大象传媒

Introduction

A few years ago when I was researching the Battle of Normandy for a French language course, I came across something very unusual about a small group of British soldiers while they were crossing the English Channel during the Normandy Landings. What made it even more interesting for me was that this particular group of nine soldiers were serving with the Border Regiment, which was the local regiment of my own home county of Cumberland (now Cumbria).

This short article is based partly on a translation of what I originally wrote some years ago for a university project and partly on additional research undertaken in 2005, just before writing this article. D-Day and the Normandy Landings were key events of World War Two. This particular incident may just be a footnote to events that proved more significant in world history. Nevertheless, perhaps it gives a small insight into some of the feelings of those who crossed over to France in the summer of 1944.

6th Battalion Border Regiment in 1943 and 1944

In the late summer of 1943 the 6th Battalion of the Border Regiment were posted to Gailes Camp in Ayrshire and commenced training in a new role: that of a Beach Group. Thus began the Battalion鈥檚 preparations for what turned out to be the Normandy Landings. The role of Beach Groups was to land with the first assault troops, organise the Landing Beaches, and establish supply dumps for the other troops.

Training continued in Scotland throughout the latter part of 1943 and the early part of 1944. Much of this training was in Ayrshire, but in February 1944 there was a major eight-day exercise at Gullane on the east coast of Scotland, near Edinburgh. Shortly before D-Day, the Supreme Commander of the Allied troops, General Eisenhower, carried out an inspection at a Divisional Parade.

The information in this section has been included mainly as background information about the activities of the 6th Battalion Border Regiment immediately before the Normandy Landings. Anyone wishing to learn more details about the 6th Battalion Border Regiment during World War Two can find a concise summary in the definitive book about the history of Border Regiment, 鈥楾ried and Valiant鈥� by Douglas Sutherland, published in 1972 (ISBN 0 85052 042 8), pages 174 鈥� 179.

Wish you were here?

Hence, in June 1944 soldiers from the 6th Battalion Border Regiment took part in the D-Day Landings. Originally scheduled for 5 June, D-Day was put back 24 hours so that the landings would take part early on the morning of 6 June 1944.

Apart from the quotation of the written message by the soldiers from the Border Regiment, I originally wrote most of the following section in French as part of a university project about the Battle of Normandy:

鈥溾�� How can one imagine the emotions of a soldier on board a Landing vessel? Among the soldiers, there were nine members of the 6th Border Regiment, members of No.10 Beach Group. Their job: to organise the beaches and establish reception posts for personnel, transport, provisions and armoured vehicles. During the Channel crossing they drank a bottle of champagne that they had bought in 1940 and had kept through thick and thin to keep for a special occasion.

After having finished the champagne, they wrote their names and a message on a piece of paper. They knew how important the battle to come was going to be. In the hope of a safe and sound return this is what they wrote:

鈥� If found, please put this paper in the post (with bottle) to The Castle, Carlisle, Cumberland, England.
Signed: H.J. Bartholomew, J. Westoll, C. Askew, B. Oliver, T. Heath, J.W. Triggs, T. Graham (M.O.), R.C. Troughton, T. Mackie.鈥�

Some time later, the tide threw up the bottle on the coastline of the Isle of Wight, in the South of England. A former sergeant with the Royal Artillery found it. Nowadays, the bottle and the message can be found in the Regimental Museum at Carlisle Castle.鈥�
[Translated from one of my university submissions].

The message sent back to Carlisle in a bottle may not be quite expressing the sentiments of a 鈥榃ish You Were Here鈥� postcard. Nevertheless, it perhaps indicates that these nine fellows were thinking of the enormity and the seriousness of the task that lay ahead of them, but that they were also thinking of home.

6th Battalion Border Regiment after the 'Normandy Breakout'

After D-Day the 6th Battalion Border Regiment and the other Beach Groups carried out their allotted tasks on the Normandy Beach head for several weeks. On 16 July, General Bernard Montgomery wrote to the Commanding Officer of 6 Border stating firstly that the Battalion had made a magnificent contribution to the Normandy landings, and secondly that the Battalion would shortly have to be broken up to reinforce the infantry battalions. According to General Montgomery's letter, the reason for breaking up the Battalion was that there were not enough fresh infantry reinforcements available elsewhere.

At the time of writing this article, I have not been able to trace the specific service records of the nine soldiers who sent the message in a bottle. However, the records indicate that the majority of 6 Border was drafted into the 15th (Scottish) Division, over more than six different Battalions. This amounted to 25 Officers and 550 other ranks. In addition to 6 Border, a further 6 Officers and 200 men were drafted from other Border Battalions.

Hence, the Border Regiment supplied numbers of men amounting to almost a full Battalion strength to other Battalions in the 15th Division. The source of this information is a letter written in April 1946 by Major-General C.M. Barber, C.B., D.S.O. (C.O of the 15th Division).

KORBR Museum at Carlisle Castle

Although I have been privileged to speak with many veterans of the Normandy campaign, I never had the opportunity to speak to any of the nine men who drank a toast and sent a message home while crossing the Channel. However, in 2005 I visited the KORBR Museum in Carlisle Castle, Cumbria and learnt that all nine survived the campaign. The D-Day 'Message in a Bottle' is usually stored in the Museum Archives. From time to time, the bottle is placed on public display in one of the temporary exhibitions they have, such as in the summer of 2004 for the 60th Anniversary of D-Day.

To help with my research for this article, the museum staff were most helpful in locating the 'Message in a Bottle' from the Museum's Archives so that I could view it. This was the first time I had actually seen the bottle and the message rather than a photograph. The message is still inside the champagne bottle. Having undertaken a lot of research about D-Day and the Battle of Normandy, it was a great honour to view this small piece of history from the Second World War.

During the summer of 2004 the KORBR Museum had a temporary D-Day exhibition, with many other artefacts and photographs relating the story of D-Day and the Battle of Normandy. Later on, the Museum had an exhibition on 'Operation Market Garden', mainly because the 1st Battalion Border Regiment had played a key part in the Arnhem area. In 2005, to coincide with the 60th Anniversary of 'VJ Day' the KORBR Museum had a temporary exhibition based around the Far East campaign in Burma. The hard-fought struggle against the Japanese in Burma during World War Two is embedded in the history of the Border Regiment, especially for the 2nd, 4th and 9th Battalions.

Conclusion

History records the enormity of the Normandy Landings of June 1944. Eventually, the success of the landings led to the liberation of North West Europe, and played a major part leading to Victory in Europe in May 1945.

Ultimately, the success of getting men and materials into the battle of Normandy was due in no small part to the Beach Groups, of which the 6th Battalion Border Regiment was a part. It is easy to overlook the role of the Beach Groups, and also to what soldiers thought about while crossing the English Channel. Hopefully, this article helps give an indication of some of the things that a small group of nine soldiers from the Border Regiment did in June 1944.

Having bought a bottle of champagne during Britain鈥檚 darkest hour in 1940 and safeguarded it for four long years, this was the moment that nine friends decided they should drink the champagne. To top it all, the bottle and the message they placed in it found its way back 鈥榟ome鈥� to Carlisle Castle, where it remains to this day. It is a reminder of nine brave fellows who took part in the Normandy Landings.

I would also like to thank the Curator of the KORBR Museum, Stuart Eastwood, the Assistant Curator Tony Goddard and the other members of staff at the KORBR Museum, Carlisle for their help in providing information during my visits to the Museum. In particular, I would like to thank Tony Goddard for helping me trace the service details of two of my mother's uncles who had served with the 2nd Battalion Border Regiment during the Great War of 1914 - 1918.

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