S8 Ep193: Normandy's Closing Stages: Brutal Ambush and Tank Warfare — James Holland — Holland details the Normandy campaign's final phases, specifically a devastating ambush near the Noireau River where C Squadron suffered catastrophic losses resulting from separat
The John Batchelor Show
John Batchelor
4.5 • 2.8K Ratings
🗓️ 14 December 2025
⏱️ 8 minutes
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Summary
1944 NORMANDY
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| 0:28.0 | The Home of Homes. |
| 0:32.0 | I'm John Betts with James Holland, Brothers in Arms. |
| 0:35.5 | James has just described how a Sherman tank can defeat a Tiger tank. |
| 0:40.1 | Now we're about to see how a Sherman tank can push and push. |
| 0:44.6 | We go to the Noirau Valley. |
| 0:48.7 | James will do it better than I do. |
| 0:50.7 | And also a commander of, I believe, 70 Corps at this point, a man by the name of, they call him |
| 0:58.0 | a fun Tama because he drives them. What is Operation Track? |
| 1:03.0 | Well, this is in the sort of closing stages of the Normandy campaign. It's actually a Canadian-led operation, |
| 1:10.0 | pushing down from Corn, the Burgos |
| 1:13.0 | Ridge, down into fillets. And the crossing of the Noirot is, you know, again, it's on a sort |
| 1:18.8 | flank action of operation tractable. Yeah, so General Thomas is part, he's the commander of the |
| 1:25.6 | 43rd Wessex Division. |
| 1:28.9 | And he's known as von Toma, because von Toma was a German Africa court commander, |
| 1:32.7 | captured at Alamein and showed the Sherwood Rangers, |
| 1:37.7 | christen him, nickname him von Toma after that, |
| 1:41.0 | because he's sort of Germanic in his driving and his rooflessness. |
| 1:46.1 | He's always sacking brigade commanders and what have you. |
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