Divers aim to solve D-Day tanks mystery
Call to public for help in solving armoured vehicle puzzle
A team of divers from the Southsea branch of the British Sub-Aqua Club (BSAC) are trying to solve the mystery of how two tanks, two bulldozers and a field gun, believed to be linked to D-Day, came to rest on the sea bed eight miles off the south coast.
The World War Two armoured vehicles and gun now lie jumbled on the sea bed in Bracklesham Bay, West Sussex, at a depth of 20m but there is no associated shipwreck nearby. The divers will spend five days surveying the site at the end of July and attempt to establish how the equipment came to be there.
Information gathered on an initial dive shows that the tanks are likely to be Centaur CS IVs, a limited number of which were exclusively assigned to the Royal Marines Armoured Support Group for Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of continental Europe that started on 6 June 1944 (D-Day). 80 Centaurs were to be used on D-Day but only a small number made it across the English Channel. One now stands as a war memorial at the famous Pegasus Bridge in Normandy.
Alison Mayor of Southsea Sub-Aqua Club (SAC) believes the bulldozers are unusual, specially-armoured Caterpillar bulldozers, part of a series of modifications to different types of war equipment known as ‘Hobart’s Funnies’. This type of bulldozer was used by the 79th Armoured Division of the British Army. Little is known about the modifications as there are no known surviving machines of this type.
“This is a great example of meaningful, purposeful club-based diving,” said Mary Tetley, BSAC’s chief executive. “It’s a great story. It has war, history, drama, human interest, big mechanical stuff, investigation, puzzle-solving and, of course, scuba diving. Lots of it.”
Invasion landings
Southsea SAC is investigating a local theory that the equipment was lost from a section of one of the artificial ‘Mulberry’ harbours towed across the channel to support the invasion landings, but the diving team believes it is more likely that they were lost from the deck of an armoured Landing Craft Tank (LCT (A)).
During rehearsals for D-Day, an exercise known as ‘Fabius III’, a number of vessels carrying British and Canadian troops and equipment came under attack by German E- boats (fast attack boats) in Bracklesham Bay, which may have resulted in the tanks and bulldozers falling overboard. Or they may have been lost in rough seas on the actual crossing to Normandy on D-Day itself. The diving team hope to establish exactly what happened.
Teams comprising 12 divers from Southsea SAC will be taking measurements, photographs and video of the site to record the location, orientation and condition of the military vehicles. They will also conduct a survey of the marine life which has made its home on the wrecks.
“It’s a real puzzle how the tanks and bulldozers came to rest so far offshore when there is no shipwreck nearby,” Mayor said. “This machinery of war is of significant historical interest and we hope to find the clues that will help solve the mystery of how and when they sank below the waves.”
Southsea SAC is calling for public input to its investigation. “I’d be particularly delighted to hear from anybody from the Royal Marines Armoured Support Group who can tell us about the Centaur tanks, members of the 79th Armoured Division ('Hobart's Funnies') or Royal Engineers who know about the armoured bulldozers, or anyone with knowledge of LCT(A)s,” Mayor said.
She can be reached by email at secretary@southseasubaqua.org.uk or by writing to her at Southsea Sub-Aqua Club, Fort Widley, Portsdown Hill Road, Portsmouth PO6 3LS. The club’s Web-site is www.southseasubaqua.org,uk.
The project has the approval of the Ministry of Defence. It has also received a grant from the British Sub-Aqua Jubilee Trust and is supported by Silent Planet Ltd of Portland. The Tank Museum at Bovington has provided assistance in the identification of the wrecks.
Page last modified: 21st Jul 2008 - 10:53:40