Context for Combined Ops: F. Gillard, BBC News

Frank Gillard, B.B.C. War Correspondent, WW2

Gillard speaking in the Netherlands in 1946

Photo Credit - Wikipedia

In a story posted earlier to this site (A Mediterranean Lighter Man by Bill Prout), we read that Mr. Prout was assigned, for a certain length of time, to assist Mr. Frank Gillard, a B.B.C. War Correspondent.

Shortly after Prout's assignment began, the ship they were on ran into rough seas. Prout writes:

....Soon we were steaming out of the harbour and as we came into the open sea it began to get quite rough. I guess Gillard didn't like this as I never saw him again during the whole trip. We sailed along very peacefully and finally we were off the toe of Italy and the Island of Sicily..... It was September 9th, about 7 p.m. and still light. Suddenly we had an announcement that Italy had surrendered. This had been broadcast from radio Algiers and everyone cheered as we thought the landing would be easier. As darkness came on we sailed on our way and up to now we had seen no action. Meanwhile the B.B.C. correspondent I was supposed to look after had recovered and was doing his job. I was put on an Oerliken ack-ack gun in the bows.

Bill Prout then goes on to tell more of his own story (link provided below). Mr. Gillard's work, however, received no further mention at that time, but there are undoubtedly several ways for readers to learn about his activities during WW2. I have listed a few items below, with links for those interested.

From Wikipedia:

He became a war correspondent attached to Southern Command and witnessed the Dieppe raid. In 1942 he went to North Africa to report on the campaign of the Eighth Army under Montgomery. He then reported on the Sicilian and Italian campaigns before returning to the UK ready for the D-day landings. He made memorable reports, often under fire, throughout this period, including eyewitness accounts of the Battle for Caen.

For more details please link to Gillard - Wikipedia

From WW2 People's War:

And whereas in the western desert there I was with one recording engineer, and that we were the BBC, when we landed in Normandy there were 32 of us, and we were with the airborne troops, we were with the infantry landing on the beaches, we were with the airforce during the bombardments, we were with the Navy and, what's more, we took ashore with us our recording equipment, and within a few days we had our own transmitters which we took around with us from that time onwards right across Europe.

For more details please link to Gillard - WW2 People's War

From the book War Report: The Extraordinary Eyewitness Accounts that Revolutionized Journalism one reads Gillard speak about his relationship with 'Monty':

Gillard was told by the Field Commander's assistant that 'Monty' would like Gillard to get him a puppy.

"But why me?" said Gillard.

He was told he could just mention it in his next broadcast, but Gillard knew he would then receive 1000s of puppies. So, he searched for one instead, and eventually "discovered a Frenchman with a Scotch terrier pup for sale."

Monty "instantly named him Hitler."

Excerpts from, and details about the book by D. Hawkins, including work by Gillard and other correspondents, can be found at War Report -Amazon.

Another possible link may be found at Archive British Radio Recordings 

Frank Gillard died on the 20th of October, 1998 (aged 89), London, UK

Mr. Gillard's Obituary is found in The Independent. 

Please link to Story: A Mediterranean Lighter Man

Unattributed Photos GH

Context for Combined Ops: Commandos, Landing Craft....

Connections from The Memory Project

Photo from aboard a Landing Craft, Infantry (Large (LCI(L))

Please learn how to work your way around the scores of pages of veterans' stories and photographs at The Memory Project. Though the number of stories from Canadians in Combined Operations is small, there are many that shed light on the conditions at the time shared by all services.

For example, the top photo comes with the following caption:

Infantrymen of The Highland Light Infantry of Canada aboard LCI(L) 306 of the 2nd Canadian (262nd RN) Flotilla en route to France on D-Day, 6 June 1944.

It accompanies the memories of Mr. Herbert Foss who served in the Highland Light Infantry during and after the D-Day landings.

Please link to Mr. Herbert Foss for more details.

On page 106 one can find the memories of Glen Allen Ades, a member of the Canadian Navy who certainly knew how to handle small boats and landing crafts.

He says:

(In England just before the invasion, Glen was sent to the southern coast to assist others with landing craft skills.) And I got down there to help them break guys in for handling. As I say, I could take the regular landing craft, little twin engine landing craft, and I could make those things do anything I wanted. 

I said, “Now look, when you’re heading in, generally the artillery that’s taking shots at you will watch the trajectory, the path that you’re coming in and they will start lobbing shells in short. And as long as they’re dead on, they’ll time their shots so that you’ll run into one of the shots.”

So I said, "If you’re going in, depending on which way the wind’s blowing and the current’s going, increase the speed on the opposite engine. And you’ll end up going straight in, but you’ll go sideways. So by the time you go ahead 100 feet, you’ll be five feet to the right. So the shell will land where, where you would have been, in the water.” 

That was basically how to handle the landing craft.

More details are available at The Memory Project.

Commando Service Certificate presented to Marine Eric Saunders, March 12, 1946.

Photo Credit - Eric Saunders, as found at The Memory Project

Eric Alfred “Lofty” Saunders, Navy, Combined Operations (Commando) recalls the following:

Everybody volunteered but about five percent. So the No. 41 Royal Marine Commando was formed. From there on, it was just hard training. We had to go to commando school, we went to street fighting schools, we did everything under the sun and did a lot of pretty hard training. But it was fun. That was in Scotland, we had to go up to Scotland to get our commando training. After that, we went back to London, where we did our street fighting training in the east end of London which was all bombed out. It was just a perfect place to learn street fighting. The streets were just rubble.

No. 41 Royal Marine Commando, part of "X Troop", in Dundonald,

Scotland, 1943, just before leaving for Sicily. Eric Saunders

Though Mr. Saunders served with England's Navy and British Coomandos, he could easily have crossed paths with Canadians in Combined Operations in the UK, Sicily and Italy.

His lengthy memoirs and more photos can be found at "Lofty" Saunders, The Memory Project.

I include the following excerpt from The Memory Project because a photo of its subject and the man's timeline are similar to my father's, Doug Harrison.

About Geoffrey Smith, RCNVR, we read:

My name is Geoffrey W. Smith. My nickname is 'Jock.' I started off in the [Royal Canadian] Navy in 1941 as an Ordinary Seaman, and was discharged in 1945 as a Sub-Lieutenant. October of that year we departed Toronto for Halifax. In November/December of '41 I was sent to Montreal to pick up a new construction ship – HMCS Vegreville – and crew her to Halifax, which I did. In January - February, I took part in an anti-submarine course and became a qualified anti-submarine detector with ASDIC [Anti-Submarine Detection Investigation Committee] Rating. I was sent to HMCS Arrowhead, one of the original Flower Class Corvettes, as an ASDIC Rating and took part as an ASDIC Rating in the new command of the Londonderry runs. 

Jock Smith and a mate at HMCS Stadacona (Wellington barracks) 

Doug Harrison, Buryl McIntyre, HMCS Stadacona, 1941

The arches of Wellington Barracks (background left) reveal the pairs of men are standing in almost the same spot, the same year. The two men in lower photo volunteered for Combined Operations in November or December of that year and arrived in Scotland for training on landing craft at the end of January 1942. At various times they shuttled troops of many nationalities, along with Commandos, here and there for practise for future raids and invasions.

Roland "Roly" Black was an officer aboard HMS Glengyle (Landing Ship Infantry, Large) for a time and became familiar with landing craft as a member of the Canadian Navy, on loan to the Royal Navy and Combined Operations. 

Part of his memories follow:

In landing groups, normally a battalion at a time.... it was night raids and [in November 1941] we were scheduled to assist in [Operation Flipper] a raid on Rommel’s headquarters [in Libya], to capture him. And that night, it was discovered that when the troops went ashore, Rommel had already left to report back home to Hitler and you might say, it’s a disaster as far as the efforts there are concerned but still, it was an exciting experience....

It was usual after you were competent over a period of time, that you would graduate to the larger vessels. And take command and I guess that was perhaps the final exciting episode.

When I took my landing craft, I think my crew was something like twenty-six as I recall, twenty-six men. We took supplies, equipment and tanks and munitions and landed at El Alamein [Egypt]; came ashore during the night. And we were there for a day and a half, mainly loading invalided men and officers from the [Field Marshal Bernard] Montgomery [British Eighth] Army, which wasn’t too far away a distance from us on the shore.

More details can be read at Roly Black, The Memory Project.

Roland Black (R) in N. Africa during service with Combined Operations.

Photo Credits - Roland Black as found at The Memory Project

HMS Glengyle (Landing Ship Infantry, Large) in port in N. Africa

Roland Black's camp in North Africa early in the war

Please link to Context for Combined Ops, "Shipping Out, December 1943"

Photographs: Charles 'Chuck' Rose, RCNVR and Combined Ops

Chuck Rose from Chippawa, Ontario


Chuck Rose lands at Greenock, Scotland in January 1942
From the collection of Joe Spencer

As far as I know and understand, 950 - 1000 Canadians volunteered to join Combined Operations during WW2, most with an earlier link to the RCNVR, the Wavy Navy. The men came from both east and west coasts, enticed by bulletins and announcements related to hazardous duties overseas, duties on small craft, with 9-days leave - "if you just sign here" - thrown in for good measure. Early drafts to C.O. came from Halifax in late 1941, many of the first volunteers from SW Ontario and for example, HMCS Star, Hamilton.

Memoirs from these men are rare but we can learn a bit from WW2 photos. If I can find 5 or 6 good photographs related to a particular member of Combined Ops I will gather them here in order to share some of their story.

Before landing in Scotland in January 1942, Chuck took initial training in Hamilton (at HMCS Star). He then moved on to HMCS Stadacona in Halifax.

He likely appears in a rare photo (below) of new recruits on parade at the completion of training in Hamilton, summer 1941.

Photo Credit - Doug Harrison

Chuck appears in two photos taken in November 1941, with the Effingham Division in Halifax.

Top row, second from left.
Photo Credit - St. Nazaire to Singapore Vol. 1

Third row from top, first on left

Photo Credit - Doug Harrison

Chuck went with his mates to HMS Northney for training (on Hayling island, south coast of England), shortly after arriving in Scotland.

Chuck is third from left, between Joe Spencer and Doug Harrison

Photo Credit - Joe Spencer

Chuck Rose trained at HMS Quebec, Inveraray (as well as at other UK locations) in preparation for the Dieppe Raid and the invasions of N. Africa, Sicily and Italy before returning to Canada in December 1943.

Chuck sweeps out his landing craft, S. England
Photo Credit - Lloyd Evans, Markham

Chuck left, tries his hand at machine gun practice?
Photo Credit - Lloyd Evans

Chuck (front left) and mates, gussied up for leave, Glasgow 1943

Photo Credit - Joe Spencer 

Chuck, lower left, aboard SS Keren on route to Sicily 1943

Chuck, left of centre, aboard Aquitania, bound for Canada, Dec. 1943

 Chuck, far right, at Toronto train station, Dec. 1943 - Jan. 1944

 Chuck (2nd left) lights a cig on way to Vancouver Is., Jan. 1944

Chuck and mates at Combined Ops Centre, Comox, Vanc. Is. 1944 - 45

Chuck, front row, second left, pitches for Navy 1 ball team 
Scene is Lewis Park, a short walk east of downtown Courtenay

Chuck, back centre, practices w mates on The Spit, Comox 

 Navy 1 ball team. An away game? E.g., at Campbell River?

 Doug and Chuck (above) lead the Navy Nine to a win

Last photo from out west. Last days in RCNVR and Combined Ops.

Likely taken at HMCS Naden, Esquimalt days before discharge.

Chuck Rose standing tall, back row, centre.

Doug Harrison and Chuck Rose at a Navy Reunion, circa 1960s.

Please link to Photographs: Coming Back from Dieppe, Sicily

Unattributed Photos GH

Photographs: Coming Back from Dieppe, Sicily. (Joe Spencer Collection)

Rare Photos - Canadians in Combined Ops, WW2.

From the Collection of Joe Spencer.

Greenock central station Glasgow 1942.

Used with permission of Gary Spencer (son of Joe Spencer)

The sixteen photographs presented are from a very rare collection belonging to Joe Spencer (Toronto, Brighton, ONT), now deceased, a former member of RCNVR and Combined Operations during WW2. The photos are shared with the kind permission of Joe's son, Gary Spencer. Each one came to me with a brief caption (now in italics under the photo) and gives us information that perhaps can be linked to other stories and other photos - some already shared or displayed on this site.

I will be careful to make readers aware of some of the connections these pictures have to Canadian stories, etc. However, I also welcome input from others about other links, in order to expand our collective understanding of what was happening in Combined Ops when these pictures were taken.

Top photo: Chuck Rose (3rd from left below) perhaps has just arrived in Greenock, Scotland, near the Canadian manning station at HMCS Niobe. If so, he and his mates were soon on a train to see their first landing craft at HMS Northney, Hayling Island.

8 men, Northney 3, Hayling Island, Hants

L - R: Allan Adlington (London), Joe Spencer (Toronto), Chuck Rose (Chippawa), Doug Harrison (Norwich), Art Bradfield (Simcoe), Don Linder (Kitchener), Joe Watson (Simcoe), J. Jacobs (unknown)

Context: HMS Northney was a training camp (4 sites) on Hayling Island, adjacent to Havant in southern England. These Canadians arrived at HMCS Niobe, Scotland from HMCS Stadacona, Halifax aboard the Volendam in January 1942.

In his Navy memoirs my father writes:

We spent little time at Niobe but entrained for Havant (near Hayling Island).... to H.M.S. Northney 1, a barracks (formerly a summer resort) with a large mess hall and cabins with four bedrooms. This was January, 1942 and there was no heat at all in the brick cabins. The toilets all froze and split. But we made out. Our eating quarters were heated. 

Link to more details concerning training at HMS Northney.

HMS Quebec, Art Warrick, 1942

Quebec, Ray and Jim, 1942 

Possibly HMS Quebec, 1942

Context: After their introduction to landing craft at HMS Northney, Hayling Island, the new recruits from Canada were sent to HMS Quebec, the Number 1 Combined Operations Training Centre near Inveraray, Scotland.

My father writes:

We were all in good shape and this was to be one of the more memorable camps, with our first actual work and introduction to landing barges.... there were lots of adventures, therefore many memories....

We trained on assault landing crafts which carried approximately 37 soldiers and a crew of four, i.e., Coxswain, two seamen and stoker. Some carried an officer.... ALCs were made of 3/16 inch plating, thick enough to stop a .303. (They) sat three rows of soldiers including two outside rows under 3/16th inch cowling, but the centre row was completely exposed. 

We also trained on LCMs, or landing craft, mechanized. LCMs carried soldiers or a truck, a Bren gun carrier, supplies, land mines, gasoline, etc. But LCMs wouldn't stop a bullet.

Link to more details concerning training at HMS Quebec.

ALC 269 leaving Newhaven, Aug. 21 1942. L. Birkenes, C. Sheeler 

ALC 269 returning to Southampton fron Newhaven. C. Sheeler, Joe Spencer

Context: The operation the first Canadians in Combined Ops participated in, i.e., after training at HMS Quebec and Camp Auchengate (Irvine), was Operation RUTTER, the raid on Dieppe. RUTTER was planned for early July, cancelled one day before the event, and reinstated as Operation JUBILEE, set for August 19, 1942. The above two photos are dated Aug. 21 and were taken two days after their ALCs returned from Dieppe. Joe Spencer, under the White Ensign above, is known to have participated in the raid.

Link to more details and photographs concerning the Dieppe Raid.

RFA Ennerdale off Greenock (no date) 

Art Warrick, Verne Smart on the Ennerdale in Algiers

Context: Canadians travelled aboard the Ennerdale on their way to Operation RUTTER and aboard it again (and its sister ship Derwentdale, both oil tankers) on their way to the invasion of North Africa. In the top of this pair, one can see landing craft either on deck or hanging on davits aboard the Ennerdale, and in the second we see Art and Verne standing inside a landing craft, likely an LCM.

Link to more details concerning the invasion of North Africa.

C. Rose (front left), J. Dale (top left), P. Bowers (top centre),

Joe Spencer (front right), J. Watson (top right). Glasgow 1943

Context: The date is helpful. Canadians in C.O. were back in Scotland's Combined Ops camps, training in the early months of 1943 for upcoming operations in Sicily (July - Operation HUSKY) and Italy (September, Operation BAYTOWN and AVALANCHE). There would have been a few opportunities while on leave to visit Glasgow. Photo shops, pubs, dance halls.... take your pick.

Link to more details concerning men on leave.

LCM 81-7 hoisted off E. Charmain in Sicily, July 10, 1943. MacGregor's boat 

Ismalia, Egypt. -  P. Martel, E. Chambers, S. Ingram, N. Mitchinson 

Charley Sellick, Jim Ivison. Sicily 

Jack Trevor. Sicily 

Unloading LCM, Green Beach, Sicily 1943 

Convoy, Sicily to Malta. J. Spencer in boat 2nd in foreground

Context: The invasion of Sicily was a great ordeal for Canadians in Combined Operations. Once the emptied troop and supply ships left the coast, men lived aboard their LCMs or in caves. For 4 weeks or more, hard duty persisted on the beaches in order to supply troops moving slowly north toward Messina. In August the men were sent to Malta for rest and recuperation from illnesses, e.g., dysentery. They were also told to repair tired, damaged landing craft for the upcoming invasion of Italy. No rest for the weary.

Link to more details concerning the invasion of Sicily.

Editor: A big thank you to Gary Spencer for these lovely, historic scanned images. I tip my hat to both Gary and his father, Joe Spencer.

More links from Joe's pictures to other stories and images to follow.

Please link to Photographs: LST, LCM, The Beaver Club, Bell Tents

Unattributed Photos GH

Story: A Mediterranean Lighter Man

A Mediterranean Lighter Man, D/JX 227023

By Bill Prout, Royal Navy and Combined Operations

Excerpt from Combined Operations, C. Marks. London, Canada

The following story is found in Combined Operations by Londoner Clayton Marks. I include it on this site about Canadians in Combined Operations because Mr. Prout's recollections would mirror Canadians in a similar situation during WW2 and adds to our understanding of duties, frustrations, dangers and memories WW2 veterans of Combined Ops would express in detail if able.

MEDITERRANEAN - LIGHTER MAN by Bill Prout 

It was at Tripoli, North Africa, that I finally got drafted from LCT 17. I had been aboard her a long time. First the siege of Tobruk (this lasted about ten months) then still more trips to Tobruk running supplies of gas, ammo, food, etc. for the Eighth Army that was hanging in there. Finally we had to evacuate the place and run the gauntlet of tiger tanks firing at us as we ran out of the harbour. Fortunately we made it back to Alexandria alright.

Shortly after we had to evacuate Alexandria, after a nightmare trip with the fleet, during which the "Medway" with a large contingent of Wrens, and the "Maidstone" (sub depot ship) were tin fished among several others. Our small craft could not keep up with the convoy and we had to break off. We finished up in Haifa. After a day or so we left for Cyprus and during our stay we ran convoys to Beirut. After that we sailed through the canal to the Bay of Suez, where we helped with the offloading of tanks, etc. for Montgomery's push up the desert from El Alamein.

HMS Maidstone. Photo and more details at Wikipedia

When the big push came, our first trip was to Solium where we floated barrels of water ashore to the Army. We continued with the Eighth Army, Derna-Tobruk-Mersah, and finally into Tripoli Harbour. So it was into Tripoli Castle for me. Officers stayed in Navy House just across the street. I thought that at last I may get a cushy number. I was a little bomb happy anyway. Soon I was piped to report to the regulating office, and I was a dispatch rider. There were two of us working shifts. We had an Italian "Guzzi" motor bike but unfortunately it did not last long because after a couple of days, the other guy totalled the bike. A few days after this I had to report to a Commander Boord at Navy House. He had been the gunnery Commander on the "Rodney" and little did I know the exciting times I was to go through with him

Just going back a bit, I mentioned that when we were finally able to get into Tripoli Harbour, I was shocked to see an Italian hospital ship that had been sunk. A couple of us rowed out and went aboard it. It was still full of ammunition and all kinds of war materials. So much for the big red crosses painted on it. I went aboard the "Tevere" many times after this but nobody would come with me. I had a hobby of dismantling live shells and grenades and used to make explosive charges that we dropped in the water whenever we needed fresh fish. I used to give the disarmed grenades away for souvenirs.

Now, back to my driving job. The vehicle was a large American station wagon. There was another guy that used to come with us on our many trips. He was the Commander's steward (servant). We travelled up and down the North African coast, staying overnight at whatever unit we were visiting, airfields, Army Headquarters, etc. I didn't know at that time that Comm. Boord was briefing these units about their parts in the Salerno (Italy) landing and that he was in charge of this. We had just returned from one of these trips when he told me that his job was finished and he would not be needing me anymore.

I had enjoyed working with him and the prospect of maybe being sent back to our base in the desert didn't appeal to me. I told him this and he asked me if I would like to go with him. Still not knowing what I was in for, I said I would. The next morning I was ordered to drive a Navy Commander to an ammunition dump (all captured enemy arms) that was about 150 miles north of Tripoli at a place called Sfax, not far from Algiers. This Navy Commander was the Duke of Argyle. He was a commando and seemed to me to be in his late sixties. He told me to ignore all speed limits as we had to board an Infantry landing ship at 4:30 that afternoon. This I was happy to do and poured it on. Arriving there, we picked up Luger pistols and Schmeiser sub machine guns, one of which he gave to me. Also magazines of ammunition and I knew then it wasn't a picnic we were going on.

We made it back to Tripoli on time and after picking up my gear from Navy House, I reported on board. As there was already a full crew on board, I was a spare hand but not for long. I was appointed as steward to a B.B.C. correspondent, his name was Frank Gillard, and soon we were steaming out of the harbour and as we came into the open sea it began to get quite rough. I guess Gillard didn't like this as I never saw him again during the whole trip. We sailed along very peacefully and finally we were off the toe of Italy and the Island of Sicily. After passing through the Straits of Messina, we headed to the Port of Taormina. This, I think, was on the northeast side of Sicily. The sea was calm and in the background we could see Mount Etna. Very impressive!

Arriving there, we found a large invasion fleet anchored off the harbour entrance. We joined them and took on a few supplies and food and water, then the troops we were to land came aboard. At this stage we didn't know the destination but when we finally got under way it wasn't long before we were assembled and briefed on the operation. It was to be Italy, just south of Naples. Only thing was, that we were to be a decoy force. The plan was that we were to give the impression that the landing was to take place north of Naples, so we steamed on northward. The plan was that we would keep on this course until we were spotted by the enemy reconnaissance planes. As soon as this happened we were to turn around and head for the beaches south of Naples. We got past the Island of Capri and on the mainland of Italy we could see Vesuvius just behind the town. About that time we were spotted and we immediately changed course.

It was September 9th, about 7 p.m. and still light. Suddenly we had an announcement that Italy had surrendered. This had been broadcast from radio Algiers and everyone cheered as we thought the landing would be easier. As darkness came on we sailed on our way and up to now we had seen no action.

Meanwhile the B.B.C. correspondent I was supposed to look after had recovered and was doing his job. I was put on an Oerliken ack-ack gun in the bows. My helper was a very young Scots boy who was just out from England and it was his first time in action. I left him for a few minutes and went aft. Knowing the ropes and being a leading hand, I was able to wheedle a jar of ship's rum and soon we were both very happy and didn't give a damn. As darkness fell the enemy bombers started on us and we were bombed all the way into the beaches. We had four big anti-aircraft cruisers with us and our combined barrage was frightening. We had many near misses but as far as I knew, there were no ships sunk. The ship I was on was an Infantry landing ship and troops we were taking in were part of the 56th London Black Cat Division. Our landing beaches were named Roger Amber and Roger Green and the operation overall was commanded by General Mark Clark. We were attached to the Fifth American Army.

So there we were approaching the landing beaches. The mine sweepers had swept us in to within about a mile from shore and by this time we had left the escorts behind. All seemed peaceful as we came closer and beyond the beach we could see a field of wheat or somesuch crop. Suddenly it was no longer quiet. There were quite a lot of German 88mm guns set up in the field. No doubt they had been waiting for us to get in closer. The noise was shattering as they all opened up and a few craft were hit and ran out of control. We kept on, luckily without getting hit. I must explain that we were landing infantry and when we hit the beach a ramp was run out from the bows, actually there were two ramps, one on the port side, the other on the starboard. I was stationed on the starboard one and my job was to run down the ramp first, jump in the water with a long rope, one end of which was attached to the end of the ramp. As I waded ashore, I laid out the rope and when I got to the end of the rope I would tie it around my waist and lay back on it, the idea being to guide the troops ashore.

Troops coming ashore from Landing ships, during Operation Fabius, an invasion

exercise in Britain, 5 May 1944. Photo Credit - The Observation Post

We hit the beach, my ramp went down and I ran down it and jumped into the water and went under. I had to swim just a few feet, paying out the rope. I made for the beach, turned around as I tied the end around my waist and looking back at the ship, I saw that the port ramp had jammed. As I stood hanging on to the rope, I realized that coloured balls of light were zipping past each side of me. I was still waist deep in water and the zipping lights were, of course, tracer bullets from the Spandau machine guns in the field that had now been brought into action. Still the port ramp had not come down, the troops couldn't come ashore as they were now pinned down by the machine gun fire. I was still in the water, expecting to be hit at any moment and I remember thinking that if I only get wounded, I'll still fall over and drown.

Well, I couldn't drop the rope and run so I stood there yelling "get off there you b-----ds" and such but it didn't do any good. They would have been chopped down had they tried. Suddenly a destroyer came close in to the beach, turned broadside on and let go with everything into the German gun positions. Then it quietened down, the other ramp came down and the infantry came off. No sooner had they when again the 88s started up. By this time they were hitting our ship. The landing had been really rough, the losses were high and many boats were on fire and drifting with what was left of their crews. The Americans landed further up the beach, were repulsed, and had to pull off and come in again when it got a bit less hectic.

Still standing in the water, I began to wade back to the ship which was still being hit and it was then that I felt the rope being pulled out of my hand and realized that they were going astern leaving me on the beach. I watched as the ship backed off into deeper water and saw the two ramps drop off into the sea. My mate from the port ramp joined me and together we trudged up the sandy beach.

When I had jumped into the water I was wearing khaki shorts and shirt, my trusty desert boots with the thick Indian rubber soles, a steel helmet, my Schmeisser sub-machine gun and loads of clips of ammo. My Combined Ops and Royal Navy insignia were sewn on my epaulets. I was young and fit, believe me, but I was very tired, having been manning a gun on the way in for nearly 12 hours, then the landing. Just the thought of it now, how nice to be young. Oh well!

Arriving on the beach among the carnage, bodies, bits of bodies, the wounded, the disabled vehicles (some still burning), it came home to us just how bad it had been. But now the tanks and guns were coming ashore and already the Infantry was beginning to go inland. When we had been briefed for the operation, after leaving Sicily, we were told that the two places they hoped to take the first day were a small place named "Battipaglia" where the enemy was in force, and also a small airfield at "Montecorvino". They both took quite a time to finally capture.

We hadn't been looking around the beach for more than five minutes when I was grabbed by an Army Officer, who despite my trying to explain to him that I wanted to get back to my ship, was despatched with an Army Signaller to set up a forward post. The two of us set off into the corn field and so there I was now, attached to the Army, the 56th London Black Cat Division. We had crept about 200 yards through the corn field when we were spotted. The Signaller wanted to go on but I dragged him down as the bullets zipped through the corn above us. Then the silly b-----d started to put his antenna up. They would have zeroed in on us as soon as they saw that so I convinced him that we stay put until the rest of them came up, which they did. Then I left him to it and went ahead with the others.

By this time, we were almost on the outskirts of Battipaglia, about a quarter of a mile away from a tobacco factory. This was their next objective. It was occupied in force by the Germans. I say "their objective". Mine was to get back to the beach and to somehow get back to my ship. By this time quite a few prisoners had been taken and I finally managed to get back by escorting about a dozen of them to the beach, where they were put into barbed wire compounds that had already been erected. It was then that I got my Luger pistol off of a German Officer. Funny thing, before I went ashore, Commander Boord (the one I was driving in North Africa) had jokingly asked me to bring him back a Luger and now I had one if I should ever see him again.

So I was back on the beach again. I had been with the Army over 12 hours. Now there were quite a lot of ships unloading and troops coming off. Trying not to look too conspicuous (in case I got nabbed again) I walked along trying to figure out how to get away and get back to my ship. Suddenly one of the numbers on a ship hit me. I realized that was the last ship I used to send McGravie's letters to. Hoping he was still on board her, I decided to find out and so on I went. I found the Duty Officer and was taken to the Captain. After explaining what had happened he sent for McGravie. The last I had heard from him was that he was in the United States picking up a ship.

Naturally, McGravie was taken aback to see me. I must have looked a mess, dirty, red-eyed from all the sleepless hours, then the trauma of the landing, being with the Army and all the noise and excitement that was crammed into those hours. We were talking on the quarter deck when suddenly the dive bombers came at us. Those J.U.87s used to dive almost vertically and at the bottom of the dive they let their bombs go. On top of that, as they dived, they would emit a noise like a siren, really frightening. Fortunately they missed us. By this time the ships' company were sitting down to dinner, and I mean dinner! This ship had come directly from the States so it had been loaded with all the good food, etc.

Meals were served in cafeteria style and holding my tray, I was just amazed to see two pork chops dumped on it. The server asked if I would like another one, which I turned down. I didn't know if my stomach could take such rich food as I had been living on canned herrings in tomato sauce, corned beef or sometimes spam. For bread we ate ships' biscuits, like a hard dog biscuit. Usually we had to soak them to be able to bite them, so you can imagine what a feast this was to me. Real potatoes, real vegetables, and for dessert, ice cream. Just unbelievable! After eating it was time for me to sleep. After having a shower, which was another unheard of thing for me, I had a few slugs of ships' rum and went to sleep in McGravie's hammock.

When I awoke, we were at sea. It was still daylight. After a while, I got a message that the Captain wanted to see me so I went up to the bridge. He was a nice fellow and during the conversation, he took a fancy to my Luger pistol and wanted to give me five pounds for it. This I refused, telling him that it belonged to my Commander. He accepted this and told me that he had contacted my ship and as soon as we were close enough, he would return me to it by boat, which he did. I thanked him and asked him where we were bound for. When he told me Tripoli, I was happy. I said goodbye to McGravie and we arranged to see each other in Tripoli.

Arriving there, I was back in the Castle but this time in the ratings quarters. Quite different, I must say. McGravie and I got together a few times and after a couple of days I had orders to board a small South African ship to go back to Alexandria en route to my base in the desert.

The Jan De Waal was only about 150 feet long and she had been a duty ship on the boom (a big steel net across the harbour entrance) to keep "U" boats out. Her job was to drag it open to let ships in or out. There was just a small crew and the Skipper, who was a fishing skipper in civilian life, and just an ordinary guy. He swore like the devil.

Being a senior hand I was soon working with the crew but the only watches I used to stand were on the wheel. This I always enjoyed.

So we sailed peacefully back to Alex...and to base.. ..Bill McGravie and I joined the Royal together at Devonport, and our friendship has lasted over fifty years. He was a member of R.C.N.A, London Branch, and now lives in Shreweport, Louisiana.

Please link to Story: HMC Landing Craft Infantry, Large

The book Combined Operations by Clayton Marks has now been reprinted and is available for distribution and sale. If interested in learning more about the book please follow the links:

New Publication For Sale
Original Publication and Content Details

Unattributed Photos GH

Book For Sale re Combined Operations, WW2

"DAD, WELL DONE" by Gordon Douglas Harrison

My dad liked to write things down, and I am very glad he did. On this blogsite I have listed several chapters of his memoirs and quote from his memoirs and other stories often.

Now there is a book available (135 pages) that contains his memoirs - left to me in his own hand-writing - and the newspaper articles he wrote for his hometown paper (Norwich Gazette), plus newspaper interviews in which he is quoted, and his submissions to other printed works (e.g., as found in St. Nazaire to Singapore: Canada's Amphibious War 1941 - 1945.

In it the reader will travel with Doug Harrison to training sites in Canada (Hamilton, Halifax) and abroad, both in England and Scotland. Eye-witness accounts are provided about his training for the Dieppe Raid and subsequent participation in the invasions of North Africa, Sicily and Italy. He is also one Canadian who writes about his adventures at a Combined Operations training centre in Canada, at Comox, Vancouver Island, where he trained Zombies in Navy cutters, amongst other things.

I originally compiled memoirs and other stories into book form in 2011 for my family. Others showed an interest so a second printing was recently completed for broader readership. If interested in Canadian stories re participation in the Combined Operations organization during WW2, you are more than welcome to contact me.

Cost in Canada - $25 CAN (includes shipping charge by Royal Mail)

Contact - Editor, Gord Harrison
Email - gordh7700@gmail.com
Mail - 49 Cathcart Street,
London, ONTARIO, Canada
N6C 3L8

Readers can also contact me via this blogsite, in the Comments below.

Please link to another rare Book For Sale re Combined Operations, WW2

Photos GH

Books For Sale re Combined Operations

Combined Operations by Clayton Marks, London

Original Text

Clayton Marks assembled the first edition of Combined Operations in the early 1990s and sold and distributed the book at C.O. Association meetings and Navy Reunions.

In 2016 Mr. Marks' book (238 pages) was reprinted after a good deal of effort from family members and a friend. It is now again available for sale and distribution.

New Text

Those interested in the role Canadians played in Combined Operations during WW2 - at the raid on Dieppe, and subsequent invasions (North Africa, Sicily, Italy, Normandy, Southern France) - will find this book is an accurate history and includes rare personal stories unavailable anywhere else (e.g., by Officer Jake Koyl re the lead up to Dieppe, and by Albert Kirby, a 24-page account related to the Dieppe Raid).

Cost in Canada - $32 CAN (includes shipping charge by Royal Mail)
Cost Elsewhere - $20 US plus shipping (contact editor for details)

Contact - Editor, Gord Harrison
Email - gharrison18@rogers.com
Mail - 49 Cathcart Street,
London, ONTARIO, Canada
N6C 3L8

Please link to more information re the original text at Books re Combined Operations

Photos GH