| Index | Recent Threads | Unanswered Threads | Who's Active | Guidelines | Search |
 |
World Community Grid Forums
Category: Community
Forum: Chat Room
Thread: On this Day |
| No member browsing this thread |
|
Thread Status: Locked Total posts in this thread: 716
|
|
| Author |
|
|
Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
Tuesday, 22nd August 1944
----------------------------------------Bundy, pronounced cured, moves to the convalescent ward, where he receives a small, brown correspondence card with spaces for his name, rank and number and a few, well chosen, short sentences to describe all possible reasons for not writing (but the real reason is to save the field censor’s time), and instructions to delete what does not apply. The next move is to an R.H.U. (Reinforcement Holding Unit) to await transport. Wednesday, 23rd August 1944 Bundy arrives at RHU and awaits transport. The RHU has no transport of its own. All other logistics are required for “The Great Swan”- no, not a Chinese calendar term, but the rapid advance across northern France. “Swanning” is an unofficial term for making rapid, curved inroads into enemy held territory. Ambulances full of casualties have ceased arriving, and the only way forward is by hitch-hiking. [Edit 2 times, last edit by Former Member at Aug 24, 2007 8:53:34 AM] |
||
|
|
Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
Thursday, 24th August 1944
----------------------------------------…and he waits, while de Gaulle and his forces enter Paris, and they take the Left Bank, with the aid of the Communist Resistance. Meanwhile, there are no logistics, and generals are blaming one another for the deficiency. Eventually they will all agree to blame General George “Blood and guts” Patton. They say he received this nom de guerre when talking about the Salerno landings; “There was Jerry, all blood and guts, and me without a spoon”. [Edit 1 times, last edit by Former Member at Aug 24, 2007 8:55:27 AM] |
||
|
|
Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
Friday, 25th August 1944
…and he waits, while French forces, with American backing, take the rest of Paris. On 25 August the 43rd Wessex Division forced the crossing of the Seine at Vernon. This allowed Brian Horrocks, commanding 30 Corps, to assemble an armoured striking force on the east bank for a massive surge north east to Brussels and Antwerp. Bundy is lucky not to be a senior officer. They are succumbing to blood dyscrasias, caused by these new sulphonamides, while the other ranks are recovering nicely on a diet of sterilised water. |
||
|
|
Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
Saturday, 26th August 1944
…and he waits, while in Paris, French and American troops are marching in for the Victory Parade. People are dancing in the streets and small bands are quickly learning to play the old swing and dance music. More serious events are taking place, too. Collaborators are in fear of the Nationalist and Communist resistance members, who are even denouncing each others' members. Some apparent collaborators have been reporting German movements and plans to Col. Buckmaster of SOE. |
||
|
|
Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
Sunday, 27th August 1944
Bundy, returning from his spell in hospital, is hitch-hiking across the north of France in a DUKW, (pronounced “duck” and meaning Dual-drive, Utility, All wheel drive, six Wheeler) left over from the landings and not the best vehicle/vessel for logistic work on land. Thumbing seems to be the only way for personnel left behind to return to their units, as the Yanks have all the logistics for their mad dash to the Rhine. The vessel/vehicle is the height of a 'bus, and Bundy is level with the upstairs windows of the houses, from one of which a female voice calls "Q'est-ce que c'est que ca?" Bundy replies, "C’est une Canne; elle marche et elle nage". Bundy was looking forward to crossing the Seine in a "duck", but fails to achieve that experience, as the driver/helmsman has spotted the formation sign of A Company by a chateau on the south bank. The transport problems have left the company with short rations, which they have managed to eke out by lobbing a grenade or two into the river and netting the stunned fish. We do have a rather comfortable billet, as the chateau is the property of M. Renault, a prominent French motor manufacturer. |
||
|
|
Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
Monday, 28th August 1944
The Elbeuf pontoon bridge is now available, so A Coy now proceeds across the Seine to a new location, dropping Bundy at B Coy's location - a schoolhouse - in passing. It is Capt. Kilpack's policy to send any returning personnel forward to one of the R.A.P’s. Bundy goes on to the Royal Scots' R.A.P. They now have a new R.M.O., Captain Hooper, as Captain Makin has gone back with the same condition as Bundy had. It looks as if all the regular members of the R.A.P. have left, presumably with the same infection, as Bundy does not recognise any of them. There is no sign of enemy artillery, so we no longer say, as we did in Normandy "We believe in luck, in God we trust, but the Hun still fires at a cloud of dust", so it is now hell for leather and "Belgium, here we come". |
||
|
|
Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
Tuesday, 29th August 1944
----------------------------------------On this day, 11th Armoured Division is leading 21 Army Group in the “Great Swan” to Brussels. The coast roads are for the Canadian and Polish forces and the main roads to, round and from Paris are in the area allocated to French and American forces, so we have to use local roads. Our battalion is close behind the tanks, and tanks are slower than infantry are, so we can afford to stop for sleep and meals. What our armoured support does at mid-day, when our piper plays "Polly put the kettle on" Bundy can only guess. In the absence of logistic support, we have left behind 1. Artillery - except for one Bofors gun. 2. Signals - except for one HF radio cable which can carry 90 separate conversations at a time. 3. Ordnance - so we have no spare ammo. 4. NAAFI - so we have no news, foot powder, stationery, “Mars” bars, cakes, sweet biscuits or other comforts, and only the sweets and cigarettes in our daily rations. For Bundy this means no pipe tobacco and he now hands his cigarettes round to his comrades, who have already smoked all they had, so the children we pass, who keep calling, "Cigarettes pour Papa" are disappointed not to have that sneaky smoke they were looking forward to. It also means that none of us can buy fountain pen ink for writing home as cartridge pens do not yet exist and only divers and “frogmen” have Biros. Bundy’s favourite ink is “Quink”, a portmanteau word for “quick ink”. It dries quickly, does not clog the nib and has a pleasant smell. 5. Mobile bath unit - so it is now a little more difficult to recognise a German’s recent presence by his smell. 6. R.A.M.C. - So Bundy could not go back to 194 Field Ambulance, even if he wanted to and the Regimental Aid Post has to carry its own sick and casualties (luckily few and minor) along. Bundy now has only a little Quink left in the bottle, so it is fortunate that we stop for the night in another schoolhouse, where there is some ink to spare. This is red ink, but mixes quite well with Quink acquiring a sort of rose-pink magenta colour, so from now on he writes his letters home in "the pink ink with the Quink stink". [Edit 2 times, last edit by Former Member at Aug 29, 2007 10:13:26 AM] |
||
|
|
Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
This thread is here for members to post their old personal diary entries (written or unwritten).Here is mine for Today 29 August 2007 As respect for our of one Team members I won´t be posting any further in this chat room today And that´s what it [Edit 1 times, last edit by Former Member at Aug 29, 2007 6:45:01 PM] |
||
|
|
Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
Wednesday, 30th August 1944
Up at dawn, woken by the smell of porridge. Wash and shave with water running from a tap. We breakfast on hot, salty Scottish porridge and hot sweet tea, then wash mess tins and mugs under the tap. Trucks loaded and we are off. No idea where we stayed for each of the next few nights, but progress is slow, as we have to keep stopping to avoid catching up with the tanks, and they must avoid going too far for the ration trucks to catch up with us. Sometimes there are more prisoners than the ration trucks can take back with them and they have to be marched back with a soldier, followed by a despatch rider who brings the soldier his relief, and then takes him forward again to his unit. |
||
|
|
Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
Thursday, 31st August 1944
General Montgomery receives his promotion to Field Marshal. We cross the Somme between Amiens and Villers Bretonneux. Nobody seems to be able to identify the river that saw so much prolonged trench warfare. Our fathers and uncles would have been astonished 28 to 27 years ago. They would certainly have noticed Armentieres - we did not. |
||
|
|
|