大象传媒

VI. The Days After D-Day
Ver-sur-Mer, Normandy

After such a rough crossing it was good to be on dry land. For several days I lost my balance when I bent down to pick something up.
The Corporal found a billet for us in the village of Ver-sur-Mer. The village was just as I imagined a French village should be. A cafe on a corner in the square with a large tree for shade and an elderly grizzled Frenchman sitting at a cafe table with a quizzical eye on all that was happening around him. The house was sideways on to the road with a tall garden wall and a gate to the street. A pleasant bay window was on the ground and first floors.
The interior of the house was very clean; the beds had mattresses rolled back and in the centre of our room was a note propped up and it read 鈥榃e will return鈥�. The German troops who had been billeted in the house were to be commended for leaving it in such good order.
We watched the prisoners of war marching to the beach under escort from our side garden door. Friends of the German soldiers marched alongside and villagers offered them drinks. They had obviously been in the area for some time and were known to the locals and presumably liked.
We were taken a couple of times to the beach to help with the unloading and loading of supplies on to lorries. The beach was transformed into a maze of dugouts; the troops living like marmots in burrows.
After about a week we vacated the billet and were transported nearer the front and then told we were re-joining the unit on June 13th to pick up a new 鈥楽herman鈥�.
I wrote in a letter home on the 9th June 鈥淚 expect you know where I am. We were one of the first to land, Tuesday morning at 0715 and everything just as planned鈥�. The words 鈥榝irst鈥� and 鈥榣and鈥� had been blue pencilled by the censor.
When we met up with our unit in the late afternoon the tanks were parked on a grass verge alongside a road with woods both sides. The nearest hamlet was called 鈥楯erusalem鈥�. It was good to meet up with John again and he recounted his experiences since D-Day.
After the landing on D-Day the two remaining tanks of the Troop had pressed on inland on the track that led from the beach and reached Viller-le-Sec just North of the River Seulles on the first day. 鈥楢鈥� Squadron captured the nearby town of Creully with the Green Howards infantry. The Regimental Memorial is at Creully. The casualties in the Regiment on the first day were 12 killed and 20 wounded with19 tanks lost.
On June 11th the two tanks of the Troop who were in 鈥楤鈥� Squadron became involved with the heavy fighting in orchards for a high point called 鈥楬ill 103鈥� near the village of Cristot defended by the 12th SS Hitler Youth. The tanks became separated from the infantry and one by one they were knocked out. Out of the nine tanks which took part in the attack only two came out, one towing the other. The Troop Leader and Sid and Ginger were wounded when their tank was hit
We had supper and then prepared the tank for the next day. A replacement Troop Leader - a Second Lieutenant - had taken command and he gave the briefing for the following days engagement. It was to start at 10.00 Hours in conjunction with the 6th Durham Light Infantry attacking under a creeping artillery barrage. The Troop was in reserve, which cheered us up enormously.
I still had my naval hammock with me and I found that by depressing the gun it was possible to sling the hammock across the turret below the gun; it gave me a very comfortable nights sleep. Despite the uncertainty of the next day I slept well at night, except of course if there was some night activity
The Regiment now turned its attention to an attack towards Tilly-sur-Seulles and swung to the West. Where the Regiment had met the 12th SS was on their extreme left flank; the bulk of the Division was engaged with the Canadians. Tilly was being defended by elements of the Panzer Lehr Division.
To commemorate our landing at Ver-sur-Mer I have arranged, with the kind assistance of the Mayor to erect a slate plaque on what was once a German machine gun post on the sea front.

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