and raining last night

and raining last night. I then packed up my valise again, and put together my equipment - it had to be taken to pieces so that I could wear a belt and revolver at the General's inspection. At 6 o'clock I went to a battalion I.O.s conference at Divisional H.Q. I went on the back of the Adjutant's motor cycle and came back in a jeep. The conference was rather boring, and lasted about 1¹/₂ hours I didn't get back till 8 o'clock. I was detailed in the evening to command a bridge guard tomorrow, as the platoon going on guard had no officer and one was required on the orders. I had to get up at about 7 o'clock for this, so went to bed as early as I could.

Thurs. 17 August. This morning I got up at 7 o'clock to go no the bridge guard, but we had news at breakfast that the foe opposite us had started to withdraw the same as the rest of the German Army, and so we had to get ready to follow up. The guard was cancelled, and we were at 1 hour's notice to move. I packed my own kit and the Intelligence stores, got fresh maps issued out to companies, got them nailed onto boards for battalion H.Q. and so on. At lunch-time we ate as much as possible (!) in case we didn't get another meal for some time, and at 3.30 we got the word through to start. We had a transport to lift, us the first part of our way (to here) but I came ahead in the second-in -command jeep to reconnoitre company assembly areas and battalion H.Q. We found lots of trenches in the area we had to clock in at, because other troops had gone forward and had thus left their areas empty. We are now sitting in a field (as though we

were on a scheme in England) with plenty of our planes overhead, and only an occasional shot within earshot, waiting for further orders for a move forward. I am sitting on a chair the previous troops have left behind, near a road junction; on the left is a Mark IV German tank, knocked out shortly after D - Day (we are just on the edge of the old bridgehead) with a shot straight through it. The shot, probably one of our 17 lbers went straight through some 4 or 5 inches in front, through the driver and the engine. what is left of the driver, i.e. skull and charred remains, is still in the tank.

Now that we are on the move with the rest of the army I don't know when I can write or what the postal service will be. I'll try to get a letter of as hitherto, i.e. a letter every 2 or 3 days; but don't get anxious if I take longer. If we are moving forward all day I shall have very little time for letter-writing.

We've just had a meal, of fresh instead of tinned food, but I still feel hungry. It was meat (species unknown) potatoes, peas (Army brand, not garden), beetroot, and prunes. I have filled up part of the void with chocolate (I still have 2 bars in reserve) and have a mug of tea by my feet.

The evening - it's 10 to eight is cooling off now; there are some clouds towards the south, but otherwise the sky is clear, and planes are coming back from the south-east like homing rooks. One of my Intelligence people is sitting on the top of his slit-trench playing a mouth-

organ. Let's hope this is the beginning of the same advance as in August 1918, ending up in Berlin.

I have received Mamma's letter of 11th August and Daddy's on the 13th. They take about 3 days to reach me now, which is pretty fast, considering the other stuff that has to be sent over here too.

I don't know why I was chosen as I.O. I was merely told by the O.C. company while I was on a platoon kit-inspection that when I was finished what I was doing and had handed over to another platoon commander I was to report to B.H.Q. as I.O., but I don't know why.

I haven't had hayfever yet, and I don't think I shall now.

I don't think I'll have another shirt bag yet, because I have to weigh the balance between what I could do with and what I can carry; at the moment I want to keep weight to a minimum.

12th Parachute Regt.

B.L.A.

Letter 23. 18th. August 44.

As I have some time to spare I thought I'd get off another letter today, although I wrote only last night, in case the next 3 or 4 days don't give me an opportunity,

Fri. 18 August. Late last night we had a conference about moving forward early this morning, and I at last got to bed at

about 11.30 p.m. The conference was held by candlelight in a log command post made by a previous unit. After the conference I couldn't find a spare slit-trench, so I put down my groundsheet and blanket on the grass in the open field and hoped there would be no bombing and shelling. There was none but the mosquitoes were a bit of a plague. At 3.30 a.m. when it was still dark, we got up and put our kit on and had a mug of tea, and prepared to move forward again.

I went forward with the Intelligence lance-corporal to the start-line to check that no-one had been lost as they passed the start-line. I then jumped onto one of the last jeeps, and sat on the trailer of mortar bombs for a couple of miles or so.
At T we had to leave the jeep, because a bulldozer had a few hours before broken the back of an improvised bridge and another bridge was being built. However, the whole of the battalion had halted in T, so I hadn't far to walk to catch the head of the column again. After a wait of about 3/4 hr, at 7 o'clock we started forward again, marching. We crossed two improvised bridges and then came to the bulldozer bridge; here we clambered over the rubble of the old bridge that the Germans had blown.
Then we had a longish walk up a gently sloping hill, and could see the accuracy of our shelling in the last few weeks. At about 8.a.m. we turned into the farm that was to be B.H.Q. and after a cursory search for booby traps, installed ourselves therein.

12th Parachute Regt.

B.L.A.

Letter 24. 25 August 44.

I haven't had a letter for several days, but I suppose that is because we are moving forward now and so some delay in reaching the letters' destinations is to be expected.

Sat. 19 August 44. Last night after I had written my letter to you there was sudden news that we were going to attack a village early next morning to mop up some German rearguards there. We moved a couple of miles forward down the road at about 9.15.p.m. and I had to lead the battalion from the new assembly area - round a chateau - to the village itself. As I was I.O. it was assumed I could use maps and protractors and compasses better than the others. At a quarter to one I set out with the 1nt. Section down the road at the head of our battalion and behind another battalion in the same brigade. About a mile down the road we halted to wait for troops in front of us to move on, and at the same moment a few shells flew overhead; I've never seen so many troops fly into ditches so quickly! It was almost pitch black, and we had to wait about an hour before we were told to move forward. During this time we lay in the roadside ditches, and a few enemy prisoners and wounded were brought past us by the units in front.

At last we were told to move forward, and I had to take my Intelligence Section in advance of the battalion and drop them off at suitable places on the route to the forming-up place, to ensure that the

battalion kept to the right route. The route lay through orchards and fields and over a concrete bridge held by our forward troops. I posted the guides and we reached the scrub which was our forming-up place successfully. From there we had to march on a compass bearing across fields to the village. I had to be with the leading section of the leading platoon so as to keep them on the bearing. We hit off the village success-fully - from about 200 yards away at the first light you could just make out the buildings. The leading company then joined B.H.Q. in a nearby wood. There was some firing on both sides, and mortaring, and then the prisoners started coming in. The first two were stretcher-bearers found in a barn. One other man in the I section and I interrogated them briefly as they came in and then passed them back to brigade. The Germans apparently fought for the first 1/4 hour and then gave themselves up, having to be routed out of the bottom of their slit-trenches where they were cowering. All-told about 40 prisoners were taken, and when the village was cleaned we all moved in and installed ourselves. It was all finished by about 7.30 a.m. but prisoners were found through-out the rest of the day hiding in hedges, etc. One threw a grenade near B.H.Q. about 1/2 hour after we had occupied the place and then surrendered. He had a mate - a telephonist - still in his trench, and we made him rout him out. I think the telephonist had sent a message back to his headquarters because shortly afterwards shell-fire came down on us from enemy guns.

The rest of the morning I dozed; at lunch time about 30 of us were standing

in the lobby of the house where B.H.Q. was, dishing out the food, when a shell flew straight through the wall. The shell probably exploded on hitting the wall of the house, but a rent was torn in it, and there was an explosion and the whole place filled with bits of wood slate and tiles and dust, making the lobby go pitch black. It's a marvel the casualties were as small as they were considering it was a direct hit on the room where we were standing. I got away with a bruised and grazed left calf - I had some stuff put on it by the M.O. Actually the skin was broken, but apart from the bruises caused by the flying missile no damage was done. During the shelling in the afternoon we lay in the Jerries' slit trenches, and I then fixed up a abode for myself in a concrete recess - a sort of vat - in one of the barns outside.

In the evening I washed and shaved and after stand-to went to bed feeling rather tired, having had no sleep for 36 hours. During the previous night, by the way, everyone but I thought we were lost - they all hadn't the slightest idea of the way; and today they all have been full of praises over my navigation.

I picked up a German knife-bayonet - a sort of short sword - in the telephonist's slit-trench, which I am keeping as a souvenir.

Sunday 20 August. This morning I was too tired to get up for breakfast, and just lay dosing in my vat till 12 o'clock

I then got up and washed and saved and had lunch. After lunch I got the latest news on the battle - map from brigade and took it out to the companies in the nearby orchards. I also looked through the contents of a German map-case; We are still in occupation of the village we took yesterday, and I am sitting under a tree writing this at 7 o'clock p.m. in the garden of the house where B.H.Q is; though near a slit-trench in case any shells come. We have just had news of the landing of parachutists on the Seine, so the war seems to be going well.

By the way, the wall where the shell came through was only lathe and plaster with a slate skin; we thought the house was built of brick!

I'll close down now so that this can go with the Administrative officer, who is going back to base in a few minutes.

Letter 25 missing.

12th Parachute Regt.

B.L.A.

Letter 26. 25 August 44.

This morning I received both Mamma's letter of the 19 August and Daddy's of the 20 August. I'm glad that the W.O. have at any rate replied and not shelved it - though they have taken almost 2 months to get as far as they have.

I forgot to mention that the other day I found a German map of Normandy with one of their invasion maps of England printed on the reverse. The coincidence was more strange that one of the parts of the Invasion map was Leicestershire south

of Scalford, and the other was the Louth district of Lincolnshire! I am keeping it to bring home - it must be almost 4 years old now.

I don't know how Mamma thinks I can carry soap flakes with me for washing clothes! I'm like a pack-horse now. The places where the bits of shrapnel hit are O.K. now.

Thursday. 24 August. This morning after breakfast I had a haircut given me by one of the Intelligence Section. As we were going to move again this morning I packed up and went ahead of the battalion to an orchard where the battalion was going to concentrate, so that I could parcel the company areas for the companies as they arrived.
Apparently the Germans withdrew from the town nearby last night, so we could go through it over the remnants of the bridges without having to make a river crossing on foot. We then moved from the orchard through the town, which was absolutely destroyed. The Germans had filled the houses with petrol and explosive, and then set them off, so that the sides of the houses collapsed onto the roads to block the streets, and the fires burnt the remnants. The two or three bridges in the town were blown, but we crossed over the metal girders, though the town was impassable to vehicles. It started to rain now, which was a good thing, because the rain cooled us as we marched along the uphill road on the far side of the river where we passed a few burnt-out German vehicles.
After 1 ¹/₂ hours we came to a blown railway bridge which blocked the road - the

railway ran along an embankment, and the bricks and rubble of the bridge had fallen down onto the road and blocked it with a ridge of debris. Here our brigade stopped to take up a defensive position so that other troops could pass through us to give us a rest. Our position was round a village on a hill on the left of the road, and after a rather wearisome climb we installed ourselves in the nearby farms. The rain had stopped by now, but we were pretty wet.
The people in the farm where we are at B.H.Q. are very good, plying all and sundry with cider and calvados (a foul fiery water, supposedly wine), and tonight have killed us a hen and are producing some potatoes.

During the evening we dug slit-trenches- one shell later caught the corner of the farmhouse and a splinter wounded one of my Intelligence people, the hairdresser. I spent the night in the house on the ground floor in case it rained again; but it wasn't very comfortable, because the flagstones were so hard and radiated the cold.

Fri.25 August. This morning I re-organised the maps and did a bit of sunbathing in the farm yard. This afternoon 3 Italians were brought in from a nearby wood, who had been working for the Germans. I also cleaned my weapons. I'm now writing this at 7.15.p.m. and am going to Brigade to get the news and then have our chicken supper!

P.S. Today has been lovely and fine and the R.A.F. have been making the most of it, judging by the number of planes overhead.
The Germans have been retreating so fast that I suppose we shall be on the move again tomorrow; so I am going to wash and air my feet tonight.

Return To War Diaries

Return to Homepage

Permission is granted for all free personal and non-commercial uses. It is my intention to make all data contained herein freely available for all private, non-profit and non-commercial uses. Commercial use of any portion contained herein is expressly prohibited.