On 6th July Eric Brewer of ‘B’ Squadron’s Assault Troop in 61st Recc, was thrilled to be handing in his bicycle in return for a half-track (possibly the US M3 half-track/, which was supplied to 1st Recce in Italy at around the same time?). The next day he wrote “Blimey! More like a holiday in a half track. No sweating on bikes.” (From Eric Brewer’s Diary by kind permission of Derek Brewer and his family.)
Meanwhile Sandy Handley, a Bren Gunner in Dick’s troop, was lamenting the loss of his wheels:
“One day in July our troop was out on a patrol, our light Humber* leading as normal. We were with the infantry, out on the flank and off the road going over bumpy ground; our vehicle hit a mound and the driver soon found he couldn’t steer properly. We stopped in the middle of all our advancing infantry, our Corporal advised the troop officer** and after a discussion the officer said ‘You’ll have to stay where you are and I’ll get R.E.M.E. to come out for you’.
The Officer and the two other Humbers returned to base and we were literally stuck in the middle of nowhere. It got dark - being three of us the Corporal said that one person must stay awake. The Infantry had gone forward out of sight. We felt quite alone, not a pleasant situation, although we knew the Infantry were up front. In the pitch black I imagined any movement or noise could have been a German creeping about.
Morning came and we waited and the sun came out, which cheered us up and at last we could see the surrounding area. We looked back up the slope half a mile away and our Infantry was coming out of the trees. The enemy must have spotted them and soon over came the mortar bombs. We saw one land in a flash just as a section of our Infantry was coming out of the trees. The Corporal said ‘some gone for a burton*** there I bet’. Soon our Artillery, 25 pounders, opened up. What a racket they made too, made me nervous.
Later in the morning the R.E.M.E (Breakdown Department) came out. What a relief - we had been isolated for 24 hours. The R.E.M.E. had also picked up a German armoured car (panzer wagon). As I remember Dan, our Corporal, sat in the driver’s seat and the whole panzer wagon toppled over but Dan wasn’t hurt, in fact it was comical in a way.
Eventually we were towed back to Bayeux to the 50th Division workshops. ‘We haven’t any spares for these old things. You shouldn’t have had to land with these’. However, we had a little stroll around Bayaux and looked at the Cathedral and mingled with the Yanks, Canadians, Polish soldiers and other nationalities, while we waited for a truck from our 61st Recce to take us back to the Regiment.
When we did get back I was assigned to a Bren Carrier, which I’d never had any training for. I found it pretty hairy with no cover like my turret on the armoured cars.”
* Mark III Humber Armoured Car
**Lieutenant Dick Williams
***a cheerfully euphemistic slang phrase widely used in World War 2 to mean someone had crashed (eg RAF fighter crews), was missing or dead.
(From Ex Trooper S Handley’s ‘61 Recce - Memories of Normandy 1944 – 1945’, unpublished)
The Universal (‘Bren gun’) carrier had been employed by Recce units at regimental and squadron HQ as well as in the reconnaissance squadron since 1941 and remained a stalwart of the Corps throughout the war. Each regiment’s recce squadrons had a carrier in Squadron HQ and another in each of the recce troops HQs and both carrier sections had three vehicles each. (From ‘The British Reconnaissance Corps in World War II’ by Richard Doherty, Osprey Publishing 2007)
Recce Corps vehicles all carried the identity serial '41' (see photo on blog banner).
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