EM Shelley’s Wartime Experiences part 3: Crossing Europe, 1944 — VE Day 1945

On the morning of 6th June we witnessed a sky full of our bombers as far as the eye could see, heading South. This went on for a considerable time, and we knew that D Day had arrived. A few days later we were mobilised to move to the London area of the King George V docks, where we bivouacked out on a clear bombed area until it was time to go forward for embarkation. The doodlebugs were now more frequently arriving in the city. Some would glide off after the jet engine cut out until they came down shortly afterwards. Others would go round in a wide circle until they fell to explode, and there were those that suddenly came straight down at full throttle. Fortunately none landed on our area.

Some delay had occurred in movement because of gales in the Channel, (19, 20, 21st), but we then began to embark on American LSTs (Landing Ship Tanks). These had a lower and upper deck, reached by ramps. My 15cwt Signals Truck was on the upper. The ships were all loaded by evening and the next morning they all proceeded along the Thames to reach the Channel. I remember it as a gloriously sunny day as we proceeded towards Normandy, with the ships in a convoy line, with a Destroyer at the head and one at the rear. Meanwhile the food provide by the American crew was first class. Soon we were to be on hard tack for a week or two. The date was 23rd June.

We arrived off what we learned later was 'Gold Beach' and the ships all turned to face shore and moved in to rest on the beach area. As the tide soon receded we disembarked and that was about six or seven o'clock in the evening. I think this was near Port en Bessin. We drove off through an area marked with white tapes in a track cleared from mines. It was now getting dark but we were not allowed to use our truck lights, this made following the one in front difficult. We were aware next of driving over cobbles with buildings close by, which we learned later was the edge of Bayeux. Eventually we stopped in what appeared to be a small sand quarry for the night. We could hear the shells from the Navy coming from the sea towards the enemy as they crack1ed overhead. W~ kept fairly quiet ourselves because we were not sure how close we were to the active front line, but we were in fact still some distance away.

My first experience of front line activity was when Jim Packer and I were taken to the infantry positions on an area known as Hill 112. We were the radio operators along with a Lieutenant and a Sergeant to man an observation post with the job of locating the direction of enemy mortar positions and reporting by rapid code so that a similar timed report from a post farther along would provide a co-ordinate to pinpoint them. Then our artillery would attack them. We were taken to the position by Jeep and left with our gear for 48 hours and fed by the infantry. We were warned by them that the line was shelled every evening at about 6 o'clock. Sure enough this is what happened and although it only lasted for a short time, which seemed for ever, it was terrifying. But we survived. The first of many different experiences of 'active service'.

In the attacks concentrating on breaking out of Normandy there was the sight of hundreds of bombers in the sky attacking the outskirts of Caen. History tells us this was July 7th.

This, I believe, was Operation 'Charnwood'. On the 18th July there was an even bigger aerial bombardment for the onset of the next major attack, Operation 'Goodwood'. This attack was not as successful for the ground troops, causing a large number of casualties with our men and tanks.

The worst experience I remember out of Normandy was when the German armies were surrounded excepting for a gap in the area of Falaise. This is often referred to as the' Battle of Falaise Gap'. As we travelled through the aftermath later it was tragic to see the carnage evident everywhere, with the awful odour of death in the air.

Thereafter followed quite a period when we were constantly on the move as the German Army retreated Eastwards. At this time the absence of the Luftwaffe meant a change of role for our Anti Aircraft guns. The Radio units were used to monitor road movements of the Division, which meant we often had to travel ahead to a location and then report the situation as the Regiment rolled by. As the advance progressed so well we found ourselves being greeted by crowds of people at times who cheered us on our way. We also came occasionally upon the locals shaving the heads of women they considered guilty of collaborating with the German occupiers. With our signals truck we were somewhat independent, having to live on the open road most of the time. We did meet an American airman at one stage; he had been hidden by folk after his plane had been shot down. We pointed him to the West afterwards.

As the campaign progressed we eventually travelled onwards on what was my 21st birthday-- the people cheering us as we passed were the only guests that day, 8th September, 1944.

Our Regtl signals section became designated as 53rd Welsh Division Counter Mortar Battery, although this only became the official name on 6th November, 1944. In the meantime we carried on in the role and before that date our truck was sent into Antwerp to set up an observation post in the tower of a Church next to Pollepol Straat. The city was being sporadically shelled from the Docks area at the time. We had to haul the heavy radio and batteries up to the top of the tower where we could set up the observation. It was a very high climb up an awful lot of steps, but a good viewpoint towards the Docks where the German guns were.

We were able to park our truck in a garage in the Straat where the people made us welcome, did some laundry for us, and let us sleep with the truck for the day or two we were there. They had some relationshjp with folk in N.W. England and told us how they had fooled the Germans over what had happened to the spare tyres from their garage business by hiding them under the stair treads in there, and providing proof of sales.

In the Straat I met a young man named Robert van Regemortal, who was a member of Scouting and told me how they had helped the community with first aid etc., and they supported the underground movement, called the 'White Brigade', I think.

Our movements thereafter were through Belgium and Holland to various locations whose names never seriously registered because of the constant moves. I recall that at times in Holland we were involved in having observation post duties up front, which was a bit hairy because the only useful observation points were usually Church towers, which was a give away to the enemy who could make things uncomfortable. We did see some of the air activity which was part of the airborne assault on Arnhem. As our 53rd Division was a section of 30 Corp we were later involved in the advance to break through to them. This was fatally delayed by enemy activity so it was sometime later that we arrived in the area. The bridge at Nijmegen had a ramp at the start, put in place by Royal Engineers to replace a section blown by the enemy. There was a constant smoke screen so the Germans were not sure of our moves. This meant we drove our trucks over one at a time as fast as we could when given the signal.

The Division only stayed in the Nijmegen bridgehead for a short time, but while we were there we saw much evidence of the Airborne gliders and parachute silks all over the place. The next area where our Division was heavily involved was the battle at Hertogenbosch.

What I remember about this period in Holland was the first sight of a German jet plane, vary briefly, and the V2 rockets going up in the night sky in the distance; we didn't know at the time they were aimed at London.

Some time later we were supposed to prepare for the river crossings jnto Germany, but were suddenly moved to take up position NE of Brussels because the German Army had broken through the Americans in the Belgium Ardennes. We were put up in local houses and told we would probably stay there over Christmas. It was then Christmas Eve.

On the morning we were wakened at about 4a.m. and told we would move at 5a.m. towards the Ardennes. We reached as far as Mettet in time for the cooks to provide us with a Xmas dinner of sausage and mash.

It was a very snowy, wintry, scene and the Americans we met told us how they had been surprised by the sudden attack. Soon after they were able to bring in their own reinforcements and we pulled back to somewhere in the area of Liege. We stayed in a sizeable village for a few days. The history of the Division suggests this was a place named Tilff. The locals accommodated us in their houses where possible for us to sleep, quite a change. The Unit set up a mess hall in one of the larger houses. The VI flying bombs had appeared again, quite a number flying very close over this area, some landed in the local vicinity. We reckoned they were trying to hit concentrations of Army units.

On the 9th January, 1945, the Division left for an area just East of Eindhoven to a place named Nunen. The move was carried out in extremely cold conditions, with a biting wind and snow. The plans were to prepare with other Divisions, the 51st (Highland), 15th (Scottish), for the assault in the Rhineland through the Reichswald forest area. The conditions became very boggy with the weather, but the infantry and other sections had the worst of it. The infantry, in particular, had some very tough battles, and in very difficult conditions. We were fortunate in that respect. A particular hazard for us was the occasional air burst from the German 88mm guns, these would explode at about 40 to 50 feet height, showering lethal shrapnel.

As the war progressed I find it difficult to recall anything in real detail, excepting that things eventually became quieter. I was fortunate in being amongst a batch to be given home leave for a week or ten days. That was towards the end of hostilities; in fact I arrived back at a staging post at Osnabruck on what turned out to be VE day. There was no great celebration, only a cup of tea in the NAAFI.

This story was entered onto the People’s War site by Jenni Waugh, BBC Outreach Officer, on behalf of EM Shelley who accepts the site’s terms & conditions. For the other 3 chapters, see www.bbc.co.uk/ww2/A5090933, A5090979 and A5091077

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