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INVASION OF FRANCE JUNE 1944 WORLDWAR II
(My Involvement T/88178 Ron Stevens RASCIREME)

As a Vehicle mechanic in the Army stationed at Huddersfield in May 1944 working on an assembly line at the Foden Motor Works. This was assembling MACK lorries out of wooden crates from America under "Lease Lend". At the end of May we were given 3 days leave and on reporting back to pack up our Workshop. This was a Leyland Recovery Vehicle, a Binned Stores Vehicle, a Bedford 15 cwt vehicle and a Machinery Truck. It was then to move to Westcliffe-on-Sea where we took over an empty house on the seafront where we met up with other units and their vehicles. The whole front was lined with vehicles and we set about waterproofing them. This was to enable them to wade in 4-5 feet of water if need be. Once our own vehicles were completed it was to work on a variety of vehicles. We didn't know when they would be required but we knew something big was to happen. Then news was broken that the invasion of France was imminent and on June 6th it happened. Every available ship, piece of equipment and men from a whole series of ports along the south coast of England were on the move. It was not only British troops but American and Canadian troops with their ships and transport including tanks and armoured vehicles.

In 1940 the Germans had started bombing towns and cities in England known as the Blitz, killing hundreds of people of all ages as well as causing tremendous damage.

The operation for the Invasion of France was code named "Overlord" for the liberation of Europe by air and sea. Hundreds of Allied troops were killed and wounded in the fighting to get a foothold in France.

Everything from tanks, vehicles, petrol to supplies of water, food, ammunition etc., all had to be transported across the English Channel as well as the troops.

Security was tight and news and letters home were being censored. We were given pre-printed cards with such phases as "I am not well" words were just crossed out and room for our name. If anything else was written on them it would be cut out not to give anything of what was happening away. We were also given 24 hour ration packs and some tokens to be used in the "NAAFI" when it was available.

Lorries and equipment started moving away with the units and then it came to our turn which we knew was inevitable. It was to pack up all out Workshop equipment and vehicles and move to Tilbury Docks and then embark on a freighter. We set sail but only as far as the end of Southend Pier where we anchored for a day and a night before hugging the south coast towards Portsmouth then it was across the English Channel to Normandy France.

What were we to encounter? The Germans had had 3 years to fortify the coast of France with concrete gun emplacements and erecting of obstacles on the beaches and in the sea. All these had to be overcome. With the Allied ships shelling the area and bombing from the air, no wonder we saw so much devastation.

Several ships here were deliberately sunk off the coast to make a breakwater for ships coming in. On arriving and tying up to a pontoon the ship started unloading vehicles on to it. We then had to climb down the scramble nets of the ship onto the
pontoon. When it was loaded it was ferried ashore and as I was a driver I was required to drive a Bren Gun Carrier off and up the beach known as "JUNO". It was loaded with troops who had climbed aboard, to save getting their feet wet, mine as well and to park it up in a "Vehicle Park" after disgorging the troops. This was to await collection by the unit that it belonged to.

As it was getting late in the evening it was to find my unit by walking through a path of white tapes — area cleared of mines by the Royal Engineers. On finding my Workshop we got out heads down for the night in a corner of a field. We discovered in the morning that we had slept on a dung heap, but in the darkness we didn't know that. We then went to the "Vehicle Park" where we found our Workshop vehicles with all our kit and tool boxes. This enabled us to go to work repairing vehicles, some of which had been dragged out of the sea. After several days we moved towards Bayeux to set up the Workshop. First it was to dig a trench in the ground covered by our tent and another one for a loo on which to place our "thunder box" on, just surrounded by a bit of Hessian. After several weeks in this location we then moved to an orchard on the outskirts of Caen next to a now deserted monastery. We carried on with the same procedure as before but we were troubled by rotting apples harbouring scores of flies. This was something else to contend with. Water was also scarce, we were having to collect it in Jerry cans and similar for petrol for the vehicles. The town of Caen was really a site of destruction — the streets and houses laid flat from shelling and bombing. The church with its two spires left standing was a prominent landmark although this was damaged. We as a Workshop had to retreat on one occasion for our own safety, and then when we were able to advance again we were repairing vehicles as we went.

The war was moving on after a foothold on the beaches and the surrounding area had been achieved. Bodies were just buried on the roadside with a makeshift cross or just their steel helmet with a name on it. These would all be recovered at a later date. It was just outside Caen that I had a complete wash in a river, we all stripped off and enjoyed the water and to put on clean clothes. Here we found the local French women would wash our clothes in the river, in exchange for soap and a bar of chocolate.

That was Normandy, for soon we were moving on as after the break-out from the Falaise gap it was now to extend our "lines of communications" and this is where our Workshop would operate. We worked all hours to keep vehicles on the move and if we had to move location we just took any vehicles undergoing repair with us or if a there was a big job to be done on it, we left it to a follow-up Workshop. There were several areas where we set up our Workshop which was near a POW Camp and we would sign out a German prisoner to dig latrines or help our cook with any other chores. They were only too willing as they would be fed and looked after. If they were no trouble we would sign them out the next day or when required but always returned in the evenings. We had a coach trimmer on our Workshop strength and when we had little work we would escort any POW we had signed out. This made our life easier so we could concentrate on the repair of vehicles.

After moving across the north of France our next location was at Robaix near Lille where we set up our Workshop. Here we were allocated a part of a house to share it with a French family. This family had been made homeless when the Germans had shelled their house killing the husband. The mother and two teenage daughters survived, but were housed temporary in the one we were to occupy. Though sleeping on the floors we had a roof over our heads and we were able to have our meals in the dry. This made a bit of a difference from the last few weeks. This family made us welcome, though they spoke no English we got by with the little French we had learnt. Yes I did start to teach one of the teenage girls some English and that was a challenge.

Our next move was to Ghent in Belgium where we took over an old Post Office garage for our work and we were allocated an empty house nearby for our accommodation next to a laundry. We soon made friends with the manager - she was a real smart teenage girl who could speak several languages which was to our advantage, for we were able to get our laundry done by them. Another house nearby allowed us to use their bathroom to have a hot bath once a week. This was a real luxury and we appreciated it, they even provided towels, it was great. Here we had to repair vehicles hit by "Doodle Bugs" flying bombs VI and V2. These were launched on Antwerp from bases in Germany. Antwerp was an important dock being used for supplies. As the Germans were developing these "flying bombs" they were directed on towns and cities in England causing damage to buildings and people. The bombs would scream through the air and that would be the first anyone would know of an attack; and then their engines would cut out, causing a war of nerves as you did not know where they would land.

Then it was a move to Nijmegen in Holland occupying a part of a paper factory as our Workshop. Here we were billeted with Dutch families who provided us with a bed. Our meals were taken in a room at the paper factory which provided a roll of white paper for a table cloth and when we used it, it went back to the works and was recycled. Here they provided us with writing paper for they were very co-operative.

It was in this location, that we were attached to the 1st Canadian Army to repair and service their cars and jeeps. They treated us with extra rations and supplied us with uniforms with superfine material. I reckon we were amongst the smartest soldiers in the British Army. We were surprised one day when a Canadian Sergeant came into the Workshop saying his “God-dammed Jeep had hit a train", and so he had indeed, at an unmanned level crossing. He wasn't injured which was amazing for the train had taken the Jeep along the track making it a proper wreck. The train had long gone and all we had to do was to pick up the pieces.

It was here that I had to go into hospital. It was a Canadian one, and not a male nurse in the place, what a treat. After several weeks treatment with penicillin (which had just come into use) I was ready to be discharged. Whilst there, another fellow from Severn Beach was admitted in the bed next to mine. He was hurt when a train had crashed. The evening Newspapers my mother sent me from Bristol were passed on to him. After leaving this hospital it was back to my unit, which was to move back to Brussels in Belgium taking over a garage near the railway station. ´óÏó´«Ã½ consisted of servicing and repairs to Humber Staff Cars and Wolsley cars of General Montgomery's fleet. We made use of one of the Palaces run by the Americans to have a bath every week and buy extra food and chocolate etc. Now the war was coming to a close, these cars were smartened up and some of the Humber Pullmans were varnished on top of their olive drab paint in our Workshop.

In January 1945 I was sent back to England to attend a diesel fitters course at Southend. This was on a two week duration to enable me to repair diesel engine vehicles which were now in use by the Army. This course I passed with "A" results and then I had three days leave before travelling back. These journeys were by continental trains on wooden seats across to Calais and then it was by LCT (Landing Craft Tank) which took an uncomfortable eight hours. These vehicles were now being used to transport suplies to the Allied Forces engaged in the war.

It was on this leave I started courting a girl called Esme Davis at home in Bristol. On my return to the continent I kept in contact with letters on a regular basis. Eventually we married.

Then on May 1945, the war in Europe was to come to a close which was formally declared as VE Day (Victory in Europe) although it was not until midnight of the 14/15 August 1945 that the war with Japan was over, known as VJ Day (Victory with JAPAN). This was after the atomic bomb was dropped by America on the island of Hiroshima in the Pacific Ocean.

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