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On 1st July Dick's 61st Recce 'B' Squadron were involved in the defence of the British front-line from an attack by 1st SS Panzer Corps near Grainville-sur-Odon, between Caen and Villers-Bocage. Eric Brewer, of the Assault Troop, was in a forward position directing mortar and artillery fire on the enemy. A General inspected their position on 3rd July – presumably Lt-General Bucknall, the commander of XXX Corps.
Dick may also have been on, or ahead of, the front-line – Eric Postles remembers that for most of July 'B' Squadron was operating independently from 'A' and 'C' and troops often worked alone. In his letter of 4th July Dick says he is "having a rest in a fairly safe area"… apart from the occasional hedge-hopping ME109 or the odd mortar bomb". He was in an orchard (as usual in Normandy), next to a beautiful château with a moat, and had just received all of Chotie's letters dating back to 13th May.
Eric Brewer was also back at base and very pleased to hand in his bike – the Assault Troop were now given half-tracks. Tony Rampling had been right to dread the prospect of handling a a bren gun on a bicycle. Sandy Handley, also in Dick's troop, was in a Light Humber but when this ran into a mound on patrol they couldn't steer and were "stuck in the middle of nowhere" for 24 hours. At dawn they watched as a British Infantry attack half a mile away was mortared by the Germans until Allied artillery opened up on the enemy. The REME (Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers) came out to rescue them but in Bayeux they found they didn't have spares for "these old things". Sandy was assigned a Bren carrier instead, which was "pretty hairy with no cover like my turret on the armoured cars". Sandy's Humber was repaired with a "drop off an old ambulance" and restored to him by mid-July. German infantry relied largely on horse-drawn vehicles for transport and Anthony Rampling recalls a road blocked with dead horses in their carts near Caen. One horse was still alive and he tried to put it out of its misery.
Another attack on Caen, Operation Charnwood, began on 8th July with heavy Allied bombing of the city, which inflicted terrible damage on civilians and the old city while missing most of the German defences in trying to avoid the Allies' front-line. 61st Recce were continually cautious of 'friendly fire' even though they had "red and yellow fluorescent panels on display to identify us" (Eric Postles). They also had to be particularly careful returning from patrol to their own front-line.
Dick wrote to Chotie on 9th July. At his last location he'd "got his feet under the table" at the farm, sharing whisky and Calvados with the inhabitants, including four female refugees they were sheltering. On 8th July he'd managed to buy a pig, which they roasted and ate. (Eric Postles remembers his troop helping themselves to a sheep, which they cooked in ammunition tins.)
Eric Brewer was at Grainville-sur-Odon on 9th July, which had just been taken by their infantry. From 10th July XXX Corps were involved in the Second Battle of the Odon, to disrupt German re-organisation after Operation Charnwood and distract from the preparations for Operation Goodwood (which required 8,000 tanks and armoured vehicles to cross the Orne and assemble ready for the initial bombardment). The Germans had vacated the north and west of Caen during Charnwood but still held a heavily defended position south-east of the city – the infamous Bourgébus Ridge.
50th Division, and Dick's former unit the 43rd Division, took part in major attacks south from Grainville-sur-Odon towards Evrecy from 10th July resulting in a high number of casualties and little progress. The 50th also attempted to take Hottot-les-Bagues (just south of Tilly-sur-Seules) on the 9th and 11th July – Eric Postles remembers 61st Recce holding the right flank for the 1st Hampshires as they attacked on 11th July.
On 12th July Dick wrote briefly that he was "having a quiet day today" and searching for a friend reported missing in action. Eric Brewer's letters and diary reveal that they were careful to give the impression, to those at home, that they were much safer and further from the front-line than the Recce business required. They were also anxious about the effects of the V1 rocket bombs back in Blighty.
On 12th July Eric Brewer had moved to a new position with active German mortars and snipers and was there until the 14th. On the 15th July XXX Corps commence Operation Greenline around Gavrus, Evrecy and Esquay-Notre-Dame (south of Grainville-sur-Odon) and on 16th July, Operation Pomegranate near Noyers-Bocage (west of Grainville-sur-Odon). They gain little ground (although 50th Division at last took Hottot-les-Bagues on the 19th) but amassed 3,500 casualties by 17th July - the Germans had 2,000.
On 16th July Eric Brewer mentions the surrender of "6 Gerrys". Sandy Handley recalled six soldiers and an officer surrendering to their troop – Dick interrogated the officer in German without success so they dismounted and searched the woods on foot. Six more Germans surrendered.
Dick sent Chotie a postcard of a Normandy wedding in traditional costume on the 17th July and told her he was "in the pink". He was about to endure one of the worst times for 61st Recce during the war – Briquessard. This was a long narrow wood on a slope east of Caumont-l'Éventé and bang on the front-line. 61st Recce were required to leave their vehicles to play an infantry role, taking over from the American 101st Airborne Division ('the Screaming Eagles') in slit trenches and dug-outs.
As they took over their two man trench in the dark Sandy recalled Dick visiting them saying "The enemy is not so far away, maybe 100 yards or more, so be as quiet as possible. Remember, he's doing the same as you, listening."
Mornings and evenings were not so quiet – the Germans subjected their positions to salvos of shells from Nebelwerfers , the German multi-barrelled mortars nicknamed 'Moaning Minnies' for their horrible screaming sound. In return they received a barrage of artillery fire from the Essex Yeomanry to the rear of 61st Recce. Sandy recalls German aircraft dive-bombing the artillery in response. One night the Recce's Regimental HQ in the middle of the wood received a direct hit from Nebelwerfers.
Dick wrote to Chotie on 21st July complaining of the week of rain they'd just had (which put an end to Operation Goodwood) but "On the rare occasions that the sun does shine I have a wonderful view here, which tends to compensate a little for the everlasting mists which hang over the river valley I overlook. I can't explain the job we're on at the moment, but it's a pretty miserable one and we'll all be glad when we get something else." A friend of his had been wounded the previous night.
The Troopers took turns to do 24 hour duty lying flat in the Listening Post – a crudely scraped-out trench for 4 or 5 men, 20 yards to the front with a field telephone to link up with the men behind. Once when Tony Rampling was in the Listening Post they didn't have any food so Dick crawled out, carrying a bag of food in his mouth for them and risking the German snipers. When Sandy Handley momentarily forgot the trench drill and stood up in the open two bullets immediately whistled past his ears.
'Foot patrol' at night meant crawling out on your stomach. Roy Howard https://www.chotiedarling.co.uk/my-blog/2014/07/ss-panzer-grenadier-regiment.html returned with an SS Panzer Grenadier jacket one night only to be sent out again another night to confirm the unit identification. They became caught in cross-fire between British machine-guns and the Germans who used flare guns to reveal their position. Roy escaped with a perforated ear-drum but his companion was critically wounded.
The pressure and deprivations of Briquessard were unrelenting. Colonel Brownrigg reminisced that "For the rest of the campaign we used to judge all 'black spots' by reference to Briquessard. Anything described as 'worse than Briquessard' stank."
Dick wrote to Chotie on 28th July:
61st Recce Regt RAC
Friday July 28th
Chotie Darling,
Received your last batch of letters in very good time. So here goes in reply.
Glad to hear you got the card OK – they're the only sort we're allowed to send, needless to say, and as you remark it was gay if nothing else.
Hope to get a few days rest shortly when I'll be able to write you more fully than at the moment. Actually there's practically nothing to write about, owing to the security restrictions. I can't tell you where I am or even what we're doing. You'll just have to wait until we can get together again, preferably around a thick fireplace, sometime in the autumn, after a tea of hot buttered muffins…..
What absolute rot that bloke does talk!
There's a slight pause at the moment for tea, which my troop Sergeant is endeavouring to brew whilst keeping himself and the smoke under cover…. The word 'brew' has become very popular in Army Slang. A knocked out tank is referred to as 'brewed-up' etc, etc. Also of course the old saw – "When in doubt, "brew-up" …."
Well, my Precious, I've just had some tea – bread + processed cheese and a bar of choc, and biscuits, so I'll be alright until the morning.
Just had three letters (from home & Diller). Bryn had a good time on leave apparently. Diller said he went to work on the new barmaid at the 'Beach'. She caught him in the act of giving her some coupons! That sounds pretty ghastly to me, though you know how irreproachably innocent Brinner is….
About half an hour ago I put my hand in my battle dress pocket straight on top of a razor blade which removed approx. ¼" off one of my fingers. As if my hands weren't cut about enough already.
In a very charming spot at the moment – must come here after the war*. I'd love to come back here if only to be able to walk about as I pleased without having to duck all the time!
It's difficult to judge this countryside owing to the devastation but I know of many more beautiful spots in England. There is however a certain charm, perhaps due to the fact that things are 'different' in some small way, from England. They have no timbered buildings, of course, everything being built of grey stone, very much akin to the Cotswold style. There seems to be no deviation from this general custom.
Wish I could have heard the last concert you saw – the old 5th** wants a lot of beating. Last time I heard it was in Folkestone just before Xmas.
I fancy I'd better close here as things are warming up.
*Sandy Handley and Anthony Rampling did just that, visiting with other veterans in 2004. (Tony is on the left and Sandy on the right in this photo).
**Presumably Beethoven's 5th Symphony – Beethoven's symphonies are mentioned in letter December 10th 1943 and Beethoven in January 1944 letters. The opening notes were used as code to announce the D Day landings to the French resistance on BBC radio.
The only time Tony disobeyed an order from Dick was when he was put on guard after 10 sleepless days at Briquessard. He protested "Sorry Sir, I couldn't keep awake" and never heard any more about it.
At last the terrible days at Briquessard came to an end with 'the great surge forward' of Operation Bluecoat, which was preceded by a thousand bomber attack aimed at enemy positons. On 30th July XXX Corps began to advance, with British VIII Corps, south-east from Caumont. 61st Recce passed through the German positions at Briquessard 'high with the smell of corpses' and 'B' Squadron carried out a "textbook reconnaissance into Amayé-sur-Seulles". Unfortunately 50th Division became stuck at Amayé, which was held by the Germans until 2nd August. XXX Corps, who had been ordered to quickly reach Aunay-sur-Odon, were still a few miles short after two days while VIII's Corps 11th Armoured Division had seized a vital bridge over the Soulevre River and taken le Bény-Bocage south of Caumont. Montgomery sacked Lt-General Bucknall from the command of XXX Corps.
In Dick's letter to Chotie of 31st July he has a whole day to himself, a second beer and a second bath so doesn't appear to have been involved in the action. In contrast Eric Brewer, who had spent the first three days of Briquessard at rest camp, was on patrol having grenades thrown at him by the Germans on the 29th, under rifle and mortar fire on the 30th and on recce patrol near Villars-Bocage on the 31st. Eric Postles was also involved in constant patrolling and had a narrow escape when they were penned into a farm by Germans and had to flee through a hole in the wall, leaving their injured behind (although they recovered them later). The Germans had had time to heavily mine the positions all around this area and "one of the most stressful jobs was checking road surfaces where we suspected mines had been laid. The headphones of the mine detectors cut outside sounds. Nobody volunteered for this task " (Eric Postles). A breakout on the British-Canadian front still seemed impossible but the Germans had taken heavy losses of men and materials and were requesting permission to withdraw.
At the beginning of the month Hitler had replaced von Rundstedt with Field-Marshall Gunther-Hans von Kluge as Commander-in-Chief of the Western German Forces. Rommel was injured in a Spitfire attack on 17th July and Kluge also took on the defences of the western wall. Hitler was still directly in control of the OKW (Oberkommando des Wehrmacht – Supreme Command of the Armed Forces) overseeing the Army, Navy and Air Force. Following a failed assassination attempt by von Staffenberg, a German Army Colonel, on 20th July Hitler's paranoia regarding the conventional (non-SS) German Army increased. The Gestapo arrested 5,000 suspected opponents of the regime and the Wehrmacht were all forced to adopt the Heil Hitler greeting instead of their traditional salute. Rommel was suspected of links to the perpetrators and never recovered his status.
Allied Command was also losing faith in his old nemesis, Montgomery, who made optimistic claims that a succession of British-Canadian operations (Epsom, Charnwood and Goodwood) would take Caen and break-out of the bridgehead while in reality achieving only a cautious and limited advance. By 20th July Monty's 21st Army were at last fully in possession of Caen, the large city they had intended to take on D-Day. On 23rd July 21st Army split into Lt-General Crerar's Canadian First Army (with its own separate HQ) and Lt-General Demsey's British Second Army, both directly under Montgomery's command.
With the capture of Cap-de-la-Hague at the beginning of the month the Americans had at last secured the north of the Cherbourg Peninsula and turned their attentions south beginning 'the Battle of the Hedgerows' on 3rd July with slow progress and agonising losses. By 9th July they had taken the important road junction of La-Haye-du-Puits west of Carentan.
Although Kluge was still convinced the Allies' main advance would be in the east, and concentrated the fiercest of his forces there, the Americans still met steadfast defence and ferocious counter-attacks from the Germans in the south of the Cotentin. The large city of Saint-Lô, south of Carentan, was almost completely destroyed by the time it was liberated on 18th July.
On 24th July the US First Army was ready to launch a major new offensive on a narrow concentrated front between Saint-Lô and Periers, to the west. Operation Cobra (it amuses me that the Americans code-named their key initiatives after deadly beasts while the British chose horse race meetings!) began disastrously with the USAAF prematurely bombing the front-line and revealing the location of the advance, then, the next day, accidentally bombing part of the American front-line. The attack went ahead, however, and began rapidly to gain ground with the help of 'Rhinos' – Sherman tanks fitted with 'tusks' that could break through the Normandy hedgerows. Although the Germans stood firm to the east around Percy (south of Saint-Lô) the advance penetrated their lines in the west. Periers and Lessay fell on the 27th, Coutances on the 28th, Granville on the 30th and on 31st July the Americans took Avranches and could turn the corner towards Brittany.
International co-operation, at least among the Allied nations was progressed at the Bretton Woods conference in the United States. Focusing on post-war economic recovery it created the International Monetary Fund and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. The first jet engine, a joint USAAF and RAF project, went into operation on 27th July (although the Germans had their own jet engine in the Messerschmidt Me 262 by August). A Junkers German fighter plane that accidentally landed in Suffolk on 13th July enabled the British to develop counter-measures for the latest German radar devices.
Although the USAAF and the RAF were now predominately involved in support for ground forces in Normandy (and had played a critical role in hindering the movement of German re-enforcements), heavy bombing of German cities still continued with the Americans attacking Leipzig on 7th July and the RAF Stuttgart on the 29th. Germany continued to terrorise south-east England with the V1 rocket bombs.
In Italy the Allied front was steadily advancing north of Rome taking Arezzo (between Florence and Perugia) on the 16th July and Livorno (on the coast west of Florence) on the 19th. Polish forces in the British 8th Army finally captured Ancona, on the coast to the east, on 18th July.
Meanwhile Operation Bagration was sweeping across Eastern Europe. Minsk (now the capital of Belarus) was taken by the Soviets on 3rd July and by 8th July the Germans had lost 300,000 men in three weeks. Vilnius, now the capital of Lithuania, fell on 13th July and the Russians entered Latvia from the south at Dvinsk (now Daugavpils) on the 19th. By the 23rd northern troops were nearing the border of Estonia at Pskov (the last pre-war Russian town to be held by German forces). Progress in Estonia was slower, although, after five months of fighting, the Germans retreated from Narva near the Russian border to take a new defensive line between Lake Peipus and the Gulf of Finland. Further south the Soviets captured Brest-Litovsk, on the border between Belarus and Poland, on the 28th July. The Russians were now just 25 miles from Warsaw and German occupants near the front-line in Poland began to be evacuated. On 23rd July the Red Army had found Majdanek concentration camp, near Lublin – the first major concentration camp to be liberated.
Further east Japan called off the Imphal offensive in India on 3rd July and, with the US victory on Saipan on 9th July, the Japanese Prime Minister, Hidekai Tojo, resigned from office. On 21st July American forces landed on Guam, the largest and most southern of the Marianas Islands, occupied by the Japanese since December 1941.
The Stars and Stripes and the Russian Red Flag were beginning their mighty advance across the world.
Dick was at a camp in the Aldershot area while half his Regiment, including half his troop, were waiting for D-Day on ships in the Solent.
On Monday 5th June he wrote "We're still having quite a good time here, all things considered, though there's very little to do and time is apt to hang rather heavily". He was reading books, walking in the woods and taking 'the boys' to an open-air swimming pool nearby. Writing again the next day he was "up to my neck in this wretched audit board at the moment adding up masses and masses of figures" and had to "bust a couple of sergeants…for absence". This was how he spent D-Day.
Dick and the rest of his troop, including Anthony Rampling, were due to cross to France on D+3 (ie the 9th June) but the sea was too rough and they were delayed. On 10th June Dick wrote to Chotie of drunken parties – he'd been "out every night since D Day". The Hollywood star, Gertrude Lawrence, had given "quite a good show" at his camp.
Dick's next letter is from France. He and Tony went over on Tuesday 13th June (D+7) - although Churchill had made it across on a day trip the previous day. Dick was very re-assuring "everything is fine – I'm in the pink and very happy here" although he was desperately tired, not having slept since Sunday. At some time Dick would have heard that one of his troop on sentry duty in France had shot and killed Corporal Robert Black, confusing the passwords and mistaking Black's Londonderry accent for German.
Tony and Dick rejoined their troop on 14th June. The troop members who went over on D-day had "gained a little battle experience (!) and seen some nasty things". They "felt like veterans compared with the new arrivals." (From Ex Trooper S Handley's '61 Recce - Memories of Normandy 1944 – 1945', unpublished.)
Since D-Day (or D + 1 for Sandy) the skeleton crew of 61st Recce had been engaged with 50th Division and 8the Armoured in an attempt to advance between Bayeux and Caen and take the critical town of Villers-Bocage. Despite some success, in particular taking and holding the high ground of Point 103 (la Belle Épine) near Tilly-sur-Seules, they had been held off by the legendary Panzer Lehr Division, the cream of the German Army in Normandy, and also the fanatical 12th SS Hitler Jugend nearer to Caen.
The 7th Armoured Division (Monty's Desert Rats) had then been tasked with taking Villers-Bocage but were badly beaten by 2nd Division Panzer and the personal triumphs of the Panzer ace Michael Wittman, who destroyed 25 tanks in one day.
They had also discovered the perils of the bocage countryside – small fields with thick high hedges and narrow lanes, which perfectly camouflaged defenders for an ambush. "Recce in Normandy meant driving down a road until something fired at you" (from WW2 Talk Forum)
Chotie Darling,
Well, Sunday's come around again, though it makes no difference at all as every day is exactly the same here. I've put the 18th above but it's only a guess.
I hope to be able to write you more fully here, as I expect to have the rest of the morning free, though we never know when we'll be called.
Had quite a good night – four or five hours solid sleep – the first since I've been here. It takes time to get acclimatised to sleeping in the midst of the terrific artillery racket that goes on nightly. As Dostoevsky says 'Man is a pliable animal – he gets used to anything in time'*.
Weather isn't up to much at the moment – cloudy, though quite warm.
I manage to get quite a bit of conversation with the local peasantry. They speak a very pure tongue – slowly and with much careful thought. The equivalent of the West Country in England. So far I have had no difficulty in understanding them, or they me.
My friend Jimmy Waddell is just walking over here. He's been out all night and looks a little tired. Appears he's been sniped at once or twice but got back OK. It's an endless source of amazement to us to see the people going about their lawful business with a total disregard to what's going on around them. I even saw an old farmer milking his only cow while a local battle was being waged for his farm!
My relieving people have just arrived so will continue this later.
Just had a go at an ME 109** with the old Bren. No luck. First I've seen for days.
Must close here as I have to move. Give my best wishes to your people won't you? And tell them I'm having the time of my little life.
All my love, Chotie Darling
*From the Russian writer Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky's novel 'The House of the Dead'.
** a Messerschmitt Bf 109, a German fighter plane.
© Chotie Darling
Eric Brewer records that 61st Recce advanced towards Grainville-sur-Odon on 18th June but losing an Ark (armoured car?) and a carrier to an 88 gun (an anti-aircraft gun used against ground targets by the Germans) they were forced to withdraw. Eric Postles remembers 18th June as the day they moved back a few miles and got their first mail since Nightingale Wood – he had a letter from Gladys (the girl he'd met on leave before D-Day, his future wife).
On 19th June Tilly-sur-Seules at last fell to the 50th Division, although intense fighting continued in the vicinity. Eric Brewer lost five comrades on another recce in the Grainville area – one taken prisoner.
On 20th June Don Aiken found himself in the besieged town of Caen when the driver got lost returning from the beaches with a truckload of ammunition. Don was riding 'shotgun' in the rear of the truck. Finding their way back to the Regiment the driver was killed when a German fighter plane blew up the truck in front.
Forced to withdraw from Grainville to "a rear position to be reinforced" Eric Brewer at last had a bath in a stream. Anthony Rampling recalls that conditions in Normandy were so bad that, being on constant alert, they didn't take their boots off for 40 days and "stunk like foxes".
Letters home painted a different picture – Dick's letter of 21st June is about the local people "shy but very friendly – and only too willing to converse with you, especially if you speak any French at all" - and the food; he managed to buy Camembert cheese and cider. Eric Brewer had "at last found a farm to obtain milk" and chatted to a Frenchman of the "underground movement".
By 21st June 61st Recce's 50th Division had suffered 4,000 casualties, the highest of any Division in Normandy. The Battle for Normandy became something akin to the trench warfare of World War 1, with Recce units going into action alongside the heavy armour, fighting bitterly for every advance and 'digging in'. Eric Brewer complained that he'd be a gravedigger after the war since it was all he seemed to be doing. He was stuck at some cross roads near Grainville from 22nd to 26th June. Dick was also back in action. He sent a Field Service Postcard to Chotie on 23rd June ( a quick correspondence device where you just entered the address and date and crossed out lines that didn't apply eg 'admitted into hospital', 'wounded' or 'sick') but managed to write a letter on 24th June. He was rapidly acquiring the local patois and had been talking to the refugees "scores of families with all their remaining belongings in one wheelbarrow".
This was also the day the ship Derrycunihy was sunk on the way to landing 43rd Reconnaissance Regiment at 'Sword' beach. 180 men died including Dick's best friend when he was in the 43rd, the piano player Alex Johnston.
The next day XXX Corps renewed its battle with the Panzer Lehr as a diversionary attack for the launch of Operation Epsom, Monty's plan to attack west of Caen and then swing round to encircle the city. Eric Brewer and his comrades were sent out to find the German forward position for assaults by the East Yorks Regiment and, on 26th June, found the place formerly occupied by a company of the Green Howards – their kit was still there but the 57 men had not been heard of for a week. Eric Postles records that 10 and 12 Troop lost men that day. The attack on Grainville-sur-Odon was stalled on 27th June although the Allies took Rauray, Colleville and Mouen and a bridge over the River Odon. Grainville was also in their hands the next day and 61st Recce crossed the River Odon to Mondrainville. Eric Brewer was relieved at last and went back to base where he found 'B' Squadron had lost about a quarter of their men, 25 killed and about 25 injured, since D-Day.
Dick wrote to Chotie on 29th June saying that he was having a quiet time "doing Liaison Officer to a Brigadier – quite cushy in fact". He appears to have been in Bayeux for about 9 hours and managed to buy bread rolls with coffee – the first bread he'd tasted since he arrived in France.
After terrible fighting to take Hill 112, the strategic high ground south-west of Caen at Esquay-Notre-Dame, Operation Epsom was closed down on 30th June.
Dick and the history of the war had now collided, with the spotlight on the efforts of 2nd British Army and 12th US Army in Normandy. The beginning of Operation Overlord, D-day and the landings on the beaches have been covered in the previous post. The attempts by 8th Armoured Division (with 61st Recce) and then 7the Armoured to take the D-Day objective of Villers-Bocage had ended in failure before Dick arrived in France. His men had come up against the legendary Panzer Lehr Division - which was holding the line west of Caen with 12th SS Division and 2nd Panzer - and the difficulties of the bocage countryside, which masked defenders, snipers and even tanks. By the end of the month 2nd British Army was under attack from seven Panzer Divisions, although Rommel still kept Fifteenth Army in the Pas de Calais in case of Allied invasion further east.
The Allies depended on their huge supplies and reserves, air support (very successful in picking off German tank convoys heading for Normandy) and their effective artillery, including Naval bombardment since much of the fighting was within gunnery distance of the shore. The brilliant Mulberry Harbours, erected soon after D-Day, had played a key role in landing troops, equipment and ammunition; although they proved vulnerable to the stormy weather later in June. However, compared with the Germans most of the soldiers lacked experience and Monty relied again and again on his battle-worn troops from North Africa and Sicily, including the 50th Division.
The Americans fought bitter battles to take towns such as Carentan (liberated on 12th June, joining up the 'Omaha' and 'Utah' bridgeheads), key strategic road junctions or even small villages. US troops held a line across the Cherbourg Peninsula to Barneville by 18th June, cutting off 40,000 Germans to the north. On 27th June they took their key target, the port of Cherbourg; so damaged that, although it was of some use after 3 weeks, it was not fully functioning until September.
The Canadians having been involved in the disastrous first attacks on Caen (they lost almost 3,000 men in the first six days after D-Day) held their ground against 12th SS Panzer's attempts to break through to the sea.
By 30th June the Allies have landed a total of 630,000 troops but suffered 62,000 dead or wounded.
Germany was also retaliating on home ground: V1 rocket bombs first reached Britain on 13th June, landing at Swanscombe in Kent and killing six people at Bethnall Green in London. On 16th June, Germany's 'Day of Vengeance' 244 V1 bombs landed in England. A V1 striking the Guards Chapel during the service on 18th June killed 119 people.
Horror continued in the occupied countries with the Heuaktion in Poland – an order, which authorised the kidnapping of 40,000 children for slave labour in Germany. The brave Danes were resisted Germany's imposition of a curfew with a General Strike beginning on 26th June and the curfew was withdrawn.
In Italy the glory of the US Fifth Army entering Rome on 4th June was soon upstaged by D-Day but the Allies in Italy pressed steadily northward up the central spine taking Todi, Terni and Orvieto on the 14th June and Perugia by 20th June. To the west the Free French landed on Elba, between Italy and Corsica, on 17th June and the island was liberated by the 20th.
Russia had launched offensives against Finland from Leningrad and on the Karelian isthmus earlier in the month, and captured Viipuri/Vyborg, the second largest town in Finland (still part of Russia now). The Finns eventually succeeded in stopping the Russian advance with the Battle of Tali-Ihantel, begun on the 25th June. However, these were deliberate distractions from the huge build-up of Soviet armies along 450 miles the German central front for Operation Bagration, launched on the Anniversary of Hitler's Operation Barbarossa. The German 4th Army was quickly in danger of encirclement and by 30th June Operation Bagration had caused 200,000 German casualties.
In India the siege of Imphal was at last lifted on 22nd June and the Japanese were forced to withdraw. However, Japanese forces were still advancing in China. By 26th June they were in Hunan (southern China) and had captured the American air-base of Heng-yang.
Japan was under attack from the Allies in the western Pacific with the Battle of Saipan beginning the US Navy's Marianas Campaign on 15th June, aimed at liberating the American's former base at Guam. On 19th June the US 5th Fleet engaged with the Japanese Combined Fleet in the Battle of the Philippine Sea – 'the greatest carrier battle in history' and a decisive victory for the Americans.
With the Allies gaining ground (or sea) on same many fronts it must have been frustrating and fearsome to be inching forward so slowly in the bocage and at such a great cost to friends and comrades.
This post is in memory of the 61st Reconnaissance Regiment
and their sacrifice 75 years ago on 6th June 1944
For nearly a year the Allies had been planning in detail and in secret the invasion of France. Secrecy was vital to maintain the element of surprise, keeping Hitler's defences strung along the whole of northern France and the Low Countries. The Germans knew an invasion was coming from the build-up of radio traffic and ships but poor air reconnaissance meant that the dummy army in Kent and Sussex left them expecting an attack in the Pas de Calais, nearest to Belgium, even when Allied troops and tanks had landed in Normandy.
Eisenhower's 'bravest act of the war' (according to General Miles Dempsey, the Commander of 2nd British Army) was to send the invasion force across the Channel on the night of 5th June. Bad weather made a postponement of the original D-Day from 5th June inevitable. On 4th June the Supreme Allied Commander received a fresh forecast that the weather might ease overnight and decided that Tuesday 6th June would be D-Day. The Germans, who had much less accurate meteorological reports, thought landings would be impossible between the 5th and 7th June; Rommel, now in charge of 'The Western Wall' defences, returned to Germany for his wife's birthday and the Kriegsmarine (German Navy) even cancelled their shore patrols of the Channel.
Meanwhile in Operation Neptune almost 7,000 ships, led by the minesweepers, had set sail from ports all along the south coast of England, coalescing in a 'spout' between the Isle of Wight and Normandy. From midnight thousands of paratroopers were dropped behind enemy lines to seize critical bridges and guard the invaders' routes inland. A coded BBC message had alerted the French Resistance. While the Navy policed the Channel either side of the spout the RAF and US Army Air Force had bombed road and rail infrastructure over much of northern France to interfere with German troop and tank movements and keep them guessing where the landings would occur. Now, just before dawn, the Naval bombardment of the beach defences began and the Germans on the coast (units of 7th Army west of the River Orne and 15th Army to the east) beheld the largest invasion force in military history.
On 'Utah' beach, on the east side of the Cherbourg peninsula, the 4th Infantry Division of US VII Corps landed with far fewer casualties than expected and began to move inland to relieve the paratroopers of the US 82nd and 101st Airborne. To the east the defences around Vierville and St. Laurent somehow escaped the naval and air bombardments and the legendary 'bloodbath' of 'Omaha' beach began. The 1st and 29th Infantry Divisions of US V Corps lost more than 2,000 and the American Rangers, who were to take the cliffs of Pointe de Hoc were decimated. Survivors reaching the beach from their landing craft amid heavy fire found their way to the shelter of sandy bluffs or sea walls and eventually moved inland, the Rangers scaling 100 foot cliffs.
North-west of Caen on 'Sword', the easternmost of the beaches, the landing of British 3rd Division was a 'remarkable success' but 'they were slow pushing forward' and, encountering 21st Panzer later in the day, they failed to seize Caen. The city, soon heavily defended, was not to fall to the Allies until several weeks later.
British 6th Airborne Division had landed on their flank securing the critical connecting bridge over the Orne (now named 'Pegasus' in their honour) and blowing bridges on the River Dives to foil German attacks from the east.
The Canadian 3rd Division, landing on 'Juno' beach, faced heavily fortified seaside villages and defences networked by tunnels but their follow-up units were able to move inland quickly through the fierce fighting of the first waves. 41 and 48 Commando, landing at the facing edges of 'Sword' and 'Juno' succeeded in connecting the beaches despite a determined advance by 21st Panzer between the bridgeheads.
From 60th Anniversary - The D-Day Landings Northern France.
Our friends in 61st Reconnaissance Regiment were destined to land on 'Gold' beach, between the Canadians on 'Juno' and the Americans on 'Omaha'. Eric Postles, Sandy Handley and Don Aiken boarded Tank Landing Ships (LSTs) with their vehicles at Southampton docks on 1st June and spent the next three days in the Solent, north of the Isle of Wight. On Sunday 4th June they received final briefings on their landing beaches and targets inland and found out their destination was Normandy. Eric Brewer boarded his ship on the Sunday but, though all were now prepared for action, they were delayed for another day. The rough weather meant many were seasick and although the food was good all they were given to sleep on was a couple of burial bags as blankets!
To get inshore they had to drive onto flat-bottomed ferry-like landing craft called Rhinos. Don's ship lost one of the two Rhinos it was towing somewhere in the Channel.
"The 50th Division attacking 'Gold', the most westerly of the British beaches, ran into their first serious difficulty in front of the fortified German positions at Le Hamel. The 1st Hampshires and 1st Dorsets landed under furious fire from bunkers scarcely scarred by the bombardment and manned by the German 1st Battalion of 716th Division. The British supporting tanks arrived too late to give the infantry immediate support and …very few of the Royal Marine Centaurs arrived at all" (having capsized in their landing craft). "Three of the five landing craft bringing 47 Commando ashore struck mines…the survivors swam to the beach and regrouped to begin their advance on Port-en-Bessin" (the critical port east of Omaha beach defended by the experienced 316th Division). "46 men and almost every wireless set had been lost." (From 'Overlord' by Max Hastings, Macmillan 2016 edition)
61st Recce fared even worse:
"Nearly half the contact patrols with the assaulting infantry were killed or wounded on D-Day, either on the beaches or before reaching them. Nevertheless, they justified themselves by getting much information back to divisional Headquarters before it arrived by the normal channels and some of the patrols, whose sets had been shot-up, did great work with their weapons." (From 'A Reconnaissance Regiment in the B.L.A.' by Lt-Col P.H.A.Brownrigg, D.S.O.)
By 9.30am the beach was secured against determined enemy resistance and during the rest of the morning the forces of 50th Division pushed inland four miles towards the town of Creully. The battle for Le Hamel itself raged on until afternoon. (From 60th Anniversary - The D-Day Landings Northern France.)
Eric Brewer of B Squadron's Assault Troop landed near Port-en-Bessin at 7.30 am with a bicycle (this soon got a puncture and he threw it away). Pushing inland they got lost and seem to have ended up far behind enemy lines in the Caumont-l'Éventé area, about 20 miles from the coast, near Briquessard. A machine gun opened up from behind a hedge, killing their carrier driver. Eric finally found the rest of his Squadron in France on 8th June.
Extract from Eric Brewer's diary copyright of Derek Brewer and family
By the time Don Aiken's ship arrived in late morning the 1st Hampshire's had cleared the beach near Arromanches. When his armoured car drove off the remaining Rhino he sank into a bomb hole leaving only the turret exposed but the Humber armoured car kept moving. All the vehicles had been carefully waterproofed in preparation for an amphibious landing with a compound of grease, lime and asbestos fibres. Moving to the de-waterproofing area, Don accidentally sent a smoke bomb into one of the nearby German minefields; luckily it didn't trigger an incident – except with the British officer in charge of the beach!
The Regiment was meant to reach a wooded hill about 15 miles inland to 'seize and hold' but all the delays meant most didn't reach it. Don spent the night standing in pitch blackness next to his vehicle, wondering where the nearest Germans were.
Eric Postles also encountered issues with getting ashore: "The heavy seas caused problems for the ships towing Rhinos and we were late arriving at the beach. After much effort our Rhino was linked to the ship's ramp and my carrier was first on the ramp when the Rhino broke away. We jumped off the vehicle and waited for the reconnection before finally getting onto the Rhino next to a bulldozer which was intended to lead us off. We got near the water's edge and the bulldozer which was intended to destroy obstacles drove off but disappeared under the water and we did not see the driver again. The Rhino moved further along the beach and we all got ashore. It was late afternoon.
There were beached ships and landing craft everywhere and we were directed to a track which led off the beach and through the sand hills. There was a lot of enemy shelling activity and our heavy warship and rocket ships were firing over us. There were groups of prisoners and we passed a line of British dead lying side by side."
Eric spent the night at the edge of a cornfield where there were a number of dead Germans. "It was an uncomfortable night". (Extract from 'My War Years' by John Eric Postles ISO used by kind permission of the author.)
By nightfall 50th Division's 231st (Dorsets, Devons and Hampshires) and 151st (Durham Light Infantry) Brigades were just two miles short of Bayeux while the 69th (East Yorks & Green Howards) had linked up with the Canadians from Juno beach.
With the roughness of the sea and many Rhinos breaking away from their parent ships only half the 61st Reconnaissance contingent got ashore on D-day. Sandy Handley's ship lost a Rhino so not everyone could be taken to the shore. He was still floating offshore near Arromanches overnight, grateful not to be one of the 50% casualties among the Recce who landed first on D Day.
Major Brownrigg, commander of 'A' Squadron, was also not able to land until 7th June but the Regiment's Commander Colonel William Mount was ashore and arranged a new rendez-vous well within the bridgehead. He was held up reaching there by heavy machine gun fire and when Major Brownrigg called on the wireless he was told "Get off the air, I'm shooting Boches."
All the 61st Recce invasion squad had landed by the end of 7th June. Coming off the Rhino into about 4 feet of water, 50 yards from the beach, was nerve-wracking enough, even without heavy fire. Engineers were still dealing with the underwater beach obstacles, many with mines attached. Among the British dead the biggest Union Jack Sandy had ever seen was flying in a gentle breeze. Later when Sandy saw a dead German by the side of the road he thought "A man the same as me doing what I was told to do."
Despite the Humber's engine catching fire as they drove away from the beach Sandy reached the 61st Recce rendez-vous between Brécy and Rucqueville for the night of 7th June and heard that 50th Division had succeeded in taking Bayeux, the first city in France to be liberated after D-day.
Sources include 'The Second World War' by Antony Beevor (published by Weidenfield and Nicolson 2012), 'Overlord' by Max Hastings (Macmillan 2016 edition) and accounts by veterans of the 61st Reconnaissance Regiment.
On 1st May 1944 Dick became a full Lieutenant. He was still in Nightingale Wood and acting Squadron Leader – possibly while senior officers attended Exercise Thunderclap, Montgomery's preparation sessions for D Day with ground force officers who would be involved in the assault. By now Dick would have known he wasn't going ashore with 61st Recce on D Day but would follow to France with the majority of the Regiment in later in June. He wrote to Chotie describing the joys of the countryside and listening to classical music on the radio.
61st Reconnaissance Regiment was inspected by General Eisenhower, the Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in Europe, at the beginning of May and also received a visit from King George VI. On 6th May Dick was Orderly Officer, checking on the guards at night, and still running the Squadron. Chotie had been home, to Parkstone in Poole, where her sister Margaret was expecting her first child (Roger). Dick's old friend Eric Kessler now had a baby son and Dick was "almost envious".
By 10th May he'd "managed to get rid of this Squadron Leader racket". On 14th May Bristol, where Chotie was stationed in an Ack-Ack unit, was again attacked by the Luftwaffe. The Easton-in-Gordano anti-aircraft camps defending the harbour would have played an important role successfully defeating the impact of the attack. Having at last secured 24 hours leave Dick wrote to Chotie urging her to join him in "the Haunch town" – their favourite pub was the Haunch of Venison in Salisbury (co-incidentally where Eisenhower and Churchill are said to have met when planning D Day). She went AWOL and they stayed overnight together in Salisbury on Friday 19th May; their last meeting before February 1945.
Letter written on Saturday 20th May 1944
Usual address
Chotie Darling,
Just a few lines to thank you for a very happy, though all too brief, 24 hrs.
I managed to get back with ten minutes to spare and just made the afternoon parade. I hope you managed to get back without too much trouble – I hate the thought of you scrubbing floors all night*. What you would do for me, Darling, is a constant source of amazement to me.
I've just finished censoring the mail – a man size job tonight as unfortunately no one else bothered to do yesterday's for me, with the result that I've had two days to do at once.
I regret to say that the 24hr passes have stopped but there may be a chance of some leave a bit later on – three or four days, I imagine.
I went to the naffy** and imbibed a little beer earlier this evening with the result that I keep running outside. Sorry….
All the other officers (both of them) went to the cinema tonight to see "Bombers Moon" – some punk Yank film, but I just couldn't have stood it so I stayed here, in my little tent and wrote you, my Darling, which seems infinitely preferable.
After this show, Chotie, I reckon we'll take a few months off – sheer rest – and forget all about the wretched life we now lead. Walking in Provence or somewhere like that. We could find a little hotel every night … and when we're married things will be different….
I intend to come out of this business, darling, if only to take the chance of making you very happy, which is what you deserve.
I must close here, Precious as I have to write a few lines to mother – not having written for some time.
Goodnight, my Darling – I love you very, very much.
*Presumably an ATS punishment for going AWOL (Absent Without Leave)
**Slang for the Navy, Army and Air Force Institute's canteen and recreation building. Officers weren't meant to frequent the NAAFI as this was an intrusion on the private lives of the Other Ranks. The Commissioned Officers had their own 'mess', sometimes separated into Junior and Senior, and the senior NCOs had theirs, known as the Sergeants Mess.
Eric Brewer's diary reveals he was working in the Sergeants Mess ("not a bad job") from 22nd to 30th May (from Eric Brewer's Diary by kind permission of Derek Brewer and his family).
© Chotie Darling
Soon after this Dick moved to Aldershot with the rest of the Regiment not involved in D Day (including Tony Rampling). He wrote to Chotie with "No news from this end, of course. The old security racket again."
Eric Postles, Sandy Handley, Eric Brewer and Don Aiken were all to be part of the first assault. They had been involved in the practice exercises, seen detailed reconnaissance films of their destination (without any names) and waterproofed their vehicles for an amphibious landing. Eric Brewer went AWOL overnight on 6th May and was fined three day's pay, possibly by Dick (RW)
(Eric Brewer's Service Record - copyright Derek Brewer and family)
The camp was shared with American Rangers, an elite unit who were to spearhead attacks from Omaha beach. Sandy was "shaking in my boots at the thought of what was to come. The majority of us hadn't seen any action at all so far."
Towards the end of the month the camp was sealed off – no-one was allowed out or in. Personal items had to be sent home and the cars loaded with ammunition and supplies to get through the first 24 hours. Some of the troops copied the Americans example and shaved their heads in case of lice. On 31st May they were told they would be embarking the next day and were served steak – an unimaginable luxury in those wartime days. The gunner in Eric Postles car 'did a runner', trying to get home to Slough, and was never seen again so Eric went to war with a crew of three, instead of the four he should have had.
On 8th May Eisenhower had decided that D Day would be on the 5th of June and a week later Montgomery gave a masterly presentation of the final plans for Overlord to the King, Churchill and the Senior Officers of the Allied Armies.
Map of the Overlord Plan from Olive-Drab website
150,000 troops were to land on the five Normandy beaches: United States 12th Army Group, commanded by Lt-General Omar Bradley, in the west on 'Utah' and 'Omaha' and the 21st Army Group of British and Canadians in the east on 'Gold', 'Juno' and 'Sword'. XXX (30) Corps would be led ashore on 'Gold' beach by Dick's own 50th Division. 8,000 British and 16,000 American Airborne troops were to seize crucial inland points ahead of the landings.
It was vital to keep the Germans guessing where and when the invasion would take place. The deceptions of Operation Fortitude North continued with another attack on the giant battleship Tirpitz (feigning preparations for a Norway landing from Scotland) and Operation Fortitude South built up General Patton's fake US First Army Group in SE England, threatening the Pas de Calais. Air attacks on key military and infrastructure targets all over northern France continued with a 5,000 bomber raid on 20th May.
Berlin suffered a 1,500 bomber raid on 7th May by the United States Army Air Force but the Allied air forces were now turned towards tactical support for the invasion and the USAAF began strategic bombing of Germany's synthetic oil manufacture, succeeding in halving production by the end of June.
In Italy the Allies at last broke the Gustav (winter) line, which had stalled them for so long, taking the stronghold of Monte Cassino on 18th May. They also broke out of the Anzio beach-head to the north, linking up with the US 10th Army by the Tyrrhenian Coast on 25th May.
In Eastern Europe the Red Army's advance in the Crimea continued with the capture of the Black Sea port Sevastapol on 9th May. Hungary was now occupied by German forces – mass deportation of Hungarian Jews began on 15th May (less than one third were to survive the Holocaust).
The U-gō invasion of India by Japan retreated from Kohima on 13th May.
Chinese forces crossed the border to attack the Japanese in Burma on 11th May and joined with Merrill's Marauders who had captured the Myitkina airfields. However, the town and river port of Myitkina remained in Japanese hands until August.
On 18th May the success of Operation Cartwheel was demonstrated when the US Navy's Admiralty Island campaign at last isolated the Japanese base of Rabaul, making it useless.
For the British the attention of the world was soon to focus much closer to home.
Writing on Saturday 1st April Dick recounted his 'pretty cushy' time in Scotland, visiting Glasgow at the weekend. He'd returned to Whittlesford on 29th March and managed to see his sister Diller on a trip to Leicester delivering vehicles.
Now it was time for 61st Recce to move south to their assembly area for Operation Overlord (D Day), near the south coast. Dick's 'B' Squadron camped out for two months in Nightingale Wood near Romsey – part of D Day Marshalling Areas C16 and C17, inland from Southampton. Here Dick received a new member for his No 5 Troop – Sandy Handley, from the Royal West Kents, who was to stay with him throughout the war and become Anthony Rampling's best friend from the army. Tony, hearing that the Assault troops were to be issued with bicycles, asked for a transfer (he didn't much fancy carrying a Bren gun on a bicycle) and also joined Dick's troop.
The camps were all carefully camouflaged to avoid detection by the Luftwaffe and all leave was cancelled to maintain secrecy, although Dick's letter of 8th April shows he still had hopes of meeting Chotie before the invasion. Eric's Postles' troop was granted special permission to go on leave and, returning to Wigan, he first met his future wife, Gladys Dandy. Don Aiken managed to meet up with his brother who was with the Royal School of Signals putting up telephone lines to connect the camps and command centres.
The Allies' deceptions in Operation Fortitude kept the Germans guessing where and when the invasion would take place – Dick and other Lieutenants spent much of their time censoring letters, like the one from Eric Brewer mentioning white bread, apples and peaches (rare treats that might have hinted he was being given special treatment as part of the invasion force?). Dick was more interested in 61st Recce's latest recruit:
Letter written on Thursday 13th April 1944
2/Lt RK Williams
61st Recce Regt
Thursday 13th April
Chotie Darling,
Just the few odd lines to let you know I'm still alive at any rate. Having quite a good time here, despite poor living accommodation and even worse food. Weather is excellent, pukka spring – including cuckoos, damn them.
As regards leave of any sort, I'm afraid it's out of the question – however I will try to get down to your place sometime during your leave, and you should be able to get here, somehow. I'm afraid I can't give you anything more definite as, for all I know, I may easily be out on a scheme throughout your leave.
I'm very tied up here as regards communications – no telephones or telegrams. Luckily I'm able to censor my own letters, but unfortunately have to censor some forty or fifty letters every evening, which takes time.
We'll manage to meet somehow, never fear.
My neighbouring subaltern came across a fox cub the other day and we've kept it ever since. We procured a very wee kitten from the Quartermaster (they always have hundreds of kittens) and they live together very happy.
He, (the foxcub) is very small and covered in light down, with a very funny little face. He keeps on going "TWEEK!, TWEEK!". 'Formidable!', as the French say.
"That's all for now, Kiddies – The Zoo man will be back again, etc, etc"….
Have managed to do a little sun-bathing so far, but not eno' to worry about.
I've just managed to get rid of a Sergeant from my troop, who's been giving me a headache for months – a very poor type.
Must close here for dinner (?). (So called)
All my love, Chotie
*The fox became the Regiment's mascot accompanying them as far as the Ardennes. Trooper Ernie Brobbin of 'A' squadron gives an account of finding the foxcub in 'Beaten Paths are Safest' by Ron Howard (Brewin Books 2004):
"One particular morning as dawn was breaking, another chap and I were on motor transport guard when we heard a 'baby' crying and went to investigate. The 'baby' turned out to be an abandoned fox cub. The poor thing was crying after it had been left on its own.
Neither of us had come across a fox before, as we came from mining areas. We picked it up, took it back to camp, fed it on milk, and then made it a cage from saplings.
The cub prospered and eventually we decided to take it with us as a troop mascot."
The cub was adopted by Lt. Compton Bishop who kept it in his armoured car and took it to France.
Painting by Sandy Handley of the fox on a lead with 61st Reconnaissance Regiment. The original painting is held by the Tank Museum at Bovington, Dorset.
Dick did manage to get home to Pagham on Sunday 15th April, by cycling four hours each way. He wrote to Chotie the next day with the good news that there was now beer in the mess. On 21st April he sent her a 'shocking photo' of himself (see blog banner) and launched a plan to meet on Sunday 30th April at the Haunch of Venison (in Salisbury). This fell through when he had to cover as Squadron Leader. Major Frank Harding, 'B' Squadron's future commander, wrote a poignant book of poetry about his war experience with 61st Reconnaissance regiment - 'War echoes over thirty years' - including their stay in Nightingale Wood. More prosaically, Philip Brownrigg, then commander of 61st Recce's 'A' Squadron describes the role the Regiment was to play in Operation Overlord: about 40% were to go over with the 'first wave' on D day itself, with the rest arriving later in June.
All round the coast training exercises to prepare for the landings continued through the month, culminating in the tragedy of Exercise Tiger on 27th April when German schnell-boats came across troop boats and nearly a thousand US servicemen were killed near Slapton Ley in Devon. The Luftwaffe began attacking the concentrations of Allied ships at Plymouth and Portsmouth on 25th April while the British Navy and Bomber Command were already mining the English Channel approaches to protect the invasion fleet. On 3rd April the Fleet Air Arm had again attacked Germany's mega-battleship, the Tirpitz, moored in a Norway fjord, causing substantial damage.
Long-range Allied bombers attacked Budapest and Bucharest, the respective capitals of Hungary and Romania. (The US Army Air Force also bombed the Swiss town of Schaffhausen by mistake, killing 40 neutral Swiss civilians.) In early April three prisoners successfully escaped from the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp, publishing their eyewitness accounts of the atrocities from Switzerland in June 1944. The Red Army was advancing in southern Ukraine, capturing Odessa on 10th April and Yalta on the 16th.
The Allies began new campaigns in Indonesia, attacking the Japanese on Western New Guinea and Sumatra. Ichi-gō, the Japanese major offensive in northern China (aimed at eliminating the USAAF airfields now bombing Japanese territory) began on 19th April 1944. Much of the Chinese Nationalist Army was then heavily engaged in south China with the Salween offensive on the Burmese border.
Operation U-gō, the Japanese 15th Army's advance into India from Burma was held up by the heroic defences of the 15th Indian Parachute brigade and the famous stand of the Royal West Kents, with local Assam rifles, at the hill-station of Kohima. A memorial now stands there:
'When you go home, tell them of us and say,
For their tomorrow, we gave our today.'
At the beginning of March 1944 Dick and 61st Reconnaissance Division , now attached to the 50th (Northumbrian) Division, were at Whittlesford, near Cambridge. Training for Operation Overlord kept them very busy – Eric Postles recalls they were given new vehicles and drove over central England running them in. On one excursion Dick visited Bawdsey Manor, home of the top secret pre-war research on radar that became the Telecommunications Research Establishment in Dorset.
His letter of 5th March also includes plans to meet up with Chotie during his next leave, although she hadn't written for some time…... When they met Chotie confessed to an infidelity, which Dick, though hurt badly, blamed on life in the services. "It is in this state, of being so completely fed-up that you don't give a damn what happens, that these things happen." Back in Whittlesford on 18th March he wrote: "You don't need to ask me to forgive you, Chotie. I shall always be prepared to forgive you anything – except leaving me entirely."
By Tuesday 21st March Dick was up in Scotland on one of the hastily arranged training courses to prepare for amphibious landings in France:
Letter written on Friday 24th March 1944
Ayrshire, Scotland
Chotie Darling,
Have just received your letter of the 19th inst. which has been forwarded up from the unit.
I was very pleased to see that Eric had replied to your letter and that I now have Eric's address once again. No excuse now, eh?
Having a very pleasant time here doing absolutely nothing, as there seems no organisation of any sort here, and nobody worries about you. I'm in a very cushy mess of practically every Regiment in the Army, though I've only met one bloke I knew before.
I took the afternoon off and walked to Irvine* some three miles along golden sands** in glorious sunshine. (I omitted to say that I had some three hours sleep in the afternoon on the beach.) I then had a beer or two in Irvine and bussed back.
Went skating on Tuesday and a dance in Ayr last night so I thought I'd have things a little quieter this evening, as I spent this morning up to my neck in the sea.***
I'll enclose some coupons in this letter. If I remember that is. What are they worth to you?
All the pubs up here close at 8.30 pm except one in Ayr. Unfortunately the barmaid there became much too friendly for my liking so I stay clear now. She was a very charming little thing but obviously didn't know her own mind. So now I have to drink in the mess – very unsatisfactory.
How are you behaving these days? Being a good girl I hope. Write and tell me all about him won't you? If he's under forty I'll be jealous, and if he's over forty I'll spank you.
Must close here, Baby
All my love
*Irvine is a town in North Ayrshire on the west coast of Scotland. A couple of Combined Operations WW2 camps were situated to the south of Irvine – HMS Dundonald trained all three services in signalling procedures to and from landing craft and the use of navigational aids to assist small landing craft find their way to designated landing places on hostile beaches. HMS Dinosaur focused on tank landing craft training. (From the Combined Operations website.)
*** "For the landings to be successful and for breakout from the bridgehead on the French coast to be achieved the men of all three services not only had to be equipped they also had to be trained. It was to be training like no other, rigorous, realistic and relentless and much of it took place in Scotland." (Originally from the website www.scotsatwar.org.uk but this link no longer works. Can anyone help me credit the source?)
© Chotie Darling
Meanwhile Chotie's job was to help defend Bristol and the Severn Estuary ports from German air attacks. The city received its first bombing raid since 1942 on 27th March 1944 with 139 Luftwaffe planes targeting the harbour. 13 of those planes were lost and the 'Baby Blitz' was unsuccessful due to Bristols' excellent defences (my mother was always prepared to take full responsibility for this) and poor target marking by the Germans.
German planes on bombing mission
The Allies' strategic bombing of Germany was now achieving important results, not just through the impact on targets (although cities had been devastated and much infrastructure disabled) but particularly through the loss of Luftwaffe planes and experienced pilots. This success, due to the deadly long-range fighter planes that now escorted the bombers, was to prove critical to the eventual outcome of Overlord and the Battle of Normandy.
The United States Army Air Force attacked Berlin with a huge force of bombers and fighters on 4th and 6th March and the RAF followed up with a thousand plane raid on the 24th. Stuttgart and Nuremberg also suffered heavy air attacks by the RAF and Bomber command began strategic attacks on northern France in preparation for the Allied invasion.
The National Council for the French Resistance published its plans for the future of a free France after the war on 15th March. On 26th March in Haute Savoie 10,000 German troops and French militia attacked the 465 Maquisards gathered on the Plateau de Glières , now maintained as an important monument to the Resistance.
In the Ardeatine Caves near Rome the Germans executed 336 Italians in revenge for partisans killing 35 German police. The Allies were struggling in their attempt to reach Rome - a third attack on Monte Cassino failed on 23rd March and the forces landed at Anzio were still held in the beachhead. However, airfields in southern Italy were now used to support Tito's communist resistance in Yugoslavia.
On 19th March the Hungarian leader, Miklos Horthy, who had been secretly negotiating with the Allies, was arrested and German troops marched in to occupy Hungary. The SS immediately began deporting Hungarian Jews to Auschwitz.
The Russians were now very near (see Atlas of the World Battle Fronts). On 15th March in Poland they reached the Bug River, the boundary agreed between Russia and Germany when they invaded in 1939, and on 28th March Soviet troops crossed into Romanian territory near the Black Sea.
Burma (Myanmar) was another critical zone in March 1944. On 7th March 100,000 Japanese advanced from north-west Burma into India in Operation U-Go. Behind Japanese lines the airborne British Chindit expedition, Operation Thursday, had landed near Indaw in central northern Burma on 5th March and the American 'Merrill's Marauders' were fighting for control of Myitkina in the far north near China. Allied forces in the far western Arakan, near the port of Muangdaw, continued to advance the southern frontier against the Japanese. However, the Chindits lost their unconventional leader, Orde Wingate, in a plane crash on 24th March.
First page of letter on 61st Reconnaissance Regiment paper posted on Thursday 10th February 1944
2/Lt RKWilliams
Royal Armoured Corps
Brandon, Suffolk
Chotie Darling,
Sorry I haven't written before this, but haven't really had time.
I was inoculated yesterday morning and owing to a severe shortage of officers in the Squadron I've had to remain on duty all the time. I was out on the range yesterday and got pretty cold, as a consequence of which I went to bed feeling a little pallid. On crawling out of bed this morning I found I couldn't stand, so I promptly crawled back again. However, I got up for lunch and am feeling a lot better now, though I still ache all over.
Hope you managed to stay in bed after your jab, nothing's more miserable than having to stay on duty.
I'm going on a week's course at Birmingham on the 15th, luckily it won't affect my leave. It's a very cushy course as students (?) stay at the Officers Club and all the instructors are civilians. Pity Eric doesn't still live there. I received three oranges today – there's an issue of three per officer in the mess. However, like the good little boy I am, I'm sending them home to mother.
I had a day in Cambridge last week – a lovely town. Unfortunately it's full of Yanks and there's a beer shortage. Notwithstanding these two major calamities I managed to have quite a good time.
Apart from this one excursion I haven't been out at all. Unless you get at least 24 hrs off it's not worth going anywhere. Cambridge is the only place worth going to and that's some forty miles or so.
Just had a letter from Brinner. He's now started on Machine Gun (Vickers) which is the last phase of his training. I also wrote to Diller to get her to change her leave, so that we'll be home together.
Would you let me know what time you'll be arriving home so that I can make arrangements from this end. (That is of course if you can get 72 hrs).
Must close here, Darling as my arm's giving me merry Hell.
All my love
This letter was written to Private B. E. Chalkley in 'A' Troop O.F.C. ATS, 462 Hy(M) Bty RA, Markham Camp, Easton-in-Gordano, Bristol so Chotie seems to have moved from 'B' Troop but in the same battery.
© Chotie Darling
61st Recce moved again before 17th February – this time to Whittlesford near Cambridge. It was here that they were "inspected along with 151 The Durham Light Infantry Brigade by the Divisional Commander General Graham and by General Montgomery. We were also inspected by King George VI, and then by General Eisenhower wearing an immaculate midnight blue uniform." (Extract from 'My War Years' by John Eric Postles ISO used by kind permission of the author.)
Dick's course in Birmingham was on armoured cars – he wrote to Chotie during a lecture on the lubrication system. On Friday he saw a "particularly good" concert with the Russian pianist Leff Pouishnoff and the London Symphony Orchestra and met up with his sister Diller and Chotie's friend Mary Dakin in Leicester at the weekend. Diller was stationed there in the Pay Corps. Returning to Whittlesford he wrote to Chotie again on 23rd February.
Whittlesford is right next to the celebrated Duxford Aerodrome, in February 1944 home to the 78th Fighter Group, who escorted the American bombers on their perilous daylight bombing raids. Britain and America were trying to force the Luftwaffe into a decisive air battle over Germany with heavy RAF raids on German cities by night and daylight bombing by the USAAF targeting factories and airfields. Operation Argument (better known as 'Big Week') began on 19th February 1944 with relentless bombing in vast raids of US planes, including the 78th Fighter Group.
On 20th February Norwegian resistance commandos succeeded in sinking the ferry carrying the remaining heavy water from Telemark (which could have been used by the Nazis to produce a nuclear bomb) to Germany.
The Russians bombed Helsinki in Finland on 26th February (although Britain had declared war with Finland, which was allied with Germany, the US never did). Adolph Hitler's base on the Eastern Front, the Wolfsschanze, was now within the range of the Soviet air force so he moved his headquarters back to the Berghof in Bavaria. However, he would not permit German troops in the Ukraine to withdraw and 20,000 were killed by the Red Army near the Dnepr River.
At Anzio in Italy the Germans staged repeated fierce attacks but although casualties were high the Allies succeeded in holding their beach-head. On 15th February Allied aircraft bombed the historic monastery of Monte Cassino but assaults on the mountain by New Zealand, Indian and Polish troops were held off by German paratroopers.
In the Pacific the US was successfully attacking the Japanese held Marshall, Caroline and Admiralty Islands. They also launched their own version of the Chindits (Long-range Penetration Groups) in Burma - known as Merrill's Marauders, these guerrillas operated deep in the jungle behind Japanese lines. The British and Indian armies in Burma's Arakan held their position against the Japanese in the Battle of the Admin Box.
The Allies were on the offensive and preparing for 'undoubtedly the most complicated and difficult' Operation ever taken (Churchill) – Operation Overlord.
On 1st January 1944 the Reconnaissance Corps became part of the Royal Armoured Corps - although they were organised for 'dismounted' action their use of armoured cars presumably grouped them with the Tank regiments, who they could scout for at close quarters with the enemy.
At the beginning of the year Dick was a fresh Lieutenant in 61st Reconniassance Regiment, stationed at Lympne Castle, near Folkestone in Kent (61st Division were on coastal defence duties). Due to an administrative mix-up he hadn't received any pay since October and was heavily in debt, having given his last five bob to his batman at Christmas. On 2nd January he wrote to his sweetheart Chotie, an Anti-Aircraft 'Gunner Girl' stationed near Bristol. The letter refers to his new Squadron Leader, probably Captain Frank Harding, who was to be commander of B Squadron for this critical year. Also a new room mate, a portrait painter (Ronnie Jury) who now led B Squadron's Assault troop (including Anthony Rampling and Eric Brewer) and became Dick's best friend in the Army.
Dick sent Chotie a postcard from the Devil's-Dyke beauty spot while on a training exercise in Sussex and wrote again on 10th January:
2/Lt Williams RK
61st Recce Regt, Home Forces
Monday Eve
Chotie Darling,
Have a few hours to myself , so here goes.
After my having been commissioned for some nine weeks, the adjutant has suddenly discovered that the Joining Certificate (which is the authority for issue of pay) was never sent off by the Orderly Room! However, I have duly completed another which has now been sent off, and I can optimistically hope to see some solid cash within the next week or so. I am now obliged to remain in the mess where I can get my beer on tick, but have to smoke cigarettes as they don't stock tobacco.
I don't believe I've told you about the billets (?) we live in here. All other ranks live in a castle, which overlooks some 20-30 miles of low-lying country*. The Officers mess is a country house some 600 yds from the castle. It's quite large – some 6 or 7 bedrooms, and reasonably comfortable. At the moment I have a room to myself owing to the temporary absence of my artist companion on a course.
I came across a Chianti bottle on a scheme and this now takes pride of place on my table. It's green glass and holds a horse-chestnut twig which I trust will flower (?) in the spring.
Have you found time to read that Claude Houghton yet? Let me know what you think of it – if you think it's lousy, say so…
My drinking companion is on leave at the moment. His name is Winzer and is known affectionately (?) as the 'Duke' by his troop. His WAAF** (from the local waffery) consequently becomes 'The Duchess', or sometimes Mrs Simpson***, when the wags are feeling a little bitter.
He's quite a sound bloke on the whole but tends to drink himself to death – his gin bill over the Xmas week amounting to £15. At least he's not so completely dead as the remainder here. They all try to give the impression that they're God Almighty as regards music and the arts. However, when 'Junior' (the artist) and I turned up we managed to shake them considerably. They appear to be jumped-up bank clerks, etc. just spreading their wings a little.
(I have to pause here for a wretched mess meeting – the mess is bankrupt at the moment.)
Well we soon wound up the mess meeting. The net result was that messing has been increased by 6d per member and a monthly mess subscription of one day's pay has to be paid. This will involve an extra 25 shillings per month as far as I'm concerned.
I had a stroke of luck an hour or so ago. Going through some old papers I came across a Post Office book with a quid balance so I repaired to the pub immediately after dinner, for a beer or four.
Met the Duchess there, with a couple of Dutch Officers who it appears are both Barons. Trust her to get a grip as soon as Jeff's away.
Don't forget to give me all the dope on Eric's present position, will you? If I can get his next leave taped, I'll make the effort to go up and see him - & Eve…When's the baby expected, or has it come already?
As for leave, as far as I'm concerned, I can't get away for another eight weeks at least. Perhaps only seven – though I could get a 48 any time now. The only snag with this is that it's such a devil of a way to travel. However, we might well manage something in the next month or so – I could certainly do with a little relaxation – if you know what I mean.
There's going to be a colossal inspection by the Colonel on January 22nd and everyone's getting keyed up with plenty of gimping and you know what.
I'm out patrolling at 3 o'clock tomorrow morning for a couple of hours. Luckily there's a full moon which makes things very much easier. It's a pity you're not here – I could take you round….
Well, Darling there doesn't appear to be any news to tell you. I had a ten-page epistle from Chunky but haven't found time to reply yet. Here's hoping. I should like to spend a day with him in town, but you never seem to get round to these things.
I have to sleep in the castle tonight in an oak-beamed room with stone floor & walls. Very romantic but bloody cold. Why aren't you here? I reckon we could keep warm, at least….
Must close here 'Chotie' to get some sleep in before this wretched patrol.
All my love, Darling
be Good….
*Lympne Castle, overlooking Romney Marsh in SE Kent http://www.kenthistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=14755.0
**WAAF = Womens' Auxiliary Air Force. See http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/timeline/factfiles/nonflash/a6649932.shtml
***King Edward VIII abdicated in 1936 to marry Mrs Simpson, a divorcee. They became the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.
© Chotie Darling
On 18th January the Recce Corps were still trying to sort Dick's pay. 61st Recce had "a terrific shake on" owing to the "colossal inspection by the Colonel" due on 22nd January. In his next letter on Thursday 20th January Dick wrote that this was to be followed by a "terrific party on Sunday…I'm told that when Lt. Col. Sir William Mount (Bart) T.D. throws a party it's some party."
All this activity heralded the Colonel's success in attaching 61st Reconnaissance Regiment to the 50th Northumbrian Division – honoured with the famous Desert Rats (7th Armoured) for their role in the North African Campaign.
"The sign (or flash) which was worn on the side of the shoulder was TT, which represented Tyne and Tees" (new 61st Recce recruit Don Aiken on the BBC People's War website).
Dick's TT shoulder flashes
"Only those who have experienced it can know the inferiority an unblooded regiment feels when surrounded by battle-scarred heroes. But the 50th Division made us so welcome, and refrained so carefully from flinging their blood and sand into our eyes, that we soon felt at home in what must have been the happiest of divisions in spite of all its casualties." (From 'A Reconnaissance Regiment in the B.L.A.' by Lieutenant-Colonel P.H.A.Brownrigg D.S.O.)
Dick was now linked to a front-line Division, which was heading for war as part of the Montgomery's 21st Army Group (1st Canadian Army and 2nd British Army). Dwight D Eisenhower took up his post as Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Expeditionary Forces in Britain on 16th January 1944.
A brief letter on 26th January mentions that Dick has "bought a new hat" – Dick and Chotie's code for a change of location. By the following Sunday he could reveal he was camped on the Brandon Park Estate in Suffolk and although he enjoyed the grand Georgian House, the lack of a Junior Mess meant eating and socialising with the Colonel and Senior Officers. Perhaps not such a bad idea since they would soon be going into battle together?
Chotie was also to see action as Hitler's 'Little Blitz' started on 21st January with more attacks on London and the ports of Hull, Cardiff and Bristol – Chotie's battery defended not only Bristol but also the Severn Estuary, the Luftwaffe's approach to the Welsh capital.
The Little Blitz was retaliation for the RAF's bombing of German cities, which continued with heavy raids on Berlin and Frankfurt-am-Main towards the end of January. Operation Carpetbagger commenced on 4th January with the RAF now supplying resistance groups in France, Italy, Belgium and the Netherlands. In France Maquisard resistance fighters gathered in the Alpine mountains of Haute Savoie and the region was placed under emergency measures (anyone helping the resistance could be shot) on 31st January. In Italy the Allies advance appeared stalled on the German's 'Winter Line' at Monte Cassino but the bloody fighting here distracted from the Allies landing 36,000 men behind the line at Anzio, 50 kilometres south of Rome, on 22nd January.
On the eastern Front the Red Army crossed the Polish border from the Ukraine, heading south to cut off the German forces Hitler had not allowed to withdraw from the Dnepr river and the Crimea. In the north troops, guns and tanks secretly assembled across the ice at Leningrad staged a surprise counter-attack ending the '900 day' siege of the city on 27th January.
The Allies were also advancing in South-east Asia – on 5th January Chinese nationalists won the battle of Changde, Indian and British troops took Maungdaw on the Burmese (Myanmar) coast on the 9th and Australians held Sio and New Guinea's Huon Peninsula by the 15th. In the Pacific the US Navy began its attack on the Japanese held Marshall Islands on 31st January.
Most might have hoped the war would be over before the year was out but for many the worst was yet to come.
Letter written on Friday 10th December 1943
"St Margarets", Pagham
Chotie Darling,
I'm sitting in front of the fire at home, writing this on nine days leave! I'd just come back from a five days exercise, when I was told I'd been given a new troop (I only had the previous troop as a temporary measure) and that they were all going on leave the following morning so I'd better go with them.
I spent the first day in London and I'm going up again for a few days tomorrow – so that I can get this business of 'seeing the relatives' over for once and all.
Had quite a good time on the exercise, as I was not actively engaged – only umpiring, and on a motor bike, which gave me plenty of scope in getting about. Had half an hour or so in Herne bay and saw Monica and baby. She's been under the doctor for treatment of some sort as she's getting so fat. The baby looks all right to me, but then I'm no judge of that sort of thing. Her elder brother has just got married in Scotland so the whole family's married now. Didn't see anyone else I knew as I had so little time there, though most of them are away anyhow.
Spent one evening in Canterbury and had a little crawl by myself visiting the 'Falstaff', 'Fleur-de-lis' (sic), 'Country', 'Shakespeare' and 'Three Carpenters' , the five best known there.
Spent one night on a AA Site and slept on a sofa in the Recreation Hut. I don't know whether it was mixed or not – if it was I was taking the helluva chance….these A/A women**….
Hope to see a couple of lunch-time concerts at the National Gallery – only missed one this week by a few minutes. Have heard a couple of Beethoven Symphonies this week which isn't too bad.
It must seem ages since I wrote you last. Unfortunately I went on exercise with only about an hour's notice which wasn't even time to get a motorcycle or riding kit. I borrowed breeches for this show and wore them the whole five days. Either they were cut for a very thin bloke or they'd shrunk or something but they cut my legs to ribbons. Murder!
How are you these days? – cold I expect…If it were not for the fact that I'm sitting in front of a fire I should probably have written half a page – or less.
(Interlude for hot chocolate and cake….)
Space to denote passage of time.
Do you remember the Green Child's head on the mantelpiece – the one Diller got in Belgium? Dad's latest trick is to put a cigarette in its mouth. Looks horrible!
Incidentally I'll send you some shekels for Xmas – it's no use me trying to get anything – so that you can do some shopping or a show or something in Bristol. I've had to give up coupons for the other ranks' kit I've kept – 18 for 2 pairs of boots! etc so at the moment I don't know how much I'm worth. I will send some eventually.
I'm enclosing a book which I've been trying to get for the past year or more. Tell me what you think of it.
I'd better close here.
All my love, Darling
*'The Falstaff' http://www.thefalstaffincanterbury.com/?S=GADS&gclid=CIjL7oKBobsCFWfkwgod6zsAnQ and 'The Shakespeare' https://www.shakespearecanterbury.com/ are still open, 'the Country' was probably 'The County Hotel' http://www.dover-kent.com/County-Hotel-and-Tudor-Bar-Canterbury.html and is now the Abode Hotel http://www.abodecanterbury.co.uk/ , the 'Three Carpenters was probably the 'Three Compasses' http://www.dover-kent.com/Three-Compasses-Canterbury.html (now the Lady Luck http://theladyluck.co.uk/) and the 'Fleur de Lys' is closed http://www.closedpubs.co.uk/kent/canterbury_fleurdelys.html.
** Chotie was an AA (Anti-Aircraft) woman in the ATS - they were also known as Ack-Ack Girls. (See http://ww2today.com/27th-december-1942-the-life-of-an-ats-ack-ack-girl.) The situation of the Ack-Ack Girls, often posted alongside men in mixed batteries, and some initial disciplinary issues, led to a loose reputation https://www.chotiedarling.co.uk/my-blog/2013/04/gunnery-wednesday-28th-april-1943.html that may have been ill-founded (although some male officers might have taken advantage of their command).
Chotie was stationed in a mixed heavy artillery anti-aircraft battery at Markham Camp, Easton-in-Gordano near Bristol. 61st Recce were based at Lympne Castle, near Folkestone, Kent.
Lympne Castle in 1830 (from Wikipedia) , now a wedding venue
© Chotie Darling
On 9th December Dick was officially discharged from 43rd Recce, his regiment before officer training. Ironically he was to spend a good part of December 1943 on Exercise Vulcan, an exercise designed to train the 43rd (Wessex) Division for its attacking role in NW Europe while 61st Division played the defending force. Dick returned from nine days leave on 16th December to find himself on the 'scheme' from 5 o'clock the next day with his new troop. He managed to write to Chotie during a 'lull' in the battle and had met up with 'Chunky', his room-mate during officer training. Eric Postles remembers Exercise Vulcan for the incessant rain - returning on Christmas Eve Dick "spent the whole of the Xmas hols trying to get dry, warm & clean again" (letter to Chotie of 26th December 1943 ).
At least Dick hadn't been sent down the mines – one in 10 conscripts were now 'Bevin boys' working to ensure Britain's supply of coal for the war effort. Hitler's strangle hold on arms, goods and men, from across the Atlantic, was loosening, however. Allied shipping losses from 'U'-boat attacks had more than halved during 1943, thanks to the Navy's information from the codebreakers at Bletchley Park. On 8th December Tommy Flowers produced Colossus, the world's first programmable computer was, which was quickly installed at Bletchley to obtain crucial information on German Channel defences prior to 'D-Day'.
On 26th December the Royal Navy succeeded in sinking the German battle cruiser Scharnhorst in the Arctic Sea. The RAF continued its heavy bombing of German cities with a firestorm attack on Leipzig on 4th December and also bombed the V1 flying bomb bases in France – the flying bombs were not used against the Allies until June 1944.
In Italy the Allied 5th Army at last broke through the Bernhardt line at Monte Camino and the Germans withdrew to the Gustav line at Monte Cassino, guarding the main route to Rome. The Canadians leading the Allied 8th Army on the Adriatic side of the Apennines met fierce German resistance on route to Ortona but held the port by 28th December. Further south the Luftwaffe raid on Bari on 2nd December put this port out of action until February and hit a US ship secretly carrying mustard gas (for use if Hitler embarked on chemical warfare in Italy). Many civilians and troops were poisoned but the Allies tried to cover up the incident, which was not fully exposed until 1967.
In Yugoslavia the Allies recognised Tito's communist forces, who were leading resistance against the Nazis as the future government of the country on 15th December. The same day the first war crimes tribunal against Nazi atrocities was held by the Soviet military at Kharkov in the Ukraine, following the discovery of 15,000 bodies in a mass grave near the city at Drobitsky Yar (from a massacre of the Jewish population in December 1941).
On 4th December Churchill and Roosevelt had met with President İnönü of Turkey in Cairo trying to enlist neutral Turkey's support for the Allies (Turkey di not declare war on Germany until February 1945). Churchill had been exhausted since the Tehran conference at the end of November and almost died from an attack of pneumonia when visiting Eisenhower in Tunis before Christmas (from 'The Second World War' by Antony Beevor, published by Weidenfield and Nicolson 2012). Britain almost lost her leader just as the critical plans for Operation Overlord, the invasion of NW Europe, needed to be put in place.
Dick joined 61st Reconnaissance Regiment at the Medieval Lympne Castle in the second week of November 1942. Before starting work as an officer he had nine days leave with Chotie at his home in Pagham, Sussex. His first letter to her as a 2nd Lieutenant is "rather sketchy but the security angel cuts out everything worth writing – almost …." We know from Eric Postles that 61st Recce were on coastal defence duties, patrolling between Folkestone and Romney in Kent.
Managing to get back to Pagham on a 24 hour overnight pass on Wednesday 17th November Dick was re-united with his brother Brin and his sister Diller, both home on leave (Diller from the pay Corps and Brin from Officer training). He nearly got stuck at Brighton station on his way back having lost his wallet but was helped out by the local YMCA. Around this time he also met up with Don Johnston, his old friend from 43rd Recce (later killed in the sinking of the Derrycunihy soon after D Day).
61st Division was also a training unit and Dick was involved in a week's exercise in the Kent countryside in mid November. He wrote to Chotie on his return:
Letter written on Sunday 28th November 1943
2/Lt R K Williams
'B' Sqdn. 61st Recce Regt
Recce Corps, Home Forces
Sunday 28th
Chotie Darling,
I'm now back again and settled down after the scheme, which lasted for its original duration much to everyone's disgust.
On the whole I had quite a happy time, as I either stayed at, or passed through, several old haunts well known to the family in the old Morris Cowley* days, and coupled with the opportunity so often missed of worming my way into a vast number of period farmhouses and the like.
The weather was excellent, cold but dry and as we stayed in one little village for three days without doing anything of military importance, we managed to get sufficiently well organised to hold ABCA*** periods and run a football tournament. I evaded these two popular pastimes however, and mooched about a local farm until the daughter of the house asked me in for coffee and CHOCOLATE Biscuits! Her undoubted charms left me cold, but I took a lively interest in the biscuits. Lovely old house, with a massive oak beam over the fireplace marked 1600.
The major** came back yesterday. He appeared quite a good type – reads Balzac, so I'm well in.
Nothing much happens here. I've just finished a 48 hr spell of Duty Officer, rather a cushy appointment. I get another 24 hr next Wednesday so I may go up to ……….. (word inked out). There's nothing to do here, or locally, but the snag is the fare. It will be the second day I've had off in three weeks, which isn't so good, to my way of thinking.
Many thanks for your letter, Darling, most welcome at the conclusion of an exercise. Glad to hear you've got, or rather you're getting, a rise****. I bet you're getting more than me after all. After I've paid income tax, messing***** etc, I get the equivalent of Lance Corporal's pay….
Must close here for dinner.
All my love precious
*presumably the family car from his childhood at Orpington in Kent.
**Army Bureau of Current Affairs – an organisation set up to educate and raise morale among British servicemen in World War 2.
***possibly the Regimental second-in-command, who was a Major, or maybe the Major commanding 'B' Squadron. Dick was one of 23 to 30 subalterns in the Regiment – commissioned officers below the rank of captain, generally comprising first and second (junior) lieutenants. Dick, as a newly commissioned officer, was a second lieutenant.
****due to her new qualification as Operator Fire Control?
*****Commissioned Officers were required to eat in the Officers' Mess and pay a subscription fee for supplies and upkeep. They would also be expected to wear formal attire for evenings in the mess.
© Chotie Darling
Dick, of course, was now in the regiment of the Recce Men we've been following. All were in 'B' Squadron: a reconnaissance regiment consisted of the Regimental HQ with HQ Squadron and three Reconnaissance Squadrons ('A', 'B' and 'C') of about 150 men each. Every Squadron had its own HQ, three Scout or Recce Troops consisting of one Recce and two Carrier sections - and one Assault or Infantry Troop. (From 'The British Reconnaissance Corps in World War II' by Richard Doherty, Osprey Publishing 2007). In 1943 Anthony Rampling and Eric Brewer were in the Assault troop (lorried infantry called in to overcome enemy resistance) while Dick and Eric Postles served in Scout Troops.
Although Home Defence was still important (particularly Anti-Aircraft response) Britain was becoming more relaxed about the possibilities of invasion. The fascist leader Oswald Mosly was released from prison, on grounds of ill health, on 17th November 1943. The next day the RAF began a series of very heavy raids against the German capital of Berlin, killing thousands of civilians.
In Poland as Operation Reinhard (the plan to exterminate Polish Jews) reached its culmination, 42,000 Jews working in forced labour camps were murdered by the Germans in the so called 'Operation Harvest Festival'. The world was waking up to the horror of the Holocaust when the dreadful atrocity of Babi Yar - the ravine where Nazis had shot and buried about 100,000 men, women and children - was revealed soon after the Soviet Army took the Ukrainian city of Kiev on 6th November.
Wet and wintry weather was hitting both the Eastern and Italian Fronts. In Italy the Allies advance slowed as General Mark Clark's 5th Army reached Monte Camino, the mountain ridges defending the main route to Rome. The failed British attempt to take the ridge on 5th November resulted in its nickname of 'Murder Mountain'. Montgomery's 8th Army was now approaching the strategically important port of Ortona on the Adriatic coast but the Germans fiercely defended the town for another month.
In the Mediterranean Sea, Germany's sinking of HMS Rohna, with the loss of 1,138 of the US troops she was carrying, would have been such a blow to Allied morale that it was kept secret until 1967!
Americans were engaged in terrible conflict with the Japanese in the Pacific. 1,000 US Marines were killed in the 3 day battle for tiny Tarawara Atoll in the Gilbert Islands - as well as 5,000 Japanese and Koreans - and on 1st November the battle of Bougainville Island, east of Papua New Guinea, began and lasted until August 1945 (the end of war in the Pacific). On 25th November US planes based in China started to bomb the Japanese Island of Formosa (now Taiwan), contributing to a massive Japanese offensive against the airfields in early 1944.
Chiang Kai-Shek, the Chinese Nationalist leader, met Roosevelt and Churchill at a conference in Cairo http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/timeline/factfiles/nonflash/a1140364.shtml (BBC History website) on 22nd November to confirm their strategy against Japan. Russia had not declared war against Japan and so did not attend but the two western leaders met Stalin together for the first time in Iran, at the Tehran Conference on 28th November, where he agreed to join the fight against Japan once Germany had been defeated. Roosevelt and Churchill promised that they would invade France in a second western front by May 1944. This was to be Operation Overlord and the beginning of Dick's war in Europe....
Reichswald Cemetery, Germany. Photo and tribute courtesy of Alex de Groot, June 2018.
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
Chotie was in Whitby in Yorkshire when Dick wrote to her on 9th October to plan his November leave. On 13th October he filled in a preference form for the Recce Corps and staked a claim to the 61st Recce (based on family or 'territory'), possibly because they were by then in his home county of Kent, or maybe because they were not far from his family at Pagham in Sussex
In mid-October he had a "glorious time on exercise in the Cotswolds. Went to Cheltenham, Gloucester, etc." – from letter to Chotie back in Easton-on-Gordano on 23rd October. By 26th October his plans for leave with Chotie were definitely shaping up, mainly based on the Pagham pubs.
On 30th October 1943 Dick received his commission as an officer in the Reconnaissance Corps and was appointed to the 61st Reconnaissance Regiment. He had already served in the Recce Corps: from April to July 1942 he was in 1st Air Landing Reconnaisssance Squadron; then moved to the 43rd Reconnaissance Regiment and trained as a Driver/Mechanic before beginning officer training in March 1943
We have been following 61st Recce through the lives of Eric Postles, Eric Brewer and Anthony Rampling, who were now troopers with the Regiment on anti-invasion duties. Eric Postles writes:
"61 Division was downgraded to home defence and moved to Kent. The regiment was responsible for patrolling the coast from New Romney to Battle. Our squadron was stationed in Lympne Castle next to an RAF airfield. We did day and night mobile patrols into Folkestone and Romney. On a clear day you could see France from the castle tower and at night flashes from the German guns shelling the Dover area. One night we watched as a night fighter shot down a German bomber in flames. Our fighter planes took off and returned from France very low over the castle often returning damaged and sometimes with their rockets hanging down from the wings. On our patrols we reported to the Coastguards and coastal gun sites." (Extracts from 'My War Years' by John Eric Postles ISO used by kind permission of the author.)
By October 1943 the threat of German invasion was low. The Allies were advancing on east and west fronts.
After the loss of Kursk and Kharkov in July and August Hitler had at last authorised a retreat to the River Dnepr in central Ukraine, defending a line from Smolensk to Kiev and the Black Sea. Smolensk had been taken by the Soviet Army at the end of September and on 24th October they broke through the southern end of the line near the Sea of Azov, threatening to isolate the German Army left on the Crimean Peninsula.
Pressed by the Allies, Franco ordered the Spanish volunteers of the Blue Division, fighting with Germany on the eastern front, to return to Spain.
Meanwhile the Allied forces in Italy broke through the German's Volturno line of defence at Termoli at the beginning of the month and by the end of October had also broken the Barbara line to the north. However, these had only been holding positions while the German's built major defences along their so called 'Winter line' across the mountains protecting the route to Rome and to the Adriatic coast at Ortona.
Badoglio's Italian government declared war on Germany on 13th October. Three days later the Nazis began to round up the Jews in Rome – 1,800 were sent to the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp and murdered. Jews had generally been safe in Italy or the Italian-occupied territory until the September Armistice and Italian people under German occupation continued to protect many. However, almost 10,000 of the 46,000 Italian Jews had been deported by the end of the war.
On 1st October Germany had also begun to deport Jews from Denmark but thanks to the Danish people and a German diplomat, Georg Ferdinand Duckwitz, most were already safe in Sweden – 500 Danish Jews were deported during the Holocaust and 120 of these were killed.
At a conference of high ranking Reich officials on 6th October Heinrich Himmler spoke frankly for the first the time of the Nazis aspiration for the 'Final Solution', for the Jewish people to 'disappear from the earth' and admitted women and children were being killed as well as the men. Four days later there was an uprising at Sobibor death camp in eastern Poland - of the 300 prisoners who escaped only 47 survived. 250,000 Jews are believed to have been killed at Sobibor from 1942 to 43.
Another barbarous act of the war was coming to its culmination on the other side of the world – on 17th October the Bangkok (Thailand) to Rangoon (Burma) railway was completed, built by Asian forced labour and Allied Prisoners of War. The cruelty of the Japanese and Korean overseers was so horrific that more than 70,000 of the enslaved workers died during the construction.
The United Nations War Crimes Commission, which was to prosecute many of the perpetrators of these atrocities, was established on 20th October 1943.
Britain continued with the night bombing of German cities – Munich on 2nd October and Kassel on 22nd, where more than 10,000 people died in the explosions and fires. Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Harris's determination to destroy German cities was seen by many in Britain as just revenge for the Blitz although others have viewed it as a potential war crime. Harris seemed to believe he could bring the war to an end with bombing, avoiding the need for an Allied invasion of France. Aerial bombardment by Axis or Allied powers, was never prosecuted as a war crime, apparently because it lay outside the scope of international conventions.
Letter written on Wednesday 1st and Thursday 2nd September 1943
Same address
Wednesday (nearly Thursday)
My Darling Chotie,
It's a long time since I've written to you at this time of night, but I find myself with two others operating a wireless for three days and nights and this being the first I thought it would give me a golden opportunity to send you a young novel – so here goes.
The remainder of the troop are out on a three days exercise and we are maintaining contact with them the whole time. The system, as it stands sounds quite fun but unfortunately we are not allowed to sleep as those on the exercise aren't able to.
This little discrepancy is, however, compensated by the fact that I get a weekend on Saturday, so things aren't really too bad. Diller will be home I believe so she'll have a glorious chance to moan to her hearts content, an opportunity I know she won't be slow to seize.
Came back from 48hr scheme yesterday, just about all in. This wireless* is murder, it's not only the mental tiredness you get, but also chronic headaches owing to the headphones which have to be worn continually. I'll spend the week-end in bed – lonely and cold ….
We've managed to scrounge some cocoa and milk, also a shave, so we have hopes of something hot soon.
Weather here is typical autumn – lots of mist and rain and last night a beautiful sunset, one of the best I've ever seen. The trees – hundreds of them here are just beginning to turn – though it's early yet. It will be lovely by the time I leave – always presuming I don't leave prematurely …
We have a pretty sound wireless officer, one of the pleasant slavedriver type who works all hours from morn 'til night and expects the whole troop to do the same…Luckily he likes his pint and consequently we always find ourselves some hundred yards from the Duke of Wellington for lunch and he always stands the troop a pint apiece. God knows how much it must cost him.
I was talking to the publican who says that the present Duke (who lives in the neighbouring estate – Stratfield Saye) is quite a pleasant bloke – Captain in the Commandos in Sicily and always goes to the pub when on leave to play darts with the farmers. Apparently he's about 30**.
Did I tell you that Dad went up to Purley*** to see all the relations? It's the first time he's seen his father for about five years! Awful isn't it? Apparently things have changed quite a bit. Gramp now looks his years – he's about 78, which he never has done before and has slowed up considerably. Cyril (Dad's brother) took him on a trip which included all the most dubious of London's night clubs.
They all expect me to go up (after Brian going, of course) but I still prefer to go home, or if possible come down to see you. (I still owe you about a dozen spankings…****)
However, he did see them, they were all very pleased, and that's that – for another five years anyhow.
Incidentally is there anything I can get you for your Birthday? I haven't had a chance to get out for ages, and you can't do anything on schemes. Let me know – and if there's no chance of my getting it, I'll send you some shekels*****.
The ATS are a better crowd than I thought, despite their being mostly Generals' daughters. The one I had (not literally….) yesterday did all the cooking for us – and did it very well – probably because they were scared of letting us do it, as they have to eat it as well. I managed to get her a room in a farmhouse and she managed to get me half-a-dozen eggs so we had quite a happy time. She comes from Kent of course – Pett's Wood – about a mile from Orpington†. We had several common friends. I should say friends in common – there's a subtle difference….
I still haven't had an FFI†† – you really must organise another meeting…See what you can do. I always get atrociously rude this time of night – at the moment I'm thinking awful things. I couldn't even tell you…
That's enough of this – I'd better do some wireless for an hour or two.
Well, I've done some morse – over an hour in fact and have just been relieved. Still feel the same. Good thing I'm not in the Bristol area.
Read Deeping's 'Two Black Sheep' on the scheme and also "Fanny by Gaslight" again (Michael Sadleir) which I've always thought an awful lot of. It's the finest picture of Victorian England of the last ten years and heaven knows there have been enough books on that subject! I'm sure Fanny would get the same hold on you as she has on me.
Won ten bob on a little side bet last night. Bill said it was Tchaikovsky's 'Casse Noisette' and I said it was 'Eugen Onegin' and Eugen Onegin it was†††. Just as easy as that. Wish money was always so procurable as that 10 bob.
It's now nearly 2 oclock and we've got the water on the boil for some luscious cocoa! Jeez!
My two colleagues have just started to take an interest in things – now that there's a chance of a hot drink! One is that madman I told you about from Corfe Castle – incidentally his name's Peter Collins (happy memories?) who still intends to live on Round Island after the war††††. A genuine hermit's life with just his wife. Notice I say just! This is where I should say "what more could a man want"… (after his pipe of course…Never mind Darling – you come second …)
The other one's an Oxford law student, pretty nearly broke. Tennis champ of north of England. Quite a good type.
I've just had my COCOA(!) and, it's good. I've got a lovely warm feeling in my tummy which I definitely didn't have before.
Well, Chotie Darling I must close here as I have to go on the set again. I'll let you know how things went on the weekend and enumerate some of Diller's moans.
All my love, precious.
Always thinking of you.
P.S. You should read Napoleon's letters to Marie Louise and Josephine. They're good….
*Wireless – "not enough emphasis can be put on the importance of communication in battle situations"…Wireless operators needed high quality training "to pick up weak signals against a background of atmospherics and interference" known as 'slush'. (From 'Phantom at War' by Andy & Sue Parlour, Cerberus 2003)
**The Duke of Wellington's estate at Stratfield Saye near Basingstoke in Hampshire . The 6th Duke of Wellington, Captain of No 2 Commando, was killed in action at Salerno on 16th September 1943 (from Commando Veterans website).
***Purley, near Croydon, South London.
****Possibly referring to Chotie's involvement with her officer at the Bristol camp earlier that year??
*****slang for cash. Chotie's 20th birthday was on 6th September 1943.
†Dick was born in Orpington in Kent and spent his childhood there.
††the 'Free from Inspection' inspection for venereal disease (presumably being used by Dick as a euphemism here)
†††Tchaikovsky's ballet 'The Nutcracker' and not his opera 'Eugene Onegin'.
††††an island in Poole Harbour.
Peter Collins was the name of one of Chotie's early admirers:
"Peter Collins, the boss's son, home from Blundell's, a posh school in Devon, also took a fancy to me and given the chance, we would canoodle in the store room. His mother was very kind to me and I was invited to stay at their lovely house in Talbot Woods for a weekend. Peter had won a scholarship to Blundell's for his brilliant piano playing and taught me about classical music - a love that has stayed with me all my life." (From 'Chotie's Story'. See also F.W.Collins)
© Chotie Darling
Dick went home to Pagham, Sussex over the weekend of 4th and 5th September and sent Chotie a postcard of Sea Lane, Pagham for her 20th birthday on the 6th September.
His next letter of Tuesday 14th September had news of his brother Brin, now an Officer Pre-Cadet at Wrotham near Sevenoaks, and Dilys, his sister, home from the Pay Corps. Dick was still worried he wouldn't get an officer posting to the Recce
"They're over staffed as it is, which has the annoying habit of making them very difficult to please. They cheerfully accept about five in every fifty and the unhappy remainder have to go all through an Infantry OCTU, which takes nearly another five months." He agreed with Chotie that the news was good (see below) but wrote "We still have the hardest fighting to do".
Chotie went home on leave again in September to Parkstone, Poole and met up with her best friend Mary Dakin. Her unit moved from Portishead back to Markham Camp, Easton-in-Gordano, sometime in the month and she had two trips to the dentist in September.
Dick was still on "schemes" – training exercises, which went on for a number of days outdoors but had found time to read, see some films and listen to classical music on the radio (mentioned in his letter to Chotie of 28th September).
His future unit, the 61st Recce, were involved in a full scale battle 'scheme' with Canadian and Polish troops - Exercise Link.
On 3rd September the Italian government signed a secret armistice deal with the Allies. The same day British and Canadian troops of Montgomery's 8th Army crossed the Messina Straits unopposed, to land in Calabria on the Italian mainland. This and subsequent amphibious landings by the 1st British Airborne Division at Taranto and Brindisi, on the south-east 'heel' of Italy, were intended to divert the Germans from the main Allied invasion south of Naples but did not succeed.
The armistice was announced on 8th September as the Italian Fleet sailed to surrender to the allies in the port of Valetta, Malta. Italian forces in German-occupied territory became prisoners-of-war and German troops rushed south to take up defensive positions against the Italian invasion. When the US Fifth Army including the British X Corps arrived at Salerno the Germans were already in place to meet them. Casualties were terrible as the Allies attempted to break out of the beach-head.
By the 10th of September the Germans occupied Rome and two days later they rescued Mussolini from his prison in the central Abruzzi Mountains. At Salerno the Germans launched a counter-offensive on 13th September, which nearly defeated the Allies but a few days later, with the 8th Army approaching from the south, the German army began to withdraw to defensive positions north of Naples.
On 23rd September Mussolini proclaimed the re-establishment of a fascist government in Northern Italy and Hitler now ordered the execution of all Italians carrying arms in Axis-occupied territory. 10,000 were massacred in Greece for resistance (5,000 on the island of Cephalonia on 24th September).
The Allies' forces from the east and west coast joined up to form a front-line across the country on 25th September and began to head north. (This was an arduous campaign against Italy's geography – a central ridge of high mountains with wide rivers flowing to east and west, providing natural lines of defence – as well as the Germans.) On 27th September the people of Naples rose up and drove the remaining Germans out of their city ahead of the Allies' advance. Marshal Badoglio signed the official armistice with General Eisenhower on 29th September at Valetta, Malta.
Free French commandos had landed on Italian occupied Corsica on 14th September to aid resistance fighters in harrying the Germans withdrawing from Sardinia (they'd been duped into arming for an Allied Invasion by Operation Mincemeat) via the formerly French island. By 21st October the Italian forces were assisting the French.
On 18th September the British began an attempt to liberate the Greek Aegean islands with a landing on Rhodes but the Italian troops they were looking to for support had already been arrested.
Jews in Athens and Denmark were now facing the threat of deportation as their countries came under German control. In Denmark, Danish authorities arranged a secret operation to move Jewish citizens into hiding for a safe escape to Sweden while in Athens two-thirds of the Jews escaped with help from the Greek Orthodox church and even the Athenian Chief of Police. The Danish resistance established a shadow administration, 'the Freedom Council', on 16th September.
While Sweden remained neutral, Norway had been occupied by Germany since June 1940 and Hitler's massive battleship, the Tirpitz, was anchored at Kåfjord on the far north coast. On 22nd September a British attack using midget submarines caused enough damage to put her out of action for 6 months.
In eastern Europe the German front-line was now held at the Dnepr river, across central Ukraine, but on 22nd September Soviet troops began to cross despite suffering heavy losses. The Allies were now poised to squeeze Hitler's Europe between eastern and western fronts.
Dick and Chotie met again for the first time since December at the Hollies, Chotie's home in Poole for the weekend of 7th to 9th August. There are some very happy family photos of this brief time together.
Chotie's father William Chalkley is on the left, Chotie and Dick on the right and her brother Jack in front.
Dick wrote to Chotie at Henbury, Bristol, on his return to Sandhurst :
"I'm beginning to feel that I'll be damn glad when this show's over. How about you? Then maybe we can get down to things as they should be got down to."
On 12th August he moved to HAC Squadron , the OCTU for Reconnaissance Officers, requiring considerable proficiency in wireless and morse but at least things were "on a sane basis once again" with good prospects for his career as an officer. Later in the month he wrote again
5731671 OTC Williams RK
77 Tp HAC Sqdn, 100 (Sandhurst) OCTU
RHC RMC, Camberley, Surrey
My Darling Chotie,
I'm very sorry I haven't been able to write before but have only just got back from a wireless scheme and am also squadron Leader into the bargain.
You always seem to be on the move*, which is a good thing as you see a little more of the country than I did for the first year or so.
Just had a letter from Brinner – passed his WOSB easily – the same one that I went on at Betchworth Surrey. He'll probably go the (sic) Wrotham pre-OCTU, where Johnny went.
I get a long(?) week-end in a fortnight's time which is when Diller gets her leave so I may manage to see her then.
Had a good time on the scheme although we worked until eleven every night. Our particular group consisted of four cadets, 2 cars and 2 ATS. They were very good, doing nearly all the cooking and egg-scrounging from the farms. We slept in the hay-loft of a barn and they slept in the farmhouse itself. Quite fun.
We do nothing but wireless schemes all the next fortnight which are pretty cushy physically but pretty bloody mentally.
I'm trying to write this on my knee – murder, isn't it?
I can still see my old tree from our new room. It's just beginning to turn brown… As one of our Canucks** said "I guess that means the fall"…
Haven't read anything for ages – or seen a flick for that matter. 'Spect you still manage to find time for a little quiet reading. Wish I could.
No news of any kind – nothing seems to happen these days, except in Berlin.
Will close here as there's simply nothing to write about.
All my love, precious
*Chotie's unit moved to Portishead, on the coast west of Bristol, in late August/early September.
**Canuck – slang for Canadian.
© Chotie Darling
Dick's future Regiment, the 61st Reconnaissance, were still training in the Chilterns.
While Britain was bombing the hell out of Germany with Air Marshal Harris's 'blanket bombing' strategy the Luftwaffe continued to attack our ports, including Portsmouth, where Dick had been stationed from June to September 1941.
The RAF had bombed the devastated city of Cologne again on 2nd August and on 23rd August 717 bombers began a series of raids on the German capital, Berlin. From 17th August the V2 rocket development site at Peenemunde on the Baltic Coast was also a target. Production of this deadly weapon continued inland dependant on forced labour from the camp at Nordhausen. Another German radio controlled and rocket propelled missile, the Henschel Hs293, was first used against Allied ships in August 1943.
Meanwhile Britain, the United States and Canada were secretly agreeing to share atomic energy research under the Quebec Agreement. This led to the production and use of the first atomic bombs against Japan in 1945.
The USAAF (United States of America Air Force) was suffering heavy losses from its daylight bombing campaigns focused on military and infrastructure targets. In August these included attacks on the Ploesti oilfields of Rumania and the Schweinfurt and Regensburg aircraft factories in central and southern Germany.
By August 17th the western Allies were in occupation of Sicily and Patton entered the port of Messina with the US 7th Army. However, beginning on 11th August the Germans had organised a very effective withdrawal conveying 110,000 troops across the Straits of Messina to the Italian mainland. As German leaders met with the new Italian government in Venice, German troops were also pouring into Italy from the north. Hitler suspected that without Mussolini the Italians would quickly surrender to the Allies.
In Eastern Europe one of the most significant concentration camp revolts took place at Treblinka in Poland on 2nd August. Jewish inmates staged an uprising enabling more than 300 prisoners to escape (although only 100 survived the subsequent Nazi manhunt).
In Bulgaria King Boris III died suddenly on 28th August in mysterious circumstances having resisted Hitler's demands for Bulgarian Jews to be sent to the concentration camps (although Jews were deported form the Bulgarian occupied territories in Macedonia, Thrace and Serbia). On the same day the Danish government resigned rather than hand over resistance saboteurs to the German authorities. Denmark became ruled by Germany who imposed martial law but thousands of Jews managed to escape to Sweden thanks to the help of Danish sympathisers.
To the east Russia was commencing a huge offensive to regain its occupied territory. North of Kursk, Orel was taken following the German retreat and then Briansk while to the south Belgorad and then the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkov were liberated.
Churchill and Roosevelt met with the Canadian Prime Minister Mackenzie King at the Quebec conference on 17th August (Stalin had also been invited). They agreed the plan to invade France from Britain (later called Operation Overlord) and established a South-East Asia Command to be led by Vice-Admiral Louis Mountbatten. The 'independent' Burmese government established by Japan on 1st August had declared war on Britain and Burma was a critical supply route for south China.
On 5th August US troops finally took Munda airfield on New Georgia in the Solomon Islands where the US Navy was also fiercely engaged with the Japanese trying to land re-enforcements. A US destroyer captain, John F Kennedy, became marooned on an island with the crew he'd helped to survive from his stricken ship but was rescued 6 days later. He later became the 35th President of the United States.
Had Dick stayed in the 1st Airborne he could have been invading Sicily in July 1943 in Operation Husky. He was probably better off at Sandhurst since 1st Airlanding Brigade's casualties in Operation Husky amounted to one third of those taking part, with many drowned when inexperienced pilots released their gliders too far from land to avoid flak.
The Allies' first front in Europe since Dunkirk, the French surrender in June 1940 and the fall of Crete a year later, started with the surprise landing of forces on the south of the island from the night of 9th July. 80,000 men were assembled before nightfall on the 10th. The British advanced from the south-east corner along the coast taking Syracuse thanks to remnants of 1st Airlanding who prevented the destruction of the critical Ponte Grande bridge. Patton's US 7th Army landed on the south coast and by 22nd July had taken the Sicilian capital of Palermo.
Map of Operation Husky from 2015 event
Hitler held an emergency meeting with Mussolini on 19th July but the Italian dictator lost control of Italy on 25th July when, backed by the Fascist Grand Council, the King took over power and appointed Marshal Badoglio as head of government. Mussolini was arrested and Hitler sent German troops to seize key positions in the north of the country.
The bombing of the ancient Ruhr city of Cologne by the RAF at the beginning of the month had produced an explosive firestorm and killed thousands. At the end of July the RAF attacked the port of Hamburg creating a huge firestorm that, with the devastating bombing, killed 40-50,000.
Germany was also facing the possibility of defeat in Russia. Operation Citadel, their immense offensive to take back the area around Kursk, started on 5th July and on 12th July one of the largest tank battles in history was fought at Prokhorovka, south of Kursk. The invaders made no progress though, overcome by the Soviets' determined, massive and rapidly prepared defence. On 22nd July Hitler even gave permission for the German Army to withdraw from the now vulnerable bulge in the line around Orel, north of Kursk.
Operation Cartwheel continued in the Pacific with fierce fighting on New Georgia as the US Army attempted to take the Japanese base of Munda.
The Allies were now on the offensive while Dick led a relatively safe existence back in Blighty. (He did end up lost over a precipice in Snowdonia on a training exercise in North Wales in June ).
On 13th June he sent Chotie a registered letter as he was preparing for the Wales trip. His 'Industry Group and Occupational Classification record' on 25th June confirms that he was a student before he joined up (he studied French, which was later to prove extremely useful). Better weather back at Camberly saw him swimming naked in the Sandhurst pool . After a week's leave in mid-July he sent Chotie a hand-coloured postcard of Sandhurst and wrote a letter the next day describing a visit to his Italian friend Guido Benetti in Brighton and his time at Pagham.
Meanwhile Chotie's anti-aircraft unit left Plymouth and returned to Bristol, this time to the north of the city at Cribbs Causeway.
Dick wrote to her there on 31st July:
Same Address
My Darling Chotie,
Sorry, this will have to be in pencil but Chunky has pinched our only table and chair and is very inauspiciously writing to his wife.
Received your two letters, for which many thanks. I was surprised to see you are once again in the Bristol area. If you remember, Eric was convalescent at Westbury for some months. At any rate you're a little nearer home, which I suppose is something, if not very much.
As regards next week-end I'm afraid I won't be able to get down before Saturday Evening, as our leave doesn't start until the afternoon, and it's a fair journey.
I shall have to leave again on Monday afternoon as we change squadrons on that day and I'll have about six months accumulation of kit to move to the New Buildings, which are some half mile or so.
Been swimming all the afternoon at the 'Blue Pool', the nearest baths (apart from the college baths) and am now beginning to get brown. I'm already pretty browned off as they're chucking out Recce cadets right and left as the corps is already too full. The trouble is that in most cases they're not even giving infantry commissions! So I'll probably be RtU'd* in the near future.
These things run in cycles – one minute they're clamouring for officers and the next they're full up.
Read Linklater's short stories entitled "God likes them Plain", which are very good. Haven't had time to read anything else. Heard from Diller (still browned off) but haven't heard from Brinner, needless to say.
Swam in an inter-squadron competition and managed to win my event the net result being we won the whole show easily. Rather funny really, and that's the first swimming event I've been in. On the 28th** too! Hell of a fluke – the other 3 were U.S.***
I'll close here Darling, as I've exhausted my mediocre letter-writing talents.
All my love, Darling
(until Saturday)
*RTU – Returned to Unit
**Dick's 22nd birthday on 28th July.
***Slang for useless?
© Chotie Darling
In June 1943 a new recruit had joined up and was training at Fulford Barracks near York. Private Eric Brewer was to become one of the brave Assault Troopers of 61st Reconnaissance Regiment, fighting in Normandy, Belgium and the Netherlands before he was injured in December 1944. He kept these letters from when he first joined up and a diary, which is an important record of 61st Recce's war (included in Roy Howard's account of the regiment 'Beaten Paths are Safest', Brewin Books 2004 and on this blog from 17th May 1944).
Extract from the letter sent by Eric Brewer's mother from the family home at Grays (between Basildon and Dagenham, Essex) to Private E Brewer, No 5 Squad, A Company, No 15 Primary Training Centre, Fulford Barracks, York and postmarked 22nd June 1943:
My Dear Eric
So many thanks for all your three letters that I have received today. I was so pleased to hear from you and to know that you had arrived okay and that you were so cheerful about everything. I do miss you Eric but your letters did cheer me up because they were so cheerful.
I expect the inoculations have made you feel rather bad; still I expect they will be for your good afterwards.
I do hope you still will make the best of everything because it helps to pass the time more quickly for when you come home and you bet, you shall have a lovely piece of steak and chips as soon as you arrive.
So your uniform fits you twice - perhaps that is so that when you have finished this six weeks training you will fill out and fit the uniform….
I've enclosed an addressed envelope, write as soon as you get time…I expect I shall get used to you being away but I do miss you Eric. Take care of yourself because I'm counting the weeks until I see you…."
Eric's brother, Captain B Brewer ('Bas'), wrote with an offer and experienced advice from his station in No 6019180 REME, attached to 537 Battery RA in Danbury Essex:
"Well Eric you certainly seem to be having a time at York but from what I can gather this lousy army doesn't seem to appeal to you too much, or should I say very little . …. Anyway Eric I'll do my best to try and get you into this mob. That do you? There's no "spit and polish" here." ……
…..And another thing, don't get in the front row of a parade, always get in the centre one. You see the front row and the back is much more noticeable. And again if the Sergeant ever asks for volunteers for a job or to go out the front on a lecture or such thing, don't volunteer.
How did you get on at firing the other day? OK I hope but not too good. You see they sort out the good shots for snipers and that's a lousy job I can tell you, so if you go firing again don't be too good at it……"
Eric must have got pretty 'good at it' to be in a Reconnaissance Assault Troop.
He was transferred to the Recce Corps in July 43 and went on to combined Recce training at Catterick 12th August 1943.
Photo taken in York, summer 1943. Eric Brewer is in the centre row 4th from the left.
Extract and photo copyright of Derek Brewer and reproduced here by kind permission of Derek and his family.
At the beginning of June 1943 Dick was at the Royal Armoured Corps Officer Cadet Training Unit (Sandhurst) near Camberley in Surrey. He went to battle camp in Snowdonia from Sunday 13th June to Saturday 19th (or 26th?) June
Chotie had moved with her Anti-Aircraft battery - 462 Hy (M) – to the Plymouth area at Millbrook on the Cornish side of the Tamar. Co-incidentally (or predicted by British Intelligence eg through code intercepts?) since on Monday 14th June Plymouth suffered a heavy attack by the Luftwaffe with more than 70 high explosive bombs dropped on the city in just half an hour, hundreds of incendiary bombs falling on Saltash (just north of Millbrook) and phosphorous bombs falling on Mount Edgecombe Park (just south of Millbrook). Chotie was already having 'a lively war'.
Luftwaffe aerial photo and map of the approaches to Plymouth and defences including Millbrook, January 1942
Dick wrote to her on a Tuesday earlier in the month (presumably 1st or 8th June ):
5731671 Officer Cadet Williams RK
77 Troop 'B' Sqdn
100 (Sandhurst) Octu RAC
R.M.C. Camberley, Surrey
Thanks very much for your letter and photo*. It's quite good don't you think? I've got a God awful photo of my troop taken the first day we had here. (Actually I haven't yet got one – it's on the way). We had one taken at Blackdown and that was so horrible that everyone refused to buy one. I paid for mine and am still hoping to get my money back….
I'll send you one of the Sandhurst ones when they arrive.
I'm writing this during a Gas lecture under pretence of writing notes so I have to keep stopping and pretending to look interested. I don't think I'm kidding this bloke, though.
Well, how do you like Plymouth**? You appear to have struck it lucky in getting such frequent changes of location. I always seemed to stick for months in really horrible places. Brinner had ten months at Basingstoke and I can't think of much worse than that. Mind you move Eastwards next time. Somewhere about Lilliput*** would be rather handy or even Chichester or somewhere like that.
(It's a murderous job trying to write on one knee watching the lecturer with one eye and trying to appear reasonably attentive.)
I get quite a nice time here on Sundays as all O/D's**** draw cycles to go to church in Camberley. Needless to say no one goes to church. For my part, I repair to a certain YOCH I wot of and there drink gallons of tea (no sugar ….), smoke a pipe or two, and read 'Country Life' 'Tatler' and 'Field' until about noon when I lazily mount the crate and trundle back to my present abode at approx... 2mph. However, we make up for it during the week, especially in PT which consists of pretty bloody runs of about 3-4 miles over obstacle courses in battle order. Quite fun when you get used to it. I shall have to use pencil from here as I've run out of ink.
Life here, however, is quite pleasant on the whole though I hope to get transferred to an Infantry OCTU before I finish here. Recce's all right but I prefer the old infantry.
Diller as you know I expect went to Leicester for initial training. I bet it's shaking her. I went to Leicester once from Branksome***** if you remember but wasn't impressed. Good huntin' country.
Read Rose Macaulay's 'And no man's wit'******, also Noel Langley's 'There's a porpoise close behind us' (re-read).
Plenty of swimming here, nearly every day in fact – I've got quite brown (-ed off…)
I'm supposed to be going home this weekend for a few hrs. Only wish I could get to Plymouth but it's really too much. I could have made Bristol I think. However you may move this way soon.
I was slung on a charge last week! Late on parade – but spun the Squadron Commander a yarn and got admonishment – cushy. I'll never make it again though, at any rate not with the same bloke – a Grenadier Guards major. All the officers here are either Grenadier, Irish or Welsh Gds. No Scots or Coldstreams.
It's now Tuesday evening and as I have a few minutes before dinner I'll round this letter off. We're on parade again at 9 o'clock for a night march….
It's been alternate sun and rain here all today, which is a good thing, for this place gets pretty dusty, also the rain helps to fill the swimming-pool.
The library here contains the Encyclopedia Britannica and Oxford so I'm quite happy to spend a few weeks there every now and then.
Our troop officer goes by the name of Brixey – Battle-mad Brixey – who's really very decent and very cushy. The Guards Officers here nearly all wear long puttees, the old style, that is with service dress slacks. Very comic appearance until you get used to it.
I'm afraid this letter's rambling on in my usual inimitable style (?) ….
(I've put your photo on my chest, furniture not anatomical – looks very good).
I'm very lucky in having Brian & Chunky as room-mates as we never seem to fight although we argue incessantly of course. Chunky being a Londoner hates the country period houses, beer, smoking, in fact all the luxuries of life. Brian being Irish and a pianist in the bargain is often moody and sometimes says hardly a word all day. He's over six feet, about fourteen stone and will make a brilliant soldier. Plans to stay in the army after this show.
Chunky's married but being ultra-modern has no children. Brian says he's going to get married on his next leave. I believe I told you he was a ham before joining-up, and was a Captain in the IRA for two years. Nice people…..
Warrant Officers here call us Sir and we call them Sir so everyone's happy. Occasionally the Sqdn Cmdr or someone dines with the troop which means about an hour and a half in the mess making conversation over really horrible coffee. Happily I smoke and get rid of the coffee to Brian who eats like a horse.
Well, Darling I'll close here as I'll have to post this before Dinner and the stunt tonight.
Hope to see you soon, Chotie Darling
All my love
PS. Sorry half is in pencil but no-one has any ink at the moment I want it.
*See group photo of ATS from Bristol .
**This letter was addressed to W/242328 Pte Chalkley B.E.
ATS OFC 'B' Tp, 462 Hy (M) AA Bty RA, c/o GPO. Millbrook, NR Plymouth
***a little village by the Harbour in Poole
****Officers of the Day or Officer Developers?
*****Dick was stationed in Branksome from September 1941. See To Branksome
****** Rose Macaulay's 'And no man's wit' is a novel based on the Spanish Civil War. Noel Langley's 'There's a porpoise close behind us' is set in the backstage world of London theatre.
© Chotie Darling
On 11th June 1943 Allied planes prepared for their first invasion in Europe, Operation Husky with the bombing of Sicily but also bombed Greece, Sardinia and northern Italy to continue the deception of Operation Mincemeat. On 20th June the RAF adopted the tactic of 'shuttle bombing', with planes leaving England to bomb Germany, reloading in North Africa and bombing Italian territory on return. The Allied airforces also implemented the Pointblank Directive of co-ordinated bombing – the Americans flying 'precision' bombing by day and the RAF 'saturation' bombing at night. The German city of Cologne was 'saturated' on 29th June leaving almost 5,000 dead.
'Radar' was officially adopted as the term for 'radiolocation' but remained very secret until the end of the war. The Admiralty at last changed their communications code – Naval Cipher 3 had been decrypted by the Germans in March 1942 leading to tragedy for the Allies in the Atlantic.
De Gaulle trumped Giraud by forming a French government-in-waiting (le Comité Français de la Libération Nationale) to avoid occupation by the other Allies or a communist take-over in the event of an Allied victory. However, his Conseil National de la Résistance leaders were captured, including Jean Moulin on 21st June (he died from torture without revealing information) and the communists began to increase their influence in the resistance.
Leaders of the Polish government in exile, including General Sikorski, were killed in a plane crash on 4th June – a convenience following the discovery of the Katyn massacre that led to many conspiracy theories. Following the destruction of the Warsaw Ghetto Heidrich Himmler decreed that all Polish and Soviet ghettos were to be liquidated.
On the other side of the world the Allies, led by General MacArthur, began Operation Cartwheel – an attack on the strong Japanese base of Rabaul on New Britain Island, New Guinea, through capture of the surrounding islands and bases – on 30th June 1943.
In May 1943, at the Trident Conference in America, Churchill and Roosevelt agreed the invasion of Italy after Sicily and set a date of 1st May 1944 for the cross-channel invasion of North-West Europe – 'D' day. Operation Mincemeat appeared to have convinced Hitler that the Allies would first invade Greece and Sardinia, even after the Royal Navy began a heavy bombardment of Pantelleria, the island between Tunisia and Sicily
The Allies had now triumphed in North Africa, taking the critical ports of Tunis and Bizerte on 7th May. On 13th May the remaining Axis forces in North Africa, nearly quarter of a million men, surrendered.
Although Eisenhower had appointed the former Vichy general Giraud as Commander-in-Chief of French forces in North Africa, General de Gaulle arrived in Algiers at the end of the month in a political move to take control of l'Armée Afrique, which far outnumbered his Free French forces. Jean Moulin, de Gaulle's appointed leader of the French resistance, had succeeded in uniting the networks of northern France into the Conseil National de la Résistance.
On 15th May Stalin announced the dissolution of the Comintern, the Communist international organisation working for world revolution. Britain's SOE (Special Operations Executive) began giving support to Marshal Tito's communist partisans, who had wrested large areas of Yugoslavia from Axis control.
In the Atlantic the cracking of the German Navy's enigma code and new more aggressive tactics were at last ending the devastation of British and American shipping. Admiral Dönitz lost 33 U-boats in May 1943 and withdrew his wolf-packs from the northern Atlantic. In the northern Pacific the Americans took back Attu Island, US territory in the Aleutians, from the Japanese.
The disastrous first British Arakan campaign in Burma ended with no gains and 5,000 casualties since September 1942. However, Britain's warfare technology was making important steps towards victory. The flight of a Junkers 88 fighter from Denmark by Danish defectors brought the Telecommunications Research Establishment a German radar set that contributed to the development of 'Window' radar interference. On 16th May, in the famous Dambusters raid, bouncing bombs were successfully used to breach the Möhne and Eder, killing 1,300 in the flooded Ruhr valley and disrupting industrial production. On 29th May RAF bombers created a devastating 'firestorm' for the first time at Wuppertal in the Ruhr – the explosive fire killed more than 3,000 people.
While Chotie adjusted to life among the guns near Bristol Dick was sweating over Pre-OCTU theory work "writing up notes for hours and hours" at Aldershot – "horrible place – nothing but military for miles." He had made two friends - 'Chunky', the ex-chef at the Trocadero and Brian 'Enoch', the actor. By 28th April he was doing 'Gunnery', "which is pretty cushy" and looking forward to Sandhurst.
At the beginning of May he 'passed out' of Blackdown Camp pre-OCTU and 7 days leave at his parents' home in Pagham, where he was telegrammed Chotie to join him. She didn't (perhaps distracted by her new officer?). On 17th May there was a large bombing raid on Cardiff, the Welsh capital on the other side of the Severn to Chotie's station. Since the German bombers often flew up the Severn to reach their targets Chotie's anti-aircraft battery may well have been involved in the action.
On 23rd May Chotie's former place of employment, the Beales Department store in Bournemouth, was destroyed by a bomb. Through 1942 Chotie was a trainee window-dresser and, like many of the staff, a night-time firewatcher for the building.
Dick only sent one letter to Chotie that month. It was written on paper from the Royal Military College, Camberley, Surrey - on15th May he had joined the 162nd OCTU of the Honourable Artillery Company, Sandhurst – and posted on Saturday 22nd May:
My Darling Chotie,
It seems ages since I heard from you and as I expect it's the same with you – here goes.
As you will see from above I'm now at Sandhurst, which is quite a place.
I've been so busy the last few days, what with passing out (in more ways than one) at Blackdown and getting settled here, I haven't had a moment to myself.
I was very disappointed with your inability to make Pagham, but realise what the hell of a journey Bristol is. But why didn't you send a wire or something? Then I could have come down. Brinner and Diller were home as you probably know. We could have got really stewed – actually we did, but that's another story. However, we must try again soon. I shall be able to get a week-end here and there, though I expect to be up to my eyes in work. I've been very lucky here in getting a room with Chunky* and Brian (my mates …. ) and an excellent servant who knows all the tricks of the trade – and then some.
(Don't smile at this paper. It's all they've got here, and needless to say they robbed me … Never again). I had a letter from Eric last week! No kidding. He "didn't want our correspondence to collapse" or some rot or other. The rat. Doesn't appear over happy, but then he never does.
Is Rosemary** still with you? Lucky Rosemary…. However, all good things come to an end – we'll be kicked out of this Army before long – I hope.
I haven't seen a flick for nearly a month, which cuts out that topic of conversation.
We're allowed to wear civvies in the evenings here, also dine in them, but as I'm couponless it doesn't really interest me.
So much for Sandhurst. I expect you know all about Bristol by now - all the pubs anyhow.
Diller and I found quite a good one in Chichester. It's so old it doesn't have a licence. It's got some ancient charter from James I or some other bloke which dates back before shame even.
You're lucky in having some relatives in the neighbourhood – I've never been near anyone.
Nothing new at home. Mother's been offered Gentians (that little Tea Rooms by the Kings Beach) for £100 and is toying with the idea. Mike*** presents the only snag. I'm all for it as we would be able to get buckshee teas on leave. She always has these vague obsessions as well you know. She also wants to make out a thousand in our names (Diller, Bryn & myself) to avoid death duties should she be killed by a stray bomb…. Crazy's right.
It must be over five months since I saw you last. Have you changed at all Darling? Don't tell me you're any slimmer 'cos I'd never believe anything but my own eyes. I've had so many 771's in the last few days I reckon it would be easier to turn nudist and have done with it. The old British public would raise horrified eyebrows, though you, I should imagine would remain entirely unruffled. (We've got a wonderful old oak outside our window. I have to keep stopping to gaze in rapt appreciation …. Must be the artist in me crying out like a voice in the wilderness against some aesthetic repression ….)
Brinner bought another Gigli**** when he was home. I won't comment on it, as he and Solomon are the only two men in this poor world I would never attempt to criticize.
Have you read 'Clochemerle'***** yet? Don't ask for it in a bookshop as they would only give you a pretty old fashioned look anyway.
I spent a day up in town on my way back to Blackdown. Piccadilly was, as usual, full of the usual who keep stopping you which is all very embarrassing, especially for an innocent little boy like myself, in London Town to see the bright lights. I told one of them that she should be paying me, if only she knew me, which annoyed her not a little. I didn't tell her I existed for Chotie alone.
Well Darling I must close here. Hope to see you soon. I'll advise you when I can get a weekend.
All my love, Precious
5731671 Officer Cadet Williams R.K.
77 Tp. 'B' Sqdn., 100 (Sandhurst) O.C.T.U. R.A.C.
Royal Military College, Camberley, Surrey.
*see letter of 18th April 1943.
**Rosemary was Chotie's young cousin I think
***Mike was the family dog
*** Beniamino Gigli was an Italian tenor singer and Solomon was possibly the pianist Solomon Cutner. See letter of 7th February.
****see letter of 11th April.
© Chotie Darling
Dick's officer training would have included learning from his 'servant' how an officer should speak, walk and eat. Before WW2 the British Army had recruited only 'gentlemen' as officers based on character, use of weapons and ability to ride a horse; and , of course, class. Now they were also recruiting officers from the ranks they were still concerned that they should have the 'competencies' of gentlemen.
On 6th April 1943 Chotie moved to Markham Camp at Easton-in-Gordano (east of Bristol and the River Avon and south of the important port at Avonmouth). She joined 'B' troop of the 462 Heavy (M) Anti-aircraft Battery as a radar operator or 'spotter'. Easton-in-Gordano also had rocket firing or 'Z' sites and it may have been these that terrified her on her first night as 'Ack-Ack
Rosemary Stewart was 'B' troop's Lance Corporal and she remembers Barbara Chalkley as the only girl who insisted on using eye lash curlers (with boot black if she couldn't get mascara) before going on parade.
Chotie's ATS Anti-Aircraft unit that defended Bristol in 1943. Chotie has ringed her face at the right-hand end of the second row from the back.
Dick had written to Chotie on 28th March while home at Pagham (Sussex) for a few hours. He'd 'passed out' of his first 3 weeks of pre-OCTU training at Aldershot: "ie the hard graft and get it much cushier for the next six – nearly all theory" and his sister Diller was also home prior to enlistment.
He wrote again on 11th April:
Same address
My Darling Chotie,
Many thanks for your letter and the news of your change of address. Hope you prefer it to Oswestry, - at least you're a little nearer home ….
I shall be here for the next seven months or so – at least in this neighbourhood I suppose.
'Fraid I don't know Bristol – all the blokes in my room at Dover came from this most antique of ports, and, needless to say, consider it the model town of the whole country. The Clifton Suspension bridge is considered one of the chef d'oeuvres* in the structural engineering world. I also know a BA who lives at Clifton, hails from the varsity. That about finishes my knowledge of the town. Glad to hear you've made a friend there. Always seems to help matters.
I've dropped for Guard Commander for Tuesday next so I'm spending the weekend blancoing etc.
I start on wireless tomorrow – for a fortnight then a fortnight gunnery – then leave and Sandhurst, maybe…
I believe I told you there's an RA** crowd here (ATS). Always seem to be doing predictor stuff.
(Have stopped writing to have chat with bloke who's hobby was mountaineering – very interesting. Another bloke here – the medico - says his greatest ambition in life is to become a member of the Royal Yacht Squadron! Nothing like aiming high, is there? He'll probably make it.)
We'll have to arrange something about my next leave. You may be able to get a 72hr or something. I'll let you know all details when they arrive.
Had two days out driving last week. Went to Brighton on Thursday and Oxford on Friday. Saw Gloucester*** arriving through Oxford in his Rolls. (One of his Rolls). Also went through Bicester, Aylesbury, Windsor Great Park, etc. Made quite a change as I don't really know this area.
The country round here is pretty marvellous but the Army of course have got their hands on most of it. There are literally hundreds of period houses, mostly Tudor cottages which have been used as weekend hide-outs, I should imagine. It makes me wince every time I see the military in them.
I'm reading (in brief snatches) Gabriel Chevallier's 'Clochemerle', which is a rather licentious tale of life in a French village. Very amusing.
I'm boring you again I suppose so will close here. Will let you know of any developments as regards leave, etc
All my love
P.S. Excuse envelope – it's all I have.
* 'chef d'oeuvre' – French for masterpiece
** RA – Royal Artillery
***Presumably Prince Henry, the Duke of Gloucester and third son of King George V. He was appointed potential regent by his brother George VI should he die while his daughter, the future Elizabeth II was a minor.
© Chotie Darling
Meanwhile our friend Eric Postles was in the Chilterns and had been joined by Anthony Rampling in the 61st Reconnaissance Regiment – Dick's future unit.
History was with the Poles in April 1943. On 12th April German radio announced the discovery of the remains of nearly 15,000 Polish officers and intelligentsia near Katyn in Russia. The massacre had taken place in April 1940 but was denied by the Soviet Union until 1990. It caused a diplomatic crisis among the Allies.
On 19th April German troops stormed the Warsaw Ghetto and met with fierce resistance. The Polish Jews managed to hold out for another month as the Ghetto was destroyed by fire and flood – those that survived were sent to the Treblinka death camp.
In North Africa the Allies were approaching victory as their forces from the east and west met in Tunisia on 7th April. Allied planes from African air-bases shot down a record number of Luftwaffe planes on 18th April but over Germany the RAF and US Eighth Air Force were suffering huge losses.
One of the most famous successful attacks on an aircraft was the US destruction of the plane carrying Admiral Yamamoto, the Commander of Japan's Imperial Fleet, shortly after he'd ordered the greatest Japanese air strike since Pearl Harbour against Allied bases in the Pacific on 17th April.
Hitler was busy giving pep talks to his European allies to keep them in the war, particularly Italy. Britain and America had agreed at the Casablanca Conference that their next step after Africa would be the invasion of Sicily but the US were not yet convinced they should advance into Europe via the Italian Peninsula before attempting to cross the Channel. (From 'The Second World War' by Antony Beevor, published by Weidenfield and Nicolson 2012)
While Chotie was still training for Ack-Ack in Oswestry Dick had a major career change. On 4th March he left 43rd Reconnaissance to begin training as an officer. Before Sandhurst and the Officer Cadet Training Unit (OCTU) he was a pre-cadet at Alma Barracks, Blackdown, near Aldershot in Hampshire for several weeks, missing out on Exercise Spartan, the first full-scale training exercise for invasion. (His old unit, 43rd Recce, were on the Allied side while his future unit, 61st Recce, including our friend Eric Postles, played Germans in occupation.)
The Army had now decided to recruit officers on merit instead of (as well as?) class but there was still huge emphasis on appearance – Dick wrote to Chotie on 8th March:
"The old spit & polish here is murder, have to change to best Battle Dress for every meal"…. "We're on parade from 6 am to 7.30 pm. Murder"
Pre-OCTU would last as long as it took to prepare a pre-cadet for Sandhurst.
On Sunday 14th March Dick found time to write Chotie a long letter:
5731671 P/CDT Williams RK
30.0 Tp 'A' Sqdn.
No1. Pre-OCTU R.A.C.
Alma Barracks, Blackdown, Hants
My Darling Chotie,
As Sunday has again occurred I find I have a few minutes, to write to you. It seems ages since I heard from you – but I expect you're in the same position as I am – one of a temporary scarcity of spare time.
I've managed to settle down here, as much as is possible anyhow, but find myself pretty rushed off my feet and expect to be the same for the rest of my stay here.
The compensations, such as they are, consist of such luxuries as hot water, showers, marvelous food, and plenty of clothing exchanges.
There's a whole harem of ATS here – they do all the admin. Duties, office work, driving, etc. They never seem to do any parades, apart from one Church Parade per month. Pretty cushy.
(I must make an apology here for using this paper, but I'm fed up with using poky little writing-pads.) I rather fancy that this letter will read like a young novel. However, I resume.
The instructors here are all Guards N.C.Os. Coldstream, Grens*, Irish, Welsh etc and aren't too bad on the whole. We get a helluva lot of square-bashing, much too much for me, anyhow, as I reckon I've had enough after nearly three years in this racket.
I expect you're getting interested in the leave problem – and what a problem! I only wish I could get mine, but I'm afraid I've missed it and certainly won't get any until after this nine weeks.
The real job starts at Sandhurst, but there you get a batman and are allowed a collar and tie(!) even though still a cadet – but that's a long time yet.
I can get week-end passes from here – provided I'm not on duty, but it's a lousy journey and the fare would be well over a quid. On top of this there's the fact that you need every available moment to blanco** and keep your notes up to date. What a tale of woe! – anyway that's about enough of my troubles.
I suppose you're quite the old soldier by now. You won't, however, be able to give me any old buck as I know the ropes. You should get a better time when you get on a site somewhere – the initial training is always the stiffest, and the most boring.
Needless to say, I don't get any time to read here, and I gather it's the same with you.
Happily, I'm with quite a bright crowd – an actor (ham), medical student, couple of school-marms, buyer from Lewis' Leicester, art student and several other buckshees.
I met LISBY here; do you know him? Rather fat, blond, used to work at Bank in Broadstone and ARP at Municipal Buildings. Went to Poole Grammar. He's a pre-cadet for the Tank Corps. (I seem to be rambling on, all to no purpose).
Heard Ruth Naylor*** (waltz-song from Bohème) on Naafi Radio this morning. Pretty wonderful.
I miss my friend Alex**** from the 43rd. Like Eric we had much in common, particularly opera. I promised to write, but then no one ever does.
The ham here knows lots of people we knew on the London stage, and every night-club in Mayfair. He knows enough about such people as Daphne du Maurier, Michael Redgrave, Noel Coward, etc to blackmail them a hundred times*****. Comes out with some rather indelicate tales after lights-out. (I'm thinking about taking this letter up with a publisher).
Had letters from home yesterday – no news. Brinner's on a course somewhere. Diller is still expecting to do something. Expecting is as far as it will get.
How's everyone at Parkstone? Give them all my best wishes when you write won't you?
Well, Darling, I must close here as its nearly lights-out and they're pretty mustard on that sort of thing.
Hope I can see you before very long. I can't tell you how much I miss you, Chotie, that would be quite impossible, but I do think about you and love you very, very, much. Perhaps, this wretched show will end sooner than either of us imagine and we can be together again. I'm much more interested in that than any b----- commission.
God bless you, Chotie
always yours
*Grenadier Guards
**Blanco was a cleaning compound used on the cotton of army uniforms.
***Ruth Naylor was an Australian soprano, famous for her appearance in Puccini's opera La Bohème.
****Alex Johnston – see letters for January and February 1943.
*****Practising male homosexuality was illegal in Britain at this time. Daphne du Maurier's bisexuality has not been confirmed. She was Dick's favourite writer and married to his former Commanding Officer in the Air Landing, Frederick 'Boy' Browning.
© Chotie Darling
"This wretched show":
On 1st March 1943 American Jews held a mass rally in New York to pressure their government to do more to help Jews in Europe. Heinrich Himmler visited the concentration camp at Treblinka in eastern Poland and gave orders for the mass murders there to be covered up.
On 13th and 14th March 1943 the Nazis 'liquidated' the remaining Jews they had forced into the Krakow Ghetto in southern Poland, shooting 2,000 in the street and deporting 3,000 others to nearby Auschwitz-Birkenau. Newly built gas chambers were put into operation at Auschwitz, the largest Nazi death camp where one million people were murdered during the German occupation.
In the same month German Army officers from the Russian front made two failed attempts to assassinate Adolf Hitler. The Soviet Army and Air Force were now better equipped than the Axis powers on the eastern front and far outnumbered them. However, the Germans were still successful in re-taking the old Ukrainian capital city of Kharkov on 14th March.
Allied bombers focused their first attacks of the Battle of the Ruhr, beginning in March, on German armaments production in Essen.
In Tunisia Rommel failed in an attack from the Mareth line and left Africa on 9th March. Montgomery's British Eighth Army followed up with a successful attack on the line, winning the battle by 26th March.
The largest convoy battle of the war began on 16th March in the Atlantic with three wolf-packs of U-boats converging on 100 Allied ships and succeeding in sinking 22 with the loss of only one U-boat. On the other side of the world Australian and American planes achieved a landmark victory against the Japanese fleet in the Battle of the Bismarck Sea but Britain's guerrilla force in Burma (the Chindits) was forced to withdraw to India with the loss of one third of their men.
In London there was tragedy on the underground at Bethnal Green on 3rd March when 173 people were killed in the crush when panic set in.
The "wretched show" continued for another two years….