30th July 1944 – Operation Bluecoat begins. This offensive was conceived at short notice when it was realised that only a single German infantry division defended the sector of the front near Caumont (61st Recce were in this area at Briquessard). The 50th (Northumbrian) Division, with 61st Reconnaissance Regiment, were part of this attack but were held up at Amayé-sur-Seulles (south-east of Briquessard). However, by 31st July the advance of British VIII and XXX Corps had secured a vital crossing over the River Soulevre about 10 miles south of Caumont, near Le Bény-Bocage and 11th Armoured Division were advancing towards Vire, 15 miles south of Caumont.
On 30th July Eric Brewer’s diary says: “Sniper and rifle fire followed by mortar, but got – lucky.” In the margin Eric wrote “HARDING” (the Commander of 61st Recce’s B Squadron) and also “INFANTRY ATTACK” – presumably a reference to Operation Bluecoat. (From Eric Brewer’s Diary by kind permission of Derek Brewer and his family.)
Colonel Brownrigg’s account of 61st Recce welcomes a return to reconnaissance after the trenches of Briquessard:
“Soon after (Briquessard) we were back to reconnaissance again, as the great surge forward began. We went through Briquessard, and were glad to see that there were quite a number of fairly ‘high’ German corpses about, which we attributed to our mortars, and the quick £300 ‘stonks’ the Essex Yeomanry used to put on for us at night. Their Liaison Officer at our Regimental Headquarters regularly worked out for us the cash value of their bombardments." (From ‘A Reconnaissance Regiment in the B.L.A.’ by Lieutenant-Colonel P.H.A.Brownrigg D.S.O.)
*World War II British slang for a massed artillery bombardment on an enemy position.
Eric Postles remembers resuming patrols: “The desertions from the German Army started. First of all came East Europeans who had been willing to fight for it and then German soldiers. We often got useful information from them about their positions by giving them food, as they were always hungry.
We were now involved in constant patrolling and once, when we were checking on a farm area in a valley, we ran into heavy fire from a German position and the first couple of our men were wounded. We were penned in by buildings and walls. We could not recover our men and only got out by jumping through a hole in the wall accompanied by German bullets. One of our infantry units captured the German position later in the day and rescued our two injured lads who had been taken prisoner. One of them, Corporal Davey, had a broken leg and both were no doubt happy that it ended as it did.
One of the most stressful jobs was checking road surfaces where we suspected mines had been laid. The headphones of the mine detectors cut outside sounds. Nobody volunteered for this task.
We passed through a heavily damaged Briquessard, deserted apart from a number of dead Germans.” (Extract from ‘My War Years’ by John Eric Postles ISO used by kind permission of the author.)
Don Aiken also has a tale to tell from around this time:
“We were then used on small Reconnaissance foot patrols; and during one of these night patrols we were sent to try to make contact with the Germans who were thought to have infiltrated into the grounds of the nearby churchyard. The night turned out to be extremely misty and crawling through the gravestones was, in itself, a creepy business. The thought that, at any moment, a German machine gun could rattle away into your face was even more disturbing. However, we completed our search of the area without contacting any Germans, although we found a dugout which they had recently vacated. You could always tell where Germans had been by the smell; it wasn't a repulsive smell, just strongly different - probably due to the food that they ate; German sausage perhaps.
Then we pulled back to take up defensive positions. Along with another young Trooper, I was positioned in an old German slit-trench in a hedgerow alongside a path, armed with a Bren machine-gun. We alternately manned the gun and rested.
During my rest period I was suddenly 'brought up sharp' by a burst of fire from my companion's gun. When I asked him what was wrong, he said that he had seen something move across the path. I looked for a long time (trying to suppress my fear) and then realised that the 'something' was a twig on the hedge, a few inches away, which had been disturbed by a sudden breeze in this otherwise still, dark and misty night.
30th July — Caumont.” (Republished from the BBC People's War website by kind permission of Don Aiken)
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