"Stanley Cyril Smith was born in Highbury, north London, on July 26 1925, and joined the Navy in 1943 during the German bombing of London because “I didn’t want to spend my war hiding under a staircase.” Stan Smith, who has died aged 98, was thrust into a key role in the initial assault wave of the D-Day landings at Normandy. As an 18-year-old midshipman in the RNVR he was 1st lieutenant and second-in-command of a Landing Craft Tank (LCT) ferrying Sherman amphibious DD tanks towards Gold Beach on June 6 1944. (“DD” stood for “duplex drive”, though they were also known as “Donald Duck” tanks.) Rough seas scuppered the planned launch of the tanks three miles offshore, so in accordance with sealed orders which they were not allowed to open until well out to sea, Smith’s crew beached the LCT at the sector code-named Jig despite coming under heavy bombardment from German forces. More than 70 years later, he recalled that the original plan had been to carry nine British-built Valentine DD (swimming) tanks, but after a disastrous exercise in Studland Bay earlier in the year in which several Valentines were lost it was decided to use American-built Sherman DD tanks instead. “Owing to their greater size, we could only accommodate five,” Smith recalled. “Also, because they were heavier than the Valentines and needed a greater depth of water in which to float off, we had to have extensions fitted to the ramp in the form of shallow U-shaped angle-iron channels into which the tanks’ tracks fitted. “When the ramp was in the raised position, they stuck up like two huge horns. When the ramp was horizontal, approaching the beach, they had the potential to trap and detonate any obstacles that got in the way.” He joined the Navy in 1943 during the German bombing of London because 'I didn't want to spend my war hiding under a staircase'© Provided by The Telegraph The tanks belonged to the Sherwood Rangers, part of the 50th Northumbrian Division, under the command of troop commander Captain W Eldridge, and they were supposed to be launched three miles off Jig beach at H-Hour (the beginning of the amphibious assault) minus 30 minutes. “On our arrival at the launch position the sea conditions were unsuitable to launch so we beached over the obstacles at H-Hour at Asnelles-sur-Mer [in the Jig beach zone].” Stan Smith, RNVR midshipman who helped to get tanks safely ashore on D-Day – obituary (msn.com)
