Continueing my September 2023 trip around the sites associated with 61st Reconnaissance Regiment in Normandy:
PART 2
DAY 2
The Beaches
Arromanches-les-Bains lies to the north of Bayeux on the coast. At low tide the hulks of the Mulberry Harbour rise in a wide arc around the town beach and are still an awesome sight.
There is a brilliant museum on the seafront telling the story of the D Day landings and the building of the Harbour.
It has a copy of the famous photo (© IWM) showing the key players planning Operation Overlord:
left to right - Lt. General Omar Bradley (Commander of the 
First US Army), Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay (Naval Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Expeditionary Force), Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Tedder (RAF Marshal appointed Deputy Supreme Commander), General Dwight Eisenhower (Supreme Commander of the AEF), General Sir Bernard Montgomery (Commander of Allied Ground Forces), Air Chief marshal Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory (Commander-in-Chief of the AE Air Force) and Lt. General Walter Bedell-Smith (Eisenhower's Chief of Staff).
The D Day plan for 61st Reconnaissance involved splitting the regiment so only 40% went over with the initial assault, each squadron providing a 'skeleton' force. C Squadron's unit had a special role as ammunition ferriers for 47 Royal Marine Commando. They were all to land on 'Gold' Beach between Arromanches and Courseulles-sur-Mer.
Major Cave, commander of C Squadron and A Squadron's Roy Howard (author of 'Beaten Paths are Safest', a history of 61st Recce) were in the first vehicles ashore. Eric Brewer, of B Squadron's Assault unit also landed in the 'Item' section at 7:30 am, in the support for 47 Commando, who were heading west to take Port-en-Bessin.
2nd Lieutenant Ron Griffiths landed with 50th Division's 231 Brigade (the 1st Dorsets and 1st Hampshires with 2nd Devons in support) on 'Jig' section. The Hampshires (left) encountered fierce resistance from the gun emplacement at Le Hamel, which took 8 hours to subdue. By then 'B Squadron's Don Aiken was landing here on the second tide.
B Squadron's Eric Postles also landed in the late afternoon in 'King' section, where the assault was led by the 50th Division's 69th Brigade (Green Howards - right, and East Yorks) with the 151st Brigade (Durham Light Infantry) in support. The Green Howards' Company Sergeant Major Stanley Hollis won the Victoria Cross for his brave actions subdueing the enemy on D Day.
Only half of the 61st Recce make it ashore on Tuesday 6th June. Rough seas uncoupled landing ferries and disrupted disembarkation. Those reaching the beaches on 7th June included Major Brownrigg, then commander of A Squadron, and Sandy Handley of B Squadron's No 5 Troop. By then half of the 61st Recce who landed on D Day had been killed or wounded. 
Many bodies were lost but the graves of Sergeant William Moss and Troopers Arthur Newell and Richard Rainford can be found in Bayeux War Cemetery. One of these may have been the driver of Eric Brewer's carrier was lost and reached the Caumont area on D Day. He was killed by a German machine gun firing from a hedge.
In the next week they ventured as far as Viller-Bocage and Grainville-sur-Odon, living up to their motto "Only the enemy in front".
By the time the rest of 61st Reconnaissance Regiment and arrived on 13th June the Mulberry Harbour was well under construction. Initially sheltered by the sinking of 'block ships', most of the pierheads (huge floating platforms for docking and unloading), connected to the shore by 'whale' pontoon roadways, were in place. Now enormous floating caissons of concrete were being filled with water and sunk to create a strong harbour wall, with defensive gun emplacements and entry ways between them for the ships. Lieutenant Dick Williams (the subject of this blog) and Trooper Tony Rampling of B Squadron's No 5 Troop, may have landed directly on the beach or driven along the easternmost pier, used for vehicles.
The museum has wonderful exhibits to demonstrate this remarkable engineering achievement. The displays include a No 19 Wireless set (designed for use in armoured vehicles) and a 'Compo' ration box, which lasted half a dozen men for three days.
On the clifftop to the east of Arromanches-les-Bains there is a memorial to the Royal Engineers who played a critical role on D Day clearing beach obstacles and mines to create safe routes across the beaches, as well as constructing the Harbour.
East of these cliffs there is the lower lying land of Gold Beach's 'Item', 'Jig' and 'King' sections. Here at Le Hamel, by Asnelles, you can still find the remains of a German gun emplacement with a sign explaining the role of the 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division in the assault.
We walked along the beach at low tide and found to very difficult to relate this wild and peaceful place to the bloody D Day battles.
Although we travelled to the the American Memorial at Pointe du Hoc (the site of the American Rangers daring endeavours) night and the weather had closed in by the time we arrived.
DAY 3
Bayeux
Seventeen men from the 61st Reconnaissance Regiment lie in the impressive and peaceful British War Cemetery at Bayeux. Sergeants Ekins, Ell, Moss and Wallace; Corporals Bater, Cooper and Humphreys and Troopers Cole, Heaton, Kershaw, Newell, Rainford and Stevens have been mentioned in Part 1 of these Normandy pages.
It was particularly poignant to find the grave of Corporal Robert Black, killed on 7th June in a 'friendly fire' accident when those who had landed were in harbour near Saint-Gabriel-Brécy. Sergeants 'Chippy' Carpenter and Thomas Ruane were both killed on 10th June, while 61st Recce was supporting 8th Armoured Brigade in holding the high ridge of Point 103 (Les Hauts-vents south of Audrieu) against German counter-attacks. Some of A Squadron, including Roy Howard, were working behind enemy lines in the Tilly-sur-Seulles area that day.
Trooper John Tootell (who had joined up with Eric Postles of B Squadron) was 'accidentally shot and killed' on 18th July when 61st Recce were holding the line in the trenches of Briquessard Wood.
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