On 18 July 1944, near Cagny, Lieutenant John Gorman was in his Sherman tank when he was confronted by a far superior German Tiger tanks
"We had been warned of the existence of such a monster. Corporal Baron and I had discussed it. We had rather light-heartedly concluded that, if confronted by a Tiger Royal, there was only one thing to do and that was to use the naval tactic of ramming, which my Portora hero had demonstrated. Baron agreed that it would be right to use the Sherman’s speed to counteract the rather slow traverse of the Tiger Royal’s 88mm gun turret. We concluded that, mad as it seemed, the only hope in a 75mm Sherman was to ram. When the Tiger Royal came into view its turret was at 90o from us, with the gun towards the 2nd Battalion tanks..."
Read the whole account of ramming the Tiger Royal with a Sherman, and how they kept fighting, and survived, while doing heavy damage to the 4 Tigers at http://www.warhistoryonline.com/war-articles/crazy-irishman-rammed-a-tiger-ii-with-his-sherman-then-went-off-looking-for-a-firefly-to-make-sure-the-tiger-wouldnt-be-going-anywhere.html
Or in the book this was excerpted from "Always a Mick"
http://www.amazon.com/Sir-John-Gorman-Times-Life/dp/0850529069/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1425180003&sr=8-3&keywords=John+Gorman
After serving in the Irish Guards in NW Europe (where he won a legendary MC for ramming a King Tiger tank), John Gorman's career included being Head of Security with BOAC before entering politics and becoming Deputy Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly.
So many stories to tell. So many more we will never hear. Amazing.
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