POCKET diary entries from a Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry soldier during 1944 in World War II have revealed the fascinating story of two Sherman tanks which went missing in Italy while he served.

Market Lavington solder John Lawrence past away in 1987, but the stories and tales of his youth were remembered by his son Doug, who recently discovered the notebook and regimental book.

Using the stories he was told as a boy and the detail inside the diary, he has worked out what happened to the missing tanks which had collapsed and been lost in the mountains of Tuscany.

Mr Lawrence said: “I found where this happened with the help of an Italian doctor, Danniel Cesaretti who I contacted on a web forum.

“He found two local Italians who, as children helped their fathers break the tanks up for scrap after the war.

“Danniel got them to take him to the spot where these tanks ended up, and with a metal detector has found several remains of the tanks, including the periscope out of one of them.

“They also found a lot of ammunition, including shells for the main gun.”

All the tanks in the RWY were named after villages or pubs that the crews came from. The two tanks that were lost were called “Upavon” and “The Lamb”. The Lamb was used because in recognition of one of the pubs in Upavon.

Mr Lawrence is now set to drive to Italy with his son James over the Easter break to meet Dr Cesaretti and take away some of the tank parts, including a periscope discovered while the area was cleared, as a momento.

Mr Lawrence’s father lived in Market Lavington before the war, and upon returning from bought a farm at Aldbourne, before moving to Ramsbury. He continued to live in Ramsbury until his death in 1970.

More than 50,000 Sherman tanks were produced between 1942 and 1945 and used by the United States, France, China and even the Soviet Union as well as the United Kingdom.

The Wiltshire Royal Yeomanry is been operating since 1794. Disbanded as an independent territorial army in 1967, the regiment continues through the B and Y Squadrons of the Royal Wessex Yeomanry.