Hi Roy,
I think your right and you're also very wrong. Many of the younger troops who hadn't been in battle before might well have been keyed up and ready to go but those who had seen battle knew fine well what they were up against and that their chances of survival depended on luck as much as anything else. They also knew what a poor match for the German Armour and 88's their Shermans were.
Every soldier feels fear either before, during or after a battle, it''s only training and discipline that stop that fear turning into panic, that an a hell of a lot of 'courage'.
Here's a little extract from the 'Armoured Mikcs' about fighting in a tank.
Quote Page 28/28
As a member of a tank crew, (Ballynahinch was my first) I was co-driver/bow gunner. One had a very lmited view when closed down. The peri-telescope was out only means of vision except for the tank commander who usully kept his head above the turret ring to get an all- round view. This reminds me of one of our early battles in which the tank commander was decapitated by a German A.P. shot. At least he went quickly - God help him. (It was in Ballynahinch that Frank Hetherington was wounded on the 11th August during the battalion's last battle in Normandy. He returned a few months later, had four more tanks shot from under him, and was again wounded just two week before the war in Europe ended).
What was it like to be a member of a tank crew? We all became very close to each other and depended on one another. The commander could see better what was happening because he usually kept the hatch open. The remainder of the crew had to depend on their peri-telescope. However, in battle, the person who had almost no chance of using the peri-telescope was the wireless op/loader. He was so busy loading and re loading the 17-pounder or 75mm and the .300 co-axil Browning, and clearing possible stoppages on the Browning - not to memtion his duties in radio communication - that he hadn't any visual idea of what was happening. However, he could hear on the intercom and radio nets and, not being able to see, he was all the more stressed up. It was as a wireless op/loader with Bill Eager as gunner, that several more tanks were knocked out.
I have served in 75mm and 17-pounder tanks. When the guns were firing continuously particularly the 17-pounder - the suffocating stink of cordite was almost unbearable - especially the 17-pounder which had a much larger breech block, on the wireless op/loaders side. IIt also (on recoil) emitted a large flame from the recoiling breech, on the wireless op/loader's side. I tried to remember to lean away from the 17-pounder as I did not wish to be squahsed or singed. The cooling system of the Sherman tank served to keep our feet cold, but did not improve the turret atmosphere.
Bill Eager, for much of the campaign a member of the same crew, expands this theme...
Apart from two seats, one on either side of the gun breech, the tank commander either stood turret floor or sat on a small circular hinged seat with his knees in the gunner' back and with his head sticking out of the turret. This particular pose was not the most enviable, as heads always seemed to attract snipers' bullets. The gunner and loader were surrounded by pieces of equipment, racks, containers, periscopes and control gear all fitted into various places where head and body contact was possible and at times quite painful.
The driver and co-driver shared a side by side position from which the tiller bars controlling the direction of the tank, or the .300 Browning hull gun which protruded into the compartment could be be used. Both of these crew members had limited access into the turret, but this was only available if the turret cage was in a certain postiion. In action, when the hatches were battened down, it was possible for the barrel of the gun to be directly over the driver's hatch or the co-driver's hatch; should this be so and none of the several positions lined up with the access holes into the turret, neither of the two in the front of the tank could get out if the tank was knocked out in action. Should this happen it became the gunners responsibility to try and rotate the turret to get the gun clear of the hatches or to elevate the barrel high enough for the hatch covers to be swung open. Should he elevate the barrel of the gun however, it could prevent the loader from getting out from the far side of the turret, especially in the case of the 17-pounder gun, which had a huge breech mechanism. To get him out required the gun barrel to be fully depressed so that he could get under and out from his position. All this had to be done after the tank had been hit, and the possibility of the thing going up in flames was the most important fear in the mind. Some would say that the escape hatch in the bottom of the turret was designed to evacuate the crew in case of emergency, but in the case of fire it only fed more air to the flames or brought the engine compatrment flames with it.
Page 65
Bill Eager was at this time with the Divisional Forward Delivery Squadron, whose task it was to move up behine the armoured battalions as the action progressed, supplyng the tanks and crews to replace the losses brought about by enemy action. He tells how ...
Wedged into the gate was a burnt out Sherman and strung along behind it on the verge were two more, all knocked out and brewed up. Our convoy stopped and Sgt Ronayne and an officer went forward to recce the situation. On returning several minutes later we were told to dismount. The tanks were from our own Battalon and bore the number 53 with the Ever Open Eye shield. Tony Samuelson told us that there was still evidence of bodies inside the hulks, and we must remove what we could from the tank's innards, try to identify the remains and give them a decent burial.
... I cannot describe our feelings as we scrambled up onto the brewed-up hulks. It was our first encounter with our own dead. We peered into the smoke-blackened interiors and witnessed the terrible scene of destruction within. The inside of the turrets had been wrecked, as fittings and equipment had been hurled around the walls either by the shots that had penetrated or the explosion of the ammunition in the racks, detonated by the heat of the burning tank. The sweet sickly stentch of death was all around us as we prepared to get on with the job we had been told to do. We worked for several hours clambering in and out of the turrets and reaching through into the driving compartments handing out to waiting hands the pathetic charred remains of the late occupants, reverently confining them to a blanket along side the tank. ...........
............ It would have been better to have buried the tanks completely with the undisturbed remains left in their dignified positions, as warriors who had paid the ultimate price for their service, but the facts of life are not that simple, as the tanks would invariably be needed to fight again. ...........
Unquote
Optimistic yes, but only a fool would be unaware of the danger once battle had been joined.
Why do you think so many untried battalions were committed to the D Day assault? Experienced soldiers are much less fool hardy that those who still think war is a game.
That's my 2 cents worth.
From my limited knowledge I also think it is a Mk V.
Cheers
Al
) If it helps it is possibly from the 2nd Fife and Forfar Yeomanry 29th Armoured Brigade.... What would be distinguishing features from front on?
BARV 
