Photographs: Canadians in "Combined Operations" (Pt 9)

The D-Day Normandy Crossings and Landings

Work Horses of Allied Landing Craft Flotillas

Jack Anderson and David Lewis grappling with the Sgt. in the water

From Combined Operations by Londoner Clayton Marks, page 136

Introduction:

In the top photo it is difficult to see J. Anderson and D. Lewis in the water between a troop ship (unidentified, right) and Landing Craft Infantry (Large), aka LCI(L) 311 (264th Flotilla). However, they are a bit more visible in the next photo, also found on page 136 of Mr. Marks' rare book about the Canadians who volunteered for the Combined Operations organization during WWII.

Jack Anderson climbing to safety. David Lewis and Sgt. still in the water

The book Combined Operations by Clayton Marks, once distributed at Navy reunions in the early - mid 1990s, inspired David and Catherine (Kit) Lewis and Len Birkenes (RCNVR, Combined Ops) to write, collect, edit and print another batch of stories by Canadian Navy veterans. The books are entitled  St. Nazaire to Singapore: The Canadian Amphibious War 1941 - 1945 (Volumes 1 and 2) and can be read in their entirety online. Use the following valuable links: Volume 1 here; Volume 2 here. 

Clayton Marks hosted a get-together at his London home in the 1990s that included David Lewis and three other RCNVR/Comb. Ops veterans around the time Clayton's book was being printed and Lewis's was getting started:

Five significant books were produced by four of the Canadian men above

Back, L - R: 'Gash', Clayton, and David Lewis (David wrote and

collected stories for St. Nazaire to Singapore (two lengthy volumes)

Front L - R: Doug (my father) and Al (full names are w top photo)

For more information about these and other veterans, click here

Below is an excerpt from David Lewis' work in Volume 2 related to the earlier photo of "Jack Anderson climbing to safety. David Lewis and Sgt. still in the water." David (D) is chatting with Murray Baker (M) - a former shipmate - while looking at old black and whites re WWII:

The excerpt is from St. Nazaire to Singapore, page 351

Four full-page photographs follow from Combined Operations, from pages 137 - 140. Photo Credits are not listed:

Caption - Debarking D-Day

Photo Credit - NA [Help Wanted!]

Caption - D-Day Crossing

Caption - Embarking Southampton

Caption - Debarking - Rhino Ferry Dock - D-Day

While looking at RCN Photographer Gilbert A. Milne's book entitled H.M.C.S. - One Photographer's Impressions of the RCN in WWII I spotted the following photographs and caption on pages 102 - 103. The first photo is the same as the first one in Clayton Marks' group of four above, and I would not be surprised if Milne deserves the credit for many of the unattributed photos reproduced in Combined Operations:

Jack Anderson was mentioned in the caption of the first two photographs in this entry (top of page) and his lengthy written report (an 8-page diary entry) re the Normandy crossings and landings is included in the book Combined Operations, pages 141 - 148. I share the first two pages below:

LCI(L) - 311 "DIARY" 

by Lt. J. Anderson

Monday, June 5 D-l (D-Day minus 1)

Started out as a normal day with the usual sloppy hands fall in. Dave (Lewis likely) slightly annoyed because he couldn't get us all in the picture. Ian (Barclay) with a pre-invasion enthusiasm, actually left the ship by 845 to scour the town for liquor. By noon, with only one wine merchant and a brewery to canvas, he had only managed a case of Guinness for each craft. Oh well, Guinness is good for you. Most of the day was spent in trying to get in various lists and forms all of which were marked secret and obviously as important as European plans. By five p.m. it appeared the big show was definitely on and the morale of the ship's company bucked up 100%. The first ship in our trot slipped at 715 and we pulled away from the jettyside about 730. There were only four people there - Chief Biggs, the writer and two Yanks from the 75 which came down to let go our lines. All that was said were a few "goodbyes and good lucks". Most uninspiring.

The passage down Southampton waters and the Solent was a nightmare. Dave had gone below to try to catch a few winks so I found myself almost alone on the bridge - that is (if) one drunken C.P.O. and a stupid Army officer count. Ian came up shortly. At the old docks a few soldiers and dockyard mateys took off their hats and cheered. They could almost be heard on the ship but the troops got the idea and cheered back again. Then started the old Army songs - a bunch of new ones too - apparently picked up in North Africa. I'm still waiting to hear Dirty Girtie though. Just beyond Calshot Light Vessel an ex-cruiser, now a minelayer, had her crew lined up in number threes on the maindeck. As each craft passed they all cheered. Only twenty craft passed but they must have been rather hoarse at the end of the evening. At ten o'clock we went through the Hamplead boom. As we did, two Hunt class destroyers came speeding UP and took up their respective positions ahead and astern of the Flotilla. By 130 Dave came on the bridge and Ian and I went below. Had a Guinness with the Army Majors and turned in.

Tuesday, June 6 D-Day

1:30 seems to come quickly, especially when you get to sleep at midnight. I stumbled around for about 15 minutes and finally got up to the bridge about two o'clock. Dave was curled up in a corner trying to sleep likely most uncomfortable. Ian went down for a short nap. There was nothing out of the ordinary until about four when great white flares were dropped about twenty miles on our port bow. Our aircraft had been droning over all night so it was hard to say who dropped them. It did liven up the middle a bit though. Our trip was uneventful until we dodged two mines, one to starboard and one to port.

At 9 a.m. we arrived in the waiting area. As far as the eye could see along the beach, the water was covered with ships. The cruisers, one to every shore battery, were firing the odd salvo and there appeared to be a lot of smoke along the beach. At this point we started Kyle capers in the form of ring-a-round the rosie until eleven when we were ordered to beach. We formed sub divisions in line abreast and charged at the beach at flank ahead. Our pretty manoeuvers were ruined however by the number of craft on the beach - they don't look good high and dry. Made a nice beaching and the troops got off quickly chiefly due to Dave's turning on the loud hailer and screaming continually "get off my bloody ship" at them. After the first five minutes they decided he meant business and literally fell over themselves trying to get down the ramps. When we came out we realized that we had floated over the top of the German beach barriers. It's luck the tide was high. The only excitement, aside from seeing about 150 German prisoners sullenly marching along the road, was the ping of a few rifle shots fired by some damn fool on an LCT. Ain't war hell! Kyle, the Gunnery Officer, was disappointed with the lack of excitement and the fact that the cruisers and destroyers were shelling inland positions. Later, when we anchored, he deflated his ego by firing a few rounds from his pistol in the water. After this was all over we went out and anchored about a mile from the beach and started squaring off the ship. Just after supper we had an alert, the first hint of enemy opposition from the air. At ten thirty Dave sounded action stations so I had to get out of bed. I was too tired to take even a remote interest- so after watching the tracers for a few minutes I went back to the old bunk and crashed - right through two later air raids.

Wednesday, June 7 D+l

Having slept through these two air raids, Dave and Ian decided I needed sleep so they let me snore on until nine.

About 10:30 a.m. we received a signal from S.O.F.C. saying that "five infantry carriers are arriving at 1700". We were to unload them. By 11:00 we were under way searching for 5 carriers. We found three in one place but they were in Force J area. Finally by 2:30, after having darted back and forth between endless lines of ships, anchored and doing nothing, we went back to these three and started unloading one, the Bibby liner "Cheshire". We took 250 Cameron Highlanders and about 150 Pioneers.

In the midst of all the excitement, Dave jumped in to help a sergeant that had fallen off the Jacob's ladder. I climbed down the thing with a knife in my teeth, pirate style, so Dave could cut him loose. Unfortunately I had to get wet. Meanwhile Ian had broadcast to the world his profound opinions of the Allied landings over the B.B.C. The announcer was genuinely concerned over all the firing from the cruisers, one shell in every ten minutes (and only one cruiser was firing) and a large red ensign. He had put these two tidbits together and concluded there was an air raid on and so heroically, in the midst of battle, broadcast the unloading of the "Cheshire" troops. One amazing sight is the number of cruisers and destroyers which are anchored off the beach. They serve no apparent purpose, but they do look nice. There cannot be that many senior staff officers requiring H.Q. ships. If there are, it helps explain a lot of things about a lot of other things.

The beach on the whole looked a lot better as they managed to beach 10 LST's.

Readers can read the entire diary entry by Lt. Anderson by clicking here: D-Day Normandy - Lt. Anderson's Diary

More photographs follow from Combined Operations by Clayton Marks:

Caption: What a Mess! Looking for a place to debark. Page 149

Photo Credit - N/A. Click here to view more by Gilbert Milne

Caption: Landing D-Day - LCAs (work horses, as were LCMs)

Page 150. Photo Credit - N/A

Mr. Marks includes a page from the February 29, 1944 issue of the Evening Standard. (Help Wanted. What city in Canada?):

As found on page 170, Combined Operations

Final Photos; all have been squeezed together on pages 171 and 172. I have taken separate photos of the following shots, likely taken by a collection of sailors, officers, and RCN photographers. No photo credits are provided:

The book Combined Operations concludes with the following entries:

Table of Contents, Combined Operations, page ii

An informative excerpt by Lt. Cdr. Jake Koyl, beginning page 173, is provided below:

R.C.N. PERSONNEL IN COMBINED OPERATIONS

Recorded information from files of Lt. Cdr. J.E. Koyl D.S.C. - R.C.N.V.R. (deceased)

The idea of Combined Operations is not by any means a new one but merely the bringing back to life of an old war idea. After the evacuation of Dunkerque, Combined Operations began to take on a definite plan under the leadership of Sir Roger Keyes who was appointed Chief of Combined Operations (C.C.O.) on July 17, 1940. This Junior branch of the Navy had facing it all the problems and difficulties which a new idea or branch encounters in a service built up on centuries of tradition. This was most unfortunate as it could not enjoy the necessary co-operation to build itself up to the degree of efficiency which would be required for the tasks that lay ahead,

Up until and as late as January 1943, Flotilla Officers who were then building up new organizations, could not procure even sufficient craft to train their men for actual operations. It has been known for a Flotilla Officer to approach an enemy coast not ever having seen the majority of his men in training and with the full realization that they were not capable of doing their task in a competent manner. Conditions improved shortly after this, and it was sincerely hoped that the new year would do away with the utter confusion and chaos of 1942. This is not a criticism of the Combined Operations policy during that period but it is merely being mentioned to bring home the fact that several groups of Canadian volunteers were face to face with conditions which were discouraging.

In the early days of Combined Operations, a sprinkling of Canadian Officers who were on loan to the R.N. were present on some of the more important raids, or should one say raids that were released to the press; Lofoten, Boulogne, St. Nazaire. In the latter part of 1941, the Canadian Navy committed itself to send on loan to the Royal Navy, 50 Officers and 500 Ratings, to form Canadian Flotillas. The Officer material for these first two units were chosen from the Naval Colleges H.M.C.S. "ROYAL ROADS" and H.M.C.S. "KINGS". All men joining this band were to be volunteers and unmarried. Little information could be gathered on the subject as a cloak of mystery and "hush hush" covered the whole picture.

In January, 1942 in Volendam, fourteen Officers and ninety-six Ratings sailed from Canada for the U.K. knowing nothing of what lay ahead but looking forward to a rather exciting life. On arrival in the U.K. they began a course of training which lasted two months, most of this training being LCA's, Landing Craft Assault, and LCM's, Landing Craft Mechanized. By the end of April they were split up into two operational Flotillas.

The first operational call received was in early June when they sailed away from their base to take part in some operation, but this was cancelled and all were ordered to return to base. These periods of suspense were most trying on the morale of all men as during these periods of waiting, sometimes lasting over two months, they were posted to routine camp duties.

The first opportunity for action came with the Dieppe raid. Though, not operating as Canadian units, Officers and men were intermingled with R.N. Flotillas and much valuable experience was gained.

One all Canadian Flotilla was H.M.S. "Duke of Wellington" except for the C.O. who was British. The Commanding Officer was killed around 0630 in the initial assault on Blue Beach. The rest of the operation was completed with the all Canadian Flotilla under the command of Lt. J.E. Koyle. They left the beaches on orders from H.M.S. Calpe (H.Q. ship) and returned to Newhaven. A more difficult task could not have been chosen for their baptismal of fire. Details of the enemy opposition and the intensity of fire need not be elaborated here but the Canadians carried out their very hazardous duties in a manner which brought great credit to them. Casualties were few and in view of the intensity of enemy fire the percentage was very low.

Shortly after Dieppe, the Canadian Flotillas, now six in number, were making their preparations for a new operation which subsequently turned out to be "Operation Torch" eg. the North African invasion. For several weeks the British and American troops were trained in amphibious warfare and on completion of this training, the invasion was completed successfully. This operation, as compared to Dieppe, was a complete holiday as the opposition in most quarters was negligible. By the middle of December, 1942, the Canadian Flotillas were returning to England. The H.M.S. Ettrick was sunk off Cadiz with the loss of 18 Canadians. Survivors were picked up by a Norwegian destroyer and returned to Gibraltar. The S.S. Clan McTaggart was also sunk in approximately the same area with the loss of 1 Canadian. Picked up survivors were returned to England aboard a British corvette.

On their return to England and by early January they were re-organized into 4 Flotillas, the 55th and 61st manning LCAs and the 80th and 81st manning LCMs. Once again preparations were being made for another operation and by the end of May, 1943, the four Flotillas arrived in Egypt. Further exercises were carried out and finally came the invasion of Sicily and the operation in Italy. The Canadian Flotillas at all times performed their duties in a manner which brought the highest of praise from our Commanding Officer, Admiral Troubridge, Admiral of the force.

Passage to Suez -

Most of the personnel of the 80th Flotilla, including Lt. Koyl and about half the 81st, sailed from the Clyde late in March of 1943 and proceeded in a fast Landing Ship Infantry convoy via the Cape of Good Hope to Suez, arriving there on May 2nd. The Flotillas were disembarked at a Combined Training Centre on the Bitter Lakes. The other half of the 81st, including Lt. W.J. Mullins, R.C.N.V.R, Flotilla Officer, sailed from the Clyde in S.S. "EMPIRE CHARMIAN" on March 26, 1943. With the "EMPIRE CHARMIAN" sailed R.F.A. "ENNERDALE" of the 108th L.C.M. Flotilla (Lt. J. Whittal, R.C.N.V.R. Flotilla Officer).

Officer Jake Koyl with Canadian members of Combined Ops and Landing

Craft Flotillas prior to Operation HUSKY, July, 1942. Photo and caption

from St. Nazaire to Singapore: Canadian Amphibious War, 1941 - 45

Obituary of Lt. Cdr. Jake Koyl, RCNVR, Combined Operations

From Freetown, "EMPIRE CHARMIAN" proceeded independently to Walvis Bay where she spent two and a half days and was sailed in a small convoy to Capetown. After two days she caught a convoy to Durban and sailed from there in convoy as far as the south end of the Mozambique channel whence she proceeded independently, calling at Aden and arriving at Suez. There the Flotilla Officer decided to take his part of the Flotilla to join the others at "SAUNDERS", where they spent just over three weeks getting the craft into first class condition and enjoying rest and sunshine. For the benefit of the new hands, three days' exercise was carried out and the Flotilla Officer found himself satisfied that everyone knew his job. Further exercises were not held since it was undesirable to use the craft more than necessary before the operation.

Meanwhile the remainder of the 80th Flotilla was arriving with their craft in small groups from S.S. "GLENARTNEY" and S.S. "PARDO" which had proceeded via Freetown and Capetown. At the last minute before the operation was mounted at Port Said, the final batch of the 80th Flotilla arrived in S.S. "SILVER WALNUT". She had been held up with engine trouble at Durban for ten days and when she was sailed independently broke down completely about 300 miles east of Madagascar. The vessel drifted for some time in an area frequented by Jap U-boats but she eventually was repaired and proceeded to Aden arriving about June 24th. The delay in "SILVER WALNUT" arriving at Suez necessitated the transfer of her personnel immediately to Alexandria. There was no time to transfer the craft she carried and therefore five craft of the 80th Flotilla were left behind.

As found in Combined Operations,  pages 173 - 175

Readers will find the full account of Lt. Cdr. Jake Koyl by clicking here.

This is the last post in a series of 9 individual offerings. I will next create an entry that has a link to each of the nine posts in one place, for easy reading.

Until then, please click here to link to Photographs: Canadians in "Combined Operations" (Pt 8)

Unattributed Photos GH