A German Tiger tank in Normandy, August 1944

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

The Sale album refers to a 'Mk IV special in the centre of Ruffini'. The 3rd County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters) War Diary records heavy fighting on 18 August 1944 near Rouffigny with three of its tanks hit by anti-tank fire; ten men are recorded killed and eleven men wounded or missing in action. The diary records, 'A Mark IV special was seen and knocked out but shortly afterward the two leading tanks were hit by A/Tk fire'.

The 'specials' referred to were Pzkfw IV tanks upgraded with 75 mm guns and had already been encountered by the Sharpshooters in North Africa. However the knocked out tank in the picture is definitely a Pzkfw VI Tiger I tank and so its location may not be Rouffigny.

From an album of 211 photographs compiled by Major W H J Sale, MC, 3rd/4th County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters).