大象传媒

A Trip Across The Channel June 1944

Having boarded our Tank Landing Ship (LST) I will explain a little about this type of ship, they were designed with Bow Doors that opened to allow a ramp to be lowered for loading and unloading tanks and vehicles.With two vehicle decks lighter vehicles being carried to the top deck by a lift. Tanks and heavier vehicles were in the lower deck and were unloaded first.
The LST was flat bottomed and designed to run up the beach, the vehicles then disembarked in about three feet of water. On an outgoing tide the ship could dry out and the vehicles would not have to 鈥� wade鈥�. The ships were fitted with a "Kedge" anchor which enabled them to winch off the beach if they didn't dry out. To speed unloading some LST's unloaded onto "Rhino" ferries which comprised a big floating platform driven by two or more large outboard motors at the rear.They could carry between 20 and 30 vehicles which allowed a quicker turnaround for the LST .The 鈥淩hino鈥� ferries were pushed back into the sea by bulldozers after unloading
.
Back to the main part of the excitement.I was commanding a section of three self propelled Bofors 40 mm LAA guns mounted on 4x4 Morris chassis and two three ton lorries. The battery was split into six sub-sections each on a separate ship. During the Sicily landings the whole battery was on one ship which was sunk by bombers and all the guns and a number of men lost. We pulled off the "Hard" and lay out in the Solent waiting to form up. There we stayed until the 4th of June. Fortunately most of my Gunners were experienced in landing operations having been in the Sicily landings so knew their way around LST's. Probably better than the sailors who hadn't been in action before. I was fortunate in having three experienced Gun Sergeants to keep me out of trouble.
Meeting with the gunnery Officer on the ship I offered my help as he had 7 40 mm Bofors AA guns as well as several 20 mm Oelikon guns. He asked me to join him on the bridge in the event of the ship going to 鈥淎ction Stations鈥� to advise him on AA defence. The troops had now is settled down happily or should we say making the best of the circumstances, except for one or two cases of sea sickness. The gun sergeants approached me to see if our section could man the three forward Bofors. From previous experience they didn't like having to go below when the ship went to "Action Stations". I managed to make a tactic arrangement with the Gunnery Officer that our gun crews could muster close to the forward armament if the ship went to 鈥淎ction Stations鈥�. The unit gun crews were very experienced having been AA gunners since before Alamein and on the assault landings in Sicily. We practised the rapid manning of the forward guns and procedures for engagement of hostile aircraft...
I had received a package of orders that were 鈥淣ot to be opened until on board鈥� so, as you
guessed, I rapidly opened the package to get the story. There were detailed maps of our landing
area and the route to our first deployment. Instructions on 鈥渄e water proofing鈥� the position and route to the de water proofing park (all vehicles were waterproofed to drive in over three foot
of water but had to have some parts removed immediately on landing). Very detailed instructions
of the route to the deployment, which was to defend the bridge at Creully about six miles
inland.The route was through Ryles then turn left down to Creully. We then had a very careful
briefing so everybody knew exactly what was happening. One of the orders were that if a vehicle
broke down it was to be pushed off the road and left. Having seen what happens to any kit left
unattended we fitted tow chains to the front of each vehicle so that we could hook up quickly to any breakdowns and take the offending vehicle with us. The weather deteriorated and we set sail
but after a few hours we were back in the Solent. I then found that the Canadian war
correspondent had interviewed a number of my gunners and the conducting officer showed me a
copy for approval.While not objecting to the remarks of bronzed experienced Eighth Army soldiers I coughed a bit at the 鈥渓ed by a tall handsome鈥� anyway he probably found better things to say..
The sea lessened a bit and we were on our way again along with hundreds of others.After a
reasonably easy journey over apart from the fact that LST鈥檚 are flat bottomed and not very kind
to non-sailors. We approached the beach head in the afternoon of D-Day and lay-off waiting to be
called in.Then, of course,the fun started, we were at 鈥淎ction Stations鈥� the vehicles un-tied,
engines tested, guns loaded and ready for the off. Watching with interest the battle from a
grandstand view. The LST had dropped its Kedge anchor to help hold position. Then a Tank
Landing Craft (LCT) fouled our anchor rope swung round and holed us aft and at the same time
doing itself quite a bit of damage. The officer in charge of the LCT ordered the troops to
abandon ship but he had a bit of a mutiny, as they didn鈥檛 feel like losing all their kit. Fortunately
the anchor rope broke and everybody was relieved. The LCT staggered towards the beach and
successfully landed its load. But we had lost our anchor. No problem, there was a spare so. In came the rope and the engineer officer was directing the lowering of spare anchor to deck and re-
splicing it on. This caused quite a confusion until the cook came out of the galley and took over the job (well he had a cook鈥檚 hat on). So back to the forepart to watch the action There appeared to be some congestion in getting off the beaches which were still under shell fire and we could see occasional vehicles running over mines etc. To our right there was a destroyer engaging beach defences on top of a cliff. After several shots he got a direct hit and the crew evacuated rapidly, unfortunately they ran in a bunch along the cliff,after three or four more shots the destroyer hit the gun crew. While we were standing off the beaches with numerous other ships, mine-sweepers were operating in the area.As we watched a sweep came past quite close (sweeps have a post sticking out of the water to indicate their position). A crew member saw it and shouted 鈥淪UBMARINE鈥� and jumped onto an Oelikon 20 mm, fortunately my gun sergeants managed to drag him off before he could fire. The thought of the consequences of numerous ships shooting across the water I will leave to your imagination
.There was very little aircraft activity and certainly no reaction from the German air force which
was a relief. We had expected heavy attacks from low flying enemy aircraft and we got rather nervous that it hadn鈥檛 happened. In Sicily, Anzio and Salerno the German air force had reacted very strongly were they now?. As the day grew on all our eyes were in the air, still no attacks what had they got up their sleeves. Having suffered from air attacks since 1940 it was difficult to comprehend the lack of attack. We felt vulnerable, all those ships, a sitting target, they must come and we grew progressively nervous as the day wore on. A Typhoon (which looks a bit like a Fokker-Wolfe 190) being fired at by German AA he turned back across the beach head but received a bigger dose from friendly fire and he retreated back to the German side.A squadron of medium bombers was attacking a target in the German area and flying in very tight formation. As I watched German AA brought down three of them. (Now comes the interesting bit. Some years later I was talking to an ex-air force Squadron Leader and mentioned this incident. He told me that it was his squadron. On inquiring why they flew so close together he explained that his aircraft was the only one with an efficient bomb sight and all the other planes dropped their bombs when he did so they had to stay close together to get a good bomb pattern.)
A decision was then taken that unloading would stop for the night and we would go ashore at dawn. After a fairly quiet night, well no bombs hit our ship, the ship ran ashore at dawn and the captain decided to dry out and come off on the rising tide so bow doors open ramp down then two 鈥渂right sparks鈥� stripped to the buff and waded ashore. It struck me that if I did that it would be most embarrassing to step on a mine with nothing on, fortunately they didn鈥檛.The crane with the long jib headed up the beach and then it was our turn.Still no air attack, it must come today. Having watched events for several hours the previous day I, gave some firm orders to my gun crews. The guns were loaded and manned ready to fire. I would lead: the column and every vehicle would follow in my wheel tracks regardless of any orders to the contrary. We would commence de 鈥� water proofing whenever the vehicles came to a halt. And we would do everything to get off the beach PDQ . Our instructions were to move into a de- waterproofing park just inland from Le Hamil. With a great roaring of engines my little convoy was down the ramp and I headed for the nearest clear set of tank tracks in the sand.With the terrible flotsam and jetsam of war on all sides. Still no air attack as we all searched the sky for what we felt must come. We moved bit by bit off the beach carefully following other vehicle tracks. The beach was a hive of activity, stores being unloaded and clearance parties removing the debris of war. Military police urging everybody on, we had no desire to stand and watch and were anxious to get clear of this massive target.By the time we had got off the beach all vehicles had done the first stage of de-waterproofing and had no need to go into the the de- water proofing area. As we approached the area I saw an unfortunate walking towards his vehicle when he trod on a mine. I made a rapid decision to bypass that place. I carefully parked my little convoy and walked into the area looking for our guide who was supposed to meet us there, being very careful where I put my feet. I collected the guide and we drove off inland.
John Absolon 25th LAA Regt RA 50th(Northumbrian) Div

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