It was, I think, New Years Day 1945 and I was doing a duty-watch on top of the fort when a German jet fighter plane came swooping over the road dbridge and along the river.
It flew past the fort at the same height as my position and at breathtaking speed; the pilot was easily seen. The jet followed the course of the river in the direction of the German border until soaring skywards. This was the first jet I had seen: if they had had these in Normandyit would have been a different story.
On this day the Luftwaffe had launched a tremendous attack – including the use of jet aircraft – on allied installations and to gain air superiority. The operation was codenamed Bodenplatte (Baseplate): the operation failed in it’s objective but the sight of a jet fighter was most impressive.
Shortly after this I was lucky that my name was drawn from a ‘unit raffle’ to have a week’s leave at home in the UK. My home in Malpas Road, London at that time in January 1945 was under bombardment by V2 rockets and had recently sustained damage from a nearby V2 explosion.
So I had switched from avoiding the shelling from the Arnhem area to an Anderson air raid shelter in the garden for a week!
THE 49th Division continued it’s advance, overcoming strong resistance in the area of the town of Poppel. Dates, days and times usually meant very little at the time, but the date of Sunday 18th September cannot be forgotten as the sky was filled with planes and gliders.
Each of these was filled with paratroopers on their way to capture the bridges across the major obstacles of the River Waal at Nijmegan, the River Neder Rein at Arnhem and the town of Arnhem itself. This was to ecome known as Operation Market Garden (made famous in the film A Bridge Too Far – Ed.).
The main allied land forces were to launch a huge simultaneous attack to link up with the paratroppers by going through the twons of Valkenswaard, Eindhoven, Nijmegen and Arnhem and then on to the industrial area of the Ruhr in Germany. Things did not go to plan and the attack was practically halted after some miles by the enemy holding the very few approach roads and bridge crossings of the numerous small rivers and canals. Allied attack movement then became West and East as well as North; all being hampered by the very wet weather and approaching winter.
When Brussels was liberated some troops were given a short peiod of leave; usually two days and staying in an Army hostel. One day I had to pick up one of our men returning from Brussels at a nearby railway station and take him back to his unit; the next day he was killed. this particular death still haunts me. His name was Arthur Brown; he is buried at Bergen op Zoom in Holland and I have visited there a few times, post war.
The Germans were still resisting strongly in many areas. In one village we came under a good deal of shelling by their heavy artillery; the dreaded 88mm gun.
the 88 could fire shells at speeds far greater than the speed of sound so that the firing and explosion of the shell almost occurred together, giving no time to take cover.
One one occassion an 88mm shell landed about 23 feet from me, crouching behind my motorcycle; fortunately the blast did not come in my direction,
Soon after this I was given two days leave in Brussels. The city didn’t appeared damaged and I was able to get into the Palais des Beaux Arts and liten to the Scottish National Orchestra. It was so good to hear music again!
The tide was fairly high as the landing craft headed towards the beach. There were a few tall houses behind the beach and a sea wall with a gap leading inland.
We had all been issued with lifebelts; these were semi-circular in design and tied around the waste. After beaching from our landing craft we discarded the lifebelts in heaps piled up by the sea wall. I shudder to think how useless these ‘lifebelts’ would have been in the sea.
The area of our disembarkation was designated as Gold Beach. The precise area, I believe, was designated as Gold Beach King Red, an area between La Riviere and Asnells and in front of the village or Ver-sur-Mer; the track I believe we took is now called the Rue de 50th Division.
There were some damaged seafront houses, but fortunately they had no enemy in them, although I still felt a bit exposed on my BSA M20 motorcycle (Ed Note: Tony was Battery HQ despatch rider).
From the beach we continued to move some hundreds of yards in convoy until reaching the Ouistreham – Arromanches road. We then crossed over that road and, skirting the town of Ver-sur-Mer, we continued along a track where two dead German soldiers still lay in a ditch by the roadside; this was quite a sobering sight.
Naturally we became a little more cautious as we advanced further inland, and at the top of a field about 300 yards further on we halted in a small wooded area.
On dismounting my motorcycle I unslung my Sten gun from my shoulder and stood it down between my legs. At this point I heard the slight click of the breech block moving back under the impact of standing it down, which had been sufficient to push a bullet into the barrel.
Fortunately the impact had not been quite hard enough to cause the gun to fire, but in inspection the firing pin had actually made a small dent in the base of the bullet’s percussion cap. The gun had been set for rapid fire, which would have meant the whole magazine of 28 9mm bullets being fired – another lucky escape!
I can recall another incident where a Sten gun became caught in some camouflage netting resulting in the death of a comrade. There were many incidents and deaths with the Sten gun until a simple modification was made enabling the breech block to be safely secured.
The Regiment left the east coast on the night of 4/5th June for the West India Docks in London.
On arrival I knew that my home was just a few miles away on the other side of the River Thames. I realised that by scrambling over the dock wall I might be able to return home to see Helen before embarking for France, so I climbed over the wall and landed in the garden of a small house.
The woman who was living there said: ‘Come through, and when you come back I’ll let you back in to the garden’.
I ran all the way through the pedestrian tunnel under the Thames and managed to reach home, only to find an empty house – my wife and her mother had gone to the cinema! Fortunately they returned just before I had to make the return journey, where I once again scrambled over the dock wall. Fortunately I had not been misssed – very lucky!
We embarked on 7th June aboard the SS Fort McPherson and sailed down the Thames Estuary to a salute of hooters and sirens.
On the way over to France there was a submarine alert during the evening but no attack took place. However during the night the ship was attacked by planes.
At first there were some near misses but these were followed by a tremendous shudder as the ship was hit by a large remotely guided bomb. The bomb had penetrated the ship but failed to explode. I like to think the resistance movement had sabotaged the bomb.
The wings of the missile-like bomb were sheared off, revealing masses of wiring cabes that appeared to be attached to it.
The ship stopped and destroyers stood nearby while the bomb was defused. I watched as this missile was hoisted up and lowered over board; it appeared to be a massive size of about 14 feet.
Our ship’s steering gear had been damaged by the impact and the ship delayed, but was soon able to continue on to France by going round in circles.
Standing off shore the ship was attacked again, with many more near misses. Eventually landing craft pulled alongside us and we scrambled down the nets into the landing craft and we were beached at Ver-sur-Mer.
To my amazement the pilot of the landing craft taking me ashore turned out to be a man called Jackie Legge, who had been one of my next door neighbours at home – what a fantastic coincidence!
VETERANS AND FAMILIES OF THE NORMANDY FALLEN ARE INVITED TO WITNESS LONG-AWAITED HISTORIC MOMENT.
THE ENTIRE EVENT WILL BE AVAILABLE TO WATCH LIVE ON OUR HOMEPAGE FROM 10AM ON SUNDAY 6 JUNE, WITH THE OPENING CEREMONY OF THE MEMORIAL COMMENCING AT 10.30AM
Normandy Veterans, their families and relatives of the fallen will join to mark the 77th anniversary of D-Day this morning (Sunday 6 June 2021) at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire.
Guests at the commemorative event, organised by the Normandy Memorial Trust, will watch a live broadcast of the official opening of the newly completed British Normandy Memorial in Ver-sur-Mer, presided over by the British Ambassador to France, Lord Edward Llewellyn, accompanied by senior French guests.
As Covid-19 restrictions prevent travel to Normandy, the Trust and the Royal British Legion are together hosting this year’s commemorations in the UK, with an event which will also include coverage of the service of Remembrance at The Bayeux Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery and a Two Minute Silence at 11am.
It will be the first major commemorative event of the year at which Veterans from around the country will be invited to gather.
The British Normandy Memorial, designed by British architect Liam O’Connor, records the names of the 22,442 servicemen and women under British command who fell on D-Day and during the Battle of Normandy in the summer of 1944. Inscribed in stone, their names have never, until now, been brought together.
The official opening of the Memorial is the culmination of nearly six years of work by the Normandy Memorial Trust. Costing nearly £30 million pounds and funded both by the British government and private benefactors, the Memorial stands on a hillside overlooking “Gold Beach”, one of three beaches where British forces landed on the morning of 6 June 1944 to begin the liberation of Western Europe.
The construction of a national memorial in Normandy has been a long-held ambition of Normandy Veterans, frustrated that Britain alone among the main wartime allies did not have such a memorial.
The idea for the Memorial originated with the Trust’s Normandy Veteran Patron, George Batts MBE, Leg d’Hon (pictured above, left). It was taken up by many other Veterans, including the Trust’s Veteran Ambassador and Fundraiser, Harry Billinge, MBE, Leg d’Hon., (pictured above, right) who single-handedly raised tens of thousands of pounds in his home town of St Austell in Cornwall.
Now completed, the Memorial features the ‘D-Day Sculpture’ by British sculptor David Williams-Ellis, the D-Day Wall featuring the names of those who fell on D-Day itself and, on 160 stone columns, the names of those others who lost their lives between D-Day and the Liberation of Paris at the end of August 1944.
The site also includes a French Memorial, dedicated to the memory of French civilians who died during this time. In total, nearly 4,000 tonnes of stone have been used in the Memorial’s construction.
The Normandy Memorial Trust’s founder, the broadcaster Nicholas Witchell, said: “It is a matter of the greatest pride to the entire Trust team to have turned the dream of so many Normandy Veterans into a reality.
“This Memorial will stand as a permanent reminder to future generations of the sacrifice made by British forces in Normandy in the summer of 1944. As one of the inscriptions on the Memorial states: ‘They died so that Europe might be free.’”
The Trust’s Normandy Veteran Patron, George Batts MBE, Leg d’Hon., said: “Only those who were there on D-Day can truly know what it was like. We lost a lot of our mates on those beaches.
“Now, at long last, Britain has a fitting Memorial to them. I should like to express my deep gratitude to all those who’ve supported the Memorial and made its construction possible.”
World of Books Group have discovered a moving and poignant hand-written letter from a British World War 2 soldier serving in Italy.
The note, written to thank a schoolgirl who had spent time knitting mittens for troops in the trenches, was found tucked away inside a book.
During the War, those on the home front were encouraged to knit comforts for serving soldiers, with widespread initiatives run by organisations such as the British Red Cross.
World of Books and the British Red Cross are now looking to reunite this piece of World War 2 history with its owner and discover more about the soldier who penned it.
On a winter’s day in February 1944 from Italy, a Lance Corporal named ‘John’ took to pen and paper to thank a schoolgirl in High Wycombe for her small yet valuable contribution to the war effort – knitting mittens for anonymous troops in the trenches.
76 years later, this piece of World War 2 history was rediscovered by World of Books, the UKs largest seller of used books and media, tucked away inside a book being prepared for resale.
The letter’s recipient, ‘Miss Pat’ of Hatters Lane Senior School in High Wycombe Buckinghamshire, would have been one of many civilians on the home front who were encouraged to do their bit to support the British War effort, according to the British Red Cross who were approached by the company for help – and who themselves ran a number of initiatives to get Britain knitting.
The British Red Cross has been helping people in crisis for 150 years, providing support to those who need it most, no matter who or where they are. During the First and Second World Wars, the organisation gave relief to sick and wounded members of the armed forces, prisoners of war and civilians.
It also connected the kindness of those at home to the war effort by publishing knitting patterns of essential items in the Joint War Organisation’s The Prisoner of War magazine. The magazines were for the families of prisoners of war and these patterns could have been used as part of a school project to send to ‘John’.
Items made through these types of activities are on display on the British Red Cross online exhibition, 150 voices. The exhibition was launched to mark the 150th anniversary and features 150 objects that recognise those who have played an important part in the history of the British Red Cross.
Now, World of Books and British Red Cross are teaming up to try and reunite this precious letter with its owner and to celebrate the small acts of kindness from home that provided such comfort to soldiers serving overseas.
Graham Bell, CEO of World of Books Group says: “Over 75 million used books come through our business each year, and we occasionally come across forgotten personal items tucked away inside them.
“It’s incredibly common for people to place memories inside books for safe keeping, whether it be family photographs or letters from loved ones. But this find is particularly poignant, especially as we approach Armistice Day – and is a first for World of Books. The letter undoubtedly holds great sentimental value. We’d love to reunite it with its owner or their family.
“As a circular economy business, we’re focused on finding used items new homes. In this case, it would be wonderful to bring this letter back full circle to its original owner.”
Mezebhin Adam, Curator at the British Red Cross said: “The letter is a lovely find and is a perfect first-hand example of how kindness can keep people connected during a crisis, something the British Red Cross has been doing for 150 years.
“During the Second World War, the British Red Cross encouraged people to knit comforts for sick and wounded soldiers and prisoners of war. We provided knitting patterns to those on the home front and we even have examples of some of the knitted items in our museum collection. The stories of these activities are always lovely to hear, especially from such a personal heartwarming letter.”
If you have any information that could help World of Books and the British Red Cross reunite this letter with its owner or their families, contact press@worldofbooks.com
A series of events to mark 75 years since Victory in Europe Day has been announced by Holyrood’s Veterans Minister Graeme Dey.
The commemorations will honour the service and dedication of all those who helped secure peace, including those who made the ultimate sacrifice.
Events, delivered in partnership by the Scottish Government, Legion Scotland and Poppyscotland, include a parade through Edinburgh on 8 May, a free open-air concert and an RAF flypast.
World War II veterans and their carers are being offered free travel and accommodation in Edinburgh.
Communities across Scotland will be encouraged to host their own commemorative events and schools will be given learning packs to help pupils understand the significance of VE Day.
The Scottish Government and Legion Scotland are providing more than £50,000 to help fund the programme of events.
Veterans Minister Graeme Dey said: “Although three quarters of a century have passed since the end of World War II, we must never forget the sacrifices made by those from across the Commonwealth and Allied nations.
“Their service allowed us to enjoy the freedoms and relative peace we now take for granted and it is important veterans of the War are central to these commemorations.
“I encourage communities from across Scotland to be part of this inclusive, welcoming and poignant event.”
Dr Claire Armstrong, chief executive of Legion Scotland, added: “The 75th anniversary of VE Day is a hugely important moment in our nation’s history.
“It is a time for communities from across Scotland to join together in celebration and commemoration, and we want to ensure that those who sacrificed so much during World War II take centre stage.
“I therefore encourage applications from veterans and anyone else who directly contributed to the war effort to be part of these events.”
On 7 May 1945, Nazi Germany formally and unconditionally surrendered to the Allied Forces, bringing to an end six years of war.
The following day was declared VE (Victory in Europe) Day and millions of people celebrated, marking the victory with street parties, dancing and singing.
The Scottish Government has moved the May Bank holiday to 8 May to coincide with the VE Day anniversary.
The parade will feature vintage military vehicles, motorcycles from Legion Scotland’s Riders Branch, pipe bands, veterans, current personnel from the Armed Forces, horses and youth groups.
The concert will be held in Princes Street Gardens and will follow the theme of Scotland’s involvement in World WarII .
Those wishing to apply to be part of the VE Day 75 events should email b.ward@legionscotland.org.uk or telephone 0131 550 1562.
