Before I go further, it is essential to set an "Atmosphere" of those times, otherwise the story becomes "Flat and banal"

What follows may do that in a small degree:

The Invasion Warning to Occupied Europe.
At Last. At Long Last.

Prior to our landings there had to be adequate warning to the people of occupied France Belgium and Holland of the coming invasion. There had been messages passed over the radio in code to resistance groups for some considerable time during the years of occupation, messages that made little sense except to those who knew the code. "Uncle Amos lost his teacups" "The river runs high today" "Francoise is thirty one". In preparation for the coming invasion the early warning message was to be a verse from a French poet. Verlain.

The first warning to be broadcast was to inform the peoples of Europe that the invasion was to take place shortly The second broadcast to inform the people the invasion was to take place NOW.

There has seldom been a broadcast with such momentous import, signaling the death of thousands of men and the destruction of the Norman Countryside.

The first warning in French was as follows:
"Les sanglots longs des violons de Autumne"
Translated as:
"The long sobs of the violins of Autumn"

The second warning telling Europe that the invasion was to take place now was:
"Blessant mon coure d,un langouer monotone"
Translated as:
"Bless my heart with monotonous langour"

Somehow these words seem to reflect the magnitude of the events that were to follow. The invasion by a mighty fleet, valiant deeds, many that went unrecognized, and the freeing of the enslaved peoples of occupied Europe.

For us elderly Veterans who took part, it was a great endeavour. What ever happens to us, we shall always be aware that we had a part in the shaping of history, we took part in those mighty battles, battles, where men died for what was right! Eventually, resulting in the freeing of the enslaved people of the continent of Europe from the evil disease of the Nazi yoke. Seldom in our long history could there have been a better cause than this. I am very proud to have taken part in this great crusade.

And I bet that a many Europeans hearing that coded message, made the hair on the back of their necks stand up.
Swordman

Good Day Sappers! Take Pride in the Corps and this is why.

This has to be said before we set sail!
What has angered me, and many other veterans, is the way in which the Normandy landings have been immortalised by the Americans, through 62 years or more of films and documentaries. The amount of this media churned out by Hollywood has served to make little of the British and Canadians.

This has created a totally false record of what actually took place. The end result being that it is the American version of events that has now become accepted as the true legends of D Day. In truth, much of what is written is “Slanted� in the direction of the USA. One of the greatest myths, was that of Sword Beach being an “Easy� landing. Even repeated on here!

Normandy. The Gallant Sappers
Easy? Lay that idea to rest!

Sword Beach was the most heavily defended sector on the whole invasion coast. Nowhere on that coast was there such a depth of enemy defences, or anything like it. The success of that sector was down to the fortitude, solid determination, and discipline of our men that made it appear “easy� Even when the well laid plans disintegrated, the men carried on with what they had been trained to do

And! Never let it be forgotten, that the first ashore, before any others, were the Gallant Sappers.

It was the dedicated RE companies that made it appear easy. It was the Sappers that cleared the beach obstacles. It was the Sappers that cleared the way.
It was the dedication and sacrifice of the Sappers, knowing full well that their contribution to the success of D Day would never be recognized in the muddled smoke and confusion of war.

It was the Sappers that cleared the area for the Gliders of the Airborne to land. They had cleared the whole area of the wooden anti landing obstacles known as Rommels asparagus!

When the tide came in faster than expected, it was the Sappers that continued to swim amongst the obstacles removing the mines and shells. Sadly, some drowned still doing their job.
Hold your heads high Sappers, perhaps it now becomes obvious why we should have such an extraordinary pride in our Corps!
Bless them!

For many years it was claimed (Mostly by the Americans) that we had it easy on Sword Beach, not true, the following from one of the assault ships log, lays this misinformation to rest, what follows later, is Stan Hough’s record taken from the log of one of the ships that carried the Assault craft. Princess Astrid. Bless her! She hit a mine in the channel after the war and sunk!

The Princess lost 4 out of her 8 Assault landing craft.
Princess Charlotte lost 7 out of 8
MV Victoria lost 5 out of 6.
Prince Henry lost 5 out of 8.
Finally Prince David lost all 8.

On reflection, the loss of 29 Assault craft out of a total of 38 with only 9 saved, hardly bears out the idea of an "Easy landing" In passing, the continuous rain of films and documentaries over the last 60 years about the war, have created a rather one sided view, at times having very little do to with what actually took place. But, such is the power of propaganda that these myths are assumed to be true and become fixed as part of the Legend of D Day.
Swordman

This is my unofficial roll of honour:
First in last out lads!
5th Assault Regiment RE
77th Assault Sqn RE
79 Assault Sqn RE
591 Para Sqn RE
629 Field Sqn RE
17 Field Company RE
246 Field Company RE
253 Field Company RE
15 Field Park Company RE
71 Field Company RE
84 Field Company RE
91 Field Company RE
263 Field Company RE.

Amongst that little lot, there would be some tales to tell.
Swordman.

I would love to know what you Sappers, and friends (who have the patience to read this) make of what is written here? For I have liitle knowledge of how the younger generation see us old buzzards.
Swordman

Originally Posted by swordman

I would love to know what you Sappers, and friends (who have the patience to read this) make of what is written here? For I have liitle knowledge of how the younger generation see us old buzzards.
Swordman

enthralled "swordman"

were it not for the gallantry,courage & bravery of your generation half of our generation may not be here now.

waiting with baited breath for the next installment.

Originally Posted by swordman

I would love to know what you Sappers, and friends (who have the patience to read this) make of what is written here? For I have liitle knowledge of how the younger generation see us old buzzards.
Swordman

Totally agree with Knocker, I think that anyone that is serving/has served in the Armed Forces has nothing but utter respect for the people of your generation and it is great to listen to!! Keep it going Swordman!!!

Shall we see England again?
Many young men would not.

We embarked at Newhaven. Driven by truck from the Concentration camps. Inside the harbour, the sea looked reasonable, but as we left the entrance the picture changed, and it was rough, very rough. I shall always remember the sight of hundreds of self-heating soup cans floating inside the harbour where they had been tossed overboard.

We sailed our way first to Southampton, then later, after joining the huge group of ships, East of the Isle of Wight. Where this huge circle of ships was sailing round in a wide circle known as Piccadilly Circus. There we joined that great throng, but in the right place For the ships and landing craft had to “Peel off� the circus at the right time, and in the right place, otherwise the landing schedules would be all to pot.

There straight across the channel to Normandy, I was happy enough in this weather being used to boats and the sea, but Oh dear! many of those aboard wanted to die from sea-sickness. When someone called, "tea up", I hurried down below, when I returned I found a Soldier kneeling in front of my kit being sea-sick all over it, I thought at the time "this is a bloody fine way to free Festung Europa."

In this narrative, I shall try to relate only those things that made a deep impression on the minds of a nineteen year old Country-man and his friends, caught up in the greatest military invasion the world has seen! I shall try not to write about the planning of the invasion, or repeat what has been described time and time again.

I shall concentrate entirely on memories and events that stuck in the minds of a very ordinary young man. “Little Cameos of War�. Just one of many thousands of ordinary men and women, who went off to fight for their country, in my case, a Sapper who was fortunate to serve with 246 Field Co R.E. That valiant band of brothers. A tiny, insignificant little cog, in a very big war machine.

The memoirs serve to describe war and it's horrors and in all it's phases. For many of us Veterans, there are names that are virtually engraved on our soul, Queen red. Queen white. Hermanville. Benouville. Blainville. Lebisey. La Londe. Caen. Goodwood. Colombelles. Troarn. The river Orne and Canal. So many names that will never be forgotten by those who fought in Normandy. Bloody Normandy.

As an aside, I would just love to tell you all about how brave I was. What a heroic figure of a young man I presented! Indeed! The very essence of a brave young Sapper! But that would be far from the truth, for I was always scared silly. And in the company of many others, we developed a distinct dislike of leaving the comparative warmth and safety of our foxholes. That we always did, I suppose says something,

The bravest of men are not those that sally forth into the teeth of drenching fire without a care in the world! No mate! It is the bloody scared young man (me) with the shelling and mortaring all around him, and the “Green snow� of the machine gun bursts that brought the leaves fluttering down like snow.

Next, the company lands and takes on their D Day tasks. The late Captain Edwards RE penned a very stark and truthful description of what happened. That will follow. I welcome comment or critiscism on what I post here. :D
Swordman.

They'll be no critiscism from these quarters. This is a great read.

This is by far the best thread I've seen on ARRSE. I hope that I can recount my army stories as well as you can when I am your age.

I hope that you are getting as much out of this story writing and researching process as us younger guys?

Fantastic writing Swordman. May I ask if anyone from the RE Museum has been in touch, perhaps to do some "living history" tapes or suchlike? If they haven't, they should!

Originally Posted by Clerk_of_Jerks

I hope that I can recount my army stories as well as you can when I am your age.

sat at desk.

shuffled paper.

told lads to move the wall an inch to the left.

got promoted.

:D :D :D :D