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Description
Mr. Giovannetti recalls being shot at while driving into Falaise with his armoured unit, and blowing up the shooters hiding spot. He also describes seeing the same location during a post-war visit.
Transcription
Interviewer: So you were involved in, your tank was the second tank into Falaise?
No, it ended up that I was the first in there because the first one went in and the Germans had a nice little road for them to follow to get across the ditch, eh? And they took it of course and they had no tracks on them the next thing ya knew. So while the so while the settlers were there using their bayonets on the rifles to knock the mines out of the road and that. I was watching the ground I could see the bullets hitting it you know I started thinking to myself, "Now where are they coming from? " And I looked up and here's this church steeple. I can remember it 1200 yards. And I said to the commander I said, I said "There's somebody up there shooting down here.", he said, "Put a shot in it John". So I told the gunner operator to put an HE
(high explosive) into her, something that will blow it to pieces. And there was no steeple on it after I fired the shot, set the thing afire. I'd been back there three or four times.
Interviewer: Have they rebuilt the steeple?
They rebuilt the steeple, yeah. The signs were even up in there. I was back there last summer and I was in to have a look at it. I did talk to a fellow that had a black robe on and when he found out that I put the bullet in the steeple he wouldn't talk to me anymore, he left.