An amazing story

The above tank is an M4A2 Sherman Tank, one of over 49,000 Sherman tank variants built for the Allies during the Second World War.

This one is BOMB from B Squadron, 27th Armoured Regiment (The Sherbrooke Fusilier Regiment) of the 2nd Canadian Armoured Brigade; and BOMB would land with the Canadian troops of the the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division on Juno Beach, June 6th, 1944.

After landing in Normandy BOMB was almost immediately involved in fighting at Authie and Buron where the Fusiliers destroyed 41 tanks in their first two days of fighting and would later face off against German Panzer and SS units trying to smash the beach head.

What makes BOMB so special?

She is the only Canadian tank that fought without interruption from D-Day to VE Day. She took part in many iconic battles; well, the Canadian ones at least. The Canadian contribution is often over looked but has, recently, regained a resurgence amongst historians. BOMB would take part in actions around Caen, including the costly fighting on Bourguébus Ridge, and the capture and clearing of the city of Falaise.

BOMB would travel over 4,000 kilometres (2,500 mi) across northwestern Europe, helping to liberate northern France, Belgium and the Netherlands. By VE Day, BOMB had fired 6,000 rounds in battle and survived two hits from enemy shells; quickly being repaired by her crew and never missing a day of action.

There is an amazing Mini-Documentary (10:28 long) made by the Canadian Army Film and Photo Unit in 1945 entitled "The Green Fields Beyond" - and I highly recommend watching it. I'm a fairly avid documentary watcher and there was some amazing footage in this one that I had never seen before.

Luckily, the documentary is on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygE8FtfhJ98

More Links:

BOMB's Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bomb_(tank)
Juno Beach Centre Website: https://www.junobeach.org/