World War Ii Tank Commander
Gauthier Zitnik
Her father, Second Lt. Gene F. Walker, was the commander of a tank that was hit by an anti-tank round and caught fire in November 1944. The attack is believed to have killed Lieutenant Walker, 27, instantly, but heavy fighting in the area prevented the surviving crew members from recovering his body.
Gary: Tank Commander is a BAFTA award-winning[1] Scottish sitcom, written and created by Greg McHugh, and produced by the Comedy Unit. The show originated in 2008 as a one-off pilot for More4, under the title Gary's War.[2] A full series was subsequently commissioned and broadcast on BBC Two Scotland in December 2009, with the programme moving to BBC One Scotland for the second series in January 2011.[3] Originally broadcast in Scotland only, in the summer of 2011 the series received a UK-wide screening on BBC Three.[4]
McHugh, who is also the screenwriter, plays the eponymous character, Gary McLintoch (the tank commander), a corporal in the fictional 104th Royal Tank Regiment of the British Army. He based the character on an old pal of his who was in the RAF from Lochgilphead, Big Stu Hutch. Filming for the third series began in April 2012.[5]
Each episode is about the lives of Gary and his three British Army friends after they have returned home to Callander, Scotland, from military deployments abroad. The first series follows the quartet's service in Iraq, while the second takes place after their time in Afghanistan.[6][7]
Filming locations have included East Kilbride's Territorial Army (TA) Centre, Walcheren Barracks in Maryhill, Garelochhead Training Camp and the drill hall of the Glasgow and Strathclyde Universities Officer Training Corps. Clydebank has also featured as the "town centre" (episodes 1 and 3) and a location in Kirkintilloch was used for the Iraq army camp scenes (apparently, a section of land and a human-made hole were employed), both appearing in the first season.[citation needed]
The second series was again filmed at East Kilbride TA Centre and Maryhill, with Cambuslang's Dechmont ranges included. Locations also included the small village of Milton of Campsie, most notably the old railway line, used in the storyline that features the scattering of Gary's mother's ashes.[citation needed] For the second season's Afghanistan scenes, Hughes revealed in 2011 that filming was undertaken in Scotland.[8]
Most of the main characters, especially Gary, occasionally use Scots when speaking, giving rise to some humorous situations throughout the show. A notable example occurs in series 1, episode 3 ("The General"),[9] when a visiting American general struggles to appropriately use the term "ken" ("know" or "understand"). The use of Scots has not hindered the accessibility of the show to a broader English-speaking audience.[10][11][12]
The original pilot was filmed as a mockumentary, with interviews, archive news material, YouTube-style videos and "fly-on-the-wall" footage following Gary's return home from Iraq.[2] For the series, the show moved towards a traditional sitcom format,[1] although it retained the use of interspersed interviews and video clips.
Each episode contains several scenes where Gary is interacting with an unseen interviewer regarding a topic from the respective episode. The interviews are usually composed of Gary's idle thoughts and they help viewers to understand Gary. Occasionally, words or phrases (but rarely complete sentences) are subtitled in these interviews for emphasis. These subtitles are often presented with the use of subtle kinetic typography.
Each episode commences with a YouTube-style video clip (with an accompanying time meter) showing the soldiers and their antics whilst in Iraq (series one) or Afghanistan (series two) and further segments are spread throughout the episode. The clips are usually independent of the episode's plot but display the soldiers' sense of humour, creativity with equipment and their boredom during deployment.
Concerns arose regarding the show's portrayal of British Army soldiers and the offence it may cause Scottish viewers. McHugh subsequently dismissed these worries, stating that, "We hear lots about the death of troops, sadly, but we never hear about the more human side or the lighter side".[15] The concerns were proven to be unfounded and the programme was re-commissioned by the BBC,[16] thereafter returning for a second series.
This year Thanksgiving comes at a dark moment, with Israel at war and anti-Semitism surging here and around the world. But the author of this open letter, written in recent days from the war zone, reminds each of us of the blessing, power and responsibility of being part of the Jewish people.
This is the most important thing: that we be together. Because we, the soldiers, from all our tribes, enter enemy territory and endanger our lives not for any government or politician, but for the people of Israel.
This message appeared Nov. 20 on Israel Realtime, a WhatsApp site that provides up-to-the-minute war-related reports and summaries from the IDF, government, and media sources. It attributed the message to tank commander Itai Simon Tov.
Hamas is stronger than the left; it is also stronger than the right, and also Bibi and Ben Gvir. Our enemy is stronger than Israeli high-tech and the settlement enterprise. Tel Aviv\u2019s beautiful soul has no chance against them, nor does the periphery.
This war has stuck me in a tank, sharing it with two comrades \u2013 between two \u201Cdossim\u201D (slang for Jewish religiously observant Israelis). One served a year [in the army] and one who served four years. One is a Smotrich voter and the other a Ben Gvir voter, and I seemingly have nothing in common with them. But the army\u2019s melting pot poured us back into one unit: a tank crew.
At some point we adapted and started talking about everything \u2013 about the charedim, the Supreme Court, public transportation, core studies, even sexuality. Everything. And what did we discover? That we agree on about 90 percent of the issues. (Let\u2019s assume they are really nice and were being agreeable, so about 80 percent.)
Our politicians draw their strength from the division between us. They take the 10-20 percent disagreement between us and turn it into the main thing because that\u2019s what gives them a mandate to \u201Crepresent\u201D us, to fight in our name. They [the politicians] do it at the expense of our security, our welfare, our taxes, and our freedom (and also our freedom to pray, by the way).
I see many people looking for ways to contribute to the war effort. Sending underwear, socks, cigarettes and combat gear. Moroccan mothers who sent us fish and couscous for Shabbat, and kibbutz retirees who drove these pots across the country. Techies who came to install 360-degree cameras on the tank, something the army is not quick and flexible enough to do on its own. And hilltop youth that the army refused to draft came and cut, sewed and stitched so that we wouldn\u2019t enter Gaza without protective covers shielding us from drones.
As far as I\u2019m concerned, the most important contribution is for you to unite as a people and to work to come closer. Focus on the similarities and set aside a bit of difference. Invent frameworks that will connect us even outside the army. I know it\u2019s complicated with issues of kosher and modesty and separation and no-separation, but I trust you.
David Render was a tank commander in World War II. He survived the war, despite having one of the most dangerous jobs in the army, and went on to become a racing-car driver. Here he tells The Telegraph how he cheated death.
No one expected me to last long when I arrived on Gold Beach, Normandy, in the summer of 1944. I was a new officer with the Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry, and at the time the average lifespan of a tank commander in the region was a fortnight.
I passed out from Sandhurst as a second lieutenant and, after a stint in a holding regiment, was sent to Portsmouth, where a captain took me to a field full of Cromwell tanks and told me to waterproof them with tape and putty.
We arrived in Normandy six days after D-Day, and I was given command of a troop of men. It quickly became clear that, like all young officers, I had two battles to fight: one against the Germans, another against my own men.
The tank commander of an M4A3 tank was supported by a driver, a radio operator, a gun loader and a gunner.
When they advanced into occupied by the enemy cities, the tank was used as a shield for the advancing infantry.
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