The Travels of Tel's Tin Tent. (1 Viewer)

Airframes said:

Sorry, Andy and Evan, we were obviously posting at the same time glad you're both enjoying the "tour".

Yes Andy, being one of the main tourist towns on the D-Day "trail", I did notice some price differences here and there (especially the Museum entry fee !), compared to some other places we visited, although there was a small militaria shop, set back on the side street leading from the car park, where apparently the prices were quite reasonable ( I didn't go in due to restricted space for my scooter, but Karl reported that were were loads of things, particularly German items such as Helmets and gas mask cannisters, at fairly good prices - maybe I should have had a butchers !).
We passed the place you recommended for lunch, but it was quite busy, and again scooter access would have been difficult, so we found a decent cafe/brasserie, with outdoor seating, just nearby, as shown below.

Pic 1. Looking down on Arromanches from the cliffs to the east of the town, with the Museum prominent in the centre of the photo.
Pic 2. 88 mm FLAK in the same location.
Pic 3. A view of the same cliff-top and monuments, taken from the road leading down to Arromanches, further west.
Pic 4. The street leading to the square and the Museum, with Andy's recommended restaurant on the right.
Pic 5. Lunch in the sun.
Pic 6. A Jambon et Frommage baguette the size of a clarinet - and I'm definitely going to slap my barber when I next see him !!

This concludes the coverage of the British and Canadian landing beaches, although the cliff-top gun battery at Longues sur Mer will be featured next, before moving inland to view a number of key locations in forthcoming posts ( a very brief coverage of the Omaha beach area will be included near the end of the tour).

Back later tonight .....................


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You three look like candidates for an unofficial U.S. organization, the ROMEO = Retired Old Men Eating Out. My entire model club are members and schedule monthly ROMEO meetings.

Moving inland from Gold beach, and the objective of D Coy, 6th Battalion, Princess of Wales Own Regiment, "The Green Howards".

Ver sur Mer to Crepon.

Some very brief details on the actions that resulted in the only Victoria Cross to be awarded on D-Day.

Mont Fleury battery, situated on the southern edge of Ver sur Mer, just inland from Gold beach, was the objective of D Coy, 6th Green Howards, and was successfully captured on the morning of D-Day. (today, the few remains are surrounded by housing, and difficult to access easily).

It was here that Company Sergeant Major Stanley Hollis single-handedly stormed and destroyed a machine gun pillbox, with his Sten gun and a grenade, taking prisoner the five surviving occupants, and then repeated this action, under heavy fire, on a second defensive position, capturing a further 25 German prisoners. (the then open road where the MG posts were is now lined with houses, and no traces of the pillbox or trenches remain).
These actions alone warranted the VC, Britain's highest award for valour - but Hollis was to demonstrate yet another act of extreme courage later that day, in the village of Crepon.
Spotting what he thought might be an artillery piece in a tree line next to an orchard, behind a farm yard on the western edge of the village, he took a closer look, and his suspicions were confirmed when a bullet smacked into a wall, above his head. He quickly organised a party of riflemen and two Bren gunners, and arming himself with a PIAT, they attacked the gun position.
Hollis fired the PIAT, but the round fell short. With some of his men dead or wounded, he ordered the Platoon to fall back, but the two Bren gunners were either frozen with fear, or hadn't heard the order, and were now trapped, under fire, in the orchard.
Hollis refused to leave his men stranded, so he grabbed a Bren gun and advanced on the tree line, in full view of the enemy, firing from the hip !
Miraculously, Hollis wasn't hit, and the men were rescued safely.
For these two actions, CSM Stanley Hollis was awarded the Victoria Cross.

Stanley Hollis was from Middlesbrough, in the north east of England, and the Green Howards were part of 50th (Tyne Tees) Division, the Territorial Army, Britain's "Part Time" soldiers of the Army Reserve, activated in times of war or serious crisis. He was an extremely experienced and capable NCO, 31 years old, and had seen action at Dunkirk, in the North African campaigns, and in Italy, where he was wounded at Primisole Bridge.
He was wounded a second time, in September 1944.
As Karl is from Teesside, and I'm originally from Tyneside (Tyne-Tees), these episodes and locations had a strong "local" connection.

There are a pair of good videos on these actions in the Al Murray / James Holland "Walking the Ground" series.

Images below show :-

Pic 1. Map showing locations of Ver sur Mer and Crepon.
Pic 2. Satellite view, same area.
Pic 3. Satellite view of location of first attack by CSM Hollis.
Pic 4. Heading south from Ver sur Mer towards Crepon.
Pics 5 and 6. Direction signs to supply dumps, still visible 81 years later.
Pic 7. Satellite view of the action against the gun near the orchard.
Pic 8. The farmyard with the orchard and tree line beyond.
Pics 9 to 11. Green Howards memorial in Crepon. (generic, but based on CSM Hollis).
Pic 12. Very "English looking" bar, named "Le Green Howards", a few yards from the Memorial.
Pic 13. Stan Hollis after the investiture for his VC.
Pic 14. Statue of Stan Hollis, VC, in Middlesbrough.

More of the inland battle scenes yet to come, the next one hopefully sometime tomorrow.

Great shots Terry!

Amazing guy, from my home town !

Apologies for the prolonged pause in the tour chaps; still collating the relevant details, photos and maps etc.

I should have the next instalment posted later tonight.

Airframes said:

Apologies for the prolonged pause in the tour chaps; still collating the relevant details, photos and maps etc.

I should have the next instalment posted later tonight.

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If you need anything from me mate, just fire me a message over.

Will do.

Looks like a great trip guys

Thanks Glenn, and it sure was a brilliant tour !

Jut a little filler to keep things going !

Good stuff Terry!

Airframes said:

Apologies for the prolonged pause in the tour chaps; still collating the relevant details, photos and maps etc.

I should have the next instalment posted later tonight.

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As far as I am concerned take all the time you want for each instalment. I am sure the result will be worth the wait.

And while you're at it, get a f!ckin haircut!

Tsk Tsk

Being jealous of how much hair he still has is not becoming.

Thank you, I'll try my best !

More of the battles inland, this time with the tanks of the Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry, another Territorial Army reserve unit of the British Army.
I'll admit that I only have a limited knowledge of this unit and it's actions during World War Two, although Karl is quite well informed, and the following is mainly based on information from Karl, and a better understanding I gained during our visit to this particular battlefield.

On June 7th, St. Leger had been captured, and the Sherwood Rangers entered the liberated city of Bayeux to a rapturous welcome from the population.
In brief, a battle group was formed for further advances towards Caen, which included the Shermans of the Sherwood Rangers and, on June 8th, further ground was taken, until the Sherwoods came up on very stiff opposition, from tanks, SPGs, AT guns and infantry around Loucelles and St. Pierre.
The Sherwoods were ordered to take the high ground, marked as "Point 103" on their maps, which dominated these two villages.
This task was far from easy, and the Sherwoods were held up every step of the way, as the Germans had well camouflaged positions, dug into the bocage, concealing tanks, SPGs and AT guns, as well as strong infantry opposition.
Each hedgerow and field had to be fought for, with the average distance between hedgerows in the thick, tangled, hundreds of years old bocage being about 100 yards.
This may sound fairly straight forward, but it took a lot of time, and heavy casualties, before even a few yards progress could be achieved.
For each advance, on each fortified hedge line, it took around 30 minutes of preparation and positioning, and then a further 30 minutes or so of "Assault Preparation", that is, pounding the defensive line with tank fire, artillery and mortar fire, supported by machine gun fire as the advance began.
This continued, field by field, hedgerow by hedgerow, with the tanks supporting the infantry of 50 (TT) Division, and during this time, a direct hit from a German 105mm shell killed Maj. Laycock, Adjutant Capt. Jones, Intelligence Officer Lt. Head, along with the Recce Leader and the HQ Signals Sgt.
Command of the Regiment was then assumed by Major Stanley Christopherson, MC., and over the following 7 days up to 15th June, The Sherwoods, and the infantry, sustained further losses, but also inflicted very heavy losses on the enemy's armour and infantry, and continued with the advance on Caen, and beyond.

The preceding is a very condensed account of the actions on and around Point 103, and Karl will possibly add a few more relevant details.

The two books shown below, both from Pen & Sword, cover this battle, and the British and Canadian tank campaign in Normandy, in good detail, and there is also a good video in the Al Murray / James Holland "Walking the Ground" series which is worth viewing.
Although the photos below appear to just show a field and some country lanes, this is part of the actual battlefield we visited and, having driven around the area we dubbed "The four fields", and motored down the narrow dirt tacks, lined with thick bocage, where heavy fighting took place, we both got a very real "feel" for what happened here, 81 years ago.

Pics below show :-

Pic 1. Satellite view showing the location of Point 103.
Pics 2 and 3. Wartime recce photos of the area, from the James Holland book (IWM photos), showing the locations and tank tracks in the fields. The wording mentioning the execution of Canadian soldiers, and Chateau d'Audriue, will be covered in one of the next instalments.
Pic 4. The route we took to Point 103, and around the tracks surrounding "the four fields".
Pic 5 and 6. Views of Point 103 from opposite directions.
Pics 6 to 9. The narrow, unsurfaced tracks around Point 103, lined with thick bocage. So Karl took my car off-roading, fer Pete's sake !
These were the same tracks where tank fighting took place, bordering the murderous "killing grounds" of the open fields between each hedgerow.
Pic 10. A larger view of "the four fields".
Pics 11 and 12. The two books mentioned above.

Back either tomorrow, or over the weekend, with more coverage of battle sites.



Pics 11 and 12.

Really nice, Terry. I died many times over in the Bocage section of "Medal of Honor". Stupid German guard dog

Summed things up nicely Terry.

I'll go through my stuff and add anything if needed.

I really recommend the James Holland/Al Murray videos.


Death of a poet one, shows this area very well.

Thanks chaps, and thanks for the info Karl, glad I got it right !

Got a few tings to sort out, but I'll try to post more tonight, otherwise it'll be over the weekend.