My War in Two Armies: Part 10 of 10 - From D-Day to Brussels

April 1944 was a period of preparation for the final purpose of all our training, the Allied invasion of Europe, or Second Front as it was sometimes called. We were now getting ready for our move to the south of England and the points of embarkation, along with all other units stationed in Scotland. Our Section (49) was undergoing a few changes in its personnel: our CO Lt F.W. Rudd and Sgt Major J. Mills both stayed, but we were sorry to lose Cpl R.H. Wilson and L/Cpl D. Smart. Three newcomers were soon to join the section, namely Sgt I.W. Snook from Exmouth; L/Cpl L. Llewellyn-Davies from London; and L/Cpl J.E. Woodland from London.

Most of us spoke French in varying degrees of fluency and one or two spoke German. I was regarded as being the French ‘“expert” with L/Cpl “Bob” Smith a close second. Our transport was composed of one 3cwt Ford truck, one jeep and several 350cc Matchless motorcycles. Our armaments were pistols and Sten guns.

49 Section now consisted of the following twelve members: Lt Rudd; Sgt Major Mills; Sgt Snook; Sgt Smith; Cpl Burns; L/Cpl Bob Smith; L/Cpl Appleby; L/Cpl Lewis; L/Cpl Vila; L/Cpl Llewellyn-Davies; L/Cpl Woodland; and Pte Jenkin.

In the early morning of the 6th May 1944 the section left Fort William using its own transport; every vehicle fully loaded with all our kit. We arrived at our destination of Southend-on-Sea on the 9th May having covered some 613 miles in four days, travelling in long convoys in company with numerous other units of the army all proceeding south, avoiding large towns en route. The nights were spent in camps set up along the route, everything wonderfully well-organised considering the massive movement of troops and equipment which was taking place under strict security conditions. Our postal address was now to be “49 F.S.S. Army Post Office, England” and we remained at Southend until the 9th June 1944.

The whole of that month was employed in completing our preparations for the invasion that was soon to come, yet no one knew where or when it would take place. The section was busily engaged in various jobs such as waterproofing our vehicles, painting identification marks, collecting stores, receiving briefing instructions etc. During this time we were billeted in a private house in the western outskirts of Southend. I was able to obtain one 24 hour leave for a brief visit to Ann and Johnnie.

Invasion day “D Day” on the 6th June was heralded by a mighty air armada which started well before dawn and continued throughout the day. Aircraft of all types, British and American, were heading southwards at varying heights in large and small formations, some being well out of sight, only vapour trails being visible. Although the exact date of D Day was a closely guarded secret, there was no doubt in anyone’s mind that the big operation was on; there was a general sense of excitement and anticipation which no one could escape. Confirmation of the events were soon to be made known to the nation by special news bulletins on the BBC. We, as a section, were now wondering when it would be our turn to leave Southend, as the large number of troops which had been in the area was shrinking fast. Our turn came on the 9th June and we made our way with a real sense of purpose, joined by other units in convoy to the marshalling area where we camped under canvas for the night. The following day we travelled to Tilbury and spent another night in a tent in the embarkation area.

On the 11th June we embarked at Tilbury docks on an American “Liberty Ship” which sailed the same evening at 5pm down the Thames estuary. The whole of the next day and night was spent lying off Southend, and we finally sailed away at 10pm on the 13th June.

It was not until the following evening, again at 10pm, that we arrived at our destination off Arromanches on the coast of Normandy. Our large convoy of troops and equipment-carrying vessels anchored in the darkness some two or three miles away from the beaches where the first landings had taken place a week earlier. Signs of the D Day shelling and bombing were now clearly visible. We had reached the central area of the landings and the activity around us was enormous and continuous. Small landing craft were ferrying loads of troops from the ships lying over a wide area to the sandy beaches. A concentration of anti-aircraft artillery and balloon barrage was already very much in evidence and so, fortunately, was the absence of enemy aircraft.

The night of the 14th June was spent in sleeping quarters in our ship’s hold which was crammed full of soldiers, the bulk of whom were members of the Royal Corps of Signals. However, during the night and in spite of the total blackout which was enforced, we were awakened by the sound of gunfire immediately above us. A German plane had penetrated the defences and was strafing the decks of our ship while the crew opened fire on the aircraft with their fast-action Oerlikon guns. The next thing we heard was a loud explosion as an enemy plane struck the sea by the stern of our ship. The force of the explosion caused the hatches covering the hold to fall onto the soldiers below causing immense confusion and some casualties. It appeared that the German plane had singled out our ship for attack as it was situated on the outer perimeter of the convoy.

All of the next day, 15th June, was spent landing the troops, their vehicles and equipment; a laborious operation since it was necessary to wait for the outward and return trips of the small landing craft which were being used for this purpose. Our turn finally came late in the afternoon and we had to scramble down over the side of the ship by means of rope nets slung overboard and into the waiting landing craft, a tricky business when fully kitted up and with a slight swell motioning the small craft to and from the side of the ship. However, we all managed to drop into the right place and when all were safely aboard the little craft headed towards the wide beach close on three miles away and situated some two to three miles east of the cliffs which encased the little seaside resort of Arromanches-les-Bains. When our craft struck the sand and could go no further, the ramp forming the fore-part of the craft was lowered and we proceeded to disembark into the water with our motorcycles revving at full throttle until we reached dry land.

The time was now 7pm and all had gone well with the landings without any interference on the part of the enemy for which I at least was thankful. We immediately made our way inland and camped in a field a couple of miles from where we had landed and here spent our first night in France. The “bridgehead” which had been well established during the first week of the invasion had enabled an early start to be made on the construction of the “Mulberry” harbour which was already beginning to take shape opposite Arromanches beach when we arrived. It would of course be some time before the artificial dock could be used to unload the ships and large landing craft. At the time we arrived in Normandy the battle front in the British Sector was situated somewhere between Bayeux and Caen, about 10 miles south from the coast, and 20 to 30 miles wide in an east/west direction. Our section was in General Montgomery’s 21st Army Group and our particular job was to take care of the security of the area immediately surrounding the little fishing port and village of Port-en-Bessin situated approximately 8 miles west of Arromanches, and where we arrived the following evening at 8pm. We were billeted in the village school and set to work immediately on our field and port security duties which included the oil installations, tanks and pipelines situated outside the village.

Our work brought us into constant touch with the local French authorities and in particular the gendarmerie, and with what remained of the population of the village which had returned after evacuating the vicinity of the coast during the surprise bombardment on D Day. We were especially concerned with the prevention of possible sabotage of the oil installations and other military targets by enemy agents or pro-German elements amongst the local people. Fortunately our work was not made difficult in this connection as the French police and other officials as well as the villagers were usually only too ready to co-operate with us in bringing to our attention any suspicious incident or person whose identity was not known to them.

Daytime was usually free from German air activity but practically every night brought raids by small numbers of enemy aircraft which were usually repulsed quickly by the effective action of the anti-aircraft defences of which there was no shortage in the vicinity of the landing area. The American sector was situated to the immediate west of Port-en-Bessin and GIs were frequent visitors to the village cafés.

We remained in Port-en-Bessin until the 1st August 1944 on which date we took over the port security duties at Arromanches from another field security section. When we arrived we found that the Mulberry was a very different place to the early construction work which was being carried out when we landed. The artificial port was now completed and handling vast quantities of men and equipment of all sorts, as well as large numbers of German prisoners of war arriving from the interior in long marching columns on their way to England. Our activities at Arromanches were similar to those at Port-en-Bessin except that the area we had to patrol was greater and extended as far south as Bayeux.

On the 3rd September 1944 we departed from Arromanches in the wake of the Allied advance through France towards Belgium. We covered long distances with our motorcycles, the jeep and the Ford truck, passing through Normandy towns and villages until we arrived at Rouen with its partly demolished bridges over the River Seine. Then on to Amiens, Faches and finally reached Lille on the 6th September.

The north of Normandy had only recently been liberated when we passed through and the welcome we received from the local people after four years of German occupation was a memorable experience. The roads through the towns and villages were thickly lined by wildly excited people waving and cheering us on and only too pleased to take us into their homes for a drink whenever this was possible.

We stayed in Lille until the 16th September and were billeted in a building in the centre of this large town and which had previously been used as headquarters by the Germans. The journey from Lille to Brussels was made in one day and our first address in the Belgian capital was in a sumptuous house in the avenue Jacques Jordan (off avenue Louise) a former Gestapo HQ. On the 18th September we moved to 33 boulevard Botanique and on 20th September to 24 boulevard Bischofsheim where we remained a little longer. Our work at that time was dealing with people who were suspected of having collaborated with the Germans. This involved much interrogating and house searching. We had the invaluable co-operation of the Brussels police force in rounding up would-be enemy agents and sympathisers. When off-duty it was not difficult to find entertainment with the generous hospitality of the inhabitants of Brussels. I was a frequent visitor to three or four Belgian families, such as M and Mme Bartholomée (Philippe and Andrée) who I got to know through my good friend Bob Smith. Their kindness and hospitality will always be remembered.

On the 27th October 1944 our section moved once again, but this time to Intelligence Corps Field HQ in Brussels which was situated in several large houses in the avenue de Tervuren. Here we were joined by a number of other FF Sections for the purposes of reorganisation, training and briefing in preparation for the final phase of the war in Europe and the occupation of Germany.

While we were in Brussels enemy attacks by day and night with the “V1” flying bomb were a frequent occurrence and on the 10th November one of those bombs fell in the grounds of our HQ, partly destroying the building which at the time was full of our personnel preparing for afternoon lectures. I was walking towards the building when the bomb dropped unexpectedly, without any of the usual unmistakable sound made by these “buss-bombs” before their motor cuts out: perhaps the missile was a V2 rocket. Anyway, there were many casualties, civilian and military, caused mainly by blast and flying glass and several of our chaps were taken to hospital; there were also a number of fatalities. New premises were occupied nearby and our training continued, despite the number recovering in hospital.

Early in December 1944 I was taken sick with a chronic infection of the sinus, probably as a result of a head cold and bad weather. I had to attend hospital for treatment, was x-rayed and finally admitted on 13th December to No 8 British General Hospital in Brussels. During my treatment in hospital my section (49), which had now been reorganised, left Brussels IC Field HQ for Lille in northern France and that was to be the end of my association with 49 Section of which I had been a member since October 1943.

I was able to go out for the first time on the 31st December and visited some of my Belgian friends who had been kind enough to visit me in hospital. On the 5th January 1945 I was evacuated from Brussels by air and arrived the same day at Swindon from where I was taken to a hospital in Birmingham. I stayed there for a few days until I was transferred to St Luke’s Hospital in Huddersfield on 18th January. From there I was able to make frequent visits home. I was discharged from hospital on 2nd March and posted to No 105 Military Convalescent Depot at Halifax from where I was eventually re-graded to medical category C2.

VE Day was celebrated on Tuesday 8th May 1945 and declared a public holiday, but the great event for us was the return home of my brother Jean on the 12th May 1945, after having been a prisoner-of-war in Poland for five years. I met him at Huddersfield station at 9pm. He was actually liberated with his comrades by the Americans on 29th April 1945 near the town of Landshuts in Germany.

On 25th May I was finally discharged from the Convalescent Depot at Halifax and after 11 days leave I reported to the Intelligence Corps Depot at Wentworth.

On 5th July I was posted to a Port Security Section at Plymouth (Devon).

VJ Day was celebrated on Wednesday 15th August 1945.

My final release from service in the Army came on 30th August at Taunton from where I collected my discharge documents and civilian clothing “demob suit”. I left Plymouth on the same day and returned home to Huddersfield where I arrived on 31st August 1945.

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