Ashbourne Bushmills 
Churchills, Mark Ics with Pz.Kfw.III Cupolas Fitted
The photograph of A Squadron's Asbourne, although not of the best, Is included as it better shows the Panzer Kw III cupola which is installed on her.
Why where these two tanks and the four others fitted with a German cupola? 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.
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 six until the two were replaced with Mark Vs
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 evaluation and test-firing. Proving satisfactory, the Regiment's five other CS Churchills had cupolas installed, the only Mark Ics to be so modified.
With the arrival of the Churchill Mark V, the CS tanks were retired. Bushmills (Number IV in line) 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. She was alone in this effort, as her twin sister Bushmills 5 had been knocked-out by an A/T gun earlier in the month. The photograph of her was taken later on the same day.
Notations in Battle Reports:
"22nd September: B squadron moved to Vergiano in the afternoon. Under cover of a smoke screen Nos. 2 and 4 troops under Capt. R.S.H.Sidebottom crossed the river Marecchia just before last light and made a strong point in San Giustina with the Somerset Light Infantry. They were subjected to heavy shelling. No. 2 troop of squadron with Capt. C.M.Thomas, M.C., and Lieut.H.E.Irwin's reconnaissance troop Shermans supported B squadron's crossing. They also had several good shoots into the valley round Sant'Arcangelo."Sources:
NIH Battle Reports
Photographs
Ashmore: NIH Archives
Bushmills: Author's Collection
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NIH Tank Names and WD Numbers
