Story: Overlord - Operation Neptune, D-Day - Part 6

OVERLORD, D-DAY

OPERATION NEPTUNE, June 6, 1944

By Clayton Marks, RCNVR and Combined Operations

Troops of Canadian 3rd Division, leaving their ship with bicycles, at

Juno beach along the coast of Normandy, France on D-Day, June 6, 1944. 

Photo credit  - Gilbert Milne, RCN photographer

Introduction - The following story (presented here in six parts) can be found in Combined Operations by Clayton Marks of London, Ontario. The book was printed in 1993 (approx.), is extremely difficult to find, but is being reprinted by a London team. I present a short summary of Mr. Mark's 23-page-long account on this site.

OPERATION NEPTUNE, June 6, 1944 - Part 6

Troops and landing craft were held back for other reasons. The hope that Cherbourg's valuable harbour would be wrestled from the Germans, in order to land troops easily and in great volume, slowed the process of moving men to Normandy's beaches. But German defenses held and their aircraft mined the approaches to Baie de la Seine again and more sweeping was required. These things were not explained to landing craft crews and the waiting chafed.

As well, landing craft flotillas were drawn from a pool as required and "some were worked to exhaustion" while others were not. So, "voyages were made as required to whatever beaches or sectors had need of troops" and though a myriad of personnel were moved across the channel (e.g., British infantry, marines, pioneers, air force ground detachments, infantrymen, artillerymen, sections of medical and engineering units of the Canadian Army, American medical detachments, parties of nursing sisters, pay corps men, stevedores, refrigeration companies, balloon units, and many others) not all landing craft crews enjoyed gainful employment.

Though the voyages that did occur involved crossing heavily mined waters and the danger of facing enemy attack, the Canadians generally got off lightly. LCI(L)s in action reported damage caused by enemy bombs and mines and pre-dawn brushes with the Luftwaffe and "a shelling from enemy batteries later in the same day". All crews emerged without casualties. 

It is reported that "ferry work, apart from enemy action, was far from easy." Any troop transport across "the rough Channel was always risky" and beach obstacles and mines - augmented by the wrecks of the craft - still endangered the approach to the beaches. Bombing and shelling had left great craters on beaches, which formed "hidden pools eight and ten feet deep". Charging craft could still be smashed and landing troops drowned.

At dusk on June 10th, five were drowned when LCI 276 beached in the Omaha area on a quickly rising tide. As sailors, clinging to a lead line, made their way ashore through shoulder high water "they began to slip among a nest of bogged-down, half- submerged vehicles". Burdened with heavy gear in a rising surf, men became panicky and let go of the hand ropes. "Struggling men floundered off into water", and before help arrived, five were lost.

Some of the hardest worked craft along the littered beaches were manned by Canadian crewmen, members of the 260th and 264th Flotillas. Their flat-bottomed landing craft were up to the strenuous work of transporting troops and all the material of war but suffered much damage as they dealt with pounding surf and working in proximity to much larger transports. "Propellers were sheared off, anchors carried away, and great gashes knocked in the hulls; and the steady process of attrition soon got ahead of the devoted repair men." Some craft, too badly damaged, were forced to return to England, but not before they experienced a terrible storm in the channel ("which blew up on the night of Monday June 19th").

For three days the gale threatened Operation Neptune. "The artificial harbour in the American sector at St. Laurent was almost entirely carried away. The British harbour at Arromanches was battered and broken" but later repaired. Other smaller shelters were beaten mercilessly and the craft that "suffered most were the landing craft."

LCI(L) 305 saw a section of the St. Laurent breakwater tear loose and was forced to take evasive action. She headed for the beach to anchor, "but within an hour.... she was tossing in the crowded harbour again." 305 was helpless against the storm, was lifted toward the beach and faced total destruction, but with engines at full power, "she swerved and bumped her way out through a mass of other vessels to a patch of clear water," and was saved, thanks to an emergency anchor, "for the next eleven hours." However, by mid-afternoon the next day, LCI(L) 305 was again battling to remain afloat. All manner of anchor cables broke, and "the zigzagging craft, terribly beaten by the wind and sea" was forced upon an obstacle in the water, severely damaged, and scrambled for safety, odds against survival. Finally, however, "around noon of the 22nd", she again risked a channel crossing and at midnight, in Calshot England, "her men (were) enjoying the first hot food and looking forward to the first dry sleep they had had in eighty-two hours."

Other crafts also experienced adventures of the same "melodramatic lengths" due to the horrendous June gale and barely managed "battered and holed, (to labour) across the Channel to Southampton."

The last paragraph of Clayton Marks' significant 23-page account follows:

In spite of similar trials, distributed over all ships in the Channel or at the Normandy anchorages, Neptune weathered the storm. With clearing weather during the latter part of June, the operations of the landing craft began to be stepped up. Craft held in reserve for a landing in the Channel Islands were released to the general pool as the possibility of that landing grew more remote. Canadian craft were to ferry over about thirteen thousand troops in July, and another seven thousand in August, before they were dispersed and their crews returned to general service.

Photo credit - From The Canadians at War, 1939/45

Please link to Story: Overlord - Operation Neptune, D-Day - Part 5

Audio: Carvil J. Ritcey, "Our Worst Engagement"

The Smell of Death was Everywhere

Carvil James Ritcey, Army

Carvil Ritcey landed on the beaches at Normandy in a landing craft

like this one. June 6, 1944. Caption credit - The Memory Project 

"But nothing stopped the shoreward movement. While men fell, and while

the morning air shook with the cacophony of exploding shells, the landing craft

methodically went about the job of disgorging men on to the sands of Normandy.”  

Credit for above quote and photo - G. Milne, RCN photographer (from H.M.C.S.) 

Introduction: One will find hundreds of audio files related to the experiences of men and women associated with many branches of Canadian Armed Forces and Canadian organizations (e.g., Red Cross, CWAC, etc.) at The Memory Project. Most audio files are accompanied by authentic WW2 photos and a written transcript.

Please link to an audio file at The Memory Project (Page 95) related to the activities of Carvil James Ritcey, Army, that touch on his memories related to his war time experiences in France after disembarking from an LCI(L), manned by Canadians in Combined Operations, in Normandy, June 1944.

A portion of Carvil James Ritcey's transcript follows:

When I got out of hospital, my regiment had moved to Italy and because I was F5 when I got out of hospital, they left me back in England. So instead of going with the Royal Canadian Regiment, I rejoined the Highland Light Infantry, and on D-Day, I went ashore with the Highland Light Infantry. We had quite an event there for the first month, because we were in combat practically every night. If you were lucky to get back, you were doing great. On July the 8th, we had our worst engagement. It was called 'Bloody Buron'.

[More about Bloody Buron can be found at Canada at War.]

We lost about two hundred and eighty men and practically all our officers in that engagement. Our unit was with the 12 Platoon of the Highland Light Infantry. We were attacked by eight tiger tanks, and if it hadn't been for the help of a self-propelled seventeen pounder, we would have been eliminated. They knocked out three of the German tanks, and the rest retreated. So that was our worst engagement. Then we went on to the Falaise Gap, and at the Falaise Gap, our Canadian corps was roughly about a hundred thousand men, and we captured over three hundred thousand Germans. It was the worst scene I'd ever seen in my life. There was nothing but dead horses, dead Germans, and broken and crippled tanks all over the place. That was about the worst memory I had during the war, because the smell of death was everywhere.

Please link to Audio: Ronnie Taylor, Navy, Utah Beach, D-Day 1944

Audio: Ronnie Taylor, Navy, Utah Beach, D-Day 1944

Ronnie A. Taylor, Navy and Combined Ops

At Utah Beach, D-Day Normandy, June 1944

Soldiers of the 4th Infantry Division wade ashore at Victor sector, Utah Beach,

on D-Day, June 6, 1944. Amphibious tanks are lined up at the water’s edge.

Photo credit - U.S. War Department/National Archives, Washington, D.C.

Introduction: One will find hundreds of audio files related to the experiences of men and women associated with many branches of Canadian Armed Forces and Canadian organizations (e.g., Red Cross, CWAC, etc.) at The Memory Project. Most audio files are accompanied by authentic WW2 photos and a written transcript.

Please link to an audio file at The Memory Project related to the activities of Ronnie Albert Taylor, Navy, that touch on his memories related to his war time experiences aboard an LCI(L) at Normandy, June 1944.

A portion of Ronnie Albert Taylor's transcript follows:

We landed at Utah Beach.... on the Cherbourg Peninsula. And we landed.... right around 7:00 in the morning. The Germans were on like a hillside and Omaha Beach was next to us. US soldiers were below where the Germans were, and the Germans were shooting down at the soldiers and landing craft. 

Our landing craft was a little to the left of Omaha, and we were hit by shrapnel on one side of the craft. Fortunately, no one was injured. We let the ramp down and tanks disembarked with the American troops on board. The tanks went around to the back of the hillside where the Germans were shooting down at our troops. The tanks got at the Germans. And that was a successful mission.... then after we discharged the tanks we pulled off the beaches and went to get more stuff. 

We kept on going in and out and there’d be cargo ships, big cargo ships coming and bringing stuff over and they put it on the landing craft. And the landing craft would take it into the beach. And then eventually, they built what they called Mulberry Harbour. And Mulberry Harbour was some cargo ships and a couple of old naval ships, and they sunk them there and made an imitation harbour. If it was bad weather or anything like that, they’d bring their landing craft in and they’d take it into Mulberry Harbour and they were protected from the weather then. And they’d load stuff onto the landing craft from the cargo ships and they could take it into the beaches then. But it was a really good experience.

Please link to Audio: Ed Rushbrook, Combined Ops, D-Day, June 1944

Story: Overlord - Operation Neptune, D-Day - Part 5

OVERLORD, D-DAY

OPERATION NEPTUNE, June 6, 1944

By Clayton Marks, RCNVR and Combined Operations

A new version of the book is being produced in London ONT.

Introduction - The following story (presented here in six parts) can be found in Combined Operations by Clayton Marks of London, Ontario. The book was printed in 1993 (approx.), is extremely difficult to find, but is being reprinted by a London team. I present a short summary of Mr. Mark's 23-page-long account on this site.

OPERATION NEPTUNE, June 6, 1944 - Part 5

Of Prince David's assault Flotilla, only one returned from the beach for new ferrying missions. Its pair of Royal Navy assault craft sank before reaching shore (their crews were saved) and four of five of her own landing craft were crippled by obstacles. The fifth, loaded with all the crews from the other crafts, was pushed aside and also onto beach obstacles by a charging tank carrier, part of the reinforcement detachment. Again, crews had to "flounder ashore again. There they waited until one o'clock when an outbound lighter carried them back to Prince David."

On the other hand, all of Prince Henry's craft returned from disembarking troops safely and were hoisted back on board by 12:30. New missions held some craft in the assault area for several days and by early afternoon both Prince David and Prince Henry were involved with taking wounded soldiers off the beaches. "Prince David took on board fifty-eight men, Prince Henry fifty-six" and acted as "sick bays and improvised hospitals.". Though the progress of the landings could be considered good, some of the "soaked and disheveled" soldiers were "horribly wounded by land mines and shrapnel." Some died before ever reaching an operating room or hearing last rites.

Later in the day a "limping procession of landing craft" could be seen heading back to England. Some were towed by other crafts after being shoved into "navigable water by bulldozers." Others had to be nursed slowly back to health by repair parties, during which time one Canadian crew found "time and room on the beaches for a baseball game." Others describe a lull in action on June 7th, and some men aboard LCI(L) 310 visited the "nearby town of Arromanches, returning with several German uniforms and a stock of less warlike souvenirs." And on the evening of June 8th, after some craft had been given the nudge by bulldozers to help them get underway, German aircraft dropped by with a few last bombs.

The first assault ships that returned to England late in the day on June 7th carried with them "little sense of tremendous achievement." They returned "without fanfare into the familiar waters many of their men had never expected to see again." Though a few cheers could be heard from other shipping vessels, crews on those first ships to return "were scarcely in a mood to reply." C. Marks describes the mood well: "The epic hour had come and gone; and had left in its wake only a numbing lethargy. Nerves tuned through many months to an almost unendurable tension had relaxed. Bodies were bone-weary; minds filled only with an apathetic distaste for the continuing task ahead."

Prince Henry and Prince David were among those first ships to return and following them came "battered processions of landing craft", Canadian Flotillas among them. They barely had time to take a breath. The first assault had occurred and the "battle for the beaches was in full swing", but "the long-range reinforcement programme know as the build-up" was next.

As the Allies attempted to expand their forces and bridgehead in Normandy they faced a "ferocious (German) defense" and angry weather, angry enough to handicap air support, the builders of important artificial harbours (i.e., Mulberries), and supply ships. A particularly bad storm, which began on the 19th of June, heavily damaged harbours at St. Laurent and Arromanches, one critically.

Focussed on the work of sea-supply, men on landing craft and larger ships may not have been fully aware of battles taking place inland. Days and weeks of boredom in English ports brought many weary sailors a stiff challenge. "Prepared for the most taxing effort, they spent days and weeks in tense, restless idleness." Crews of the Prince Henry and Prince David grew impatient sitting at anchor, e.g., at Cowes, Isle of Wight, until mid-June after a busy entry into the assault on Normandy. Though some missions back to Normandy followed in June and July, one could say they were few and far between for Canada's well-trained and disciplined officers and their crews.

"Meanwhile the Canadian landing craft Flotillas" were placed in one large pool of transports and "were drawn as required." Again, it was a case of few and far between, and reinforcement troops they carried in the remainder of June totalled "only 7,871, as against 4,617" carried on D-Day.

It is recorded that "the (common) inactivity.... was due (in part) to the generous surplus of transport (vs) loss by enemy action" as well as "the deliberate (Naval) policy to keep in hand a large lift-capacity for other landings which might be required." Weather, and progress of inland battles also was considered. In June and July, 1944, inland battles increased the demand for tanks and transport (trucks, jeeps) at a greater rate than troops, so landing craft were selected based on these needs.

The conclusion will follow shortly.

Please link to Story: Overlord - Operation Neptune, D-Day - Part 4

Audio: Ed Rushbrook, Combined Ops, D-Day, June 1944

Edward Rushbrook, Combined Ops, D-Day, June 1944

Photo Credit - E. Rushbrook, as found at The Memory Project

Introduction: One will find hundreds of audio files related to the experiences of men and women associated with many branches of Canadian Armed Forces and Canadian organizations (e.g., Red Cross, CWAC, etc.) at The Memory Project. Most audio files are accompanied by authentic photos and a written transcript.

Please link to an audio file at The Memory Project (Page 96) related to the activities of Edward Rushbrook, Navy, that touch on his memories related to training and war time experiences aboard an LCI(L) at Normandy, June 1944.

A portion of Edward Rushbrook's transcript follows:

I volunteered for combined operations service. For a year we trained recruits from the Fishermen's Reserve, and from lumberjacks, to operate small landing craft. Worked in conjunction with Army and Air Force on combined training programs. Then in November of 1943, we were sent overseas. Picked up our Infantry Landing Craft, which were fairly large craft. They were 160 feet long. We had a crew of 25 with two officers. We could carry 200 fully-equipped troops and these landing craft were capable of cruising for a total of 1800 miles, if necessary. We operated with eight Grey Marine diesel engines, four on each shaft. And they were quite manoeuvrable even though they had flat bottoms. 

More training and then in May of 1944 we had our last full scale rehearsal. We went halfway across the English Channel and then turned around and came back and landed on the English coast. Then in the beginning of June, we took the same troops onboard, exactly as we had done before, and on the night of June 5, we set out for France. We had been delayed for 24 hours because of the poor weather. 

So the next morning, it was quite a sight out in the English Channel with 4000 vessels of various sizes proceeding towards France. We took the second assault wave in, but we were there when the first troops went in at 6 o'clock in the morning. We were held off cruising back and forth inside the line of battleships and heavy cruisers that were bombarding the coast. And five hours after the initial landing, we took the second wave in. We were the flotilla leader for our flotilla. We had two flotillas of Canadian landing craft... 12 in each. And then there was another half flotilla that were working with the Americans over in the Omaha Beach area. Our landing craft being the flotilla leader, we were the first ones to hit the beach and the others came in all around us. One came in on our port side and hit one of the mines, sprayed all out port side with shrapnel, wounded my captain and two of our crew. We got them all back safely to England, but we had six holes in the bottom. We lost one propeller. So it was a bit of a rough show, but we got out of there.

Please link to Audio re Combined Operations: William Kennedy, Normandy

Story: Overlord - Operation Neptune, D-Day - Part 4

OVERLORD, D-DAY

OPERATION NEPTUNE, June 6, 1944

By Clayton Marks, RCNVR and Combined Operations

"What a mess! All manner of landing craft and materials of war."

Looking for a place to debark. Combined Operations, page 149

Introduction - The following story (presented here in six parts) can be found in Combined Operations by Clayton Marks of London, Ontario. The book was printed in 1993 (approx.), is extremely difficult to find, but is being reprinted by a London team. I present a short summary of Mr. Mark's 23-page-long account on this site.

OPERATION NEPTUNE, June 6, 1944 - Part 4

Assault landing craft (LCAs), laden with troops, neared the shore, and coxswains found the flat-bottomed crafts difficult to manoeuver due to brisk winds and choppy water. Men aboard were drenched and unable to see much of the beaches ahead except when the LCAs were perched - briefly - atop a wave's crest. Then a "smoking shoreline" and wreckage of "ruthlessly smashed" buildings from the bombing runs and naval gunfire could be seen in the distance.

Assault flights of Force J approached Mike and Nan beaches and friendly fire from behind them ceased. At 0827 a line of LCAs from Prince Henry "charged in through the surf" to the sounds of mortars and gun fire, accompanied by "the crash of boats tearing out their bottoms on obstacles" and mine blasts. Some LCAs struck concrete pyramids but still landed upon the beach, followed by others, including tank landing craft (LCTs), "pouring out their troops" amid fire from snipers. However, within a few minutes troops from several landing craft ran ashore and headed toward dunes only seen previously on neat 'recon' photos.

Prince David's LCA's landed a mile or more to the east, some paying dearly as they passed over fangs of obstacles and hidden mines. LCA 1138 was lifted by a wave, after troops had disembarked, and hit a mine while shrapnel burst overhead. Prince David sent five LCAs ashore but only one escaped undamaged. Still, troops were unloaded from each - with "a loss of five killed" - and most were rushing inland to face their first target even while German gun positions attempted to slow the advance.

Behind the shock troops and LCAs came other craft loaded with all manner of vehicles ("tanks, jeeps, lorries" and small 'dozers'), and they too faced numerous obstacles meant to maim and destroy. "The assault wave had had to smash its way in over them, reckless of loss." All along the shore, reinforcements were greeted with burning images of "drowning men, overturned tanks, craft hung at sickening angles on pronged obstructions."

The next wave of larger landing craft, including the 260th Canadian Flotilla, arrived at Nan and Mike beaches. They stalled while obstacle clearance parties worked in the surf ahead of them. A second group, aimed at the shore between St. Aubin and Bernieres, was not delayed. One ship, LCI(L) 298, spotted a gap in the rows of obstacles and beached at full speed. It hit the rocky shore undamaged and 167 soldiers hurried ashore while facing enemy fire.

Other ships faced greater challenges. Craft 121 missed several obstacles but, when it did hit one, nine of the soldiers aboard were killed before the rest could safely step ashore. Craft 249, "with mortar bombs exploding ahead of her", hit a mine and lost her port bow and landing ramps. Her troops struggled ashore in breast-high water while facing withering fire.

The twelve craft of the 262nd Canadian Flotilla received their beaching orders at 1128 after spending about two hours circling offshore. As they plunged through the surf, obstacles and exploding mines created havoc. Only one craft in the flotilla reached shore undamaged. The list of other craft mined and damaged is lengthy, and all the while the crews of ships coming to shore - and the troops they carried - saw and heard mortar and machine gun fire that roared from unsubdued German defensive positions.

And still, on came countless landing crafts and ships. Landed troops, "shaken by the tumultuous last lap of their journey", and tanks gradually milled into formation on the beaches shrouded by smoke and the rattle of fighting. All were heavily burdened with extra gear, which added danger and delay to the work of landing. Many soldiers had to heft a bicycle ashore while listening to the shouts of orders, the whistle of bullets and the sound of fiercer fighting inland. In strange contrast, a few of the soaking, sweating men in the landing craft saw a "French farmer emerging from an unscarred stone cottage not two hundred yards away and going placidly with a milk pail toward a meadow where his cow was grazing."

Bicycles carried aboard in England. Photo - Combined Operations, page 137

It is also recorded that the luckiest of all the Canadian Flotillas was the 264th. It received its beaching order at 1159 and the LCI(L)s kept in precise formation and touched down "within five seconds of the one beside it.... and put their troops ashore twelve feet from the high water mark."

Though one could see along the miles of beach in the British area many aspects of the desolation and chaos of war, i.e., "wrecked craft, vehicles burning at the waters' edge, milling masses of men, tanks and guns ashore," the landings went well. In the American area, fighting was fiercer, "but the footholds were being gained and held."

The butcher's bill (casualties among troops) was lighter than expected and among Naval crews of the landing craft lightest of all. Clayton Marks records that "not one Canadian sailor had been killed and only a handful wounded." Though many landing craft were damaged, some irreparably, they were considered expendable. In spite of that, many were recovered and made a return journey to the reinforcement pools.

More to follow.

Please link to Story: Overlord - Operation Neptune, D-Day - Part 3

Video: Operation Overlord and Neptune (D-Day)

Operation Overlord & Neptune (D-Day documentary)

Landing Craft Infantry, Large 177 lands at Normandy with pontoon bridge.

Photo - Combined Operations by Clayton Marks, page 140

Introduction - YouTube is a reliable source for videos and films related to WW2 activities, and on occasion references are made and scenes are seen that involve men on landing crafts during raids or invasions, e.g., in Normandy, as is the case in this film, in colour. Not often will one hear of references to the Canadians who served in Combined Operations and operated some of the landing craft, but in spite of that, the videos and films are informative and educational for a variety of reasons.

The film, "Operation Overlord & Neptune" (making use of historical footage, reenactments, computer animation and veterans' interviews) can be found on YouTube as one episode.

Link to "Operation Overlord & Neptune"

Description - Operation Overlord was the code name for the Battle of Normandy, the operation that launched the invasion of German-occupied western Europe during World War II by Allied forces.

Duration - 1 hr. and 27 min.

Background re Operation Overlord from wikipedia - Operation Overlord was the code name for the Battle of Normandy, the Allied operation that launched the successful invasion of German-occupied western Europe during World War II. The operation commenced on 6 June 1944 with the Normandy landings (Operation Neptune, commonly known as D-Day). A 1,200-plane airborne assault preceded an amphibious assault involving more than 5,000 vessels. Nearly 160,000 troops crossed the English Channel on 6 June, and more than two million Allied troops were in France by the end of August.

For more details link to Operation Overlord, wikipedia

As well, please link to Video: D-Day in Colour, Normandy 1944