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D Day confusion
We were told that a few of us would be part of the 3rd Canadian Division D Day
landing, to take posession of a predetermined field and clear any obstacles for
the aircraft.There was to be a main body on foot and two vehicles, I had a jeep
and was accompanied by an RAF fitter.
After the security of the Concentration Area camp we in the vehicles, having
been briefed and paid in French money, were surprised to be let free to travel on
our own to the docks via another camp.
At the docks I lost touch with the other vehicle, the jeep had been used as a
runaround and the waterproofing had to be renewed.
On board the landing craft a larger than life Canadian sergeant major regaled
me with tales of being a mercenary in China.
We beached OK but the ramp was dropped on the edge of a bomb crater and a
gun which was first off blocked our exit all day so we finally went onto a raft, this
also beached on the edge of a crater and I heard the chap steering reply to the
abuse from his sergeant,’Well it wasn’t here when we left’
I couldn’t understand why the Oerlikon gunners were not firing on planes that
came over little more than mast height but they told me they were ordered to fire
only on planes that were attacking their ship, though they wouldn’t know this
until it was too late. I came to the conclusion that as my jeep was surrounded by
halftracks full of ammunition the skipper was being cautious!
After landing, the road we were on was shot up by Focke Wulfes and when
afterwards we went round the corner there was the sergeant major threatening
his own men with two revolvers if they didn’t fire at the planes overhead, the
problem was they were the spitfires that had chased the jerries off.
Not Fully in the Picture
We were late for our rendezvous so had to find Div HQ, I asked an intelligence
officer at a road junction and he gave me a map reference so we set off and
soon found that we were very much on our own, finally seeing an old lady I tried
my french for the first time asking were we on the right road to Hermanville , all I
got was ‘oui oui les boche’ which wasn’t encouraging. Eventually we came to a
village in process of being cleared by infantry only to see that they were British
,not Canadian! Although we were in the middle of the Canadian bridgehead our
intelligence officer had given me 3rd British map reference instead of 3rd
Canadian. After dodging some shellfire , but not knowing whose we arrived at
3rd British Div HQ where we explained to the Canadian liaison officer how we
got there , he got excited and went off to ‘tell (them)’ the road was clear! Happily
we made our return escorted by an armoured car !

Outnumbered
We finally found the rest of our party who were being sniped at from a wood
adjoining the field, four men had tried to flush him out they had to retreat after
one man was wounded.We subsequently found that there was an underground
bunker with 200 germans in the wood and the infantry before us had had no
luck. We found another field and a week or two later I understand the area was
cleared and heavy bombers took them out.
The problem cost us , our planes had to land at our Squadron HQ field , they
had crossed the channel without rear observers and when they flew the short
distance to our second field my section pilot was shot down by a German fighter.
Proving our worth
We took part in the attack on Le Havre, a heavy bomber raid was planned and
for a week before we were spotting every anti aircraft unit in the city. When the
planes started to arrive two divisions of artillery opened up and the german guns
were wiped out.After the war I had a look at Bomber Commmand’s War Diary,
992 planes took part with no casualties.

Taking a chance in the blackout
Called out from rest to back up the Americans in the Ardennes we went into
civvy billets before crossing the Meuse, the weather stopped all flying,
One night a villager called at my billet to say there was a suspicious character in
the station waiting room, my mate and I went to check him out and for some
reason my mate wasn’t armed.
We went through a blackout lobby to enter the waiting room and our suspect
was lying on a bench, he was just getting up and realising we were about to
arrest and search him when the lights went out!
My finger was on the trigger and I knew if he was trouble I would be his target,
taking a chance I took a long and quiet sideways step and fortunately he didn’t
move , was probably more scared than I was.
What had happened was that another man had decided to stop him getting out
of the door on the other side of the building, that door had no lobby, just a switch
for the lights!
It turned out he was a member of the French Maquis, had tagged on to the
Americans but decided it was time to go home.
This memory comes back to me every time I read of trigger happy policeman
shooting an unarmed man.

Somebody is watching
While advancing with the Polish Armoured Brigade , they mostly used the roads
but we had to go off to find a suitable field , just over the border from Holland the
ground was very soft and on one occasion all our vehicles except mine were
bogged down over a considerable distance, I managed to reach our site on my
own , everyone else was digging out.
I was parked alongside a small wood ,there was a clear sky and a full moon
giving that ghostly clarity to everything.
I was convinced I was being watched, couldn’t leave the vehicle so resigned
myself to what might happen.
When others started to arrive one found he was by a path leading to a small
cottage in the wood and decided to see what he could find without my knowing
so he wasn’t aware of my suspicions.
Apparently as he peered around a corner of the cottage a German poked his
head around the other corner, George only had a candle which he instinctively
pointed at the german who started laughing, after George called for help we
found that we had seven prisoners on our hands.
There was a pitched battle going on in a nearby village and as the war was in it’s
final stages they had evidentlly had enough, otherwise I wouldn’t be writing this!

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