Canadian Forces against the Panther – Tom ‘Shot in the Dark’ Danby

Canadian ground forces faced German Panther tanks in Italy and Northwest Europe during the Second World War.  The story of Private Ernest Alvia ‘Smokey’ Smith, who single handedly put a Panther and its crew out of action, is just one example of a Canadian soldier whose courage and utter disregard for danger helped the Allied forces win the war over Hitler’s Germany (fig. 3).

A native of New Westminster, British Columbia, Smith served with the Seaforth Highlanders of Canada during the Second World War.⁶ He will forever be remembered for his actions against the Panther tank and its supporting infantry on the night of 21 October 1944. Smith’s incredible bravery and steadfast determination earned him the Victoria Cross, the highest medal for bravery awarded to Canadian soldiers in the Second World War.

Smith and his fellow Seaforth Highlanders were selected to lead an assault across the Savio River in Italy to secure a vital bridgehead. The Germans however, mounted a counter attack. Suddenly, Smith and the Highlanders were facing a troop of three Panther tanks supported by artillery and about thirty infantry. Under heavy fire, one of Smith’s comrades was wounded.

Smith retaliated with his PIAT, hitting part of the Panther’s track and motor and putting it out of action (fig. 4).⁷ A group of ten German infantry dismounted from the tank and began firing at Smith. He held his position and fired at the Germans with his gun, killing four soldiers. Meanwhile, Smith had drawn the attention of the other Panthers and infantry in the area. He bravely held his position until the remaining Germans retreated.

Smith, Canada’s last living recipient of the Victoria Cross, died in 2005. In an interview with Maclean’s magazine shortly before his death, Smith was asked if he was scared the day he took on the Panther and its crew: “Oh yeah. You go for a tank, you’ve got to win, ‘cause if you don’t put it out of commission, the tank will eat ya. I hit part of the track and the motor, too. It was the only way of stopping them…people who surrender, they’re cowards.”⁸

Sydney Valpy Radley-Walters – Canadian Tank Commander

The landing operations of the Allied invasion of Normandy, also known as D-Day, began on 6 June 1944. After D-Day, Canadian troops faced Panthers on the fields of Normandy. Canadian forces struggled at first against German units that had more experience, superior training and far better equipment.

Brigadier-General Sydney Valpy Radley-Walters, a native of Gaspé, Quebec, was a Canadian tank commander during the Second World War. He served with the Sherbrooke Fusiliers and was quickly recognized by his superior officers for his excellent leadership skills.⁹ In Normandy Radley-Walters was amongst the best Canadian tank officers. He became a legend for the way he shrewdly outsmarted superior German panzer units. With nineteen victories, Radley-Walters destroyed more enemy tanks than any other Canadian tank commander, and was awarded the Distinguished Service Order and the Military Cross.¹⁰ Radley-Walters received his Military Cross from Field Marshall Bernard ‘Monty’ Montgomery, at a ceremony in Belgium (fig. 5).

Radley-Walters was quite familiar with the devastating power of the Panther tank. He once watched the destruction of three Canadian tanks by one shot from a Panther’s gun.¹¹ In an interview for The Valour and the Horror, a Canadian television documentary miniseries aired on CBC Television in 1992, Radley-Walters explained how he taught his soldiers to take a Panther out of action relying on skill and determination, rather than awesome firepower. The Panther had thick, strong armour on the upper section of its gun mount, and a shot to this section of the tank would cause the round to simply bounce off the surface (fig. 6).¹² Radley-Walters explained however, that “if the lower section could be hit just below the gun with a head on shot, the round cannot bounce off; it can only bounce down and smashes the weak armour over the driver, and in most cases we found out they are either badly wounded or killed and the tank is automatically knocked out.”¹³ This section of the Panther was a small target, but Radley-Walters discovered that if the round penetrated the armour in this location, a Panther could be destroyed with a shot from a Sherman tank’s 75mm gun at up to 750-850 metres.¹⁴

Canadian Forces against the Panther – Tom ‘Shot in the Dark’ Danby

Canadian soldiers needed one precise shot to take out the Panther (fig. 7). Toronto native Tom ‘Shot in the Dark’ Danby, a reinforcement officer with the Fort Garry Horse, displayed patience and good fortune when he destroyed a Panther unaided. In the early morning hours of 26 February 1945, Lt. Danby was ordered to assist in repelling an enemy attack.¹⁵ The Germans retaliated by heavily shelling the Canadians’ position. Danby’s tank received a direct hit from a high-velocity weapon. He was wounded by the blast and his vehicle was damaged. The situation appeared hopeless and Danby ordered the crew to bail out seeking cover at a nearby barn. Seeking shelter from exploding shells, Danby and his crew returned to their tank to discover it could only move in reverse. By this time Danby was also under heavy fire from an enemy machine gun. He could not see the target in the dark, but his crew fired the tank’s gun in the direction the bullets were coming from. A huge explosion followed. A few hours later, Danby’s commanding officer reported that he had destroyed a Panther tank.¹⁶ Lt. Tom Danby thus earned the nickname ‘shot in the dark’.

Sources for Veterans’ War Stories

War veterans share in their ability to pass on the legacy of their personal experiences and insights to those who have not been involved in war. The Canadian War Museum provides veterans the opportunity to engage with the general public through the interpretation of exhibits (fig. 8).¹⁷ The Internet is also a rich resource for learning the personal war stories of Canada’s veterans. Veterans Affairs Canada has a collection of these stories in their Canada Remembers Program website in the section titled called Heroes Remember.¹⁸ A similar source of information on Canadian veterans can be found online at The Memory Project.¹⁹ Many veterans who served on the battlefield believe they have a duty to pass on their stories to future generations. As Brigadier-General S.V. Radley Walters pointed out in an interview with the Canadian Military Journal, “it really comes back on our shoulders, that before they put us six feet into the ground, that somebody should sit down and each one of us at least pass on to the generation that’s going to follow some of the lessons which we learnt.” ²⁰

Figures

• fig. 1 Panther V Tank, 1942-1945, Canadian War Museum, Ottawa, 15 Sept. 2009. (Photo: the author)
• fig. 2 Typhoon flying above a grounded Typhoon. Canada: Dept. of National Defence / Library and Archives Canada / e002344097
• fig. 3 Private Ernest Alvia ‘Smoky’ Smith of the Seaforth Highlanders of Canada, Victoria Cross. Canada. Dept. of National Defence / Library and Archives Canada / PA-145490.
• fig. 4 Private L.H. Johnson and Sergeant D.R. Fairborn of the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion with a PIAT Anti-Tank Weapon, Lembeck, Germany, 29 Mar. 1945. Lieut. Charles H. Richer / Canada. Dept. of National Defence / Library and Archives Canada / PA-114595.
• fig. 5 Field Marshall Sir Bernard Montgomery investing Major Sydney Valpey Radley-Walters of the Sherbrooke Fusiliers with the Military Cross, Ghent, Belgium, 5 Nov. 1944. Lieut. Ken Bell / Canada. Dept. of National Defence / Library and Archives Canada / PA-128092.
• fig. 6 Panther V Tank, 1942-1945, Canadian War Museum, Ottawa, 15 Sept. 2009. (Photo: the author)
• fig. 7 Unidentified infantryman of Les Fusiliers Mont-Royal examining a disabled German Panther tank, 9 Aug. 1944, St-Andre-Sur-Orne, France. Lieut. Ken Bell / Canada. Dept. of National Defence / Library and Archives Canada / PA-114369.
• fig. 8 Veteran Reg Redknap (Canadian War Museum volunteer) speaks with caregiver Janet Josslyn and daughter Jamie Routledge, 2008. (Photo: Veterans Affairs Canada {http://www.vac-acc.gc.ca/remembers/sub.cfm?source=feature/fww/anniversaries/90ann_overseas/001})

Notes

1. Dmitry Pyatakhin, “Panzerkampfwagen V Panther,” Achtung Panzer, 13 Nov. 2009 {http://www.achtungpanzer.com/panzerkampfwagen-v-panther-sd-kfz-171.htm}.
2. Pyatakhin.
3. Gordon Williamson, The SS: Hitler’s Instrument of Terror (Stroud: Tempus, 2006) 170.
4. Gerald Nicholson, “Projector, Infantry, Anti-Tank,” Canadian Soldiers, 15 Nov. 2009 {http://www.canadiansoldiers.com/weapons/lightweapons/lightantitank/piat.htm}.
5. Terry Copp, Fields of Fire: The Canadians in Normandy (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2003) 96.
6. Greg Kerr, “Private Ernest Alvia Smith,” Veterans Affairs Canada, 13 Nov. 2009 { http://www.vac-acc.gc.ca/remembers/sub.cfm?source=history/secondwar/citations/smith}.
7. Ken Macqueen, “I Was Never Afraid to Shoot, That’s What I Was Paid For,” Maclean’s 118:33 (15 Aug. 2005): 15.
8. Macqueen, 16.
9. Craig Leslie Mantle and Larry Zaporzan, “The Leadership of S.V. Radley Walters: Enlistment to D-Day,” Canadian Military Journal 9:4 (2009) 71.
10. Mantle and Zaporzan, 71.
11. Sydney Radley-Walters, Interview, The Valour and the Horror, National Film Board of Canada, 1992.
12. Sydney Radley-Walters.
13. Sydney Radley-Walters.
14. Sydney Radley-Walters.
15. Tom Danby, “War Diary,” Email from Gord Crossley to the Author, 16 Nov. 2009
16. Ross Munro, “Toronto Officer Knocks out Panther Tank in Night Duel,” Toronto Daily Star (31 Mar. 1945): 13.
17. Greg Kerr, “Journey Begins at the Canadian War Museum,” Veterans Affairs Canada { http://www.vac-acc.gc.ca/remembers/sub.cfm?source=feature/fww/anniversaries/90ann_overseas/001}.
18. Canada Remembers Program: Heroes Remember, Veteran Affairs Canada {http://www.vac-acc.gc.ca/remembers/sub.cfm?source=collections/hrp}.
19. The Memory Project, Stories of the Second World War, Ontario Veteran Community Archives {http://www.thememoryproject.com/}.
20. Mantle and Zaporzan, 71.