'2/Lt Smethurst's tank ditched on the towing path of the Wessem Canal', 3rd/4th County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters), Netherlands, November 1944

Photograph by Major Wilfred Herbert James Sale, MC, 3rd/4th County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters), World War Two, North West Europe, 1944.

Shows a Sheman tank next to a canal, with crew members. Apparently, prior to the assault on this waterway the Germans had burrowed under the canal's tow path; the weight of the tank resulted in the collapse of the tunnel.

Tanks of the 3rd/4th County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters) supported an assault on the Wessem-Nederweert Canal by 160th Brigade which began on 14 November 1944. The attack was assisted by 'artificial moonlight' provided by searchlights. With the Germans withdrawing, there was little opposition but the British and Commonwealth troops had to contend with mines, booby traps and thick mud, as weather conditions deteriorated. Once the infantry were across the canal, engineers constructed a bridge and the tanks of the Sharpshooters crossed on 16 November 1944.

From an album containing 222 photographs compiled by Major W H J Sale, MC, 3rd/4th County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters).