Lots more information & pictures about the man, the weapon and the battle in the article.




SGT Thornton was a member of D Company of the 2d Airborne Battalion, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry. As part of the British 6th Airborne Division, SGT Thornton and D Company had the mission to seize the bridges over the Orne River and the Caen Canal in the opening hours of Operation Overlord. D Company was commanded by a legendary British warrior named Major John Howard. Their little piece of D-Day was called Operation Deadstick.

This was a shockingly big deal. In one of the most extraordinary examples of piloting skill exhibited during the war, six Horsa gliders, each carrying twenty-eight grunts and two pilots, touched down at exactly the right spot at exactly the right time in pitch darkness. (That's remarkable, right there.) At 0016 on June 6, 1944, Major Howard’s men went to work.

D-Day was far from a sure thing. We have the benefit of hindsight and know that it all turned out fine. At the time, however, General Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander, had actually drafted a press release accepting full personal responsibility had the invasion failed. What that success turned on was tanks.



With so much coastline to defend, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel knew that a successful defense would hinge upon his ability to get armor staged against the invasion beaches before the assault troops could establish a proper lodgment. In this particular zone that responsibility fell to the 21st Panzer Division. To sweep across the invasion beaches and push the Allies back into the sea, Rommel’s panzers had to cross the Orne River and the Caen Canal. Major Howard’s job was to keep that from happening.


...

By the dim light of flickering fires and from a slant range of only thirty yards, Wagger Thornton aligned his massive boat anchor of a gun and squeezed the oversized trigger. The PIAT bomb arced through the darkness to explode against the side of the tank, sleeting its interior with molten steel. The disabled German tank brewed up in short order.

Everyone but the engineer officer died inside the tank. This young German did claw his way out of the flaming vehicle but lost both legs in the process. He died some hours later at a British aid station. The tank burned to slag wedged between two buildings in the one spot that would effectively seal the approach to the beaches from the armor of the 21st Panzer Division. With that one shot, SGT Thornton, in my opinion, saved the Allies on D-Day.

Projector, Infantry, Anti-Tank

But I thought it was the M1 Garand that won the war (including making the Normandy invasion a success).
And what about the astronomical observatory near Fremont Pass up the road from my home? According to a local newspaper article from years ago, its weather observations were what made the invasion possible at all.

I’m so confused.

If you watch "The Longest Day" the glider assault on the Orne River bridge is played out pretty well.

quote:

Originally posted by YooperSigs:
If you watch "The Longest Day" the glider assault on the Orne River bridge is played out pretty well.

One of the actors, Richard Todd, was in the 7th (Light Infantry) Parachute Battalion and took part in the action to capture Pegasus Bridge on the 6th of June. In the film, he played John Howard who in reality, Todd met on the day of the battle actually on the bridge.

I used to own a PIAT when I was a kid in the early 80s. Believe it or not, I bought it from a pawn shop in NJ when I was 16! Talk about times changing. Can you imagine that today? I had it until I went off to college and my mom sold it at a f-ing garage sale! Nowadays they sell for pretty big bucks.

Am I missing something? I can't find the link to the article.

quote:

Originally posted by BBMW:
Am I missing something? I can't find the link to the article.

Here it is: Link

I messed up, left out the link to the article.
Thank you, Pyker.

Thanks.

Too bad we didn't give the brits some Bazookas. The PIAT was a kluge of an early shaped charge anti-tank weapon. It was such a ridiculous design, they had to go out of their way to come up with it.

quote:

Originally posted by Pyker:

quote:

Originally posted by BBMW:
Am I missing something? I can't find the link to the article.

Here it is: Link

quote:

Originally posted by BBMW:
Thanks.

Too bad we didn't give the brits some Bazookas. The PIAT was a kluge of an early shaped charge anti-tank weapon. It was such a ridiculous design, they had to go out of their way to come up with it.

quote:

Originally posted by Pyker:

quote:

Originally posted by BBMW:
Am I missing something? I can't find the link to the article.

Here it is: Link

Another medal-winner, this time the Victoria Cross, was the-then Captain/Acting Major Cain of the Northumberland Fusiliers at Arnhem.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Henry_Cain

He is reported to have stood in the road and used a PIAT on German armour with great success.

A good Forgotten Weapons video on the PIAT:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uk_vS-VdYas

They used to be for sale constantly in the ShotGun News in the 90's and early 2000's, for not a terrible lot of money.