Alan Joseph Stevens

A Guardsman with the 4th Battalion, Alan died on the 21st of April 1945 aged 20. 

Alan was born at Lowestoft in 1925, a son of Alfred James and Louise M. Stevens. In 1939 his family lived at Joycot, Saint Peters Road.

Alan served with the 4th Battalion Grenadier Guards. This was a tank battalion armed with Churchill Tanks. 

On 21 April 1945 Alan’s tank was advancing along the main road, north of Hanover, to the Dannenberg ferry. The were five well concealed German 88 guns on the road which hampered the battalion’s advance. Alan’s tank was destroyed by fire from the 88s and Alan and Sergeant Gardner and Lance Corporal Little were killed, and two officers were wounded. These were the 4th Battalion’s last casualties in World War Two.
Alan was buried at Ziernen and later reburied at Becklingen War Cemetery.