In memory of those who braved so much for our freedom from fascism,
especially those who went over to Normandy eighty years ago,
including 50th Division's 61st Reconnaissance Regiment.
“I have also to announce to the House that during the night and the early hours of this morning the first of the series of landings in force upon the European Continent has taken place.” (From Winston Churchill’s speech 'The invasion of France'.)
6th June 1944 – D-day. 150,000 troops land on the beaches of Normandy in the Allies’ invasion of France, Operation Overlord. 21st Army Group are under the command of General Montgomery with the US 1st Army led by General Bradley and the British and Canadian 2nd Army led by General Dempsey. The German defenders, taken by surprise, are gradually overwhelmed although heavy casualties are sustained, particularly by the Americans on Omaha – the US V (5th) Corps is held up less than one mile from the shore (the naval bombardment and US bombers failed to destroy the strong beach defences) . US VII Corps, spearheaded by the US 4th Division, is able to advance inland from Utah beach while the Canadians’ 3rd Infantry Division and British commandos rapidly push inland from Juno beach. British I Corps on Sword beach also secure most of their targets including the vital bridges over the River Orne, taken by the airborne. 21st Panzer head for Caen and the gap between Juno and Sword, engaging with British 3rd Division and stalling their planned progress to Caen but failing to break up the bridgehead. Hitler kept close control of the reserve Panzer Divisions himself and fails to authorise their movement to Normandy until late in the day while Rommel arrives back from Germany to direct defences at close to midnight.
On Gold Beach the British 50th Division, including elements of 61st Recce, lead XXX (30) Corps ashore. 61st Reconnaissance was the first Regiment in the Reconnaissance Corps to land in France.
The 1st Hampshires and 1st Dorsets (Dick had joined up with the Dorsets) of 231 Brigade led the assault at le Hamel, where artillery had escaped the bombardment. It was fiercely defended by the German 716th Division and did not fall to the Hampshires until late afternoon. The 6th Green Howards (69th Brigade) landed at La Rivière, where Sergeant Stan Hollis performed the first of the feats that would win him the Victoria Cross.
"On the right the 231st Brigade was to push westwards in the coastal area, taking Arromanches (the destination of the artificial Mulberry harbour, built in segments in Britain and slowly towed across the Channel from the afternoon of 6th June) and the battery at Longues, while the 47th (Royal Marine) Commando went ahead to capture Port en Bessin and join up with Americans from Omaha. On the left, the 69th Brigade was to strike southwards and crossing the Seulles in the St. Gabriel-Creully area to secure the Bayeux-Caen road near Ste. Croix Grand Tonne. The reserve brigades were to advance between these two—the 56th on the right to Bayeux and beyond it to the river Drome; the 151st on the left to seize the Caen road and railway between Bayeux and the Seulles." (50th Division history)
Map courtesy of Eric Postles from ‘My War Years’ by John Eric Postles ISO
‘Gold’ was 9 miles wide with a 5 mile landing zone at the eastern end. According to Anthony Rampling, the men of 61st Recce were aiming for the section codenamed ‘King’ (nearest to the Canadians on Juno) but Eric Postles writes that the plan was for his unit to land at ‘Jig’ section. Since 61st Reconnaissance were acting in support of all of 50th Division (and 47 Commando) it’s probable that elements landed at both (See D-Day landings booklet and Campaign Summaries of World War 2 - Normandy landings.)
“First vehicles ashore on D-Day were the light Recce cars of Major Cave (‘C’ Squadron) and his crew and that of Corporal Howard* and his crew (‘A’ Squadron). Due to embarkation problems in the UK and the vagaries of war, they arrived on different landing craft and at opposite ends of the landing beach, but managed to rendezvous safely in the area inland beyond the dunes, and were able to radio beach information and R.V. positions to the C.O. and remainder of the landing force still aboard their landing craft." (From ‘A Reconnaissance Regiment in the B.L.A.’ by Lt-Col P.H.A.Brownrigg, D.S.O.)
*Roy Howard’s vehicle had failed to start on loading and crossed the Channel in an LCT carrying tanks fitted with flails to beat the beach surface and detonate mines:
“We were the first off our Landing Craft and silent prayers were uttered that our engine would not let us down again as we slid into some five feet of water and ploughed our way slowly towards the distant beach. After what seemed to be a very long time we reached dry sand and drove under small arms fire towards the sand hills, where we were directed to head along the beach for a considerable distance until we arrived at a point where white tapes had been laid to mark an exit clear of mines. This led us on to a small track behind the dunes and we followed this track for about half a mile when we spotted another Recce car behind a hedge in a small field. It proved to be that of Major John cave of C Squadron and we joined him with some relief.” (From Roy Howard’s ‘Beaten Paths are Safest – Memories of the 61st Reconnaissance Regiment’, Brewin Books 2004)
"Nearly half the contact patrols with the assaulting infantry were killed or wounded on D-Day, either on the beaches or before reaching them. Nevertheless, they justified themselves by getting much information back to divisional Headquarters before it arrived by the normal channels and some of the patrols, whose sets had been shot-up, did great work with their weapons.” (From ‘A Reconnaissance Regiment in the B.L.A.’ by Lt-Col P.H.A.Brownrigg, D.S.O.)
Eric Brewer, was part of the ‘B’ Squadron assault unit:
“Landed in France at 7.30 at the right of “Port Embasie”* the beach is filled with stuff and plenty of dead lying about. Gerry gun positions have been well blasted, all the crews were killed from concussion, the shell craters are as big as houses and they are everywhere.
We pushed on to the Caumont** Area and got lost from the rest, Spando opened up from the hedge about 2-ft away and killed carrier driver.”
Eric said he had a bicycle when he landed but it had punctured tyres and he threw it away (pers.comm.).
(From Eric Brewer’s Diary by kind permission of Derek Brewer and his family.)
*Port-en-Bessin
*Possibly Caumont-l'Éventé, south of Bayeux and about 20 miles from the coast?
Lt.Ron Griffiths of 61st Recce landed with the 231 Brigade at 7.35 am and, having lost his jeep, swum to the shore, beginning his war in Normandy with only the kit he was wearing - see 'My D Day story' and his picture with medals in his local paper.
‘By 10.30am the British Second Army had landed 15 infantry battalions, seven commandos, seven tank regiments, two engineer assault regiments, nine field artillery regiments and detachments of scores of supporting units.’
'50th Division, moving inland from Gold beach, fought a succession of hard battles against elements of the 352nd Division. By evening troops of the 151st Brigade had reached the Bayeux-Caen road and tanks of the 4th/7th Dragoon Guards were reporting little in front of them. Though the 50th was short of most of its D-Day objectives, it was solidly established in Norman hedges and fields, with only limited German forces on its front.' (From ‘Overlord’ by Max Hastings, Macmillan 2016 edition)
Don Aiken also recalled his D-Day on the BBC History People's War website:
“We arrived off the shore of Normandy in the late morning. 'Gold' Beach near the village of Arromanches, which was our first destination, had already been captured by the assault troops of the Hampshire Regiment, and it was now possible for vehicles to be disembarked on to the beach and directed to designated areas for the purpose of de-waterproofing the vehicles and preparing to advance into the bridgehead.
The LST dropped anchor and the remaining Rhino was untied from the side of the ship and made its way round the bows, ready to be attached to the gangway which projected forwards when the bow doors opened. It was then discovered that the coupling gear had been smashed and this sparked off a frenzied burst of activity to try to tie the units together with ropes. However, ropes are flexible by necessity, and the choppy seas made it almost impossible to hold both units in line; but with the aid of a couple of small motor-boats, pushing away like tug boats, they became near enough to go for it and our Troop made the transfer across. Soon we were running in to the beach and the Rhino bottomed out. The light armoured car (Recce Car) in which I was a crew member was the first to drive off, and in my elevated position in the turret I felt like a submarine commander, especially when we suddenly dropped into a bomb hole which was concealed beneath the water and only the turret was left exposed.
The Beach Party had been well trained for this situation and had the de-waterproofing area completely organised and running smoothly. Although I almost threw a spanner in the works ! My armoured car had been fitted with a device, which I had contrived, to allow me to operate the smoke canister gun without having to lean outside the turret. Basically, it was a bike brake mechanism which was attached at one end to the gun and, at the other end, the brake grip was attached to my seat support. Whilst the driver was removing the waterproofing from the engine, the Officer went to a quick 'O' Group (Officers briefing) and the radio-operators tuned in their radio transmitters to the H.Q. transmitter . This was quite a delicate operation and it was at it's finest point when my elbow touched against the trigger . Bang! went the smoke discharger - and as I quickly bobbed my head out I could see the smoke bomb heading straight into the middle of a wired off field, with dozens of painted notices showing the sign of a skull and cross-bones and the words "Achtung Minen". Which didn't take a genius to recognize that my bomb was landing in a German mine-field, and the mines were too close for comfort.
I ducked down inside my turret and held my breath........
Nothing - oh good! Then Bang! Bang! Bang! ..... I realised it was someone banging on the turret. When I popped my head back out I was confronted with the angry face of the Beach Officer - a Major - whose features reminded me strongly of the Medical Officer with whom I had been acquainted in Scarborough; complete with black curly moustache, but perhaps even stronger on the language!
Soon the various sections of our Regiment were ready to move off to try to reach their pre-arranged target locations. Ours was a wooded hill about 15 miles inland, and our role was to 'seize and hold' it, until the main body of troops could relieve us. It was soon quite obvious that, because of our delayed landing, there was no possibility of us reaching our target that day. As we drove off the beach, through a pathway made through the minefield and on to a narrow road which ran in a southerly direction, a huge anti-aircraft barrage opened up from the multitude of ships which lay offshore. As the barrage drew nearer I spotted a German plane flying very fast and very low as it fled southwards directly over our heads. I quickly joined the fading barrage and emptied my Bren gun magazine in the direction of the speeding ‘hornet’ as it disappeared out of sight. Despite my effort being in vain I felt great satisfaction in at last being able to throw things back at the Germans.
I remember nothing about our advance during the remainder of the day, only that we eventually had to give way to the coming of the night.
My only memories of that first night were that we had to remain standing in the pitch blackness, not daring to make a sound as we had no idea of how close we were to the Germans. We were fortified by a tiny drop of rum, which barely covered the bottom of our tin mugs, and a 'keep awake pill'. Nothing happened all night but we were all relieved when dawn broke and we were able to start off again."
Eric Postles wrote his account in a book ‘My War Years’:
“At dawn we could see the French coast being bombed by Allied planes and later nearby warships and rocket ships shelling the coast. The heavy seas caused problems for the ships towing Rhinos and we were late arriving at the beach. After much effort our Rhino was linked to the ship’s ramp and my carrier was first on the ramp when the Rhino broke away. We jumped off the vehicle and waited for the reconnection before finally getting onto the Rhino next to a bulldozer which was intended to lead us off. We got near the water’s edge and the bulldozer which was intended to destroy obstacles drove off but disappeared under the water and we did not see the driver again. The Rhino moved further along the beach and we all got ashore. It was late afternoon.
There were beached ships and landing craft everywhere and we were directed to a track which led off the beach and through the sand hills. There was a lot of enemy shelling activity and our heavy warship and rocket ships were firing over us. There were groups of prisoners and we passed a line of British dead lying side by side. The scene out at sea was unbelievable with hundreds of ships.
I never saw the beach again until I went to Normandy for the 40th Anniversary of D-Day.
Away from the beach we removed our waterproofing plates and spent the night at the edge of a cornfield in which there were a number of dead Germans. It was an uncomfortable night because of the enemy activity and we got little if any sleep.”
Neither Sandy Handley or Major Brownrigg were to land on the Normandy beaches on D day:
“Owing to the roughness of the sea several of the Rhino ferries broke away from their parent LSTs. Only half the regiment got ashore on D-Day, the rest of us remained in our LSTs about 300 yards from the shore.” (From ‘A Reconnaissance Regiment in the B.L.A.’ by Lt-Col P.H.A. Brownrigg D.S.O.)
“We arrived off the French coast as it was getting light. The American gun crews of the Horlican were popping away (rapid firing). I don’t know what they were aiming at, there was so much smoke being laid by destroyers. I didn’t think the sea was rough.
I looked over the side and saw quite a large craft completely capsized and partly submerged. Most likely it had hit a mine (what a sight to greet us - made me think).
We were supposed to land at Gold Beach H 7.25 (07.25) that morning of the 6th June. Some of our Reconnaissance boys had got ashore in the other LST allotted to 61st Recce. But the captain of our LST held back as he was afraid there wasn’t enough draught (depth) to unload us, then get away from the shore quick. There were other problems too: we had towed two large rafts or rhinos from Southampton to facilitate the landing of our vehicles. The plan was to manoeuvre the large Rhino, thus enabling the armoured cars to go in at a low depth of sea. But unfortunately one Rhino broke away. This meant the remaining Rhino had to do the whole job. We laid off Arromanches till the next day (D + 1).
In the meantime we had a grandstand view of the beaches where we should have landed. All the time the mighty roar of the guns from the British Navy, the shells going over our head like an express train. What a sight!
Of course for us this would be a sixth night on the steel decks but we appreciated that most likely we were better off on our LST that the 61st Recce lads who had to land first on 6th June with 50% casualties.”
(From Ex Trooper S Handley’s ‘61 Recce - Memories of Normandy 1944 – 1945’ unpublished.)
By the end of D Day 50th Division had lost 700 men.
61st Recce Roll of Honour includes the following who died on this day:
Sergeant William Richard Moss (age 24) of Witney Oxfordshire
Trooper Arthur Harry Newell (age 31) of Brockley, London
Trooper Richard Henry Rainford (age 19) of Leeds, Yorkshire
All are laid to rest in the Bayeux War Cemetery (from 61st Recce Roll of Honour, courtesy of Recce Mitch).
Many more lost their lives but their bodies were never found and identified.
We will remember them.
‘What hollow, false relief
To hug French shore:
And seek out mates – some lost
For evermore!’
(From ‘Seize and Hold, Invasion – 6th June 1944’ by Major Frank Harding MC, in ‘War echoes over thirty years’ published by Arthur Stockwell, 1970)
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