大象传媒

Chapter Four
鈥淭he one that was taking the brunt鈥︹��
Eventually we joined up with the armour and on the 18th July the three Armoured Divisions went into action.
We crossed over the Pegasus Bridge which the Airborne had taken on D-Day itself.
That was an amazing feat and to see where the gliders had landed right amongst the German positions y鈥檏now. And Stormed the bridge and taken the bridge and held it against everything the Germans could throw at them like.
As I say we crossed over on the morning of the 18th July. Prior to us going over a thousand Bomber planes came in and bombed three villages on the way into our objective. The idea was that it would knock the enemy out but unfortunately they suffered a lot of casualties but the majority of them had got out of the villages already.
While we were in active service and going into a village and seeing a persons home shattered and their belongings slung about it really got you for the first few times, but then of course you get case hardened.
It鈥檚 like seeing a soldier dead, your thoughts are 鈥榦h someone鈥檚 got some sadness here鈥� and then later on it鈥檚 just another dead body that鈥檚 just how your feelings were.
I don鈥檛 say you were insensitive but if you didn鈥檛 get it out of your system like that you鈥檇 dwell on it and you鈥檇 be no good y鈥檏now.
When we started advancing they were back in the villages and it was terrific fighting just to get the villages cleared. They鈥檇 also got lines of Anti Tank Guns and the Tanks.
There was three divisions of tanks and I forget how many tanks there was in a division, but they had half of the tanks knocked out in action on that particular day.
We did make an advance but it was against very, very hard opposition and shelling both from Artillery and from the Anti Tank Guns.
It was very hair raising and very frightening.
Eventually we captured a place called Cagny. There we dug in and we were subjected to a lot of artillery fire. After about 4 or 5 days we were relieved by an Infantry Regiment I think it was a Scots Regiment.
They took over from us we鈥檇 to leave all our Anti Tank Guns in position because there had been terrific amounts of rain and we couldn鈥檛 pull the guns out of the earth y鈥檚ee, so we left our guns in and took the guns of the people relieving us.
So we pulled back onto a ridge and we were there. It turned out that we were acting as a decoy because the Germans brought all their strength an armour around onto our front.
We were subjected to a lot of Anti Tank fire and we were bombed at night time as well.
The idea was that we were in this decoy position and it turned out the Americans on the sections on the opposite side to where we were, well they broke through then.
So then all the armour was on our front so we had a lot of hard fighting but we did break through.
Then I was taken ill, I had a very bad dose of tonsillitis my Officer told me to go sick.
I reported to the our Regimental Aid Post and I was despatched to the General Hospital near Bayeux.
I was there for a weekend and in the mean time our division had started their defensive at a place called St Martin.
I remember an incident, old Jack I remind him of it, when I came out of hospital the Division had been battling at the top of this here hill. They had gotten cut off and they thought they would have cleared it but the 15th Scottish Division had had to come round and clear the way so you could get to back to them.
I come back outta hospital and went to report to my Platoon Officer Captain Fanning. As I say they were all dug in like they had been bombed and shelled and what not for time.
So this 鈥榚re bloody blackened face pops up from a trench. 鈥淓h up Simmy are ya alright? Bloody tiger tanks were round here.鈥�... down he goes again and it were old Jack!鈥�(chuckles)
We鈥檇 very hard battles our battalions always seemed to be the one that was taking the brunt y鈥檏now鈥�(his voice breaking now.) And I don鈥檛 know whether I鈥檓 right in thinking that but it always seemed to be us鈥� (Paused as upset!) 鈥hat had the very hard fighting.
There was quite a number of very, very heavy people casualties sometimes but we kept going.
Eventually we鈥檇 move through places some places come to mind we鈥檇 St Charles D鈥橮ercy, Lebusque.
Eventually the ring tightened on the Germans, the Canadians were pushing from the left and the Polish Army.
The days of 1944 from June till August vicious battles took part in Normandy, eventually after the closure of the Falaise Pocket where the majority of the German Army was seen off it was only speckles of like the SS which escaped across the river.
The Americans were on the right and we were in the centre, we closed the gap at Falaise it was very, very strong fighting, the Germans were trapped and the Typhoons and the Bombers went inland.
They really devastated, nearly wiped out the German forces some of them did manage to escape.
Now then finally it was the River Seine, we cleared it and all the areas were cleared in Normandy then. So for a week we had rest and recuperation and we moved from a place called Flers after refitting the Americans broke round on the right and made for Paris.
We went through Northern France and after the desolation and battering that we鈥檇 seen in Normandy just to get out into nice country and pass through villages that weren鈥檛 damaged y鈥� know and be greeted as liberators by people was lovely.
We crossed a bridge that the engineers had built, we crossed over and from then on we kept meeting with light opposition but we battled on and we got through to the Somme.
We held the river there for a day and a night and then we crossed the Somme across to Arras and the town itself for a few days. Then the orders came in we were to move on, we were to attack Arras and take Arras.
When we were crossing the Somme it was heart breaking to see the vast areas of graves from the First World War. You could look up over this ridge and there were thousands of gravestones y鈥檏now, a big cemetery like and it made you think!
Eventually we had a bit of a tussle and we managed to take Arras. We took part in the liberation of Arras and from there we moved on then to Douai and Tournai.
People were absolutely crazy meeting us like, once we consolidated we moved through Arras to a ridge outside the town ready to go onto our next objective.
While we were there harboured, three spitfires came over and startled us. They set fire to the petrol wagon and the ammunition truck which went up in flames.
They didn鈥檛 expect us to be so far forward and they thought it was Germans!
Anyway that was another little incident of so-called friendly fire! Fortunately there were no casualties.
Funny little incident happened Bill Wigglesworth and I, we got into Arras and most us of were suffering with diarrhoea and dysentery what with all the flies on your food and what not.
We had what we called a 14-man pack; it had rations for the day for 14 men.
It had 5 cigs each, 3 sheets of toilet paper, a tin of biscuits, bully beef, sardines or salmon. Soup, steam pudding or rice pudding y鈥檏now.
You鈥檇 have a variety of different packs y鈥檚ee and what they used to do for a latrine if you were in a dug in position was cut the hole in the box for a seat with a lid on you see.
Well you鈥檇 lift the lid up and you鈥檇 sit on it and you鈥檇 nearly lift up with bloody flies you know. There were millions off of dead bodies and what not, so most of us contracted dysentery.
So one incident old Horace he bails out, convoy had stopped so he grabs shovel and he鈥檚 away over fields. But he came back, 鈥淥h it was too late!鈥� He said and had taken his trousers off鈥�
Anyway one building as we got into Arras, there was this here bombed building and me and old Bill we were taken short so we nipped in, trousers whipped down鈥e turned round and did our business. It turned out there was a bloody audience!
From then we moved on to a place called Roubaix we had a couple of days refitting
and then came the big break through to Brussels which was on September 3rd.
Orders came through that we were going to advance on Brussels it was 90 miles away.
It was quite a tall order but we set off early morning and we did get to Brussels, it was the longest march and fastest march in history, that had been accomplished that day by the Guards Armoured Division.
We fought our way through opposition here and there at different places.
We met pockets of resistance but if it was really difficult we had to bypass as we were to press on to Brussels.
Where we by passed them the Infantry Division which was following us took care of them, they would clear the places of the Germans.
Eventually the evening of September 3rd we just got to the outskirts of Brussels, just as dusk was falling but we were stopped for no reason we thought!
The people there were absolutely ecstatic, they were wild we were absolutely mobbed by people on the outskirts.
Eventually we received orders to go into Brussels itself and take over the city.
We were held back and it turned out the reason why we鈥檇 been held there was a Belgium Brigade at the rear of us was supposed to be coming in to take the honour of liberating the city.
Well we鈥檇 gone that fast and got there so quick that they were miles back. So we had to go in to take the city there and then in case the Germans started trying to return back y鈥檚ee.

See chapter five for more.....

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