PETER Lennard was a troop commander in the 73rd Anti-Tank Regiment when the landing craft he was in hit French soil just 20 minutes after H-Hour - the appointed time for the liberation forces to go in.

He and other officers had been shown photographs of the landing area while in a pre-invasion sealed camp but he was not allowed to tell the men.

"They knew we were going to invade France but that is all they knew," he said. "We were told it was going to be at Arromanches."

In the days before D-Day they had waited on ships around the Needles, off the Isle of Wight, for the final invasion order.

Mr Lennard said: "All through the night of the 5th you could hear the planes going over. When it got light enough we were amazed to see how many ships there were around us. Then the big ships started firing. You could hear the shells going over your head. You could also hear the bombing going on."

Because of the number of landing craft and the currents, they landed some two or three hundred yards away from where they should have done.

"When they let the front down the orders were very strict: 'As soon as you get on the beach get off as quickly as you can. Don't stop for anything at all'."

Mr Lennard, a lieutenant, was in charge of four converted Sherman tanks mounted with 17-pounder guns. His command vehicle was a Bren carrier.

"When we came off the beach there were some wounded from the infantry in front of us and some dead, I suppose. I didn't get time to look. We were heading straight for the road," he said. "I remember shouting out to the driver to miss this chap on the ground. However, the water had got into the brakes and they wouldn't work. Fortunately, I got down and helped the driver and we managed to miss him."

Mr Lennard, 86, of Westerhill Road, Coxheath, Maidstone, said once they got off the beach it was not far to the road and then open country.

Because the attack had been launched so early, many of the Germans were not awake and the tanks were able to get on the beach without being hindered by too much shellfire.

"We were told to get across before they realised the invasion had started and get into the country. There was a big hill outside Arromanches and they were firing from behind that. The infantry hadn't captured it at that time and they were still able to fire," he said.

"We took a few prisoners. They came out with their hands up. I said: 'Keep going, we can't stop for them.' We then met resistance from a few guns which we were able to shoot at and destroy and a couple of lorries we were able to blow up."

As the Allies moved into Normandy, Mr Lennard was involved in a succession of battles, particularly around Caumont and Villers-Bocage.

"We were in battle every day. I think we shot 11 tanks in one day and three or four in another and then got pushed back. When I went through Villers-Bocage it was flat."

It was in the Villers-Bocage area Mr Lennard was to go over a land mine for the second time in the war, the previous incident having occurred during action in North Africa.

"I was in a scout car with a canvas roof and I was blown out through the top. I hit my head on a big iron bar and was unconscious for some time," he said. "My troop sergeant, who was sitting behind me, went up as well, but instead of coming out of the canvas, he hit a stay and a tool box and was paralysed from the waist down."

Mr Lennard continued to be involved in Operation Overlord to its conclusion.

It was a fittingly successful end for a man whose war had seen him take part in the ill-fated Norway campaign in 1940, many big battles in the Middle East and North Africa and the Sicily landings.

How did he feel as he prepared for D-Day?

"It is a peculiar sensation. I didn't know of anyone who was frightened excited, yes. It was a case of having a job to do and getting on with it, particularly if you were an officer in charge."