Volturno Crossing
80 years ago today: A U.S.-supplied M4 Sherman medium tank of 4th County of London Yeomanry (4CLY) making ready to cross the Volturno river at Grazzanise, Italy, 17 October 1943 to take on the German Viktor Line. Note the camouflage on both turret and hull and a rarely seen (in the field) partial wading kit.
Photo by Mott (Sgt), No 2 Army Film & Photographic Unit, IWM NA 7858
The good SGT Mott captured the same tank while it was crossing
Note the recognition flash on the hull and letter on her turret. IWM NA 7859
As noted by Mott on the back of the card for NA 7858:
The bridge built by the RE [Royal Engineers] over the Volturno at Grazzanise would not take the weight of the heavy tanks. Our tank formation found a spot where the water was no more than six feet deep and with the aid of a bulldozer to haul them up the opposite beach, they forded the river.
The 4th County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters) was a volunteer cavalry regiment formed in September 1939. However, they trace their lineage back to the old Royal East Kent Mounted Rifles of 1794.
4CLY saw much action across North Africa (including El Alamein), Italy (where several tanks were left submerged in flood-swollen waters), and Normandy, where, suffering serious losses, was amalgamated with 3CLY to form the 3rd/4th County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters) in 1944, which went on to help liberate Holland in Market Garden and cross the Rhine.
The Sharpshooters received 42 battle honours (including “Volturno Crossing”) for World War II, a total exceeded by only one other Cavalry or Yeomanry regiment. Individually Sharpshooters received one George Medal, 9 DSOs, 42 MCs, 8 DCMs, and 71 MMs. The regimental roll of honour records 381 names.
The unit, through amalgamations, still exists as 265 (KCLY) Support Squadron in the Territorials while the Kent and Sharpshooters Yeomanry Museum is in Croydon.