I have two engagements for this very successful unit but can't work out which is which.
As was shown in the earlier discussion the 21st ATR Z Battery destroyed four tanks in an engagement in August. However I have found a second engagement where Q (SP) Battery destroyed four tanks. Both engagements are linked to the death of Major TRD Batt but he was killed on 3 August 1944. Details for Q Battery's fight indicate 3 August 1944, and Z Battery's to be 5 August 1944. Can anyone confirm the details?
Q Battery led by Major Taylor, who claimed 2 Panthers, also awarded Panther kills to Lt Hawker and Sgt Farrow. A account by the Leicestershire Yeomanry reduces the 3rd August claim to 3 Panthers by 7 Troop (is this Q or Z Battery - i assume it's Q Battery)? Hawker and Taylor are missing from accounts the following month.
The War Diary indicates a 48 hour battle, and that 4 SPGs and a Panther were knocked out and a fifth SPG captured. Six successful claims but the accounts indicate nine at most.
The Z Battery (towed 17 Pdr) engagement states four PzIII tank kills (Stug III) possibly with a Panther...medal citations indicate two separate engagements with three ko'd in the first and one in the second. The IG Commander JOE Vandeleur describes the engagement as a hit on one tank followed by three colliding while trying to escape and abandoned....
help please
regards
Keith