During World War II there was one Canadian tank nicknamed The Bomb that never missed a single day of service. That includes landing on D-Day all the way to VE day. Bomb was one of the few Allied tanks that survived the ordeal of D-Day when they landed to liberate France on June 6th, 1944. In fact it was part of a very small group of tanks that survived all the way up until VE-Day on May 8th 1945.
Built at General Motors Fisher Tank Arsenal unit in Flint, Michigan, the Bomb tank was part of the 27th Armoured Regiment. The regiment itself was composed of two different units called Les Fusiliers de Sherbrooke and The Sherbrooke Hussars. The tank was nicknamed the Bomb due to the golden grenade that was on the Fusiliers cap badge. It landed in Normandy, France and continued the fight deep into North Western Europe up until the end of the War.
Today the tank is preserved in Sherbrooke, Quebec in the headquarters of The Sherbrooke Hussars after it was saved from a Belgian scrapyard and brought back to Canada. It was a Sherman class tank so that means it was built to be fast and agile, quite small, it could fit five crew members inside quite snugly.
After the Allies broke out of Juno Beach, the Bomb travelled over 2,500 kilometres aiding the liberation attack. In fact, at one moment the Bomb led the attack at the banks of the Rhine River near Hochwald Forest in Germany. Surprisingly, the crew improvised a floating device and made the tank amphibious by sealing all openings. They floated the tank across the river and surprised the Germans from behind.
When all was done and dusted, the Bomb never missed a single day of action despite having suffered some direct hits – all repairs were completed near immediately. It is estimated during the liberation attack the Bomb fired off over 6,000 rounds of shells. Strangely enough, Canada had another tank that survived the same ordeal, known as the Holy Roller. It seems that Canadian tanks were unstoppable during World War II.
