Ron Levett's memories of joining up and training in the Royal Armoured Corps during World War II.

After a week of leave we found that the next stage of training was an amalgamation of all we had learned so far. This was training in tanks as a crew, carried out in Sherman's on Bovington moors.

Although it looks in war films as if there is enough room in a tank to hold a dance, the real thing is quite a different story. There is no spare room at all.

The turret crew enter by the single hatch on the tank fitted with the 75mm. The operator has to enter first, climb down past the gun shield, duck underneath and then stand up. The recoil guard reaches almost to the grill fitted to the front of the 19 set (radio) with the aerial lead from the set runs round to the variometer that is mounted directly below the aerial base.

To the left of the 75 breech is the 'co-ax' machine gun. Above this is a 2' bomb thrower, used for firing smoke bombs to create a screen. To its right is the operator's periscope and an extractor fan fitted in the roof. Against the wall of the turret is a drop down seat and above it is the pistol hatch.

Around the turret runs the turret basket, which has gaps to allow access to ammunition racks, to the auxiliary charging engine that is situated to the right of the main engine and is used when the tank is stationary.

In theory the driver and co-driver should be able to climb into the turret via the turret basket but there is not enough time in an emergency. Near the pistol port is the operators control box for the radio.

The gunner is the next to enter. He can only sit and look through his periscope, which has a pad to protect his forehead. To his right is the radio control box with two leads, one for him and one for the tank commander, who is the last to enter. He is provided with a seat, but spends most of his time standing up.

There are a great deal of cables, leads, boxes of spares, fire extinguisher, headsets etc. in the turret, all creating a great deal of clutter, so the crew are forced to keep the place as tidy as possible.

The tank carries a mix of ammunition, Armour Piercing, High Explosive and smoke, making a total of 70 rounds in all. The whole of the inside is painted white, which does make it look clean. The cooling fan for the radial engine is situated at the back of the turret, so that when the engine is running a full gale blows down into all the hatches, so that the wearing of a tank suit is very necessary.

The two remaining crewmembers, driver and co-driver have their own hatches, but these are only accessible when the turret is facing forward, or is traversed left or right at ninety degrees. Both front seats can be raised or lowered. Both hatches have their own periscope.

The tank, being American, is left hand drive with the gearbox and differential gear box between the front seats. A radio control box is fitted above the seats, in the centre with headphones for driver and co-driver.

There is a 75-ammunition rack beside the co-driver, who has to pass the rounds through to the loader whenever this is possible. Behind the co-drivers seat is an escape hatch in the floor. A tripod is fastened to this. In the event of the tank being evacuated, it was the co-driver's responsibility to remove the front machine gun by pulling out the securing pin, throwing it out of the tank together with some ammunition boxes, then remove the tripod and leave the vehicle.

The crew should then be able to fight as infantry. I don't believe this happened very often. A tank crew were not usually in a fit state to fight after being knocked out.

The tanks used for training were rather bare outside but in action carried everything but the kitchen sink strapped to any place on the hull that would not obstruct the traversing of the turret. There was usually a large blanket box welded to the back of the turret that held all the bedrolls, small packs and a lot of the food.

Ammunition boxes were welded on both front mudguards. These were used to hold mugs, eating irons, plates, mess tins plus food for ready use such as tea, sugar and evaporated milk. On the engine cover was the tarpaulin, which formed a tent when the crew spent the night outside the tank.

Very often there was a box of 'Compo' rations on the back. On my tank, in action there was also another blanket box welded on the front glacis plate. This was used to hold all sorts of bits and pieces. I opened the lid of this box on one occasion somewhere in the Rhineland and a live goose, which someone had stored there, popped his head out!

Ron Levett, 2001