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Talking about operational experience, Obituary

Discussion in 'Officers' started by thegimp, Jul 25, 2006.

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  1. thegimp

    thegimp LE

    thegimp, Jul 25, 2006
    #1
  2. Scratcher90

    Scratcher90 Old-Salt

    Awesome! Thanks for posting that.

    Mind you, I notice some things don't change -

    "On reaching the rendezvous, Otway discovered that he had no radio sets which worked, no engineers, no medical orderlies and only a quarter of his men."

    Cheers

    Scratch
     
    Scratcher90, Jul 25, 2006
    #2
  3. Cuddles

    Cuddles LE

    Golly it's another command task!!
     
    Cuddles, Jul 25, 2006
    #3
  4. Vimeiro

    Vimeiro LE

    I first read about the Merville Battery Op in an old comic annual from the Sixties. Pretty outstanding all the preperation they went though for this action.
     
    Vimeiro, Jul 25, 2006
    #4
  5. Guns

    Guns LE Moderator Book Reviewer
    1. The Royal Navy

    During my Advanced Amphib Course at Shriv we did the bottle field tour of D-Day and my dit was on this very battle. Having visited the battery and read up on it all - bloody hell springs to mind. If you ever do go to Normandy it is worth a visit. A nice little musem and gift shop. To see the lie of the land you quickly see the problems this man had to cope with. To cap it all a timed NGS bombardment was only to be lift if the codeword for success was recieved. By radio perhapes or some other modern comms???? Nope a number of homing pigeons where to be released and then orders could be passed. Bowman fall back?????
     
    Guns, Aug 13, 2006
    #5
  6. jonny3979

    jonny3979 War Hero

    and the RAF failed to neutralise the target prior to the drop......
     
    jonny3979, Aug 14, 2006
    #6
  7. Pillager

    Pillager LE

    Using captured German soldiers to lead his assault teams through the minefields.

    He's lucky he died before Cherie Blair had him tried!
     
    Pillager, Aug 14, 2006
    #7
  8. Pteranadon

    Pteranadon LE

    I hadn't heard about the captured soldiers in front of the paras. What is the source for this statement?

    Its not in the locally produced history "Get in Get in" Nor in the history of 9th Parachute Battalion "The day the devils dropped in". The latter book makes it clear that Otway was utterly ruthless. It mentions the French civilians they captured and Otways orders to shoot them on the basis that only collaborators would eb allowed out at that hour!. (They weren't; shot) Its not in any of the many eye witness statements, notr was it mentioned by any of the vets who were in Normandy in 2004.

    It seems a little unlikely that the 150 men of 9 para who reached the RV to bring in 23 germans -or for Otway to show them more mercy than the Frecnh . It also seems odd to expect a random scattering of germans to know their way through the minefield at Merville!
     
    Pteranadon, Aug 14, 2006
    #8
  9. Pillager

    Pillager LE

    From the telegraph article
    I had presumed these to be Germans though by your account they could also have been French. In any case I had believe (possibly wrongly) that you werent allowed to do this.
     
    Pillager, Aug 14, 2006
    #9
  11. CutLunchCommando

    CutLunchCommando LE

    Didn't one of Otways subalterns make a report to him as he was dying?
     
    CutLunchCommando, Aug 14, 2006
    #10