The Notts Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry 1939-1946

28/05/2026

Celebrating Today💐

Sgt.Ben Symes, who was born in Chickerell, Weymouth on 28th May 1908.

Ben Symes' father had unfortunately been killed during the Somme offensive in 1916, so he was brought up in South Wales by his fathers cousin.
Upon leaving school he worked in the local mines and joined the Army in 1928 serving 6 years in the 1st, 3rd and 4th Royal Tank Regiments. He was then in the Army Reserves.
At the outbreak of war he joined the 9th Lancers and went with them as part of the BEF to France in 1940 He was evacuated several months later via Brest.
After significant tank training in the UK Sgt.Symes landed on DDay with 1st Troop C Squadron 24th Lancers and fought his way throughout the Normandy campaign with them until his regiment was disbanded on 31st July.
He was then one of 28 men (two troops) of the 24th Lancers who joined the Sherwood Rangers at this time.
Ben Symes fought with HQ Squadron until the end of the war.
He was Mentioned in Despatches.
He then served with the BAOR till demobbed in 1946.
Ben Symes was a prolific letter writer and wrote home almost daily detailing his experiences in NW Europe.
After the war he worked in the car trade and lived a peaceful life fishing and gardening in Oxford.
Ben Symes passed away just two weeks shy of his 68th birthday in May 1976.

Loyal unto Death

27/05/2026

From Thursday.....

From one daring band of brothers, to another... Join us on Thursday this week for a new series on 'The British Band Of Brothers'! All about the Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry, this is a look at some of the toughest fights Allied soldiers had to endure after D-Day and all the way to Germany, using their own accounts.
Members get the whole series in one drop, ad-free at patreon.com/wehaveways

25/05/2026

Staffs...
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/17YvJDAc2M/

25/05/2026

🇮🇪https://www.facebook.com/share/1E6owrpA4o/

Three Irish soldiers just won America's biggest military tank competition, and Ireland doesn't even have tanks.

The Sullivan Cup is held every two years in Georgia, USA. It's basically the world championship for military armoured vehicle crews, testing everything from shooting and driving to fitness and medical skills.

Ireland entered for the first time this year and won, beating six American teams.

The catch is that the vehicle used in the competition isn't something the Irish Army owns or trains on. The lads had never even sat in one before preparing for this. They got two weeks to learn it once they landed in the US.

They won by just five points, and no non-American team had ever won it before in the competition's history.

"It was embarrassing for them," said one of the Irish soldiers afterwards, "but they came up and shook our hands."

Fair play to the lads! 🇮🇪

25/05/2026

Whitewashed C Squadron Sherwood Rangers tanks on film in Sittard, NL as infantry of the Cameronians pass by on the opening day of Operation Blackcock in January 1945.

Loyal unto Death

25/05/2026

Neville Fearn, top left and bottom, pictured as a young trooper in the Yorkshire Hussars at the beginning of the war.
He would eventually command a troop in A Squadron Sherwood Rangers and be awarded the Distinguished Service Order for his outstanding leadership across Northwest Europe from DDay until wounded in Germany in March 1945.

Loyal unto Death

25/05/2026

The Merry Men...

Did you know ?? Robin Hood and Maid Marian helped to liberate Western Europe??

The four Regimental Head Quarters (RHQ) tanks of the Nottinghamshire Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry (SRY), an elite British armoured regiment were called Robin Hood, Little John, Maid Marion and the AA Crusader Alan-a-Dale.

The picture is from Volksmarst, Germany in 1945 and shows all four tanks.

The Sherwood Rangers played a pivotal role from the D-Day landings in June 1944 through the final push into Germany. Robin Hood went every step of the way.

The Notts Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry 1939-1946. Thanks to the brave men who drove and fought these legendary vehicles

Loyal unto Death

25/05/2026

Fallschirmjäger

'You lie so still, young jumper from the air,
Your helmet cocked, so oddly debonair,
A shroud the parachute about your feet -
That once-smooth silken dome, a mottled round
Which bore you down 'ere bullet sped to meet
Your dangling wide-legged shape from olive ground.
Thus stopped your quickened beats; dead flesh you came,
Descended, sprawled, and lay. And now - what now?
What Fatherland will raise your little name?
You lie so still, blue death across your brow.'

A poem by Lt. H R Horne, Sherwood Rangers, published in 'The Quill', a PoW magazine produced by officers in Oflag IX, Spangenburg.

Photograph by Trooper Arthur Buckingham.

22/05/2026

Remembering Today 🌺

Trooper John Bannister who died on 21st May in 1945 and lies in Villeneuve-Saint-Georges New Communal Cemetery, 18km southeast of Paris.
I believe Trooper Bannister was taken prisoner in February 1945 during actions outside Goch, Germany. He may have been wounded when taken prisoner and died later as a result.

Loyal unto Death

20/05/2026

A real live Sherman tank in Berjou on June 3rd....

J-15 avant la montée historique de Berjou 🇬🇧🇺🇸🇨🇦🇫🇷

Au programme de cette journée du mercredi 3 juin :

➡️ Ouverture du Blackwater Museum de 10h à 18h.

➡️ À 14h, le char entamera la montée du col de Berjou par la route du Lieutenant Galvin.

➡️ Point de rassemblement au calvaire de Berjou (20 min à pied depuis le musée), avec une explication de la bataille au passage du char, aux alentours de 14h20.

➡️ Vers 15h, arrivée du char au Blackwater Museum, où il restera stationné durant l’après-midi.

🅿️ Ouverture du stade de foot pour le parking.

-day

19/05/2026

Colonel Flash Kellett pictured in Tobruk in 1941.
Born on 19th May 1902 in Clonacody, Tipperary, Ireland Flash was commissioned into the Irish Guards in 1923.
He became a Member of Parliament for Aston, Birmingham.
He joined the Sherwood Rangers in 1930 and was commanding B Squadron by 1939.
He took command of the Sherwood Rangers in Palestine in September 1940.
Over the next two years Flash transformed the Sherwood Rangers into a formidable armoured fighting regiment and led them successfully across North Africa from Alamein to Tripoli.
In February 1943 he became 2i/c of 8th Armoured Brigade.
On 22nd March Flash was killed during preparations for the attack on Mareth, Tunisia.

He lies in Sfax War Cemetery