover a Vickers Mk 6 light tank bogged down in mud at the Hankley Common training area.

Hankley Common was used during World War Two (1939-1945) as a training area. In 1943 it was used to recreate a section of the Atlantic Wall in preparation for Operation OVERLORD, the amphibious assault on occupied France in 1944. Some of the concrete fortifications are still in place.

The site which is also a nature reserve is still owned by the Ministry of Defence. It has also served as a film location for a number of productions, including James Bond films, 'The World is Not Enough' (1999) and 'Die Another Day' (2002). More recently 'Black Widow' (2019) and 'The King's Man' (2019) have been filmed there.

From an album of 328 photographs compiled by Major W H J Sale, MC, 3rd/4th County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters), 1938-1940.