SRYFirefly

[Monty Python]

Nearly finished the James Holland book, Brothers in Arms about the Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry from D-Day to VE-Day. This has got me thinking about doing a 1/35 scale Firefly VC.

 

So my questions are, as I’m a builder of aircraft and not AFV’s, is the RFM kit the way to go? Also is there any decals for the SRY? Had a trawl on the internet and cannot see any.

 

TIA

[John Tapsell]

The most significant factor in answering that question is 'when' during the campaign in NW Europe would you want to portray the vehicle?

 

Initially (June/July 1944), any Fireflies in Normandy would have been just the Sherman Vc, but as the campaign progressed through 1944-45, increasing numbers of Sherman Ic would have become available and been issued to the regiment as attrition replacements.

 

Holland's book is really good (about 3/4 of the way through it at the moment) but there are several others worth reading that he draws a lot of personal info from. These are the ones I've read and own - all excellent in different ways.

 

An Englishman at War (Edited by Holland) - Stanley Christopherson's personal diary

The Man Who Worked on Sundays by Leslie Skinner

By Tank into Normandy by Stuart Hills

A Tank Soldier's Story by Arthur Reddish

Tank Action by David Render (with David Tootal)

 

 

[SimonL]

Currently building the RFM Firefly, it’s a challenging but fun build. Don’t let the individual link tracks put you off…

 

I think Tamiya do a Firefly 1c in their 1:48 range. 

[echen]

19 hours ago, Monty Python said:

James Holland book, Brothers in Arms

I've just finished this too - an excellent read. Another in a similar vein is "Tank Men: The Human Story of Tanks at War by Robert Kershaw". It covers a more general picture of tank warfare.

[Pete Robin]

Can't really comment about any kit being better than another. I built an old Dragon version and needed to invent new swear words when building the tracks.

I guess it's a case of "you pays your money and you takes your chance".

Have also read some of the books mentioned. It seemed to me that a) the battles in the Bocage are the only ones ever mentioned in Normandy and b) the Sherwood Rangers were the only tank regiment in Normandy as every book I've come across is all about them.

It seems very disrespectful to the crews of both the tanks "proper" and their armoured support (the Sextons, etc.) that fought on the other flank and ultimately through the hellish battles at Collumbelles, Caen and the Falaise Gap. Oh, and ultimately through Holland and into Germany. My old geezer was one of em.

Maybe its because many of them were Colonials (Cannucks) and Poles as well as the Guards Regiments etc. Or maybe it's just not as "sexy" as the Bocage. Who knows.

Regards

Pete

[Kingsman]

The problem with a Firefly other than a RFM VC is the availability of kits.  Asuka do a VC too, 35-50% more expensive than RFM and still has vinyl tracks, not easy to find new but 2nd hand ones come up on eBay (sometimes in an old Tasca box).  But you may prefer vinyl tracks if tanks are new to you.  Dragon's old VC was poor.  As for ICs, the Dragon welded-hull IC (#6568) is OOP but was passable.  They have done 2 composite hull IC kits. The older one (#9037) is poor while the newer one (#6228) is much better but has become hard to find and has Dragon's nasty DS vinyl tracks that they have now stopped using because they don't last.  Dragon also boxed the IC in a Cyber Hobby box but I don't know if that was the older or newer one.  Asuka have also done a Composite IC which is generally regarded as superior.  There were more Composite than fully-welded ICs anyway as they were still arriving new as the conversion programme was going on.  And there were more VCs than both types of ICs, if only because we had 3 times more Sherman V (M4A4) than Sherman I (M4).

 

SRY had IC and VC Fireflies at different times, so you are safe with either.  The UK did not generally mix Sherman engine types in the same Regiment and some units were re-equipped as attrition depleted stocks and vehicles were moved around to make up the numbers.  The exception being units equipped with diesel M4A2 Sherman IIIs as there was no IIIC Firefly: they generally got VCs but occasionally ICs.

 

An SRY Composite IC from the front and rear.  Same tank I believe.  You'd need Dragon or Asuka for these.  The picture on the front of Holland's book is a VC.

 

 

And another.

 

Decal-wise the choices are limited. Star Decals do a Normandy set (35-921) with markings for Sherman III "Akilla", although they show it camouflaged which may not be correct.  Star set 35-C1245 has markings for SRY Sherman III "Aberdeen" on D Day.  At that time they were part of 22 Armd Bde and wore the markings below, which are in both those sets.  At that time SRY almost certainly had VC Fireflies: the RFM kit.

 

[John Tapsell]

Really Pete Robin? That's a pretty sweeping condemnation of the hundreds of books covering the British experience in NW Europe, many of them personal memoirs or histories of particular regiments. The Sherwood Rangers happened to contain an unusually active group of writers so the regiment is better-served than many others by personal memoirs (all the books I listed in my previous post fall into that category).

 

I have several shelves of books covering D-Day and the NWE Campaign - ranging from major campaign histories by historians to formal histories and personal memoirs of many of the armoured regiments that took part. Just from where I'm sitting, I'll pick out a random selection of what I can see on those shelves:

 

'Burning Steel' by Peter Hart (just published this month) - 2nd Fife and Forfar Yeomanry

'Armoured Guardsmen' by Robert Boscawen (served with 1st Bn Coldstream Guards - Guards Armd Div)

'Forrard' by Paul Mace (East Riding Yeomanry)

'Achtung Minen' by Ian Hammerton (served with 22nd Dragoons - Sherman Crabs)

'Assault Division' by Norman Scarfe (3rd British Inf Div - the author was a Gunner with the Division)

'Sutherland's War' by Douglas Sutherland (covers his service with 152 Regt RAC operating Churchill CDLs as well as his later service in ordinary Churchills)

'Flamethrower' by Andrew Wilson (covers his service with 141 Regt RAC)

'Troop Leader' by Bill Bellamy (served with 8th Kings Royal Irish Hussars)

'Juno Beach' by Mark Zuehlke - one of several good books he has written covering the Canadian perspective.

 

Ken Tout has written a series of thinly disguised accounts of his time in 1st Bn Northants Yeomanry.

I know I've read a book covering 2nd Bn Northants Yeo - operating Cromwells as the Recce Regt of 11th Armd Div - but can't remember the title or author.

I'm also fairly sure I've read a personal memoir from a 3 RTR veteran, but again, can't remember the title or author.

 

This only scratches the surface of what's available in the form of commercially and privately published works - you just need to be willing to hunt them down.

 

Regards,

John

 

 

Edited July 15, 2022 by John Tapsell

[Phil Evans]

At the risk of thread drift, the bocage doesn't get the coverage because it was "sexy". It was a phase of the campaign in which casualties were as high as those sustained on the Western Front in World War 1. The regiments there had to adapt and improvise quickly to reduce their casualties and maintain the momentum of the advance.

 

There are lots of books that chronicle most if not all of the armoured regiments at Normandy, as well as their formations. As John Tapsell has said, the SRY had more writers (including its padre) among its ranks than the average, starting in North Africa. 

 

Regards

 

Phil

 

 

 

 

[Kingsman]

And yet is one of the least-covered Regiments decal-wise for NWE: just 2 tanks.  13/18 Hussars, CLY, Northants Yeomanry, Guards get a lot of coverage by Star if no-one else.

[Phil Evans]

Hi Das Abteilung, I've thought about that myself and wondered if SRY tanks are difficult to identify in photos due to the amount of stowage on board that covers up their markings?

 

 

[Pete Robin]

Apologies to all, the comment was meant with a dose of tongue in cheek. I too have many books on the NW Europe campaign. Many regiments are mentioned, many are not. Many regiments operated other armoured vehicles, but I was trying to be a little specific, as the topic regarded Sherman Fireflies. Hey Ho.  Much is made of a few. If I have offended anyone, then I apologise again.

Pete