Canadian Forces

Canadian Tank at Dieppe

Gerry Sellars

Featured in this photo is a Churchill tank of the Calgary Tank Regiment put of commission by German shell hit. This particular tank was code-named Cheeta which identified her as part of C squadron. Cheeta was transported to Dieppe on Tank Landing Craft TLC-2. Cheeta managed to land successfully on the beach and made her way to the sea wall under intense fire. When she attempted to climb over the sea wall her belly was exposed to German fire and she was hit hard by a German shell. Trooper Hilsabeck inside Cheetah described what he recalled as the shell hit them in the belly: Hilsabeck said "The deck turned red hot right at my feet, so it came mighty close to coming through........It blew al the fuses in the tank, so we rolled back down behind the seawall. I got all the fuses changed with a flashlight, got the engine started again and then we went up over the wall. Once we were upon the promenade we were like a bunch of rats in a treadmill. We didn't know where to go or just what to do so we fired at targets of opportunity until we ran out of ammo. The crew of Cheeta were.. Commander: Corporal G.H. Wiggins Driver: Trooper F. Hilsaback Co-Driver: Trooper E.E. Farr Gunner: Trooper D.M. Jenkins Loader/Radio Operator: Trooper D.W. Scratch