Page Three

The Third Inventory Upgrade

Churchill Mark IV

At the conclusion of the campaign in North Africa, the two Army Tank Brigades settled down for what turned out to be a long time before being committed once again to action. During this period, the North Irish Horse was encamped near the village of Ain Mokra some twenty miles west of Bône, Algeria. In August 1943, word came that the Regiment was to be totally re-equipped with Mark IV Churchills, about half of which arrived the following month. Although a few more of the Mark IVs did arrive later, by the year's end there were still many Mark Is parked in the cork forest in which the NIH was harboured.

As it turned out the two Tank Brigades were never requipped totally with Mark IVs. Many of those expected had been diverted to REME's Base Workshops, Bône, for conversion to what became later the Churchill Na75, but that is another story. One day, much to everyone's surprise, six that were designated as CS Churchills arrived having two 3 inch howitzers mounted.

Churchill Mark Ics
Copyright photograph reproduced courtesy Imperial War Museuem. As can be seen, her starboard track was broken by a mine.

When the inventory of 3-inch howitzers was depleted, a few Mark Is had their howitzer mounted in the turret with a Besa mounted in its place. Designated as a Churchill Mark IIcs, none were delivered to units.

Almost a year later, while Ballyrashane was battened down for several hours in the Gothic Line, I learned from Major MacKean why the CS Churchills had not been initially assigned to any of the Regiment's Troops. What follows is from my diary and recollections of what Skipper told me while the Germans were hammering the farmhouse behind which we were sheltered.

At a meeting of COs held at Brigade HQ to discuss how to deploy the CS Churchills, the unanimous opinion was, as operations in Tunisia had proved their usefullness to be marginal, that they not be taken on strength certainly not in place of 6-pdr gunned tanks. I cannot recall if Major MacKean said that the matter had been referred back to the UK, in any event we were "stuck with them" for two reasons. One being that Commander 34th Army Tank Brigade had asked for howitzers to be turret mounted (following comments made after the range firings at Castle Martin), the second being the NIH Battle Report on the action in the Oued Zarga mountains, Tunisia, had supposedly proving the effectiveness of the 3-inch howitzer. However, a promise was given that the CS Churchills would be considered additional to standard inventory when the regiments were next sent into action. That the promise was substantially kept is proven by 8th Army Tank States for the Brigade prior to the Hitler Line assault.

Enhancement of an atypical Churchill - Bushmills (4)

It was the practice in the North Irish Horse to refer to tanks by both name and number. When a replacement tank was received it was considered to be number II and so on. Some commanders even decided to paint the number following the name on the louvres, Castlerobin IV for instance.

Bushmills (1), as previously stated, was returned to the UK, number (2) taking her place in Algiers. This being so, the question is why does the number (4) appear in the title above when the latter's intended replacement was delivered to the Squadron in Ain Mokra? Tragically, the answer is found in a chain of events that started on Tuesday, 13th April 1943. On this day, the REME Workshops attached to the NIH was bombed by the Luftwaffe, killing Captain Duncan Leslie, EME and wounding four including the Technical Adjutant, Lieutenant Ball. Following the untimely death of Captain Leslie, Lieutenant E.Garner, Recovery Officer, assumed command of the Workshops being promoted to the rank of Captain.

Following the meeting at Brigade HQ previously mentioned, the CO called his officers, including Captain Garner, together to report on the meeting and to discuss with them what to do with the CS Churchills now they had arrived. At the conclusion of his remarks the CO called for comments one of which particularly caught the attention of Captain Garner. While the general opinion that mounting a howitzer in the turret was an improvement, the problem for commanders that had manifested itself during firing exercises in the UK still existed - the difficulty of properly positioning tanks when battened down. A few weeks later, Captain Garner was transferred to the REME Workshops located near to Bône, his place being taken by recently promoted Captain R.T.Whatley.

A month or two later, Captain Whatley had occasion to visit his former boss with a requisition for spare parts. While they chatted, Captain Garner mentioned that he had recently returned from the main REME Workshop located near Le Khroub, a hilltop town north of Constantine. While there, noticing the many damaged German PkW IIIs in the park, he took a closer look and came to the conclusion that their cupolas could be salvaged and fitted to the CS Churchills thereby solving the visibility problem.

Panzer Kfw III

Not knowing how news of Captain Garner's idea, reached the ears of our CO, nonetheless it did and the decision was made to affix a cupola to one of 'B' Squadron's two CS Churchills. Why was a 'B' Squadron tank chosen? For some reason, possibly resulting from the performance on Longstop Hill, the Squadron was considered (probably unfairly) to be senior in status to the other two. Fair or not, when orders came from higher authority to reduce the number of Troops in a Squadron from six to five, 'B' Squadron was exempted, fighting with a full complement of six, until the two CS Marks were retired.

The installation of the German cupola proved to be a comparatively simple task and, when finished, the modified tank was delivered to the Squadron for their inspection, but it came with a small problem. While the cupola worked perfectly, the REME people, assuming that the tank would go to HQF Troop, had painted on her louvres the name Bushmills. As it had already been decided that HQF Troop would be equipped with 6-pdr tanks, the Squadron now had two Churchills with the same name! Not wishing to upset the REME folks it was decided that the names on either were not be removed. It was doubtless a wise decision, as will be seen, Bushmills 4's (the Mark IV) time in action was brief indeed!

The Regiment's five other CS Churchills had cupolas installed, but not on CS tanks of the other five Infantry Tank Regiments. Additional to the two pictured below was B Squadron's Bangor - I cannot recall the names of the other three.

With the arrival of the Churchill Mark V, the CS tanks were retired. Bushmills (4) ended her career, after her crew had expended the full inventory of smoke, supporting two Troops of 'B' Squadron in the crossing of River Marecchia on 22nd September, 1944. The photograph of her below was taken on the same day.

Photograph of Bushmills (4) taken in Italy shortly before her retirement.

The next photograph of a CS Churchill, although not of the best, I have included
as it better shows the Panzer Kw III cupola which is installed on her.

'A' Squadron's Ashbourne in Italy

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