大象传媒

Material transcribed from the 1944 diary of 鈥�7584301鈥�
Staff Sergeant William Arthur Harrison (1906-1978),
30 Corps Troops Workshop, R.E.M.E.

Section 1: January to June. Before and after D-Day.

Notes:-

Non-military people mentioned by name are his wife, Elise (1911-1985), and a sister, Gladys (1902-1999).

The original is in a Collins Engineers鈥� Diary in possession of his sons, Peter (b. 31/03/40) and Geoffrey (b. 29/03/46) who are not aware of diaries for other war years.

Symbols were used in the diary for phases of the moon.
They are reproduced as below.
NM New Moon
FQ First Quarter
FM Full Moon
LQ Last Quarter

Spelling, typically for 鈥淣AAFI鈥� and some place names, and also punctuation appear as in original.

No attempt has been made to develop an understanding of any puzzling entries.

Date entries are discontinuous, some days without entries being included where gaps are short.

A weekly 鈥淢emo鈥� panel after Sunday is included where an entry was made.

Driving is mentioned several times, but no evidence of driving lessons, a test or licence exists. After de-mob he never owned or drove a motor vehicle.

*

January 1944

Saw the New Year in at Ron Francis place with Harrington, Cockburn and Buck. Very Good.

Sat. 1
A great lunch time session with Taffy Dash. Dance in Evening at White Hart. (H.Q. Norfolk and Suffolk)

Sun. 2 FQ 2nd after Christmas
Cinema in Evening.

Mon. 3
Regimental training. Not so good. Alf Powley back from leave, night out with him. Good.

Tues. 4
Ord Sgt. Nothing to report.

Wed. 5
Cinema 鈥� very poor.

Thur. 6 Epiphany
Out with Alf.

Fri. 7
Cinema 鈥� good show.

Wed. 12
Parade for Gen. Anderson.

Thur. 20
Dentist

Mon. 24
Elise coming to Newmarket at weekend!

Tues. 25 FM
Notified going to Loughboro鈥� tomorrow. Bofors instruction.

Wed. 26
Arrived Loughborough. Good place and mess.

Thur. 27
W/shops
Fri. 28
W/shops.

Sat. 29
Day off.

Sun. 30
Same again.

February 1944

Fri. 11
Returned to Newmarket from Loughborough. Regrets.

Sat. 12
Elise coming Tuesday
Digs. The Gem.
Mrs Gale. Exning Rd.
Newmarket
Tel. 241

Tues. 15
Elise arrived.

Wed. 16
Cinema.

Thur. 17 LQ
Dance

Fri. 18
Cinema.

Sat. 19
Mess.

Sun. 20 Quinquagesima
Mess.

May 1944

Mon. 22 NM

Tues. 23
Left Newmarket with second party. Arrived camp about 4 miles outside Ipswich. In town at night, rather awkward to get a drink. Alf stayed overnight at his brothers digs. Walked back

Wed. 24 Empire Day
Nothing doing in camp. Went to Ipswich in afternoon, then met Alf at 7pm. Got some Draught Bass (Triangle symbol)! Quite a good night, but it鈥檚 a long walk back.

Thur. 25
Nothing of any interest. Ipswich at night on my own. Pretty quiet but had a decent drink.

Fri. 26
Camp sealed from now on. Long idle day. Beer in mess at night, but poor stuff.

Sat. 27
Nothing of any interest, 鈥榗ept weather is perfect. Quite a good camp this.

Sun. 28 Whit Sunday
Another idle day, playing cards most of the time. Grand weather still.

Memo.
Camp near Brainford. (Ipswich.)

Mon. 29 Whit Monday
Another glorious day, but really wasted. Likely to move on Wednesday.

Tues. 30 FQ
Still mucking about waiting for something to happen.

Wed. 31
Moved off at midnight in thunderstorm 鈥� nearer the starting point for second front.

June 1944

Thur. 1
White Rabbits! Arrived at Felixstowe 5am. Covered 20 miles in five hours! Aboard LST 3501 at 8am. Managed to get a bunk in crowded craft. 480 aboard plus vehicles. Changed money into francs before embarking. 200 to the pound.

Fri. 2
Pulled out into harbour awaiting other ships to load up. Grub pretty poor. More idle days spent reading a lot of trash.

Sat. 3
Still standing by but think we pull out in the morning. Monotonous life.

Sun. 4 Trinity Sunday
Move postponed, dammit. Another long dreary day spent reading and sleeping.

Mon. 5
Off at last 鈥� 7.30am. 10 ships in our convoy; going easy just now. Cheerio again England 鈥� be back as soon as I can!

Tues. 6 FM 鈥淒. DAY.鈥�
Second front invasion started 7am. In early hours one of our LST鈥檚 struck a mine in Channel, but they managed to beach it. Arrived off Normandy at 7pm. Hundreds of craft off coast. Cannot disembark until morning.

Wed. 7
From midnight to 6am nothing but air raids. Had some very near misses. One enemy plane brought down by AA at 6.15am then they shot down one of Ours! Keen lads. Sea pretty rough. Prisoners brought aboard. Made good landing on beach at 4pm and reached site at 5. Not bad countryside. Naval guns busy.

Thur. 8 Corpus Christi
Another night of raids but all on shipping. Two down. AA barrage terrific. Started work, operating as D.V.P. Finished 6PDR by 7.30pm. Quite a number of vehicles drowned 鈥� including personel. Started to sink ships to make a port. Prisoners coming in very well. Look a miserable lot, but who am I to judge!

Fri. 9
More raiding. One down. Rained through night but slept in vehicle. Plenty gunfire going on. Mines all over the place. Third party arrived last night, 鈥榗ept for a few. Living on Compo rations, which aren鈥檛 too bad. Still working very hard on 鈥渄rowned鈥� stuff. No mail for me.

Sat. 10
What a to-do! Working long hours then at night raiders keep coming over disturbing the peace. Methinks I鈥檒l try for nightshifts and may get some sleep during the day. Two injured in camp in early hours. Wonderful barrage by AA. Letter from Elise 鈥� just what I needed.

Sun. 11 1st after Trinity
A very clear night so Jerry didn鈥檛 risk his bombers much, so had a good sleep for a change. Still working hard from 7am to dusk. Plenty material and men pouring in 鈥� we鈥檒l need it. Getting on well with the port of sunken ships. Weather dull mostly. Navy guns busy.

Memo. Arromanches.
Assault went off very well but costly at first. Hampshires catching it. What were left went home on leave. Drowned vehicles plenty. Quite a number run over by ships when tide covers them. Percentage very low.

Mon. 12
Had another good sleep and feel much better. Hope it continues. A glorious day 鈥� sun all the time, though getting cold at night. Naval guns banging away most of the time. 50 cigs free this evening 鈥� saved my life. Marching party mined 鈥� almost swam ashore!

Tue. 13 LQ
Not a bad night again. Weather showery. Received letters from Elise, mother and Gladys. Very nice. Griff talk by Brigadier 鈥� very interesting. Troops and vehicles still pouring in. Witnessed raid by our bombers in evening, very intense AA fire saw 2 brought down. German raiders never show up in daylight much.

Wed. 14
Fairly easy night, raiders scarce. Fine day but cold wind. Work still coming in thick and fast. Armour passing in evening, believed 11th Arm. Div. Wonderful sight. No sign of any move yet but shouldn鈥檛 be long. Fairly uneventful day. Major lost his lighter 鈥� complete check up!

Thur. 15
Sleep disturbed off and on, though not too bad. Glorious day of sunshine, with cool breeze from sea. No job today so did my washing and other domestic jobs. Otherwise an uneventful day.

Fri. 16
Barrage through night best yet, wonderful from spectacular view. Cold and rain to wake up to, cleared later in day but for strong wind. Not much activity. Drew Happy Landing in Derby Sweep.

Sat. 17
Quite a good nights sleep for a change. Gladys birthday. Backed His Excellency in Derby 鈥� down. Getting on well with port 鈥� should soon be fin. 鈥淒ucks鈥� doing wonderful work 鈥� out to the ships, take load, back to land and deliver stuff. Just like ants. Happy Landing 3rd. Drew 10/-

Sun. 18 2nd after Trinity
Sleep not so bad. Moving on Tuesday to Bayeux. Sid Dodds called at Camp in afternoon on arriving at this side. Improvement in weather. Went to Bayeux in evening, but town out of bounds. Got a few drinks. Not bad. Looks to be rather interesting.

Memo.
These night raiders are a nuisance. Not many of 鈥榚m but they take looking after. Though tired sometimes strain to keep awake and wishing the dawn would hurry along! Nice state to get into, 鈥榗os usually it鈥檚 in vain. Haven鈥檛 had trousers off except to bath!

Mon. 19
Awakened to rain again, with very cold wind. Lasted all day 鈥� camp in pretty bad state. Packed vehicles, ready to move in morning. Another issue of 5 days. Received two registers from Gladys. Found stretcher to sleep on 鈥� very nice.

Tues. 20 FQ
Raider busy again during night, henceforth very little sleep. Moved off at 8am to new camp outside Bayeux. Quite a nice camp in country 鈥� if it keeps fine. Some 115鈥檚 in next field 鈥� terrible racket. Air activity in morning with Jerry fighters. Improvement in weather but still windy.

Wed. 21
Another interrupted night 鈥� ammo dump hit. Very spectacular. Work started to roll in. Met Sgt. Mackie this morning. Cold all day. Jerry shifting a bit. One guy digging trench jumps out of it and runs like hell! Very funny.

Thur. 22
Much quieter night. Thank goodness. Out on job to 141 RAC at Sommervieu. Truck broke down. Still on Compo rations, but getting bigger ration. Plenty air activity, few jerries.

Fri. 23
Another fairly good night. Dull morning but looks promising. Trip to old site for gun spares 鈥� nothing doing. Stopped in Bayeux on way back and had a few drinks. Jerry mucking around in afternoon 鈥� brought one of ours down! Sunny in afternoon and evening.

Sat. 24 Midsummer
At old site again, with success. Glorious weather. 鈥淪tars in Battledress鈥� gave concert in camp in afternoon 鈥� pretty poor. Pretty quiet day 鈥榗ept for guns in next field.

Sun. 25 3rd after Trinity
Little sleep again, due this time to our guns putting barrage over. Started 3am. Early morning masses of bombers passed over. Beautiful morning again. Push started in early hours, beyond Tilly (-sur-Seulles) 鈥� pounding all day. Cherbourg taken. Played pontoon in evening, finished square after being down. Rain at night. Daley called.

Memo.
Plenty in shops at Bayeux, though prices are fantastic. Meat, butter and clothing. Poorer class having a rough time, others doing very well. That鈥檚 only Normandy though. Lovely roses here, in all gardens and cafes and shops.

Mon. 26
Guns still cracking, though had a good sleep. Showery morning. Not much work at present, but there will be soon after this barrage. Busy in afternoon. Advance going alright though behind time. Heavy showers all night. Last Naffi pack issued. Hope bulk Naffi turns up soon. 155鈥檚 moved from nearby field, thank goodness.

Tues. 27
Quiet night except for distant gunfire, and rain. Glorious morning but showery later. Stuck for spares for guns. D+21 and still going strong 鈥� not bad at all. Some air activity in evening, but no bombs our way. Enemy planes very scarce, and only odd ones at nights. Advance still going well,

Wed. 28
Another quiet night, almost. Am tempted to remove my trousers on retiring now 鈥� had 鈥榚m on all the time! Disgusting. Improvement in weather, but still threatening. ASM Sundin called today and brought 4 galls of cider. Not bad at all. Correction 鈥� cider rotten!

Thur. 29
Little sleep owing to barrage against Panzer counter attack. Bomb dropped in camp this morning injuring 12. 2 very seriously. Jimmy Whitworth lost hand, cook lost eye 鈥� maybe two. Bowie had half face carried away. Terrible. Bits of flesh hanging on trees. Other damage almost nil.

Fri. 30
Noisy nights continue. Casualties doing better than expected. Most gone back to Blighty. Wonderful sight this evening. About 300 bombers passed over to bomb Villers Bocage, about 18 miles away. Only one down. safely landed near us. All 鈥渉eavies鈥�. Barrage almost nil.

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