Husband of Rose

WO II J. W. Brook, MM; Papakura; born Wanganui, 4 Dec 1917; farmhand. (Source: Dawson, W.D. 18 Battalion and Armoured Regiment. p.618.)

'The Lugo Canal, running on a big embankment above the level of the plain, but almost bone dry, was no problem. The whole of C Squadron, tank after tank, crossed with no difficulty. But just beyond it Jerry suddenly showed his teeth. As the Shermans were dispersing under the trees by the road, 88-millimetre shells began to come in thick and fast from in front of the right flank. It was only a minute or two before the Royal Horse Artillery's mobile 25-pounders were in action, but before they were well into their stride they suffered a bad loss when their OP tank, directing the fire from a rather foolhardy position in the open, was knocked out, its commander killed and all the crew wounded. Sergeant Brook's tank, the foremost of C Squadron, was ordered up to deal with this, and Brook reports: We moved up using tree cover & sighted where firing was coming from & opened up & poured in our heavy stuff, also calling on artillery fire…. All went quiet at that point & we had no more trouble with A. P. while in that area. Both 25-pounders and ‘Long Toms’ joined in from farther back. Later, after Jerry had gone, a Tiger tank was found abandoned not far ahead, its track broken by a lucky shell.' (Source: Dawson, W.D. 18 Battalion and Armoured Regiment. p. 618.) AWMM