Recently I was going through the war diaries of the 12th Manitoba Dragoons. I was searching for something else when I stumbled across the story of Sergeant Ross James Bell and his Staghound reconnaissance vehicle on 30 August 1944.

Ross was born on 21 February 1921 in Firdale, Manitoba. He went overseas to the UK in August 1942 and was with the Manitoba Dragoons when they landed in Normandy.

On 30 August 1944 north of Rouen near the village of Bierville Ross earned a Military Medal for bravery. The citations reads the following:

"This NCO in command of a Staghound armoured car entered Bierville on 30 Aug 1944 behind his troop leader who was in another armoured car. An enemy rear guard was engaged in the village when the troop leader's armoured car was knocked out by an enemy Anti Tank gun.

This NCO pressed forward and got behind the enemy position. He then proceeded on and came to a main road along which enemy infantry, horse-drawn artillery, tanks and self propelled guns were proceeding apparently in the course of withdrawal from Rouen.

With great courage and without regard for the possible consequences, he proceeded down this road in the opposite direction to that in which the enemy convoy was moving, shooting up the convoy generally, inflicting at least two hundred casualties on personnel and destroying a considerable number of horses thereby putting out of action many artillery pieces.

When his ammunition ran low he struck off across country, contacted the Maquis and spent the night with them obtaining from them and bringing back to his squadron the following morning, valuable captured maps and information concerning flying bomb sites.

In this action this NCO showed initiative and courage of the highest quality, inflicted considerable damage upon the enemy and also undoubtly further demoralized the enemy in its retreat."

Ross and his crew were part of C-Squadron of the Manitoba Dragoons. In their war diary the following was mentioned about his actions on the 30th of August 1944:

"C-Squadron encountered little opposition on the left until reaching Bierville (3425) where Lt W.R. Laird lost his armoured car when enemy infantry knocked it out with a Bazooka type weapon from 10 feet range. Sgt Bell, R.J. (H77534) was last seen driving at speed through the enemy position. He has not been heard from up to the present time."

On the 31st the following was noted by the war diarist:

"At 10.30 hours C-Squadron reported having contacted Sgt Bell who had been missing since last evening. He was told to report to RHQ and at 13.00 hours he gave an account of his actions from the time Lt Laird had been knocked out.

He had been unable to turn around and had chosen to try to get behind the enemy by driving at speed through the enemy. He managed to get into the town of Bierville but once in he found too much opposition behind him to allow him to return to our lines. He drove around the town and encountered 60 marching infantry and three A/T guns in a sunken road. He was travelling at 50-60 miles per hour when he struck them. Sgt Bell stated that it was very doubtful if any escaped from the car's path. The A/T guns were knocked off the road and the guns crews made casualties. As he proceeded further down the road he met a Tiger tank head on. They politely made room for each other to pass. No fire was exchanged.

Sgt Bell stated that from his position he saw a convoy of horse drawn guns and carriers moving N.E. on the Rouen - Neufchapel road. The convoy was led by a German officer on horseback. Sgt Bell opened fire on the convoy and the only thing to escape was the officers horse at the lead. He claimed to have killed 70-80 horse and two to three hundred men. The troops in the convoy tried to unlimber an A/T gun but it was knocked out by a 37mm High Explosive shell.

Sgt Bell was forced by ammunition shortage to go into hiding. The FFI took care of Sgt Bell and his men for the night. They contacted their squadron early today.

This was a remarkable piece of work on the part of this NCO and it certainly is worthy of high praise."

Unfortunately it is not known who Ross his crewmembers were. They were also a part of this heroic action behind enemy lines.

Ross Bell survived the war and was married to Jeanie who was from Antrim, Ireland. They had three children, Ross jr, Jennifer and Sharleen. He had four grandchildren and two great granddaughters.

Ross was a succesful self made businessman and real estate investor who had houses in Toronto, Florida and Switzerland. He was an avid golf player.

Ross passed away on 1 September 2015 in Burlington, Ontario.

An amazing story which should never be forgotten in Canadian history...