大象传媒

This story is transcribed by me Graham Shepherd , from documents and discussions with Harry Langford , and will be added to the site with his permission . He understands the sites terms and conditions .

In early July the 4th KSLI were pulled out of Baron and allowed to rest in preparation for a new attack in another sector - Operation Goodwood . Goodwood was yet another attempt to break through the German lines - and it ended in failure and heavy casualties for the Allies .

The Allies were trapped in their small Normandy beach head , partly because the close country - small fields and hedgerows - were ideal for a defending army , as well as a death trap for tanks . But the area south of Caen was more open and suitable for tanks . Operation Goodwood was intended to capture the area , and open up the way for the advance to Paris .

The idea was to attack the flank of Hill 112 with massed tank formations - the biggest tank attack ever seen in Western Europe - but before the tanks advanced , there was to be a mass bomber raid over the area to be attacked . Almost 1,000 RAF bombers pulverised the area in front of the Allied lines .

The men of the 4th KSLI advanced behind the tanks - but Operation Goodwood was a disaster . More than 400 British tanks and 5,000 men were lost in exchange for just 7 miles of German held territory . British Sherman and Churchill tanks were no match for the German heavy tanks like the Tiger , and the deadly 88mm anti-tank guns , which could engage their targets from a mile and a half away .

The infantry , including the KSLI were only able to reach the village of Hubert Folie , where they met stiff German resistance , including the fanatical men from the Waffen SS . We followed up the main attack into Hubert Folie and as we came up to the village we saw lots of our tanks all around . We thought : " We鈥檙e OK - our tanks are here . " Until we got close enough to see that they had all been knocked out and were empty .

Hubert Folie cost the 4th KSLI dearly - we lost another 23 men killed .

A week later we took part in another attempt to break the German lines - Operation Bluecoat . This time it was a success . The breakout was on , and hundreds and thousands of Germans were eventually surrounded and wiped out in the Falaise Pocket .

The Battle of Normandy was over and the Allies turned east towards the River Seine , while the Germans went into full retreat . We advanced every day after that , travelling between 20 and 30 miles each day . At the end of the day we would run into the German rearguard and stop , while the rearguard withdrew during the night and we鈥檇 advance again the next day . The whole of the month of August was like this .

Danger was still everywhere . One day , by a French roadside , I had a close shave - while others were not so lucky . A shell burst in a tree and killed 5 blokes . I heard it coming over and my driver and me dived into a deep wheel rut in the road . When the shell went off I felt a bump in my back pocket . I always kept magazines for my Sten gun in my back trouser pocket . When I checked them the magazines were in bits and the bullets were loose in my pocket . I didn鈥檛 get a scratch . Four of those killed are buried together in Normandy , while the fifth , Private Percy Rogers , is buried in the village churchyard in Ash , near Whitchurch , Shropshire .

I had a second lucky escape months later in Germany , during a mortar barrage over the River Aller . Caught in the open , I dived into a trench , and asked a young lad in there if he minded me joining him . Suddenly I heard one coming and new it was going to be close . I said to the lad to keep his head down , then there was a blast . The mortar had landed on the edge of the trench and killed him .

I was pulled out covered in blood - I was stunned by the blast - and evacuated to the aid post where they kept asking me where I was hit . I didn鈥檛 know so in the end they threw a bucket of water over me . All I had was a tiny bit of shrapnel that had gone through the collar of my battle dress and cut my neck . The blood had all come from the lad who鈥檇 been right next to me . The blast had all gone his way .

It was during this period that the 4th KSLI captured the memorial site at Vimy Ridge , where there is a vast monument , including preserved trenches , to the Canadian soldiers who died taking the ridge in World War One .

But while the Canadians lost thousands of men taking Vimy in 1917 , the KSLI had just one casualty - a man broke his ankle falling into one of the preserved trenches !

More bizarre moments were to come - I thought I鈥檇 like to see Vimy Ridge , so I asked a despatch rider to take me up there. There was a small cottage at the top where I bought six postcards . The Germans were nowhere to be seen , so we wend down the ridge and into Vimy village . All the people were in the streets celebrating . and on a platform in the High Street were two women who were having their heads shaved for collaborating with the Germans ,. When they saw us they lifted us off the bike and offered us the shears .
We鈥檇 liberated the village and a resistance man appeared and took us to the town hall , where all the resistance leaders were sitting around a table , but we had been gone over half an hour and had to get back to our unit .

The 4th KSLI went on through nine more months of fighting in Belgium - where we were the first into the city of Antwerp - on through Holland and eventually into Germany , finishing the war in Flensburg , close to the Danish border , where Hitler鈥檚 successor , Admiral Doenitz , was captured .

During our push north through Germany we came across the Concentration Camp at Belsen - I will comment on this in Part 4 .

However losses continued to be heavy right up to the end of the European war on May 8th . We lost 6 men killed on 19 April and another on 2nd May , and on the 20th May the 4th KSLI suffered their last fatality - Pte. James , who died from his wounds and is buried in St Michael鈥檚 Churchyard , Long Stanton , Shropshire .

VE Day was something of a mixed blessing , the war was over , there was that feeling of great relief and that we didn鈥檛 have to look over our shoulders anymore , but then we had to start rounding up groups of German soldiers who had formed their own camps . We were worried they were going to put up a fight and we may get killed when the war was over .

I was 30 at the end of the war and therefore one of the " old men" , so was one of the first to be demobilised in December 1945 , with the rank of C.Q.M.S.

See Part 4 - Concentration Camp at Belsen .

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