James Holland

And as soon as he does, Neville Fern tells him off.

He says, never roll up your sleeves because that's protection against fire.

Yeah.

And he says, never get out of the tank and go swanning about or get yourself killed.

He says, never ever wear a helmet because it's an easy target for snipers and gets in the way.

He says, put your helmet on the machine gun bracket instead and the Germans will think it's your head because they never have machine guns on the top of theirs.

No, no, no.

They don't believe in them.

No, it's just a waste of time.

And he says, never, ever raise your voice excitedly over the radio net.

Because as soon as you do that, people can't hear you.

Yeah.

Different time.

So it's an incredibly steep learning curve.

And David Render has the wit to realise that you've got to learn and heed those lessons very quickly or else you're toast.

Anyway, by Tuesday the 13th of June, the regiment is finally pulled back.

out of the line, and they go to a little village just down the way, only a couple of miles back.

John Semkin is totally exhausted.

As I mentioned, he's only 23, but he's now commanding a squadron of well over 100 men.

And he's told that evening the squadron's going to have to move again, but Semkin recalls, everyone's asleep.