Vickers Mk II light tank, 3rd County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters), Popham, Hampshire, 1939

Photograph compiled by Major Wilfred Herbert James Sale, 3rd County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters), 1939.

The tank crew are named as 'Jacko' and 'Geof Willis', and the caption notes that the tank commander's 12 bore shotgun was not standard issue.

The Vickers Mk IV light tank was designed primarily for service in India and for commercial export. It had a crew of two and was armed only with a single Vickers machine gun. Production was limited and, as shown in this photograph, the tanks were used in the UK for training purposes.

Prior to mobilisation in September 1939 the 3rd and the recently formed 4th County of London Yeomanry both trained at Popham with a crossover period to help the new unit get up to speed.

Lieutenant-Colonel George Geoffrey Lightly Willis (1908-1943) went on to win the Distinguished Service Order and he led the 3rd County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters) in North Africa and Sicily. He was killed on 17 July 1943, leading from the front, in the heavy fighting around the Primosole Bridge in Sicily. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission commemorates his death at the Catania War Cemetery, Sicily.

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