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Forum: Chat Room
Thread: On this Day |
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
Friday, 21st July 1944
----------------------------------------The rations are now coming in more regularly. “F” packs are still scarce, but we do get sausages, whose contents are subject to speculation. Some say the principle ingredient is a young lady called “Sweet Fanny Adams”, who is said to have been drowned in the Thames. They certainly do not taste of meat, but are quite nourishing, thanks to an addition of soya. With the rations we are now getting letters from home in answer to ours, which were headed "somewhere in France", which is about all we can say about our locality. We cannot mention our formations either and neither can the press, but the papers did mention "a famous Scottish division" so now everyone at home thinks we are the 51st Highland Division. [Edit 2 times, last edit by Former Member at Jul 22, 2007 11:08:59 AM] |
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
Saturday, 22nd July 1944
The weather is proving tolerable - sunny, with occasional showers, so we do not have a lot of dust or mud to contend with, but then, neither has the enemy. All the company members are composing replies to the mail they received yesterday, and the officers are getting a little fed up with the amount of time they spend censoring them, so we are using the special envelopes addressed to the field censor to enclose up to three of our letters at a time. |
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
Sunday, 23rd July 1944
Not a day that brings back any memories - in fact for the next couple of weeks there is very little to distinguish the days from each other, apart from the variation in the numbers of casualties, and the amount of rain. We are now heading southwards along a forest road route, through the Foret de Cerise, I think. |
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
Monday, 24th July 1944
----------------------------------------The infantry are now mechanised, to keep up with the Americans who have given up foot-slogging. We often have to travel all day to keep up with them and this is difficult at times, as there is thick mud everywhere. There is no time to dig in, which is just as well because we can not rely on trenches which might cave in. We sleep wherever and whenever we can. Tuesday, 24th July 1945 The Russians are ready to take over. Most of the company is returning to Rohlstorf and presumably the rest of the division is leaving for Bad Segeburg. The Flying Squad will hold the fort for a few days, with a skeleton cookhouse. Unfortunately, Bundy’s mug is missing, so he liberates a stein as a substitute. [Edit 2 times, last edit by Former Member at Jul 24, 2007 1:28:53 PM] |
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
Tuesday, 25th July 1944
A new issue of “Soldier” comes up with the rations. Cherbourg, it seems, has been open for a week (when was this article written?), and is now fully functional. New equipment is, and rations are, being landed every day, ready loaded on trucks for rapid movement, and the more trucks arrive, the less yomping the infantry have to do. |
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
Wednesday, 26th July 1944
We now have to take our mid day meal on the move, unless the flying squad has caught up with the R.A.P. by then, in which case we take over from them while they move on. This means that some casualties are spared the discomfort of at least one stage of evacuation. Cooperation between RAP & CCP is now direct, via Don R, as both are too mobile to communicate via an intermediary, such as Brigade or Division. Thursday, 26th July 1945 Well, for some of us, the war is over now, but not for the Germans in Schwerin. Bundy, in the rearguard, has left Schwerin, with the Russians on their way and the civilians panicking at the thought of what Ivan would do to them in revenge for their actions in the East? Back in Rohlstorf, we find we have been “reinforced” with troops of the Eighth Army from Italy. Why do we need reinforcements? Apart from maintaining morale, which is now satisfactory, there is no work for us to do. |
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
Thursday, 27th July 1944.
We rise at dawn. The cooks are already up and breakfast is nearly ready. After we wash up, we receive haversack rations for the move, pack up and mount. The flying squad leads the way, arriving at the R.A.P. ahead of the rest. The casualties are varied but light and are comfortable by the time the rest catch up. Friday, 27th July 1945 On the way to cookhouse for breakfast, Bundy bumps into the new R.S.M., who has apparently been looking out for him. He informs him with regret that he is not allowed to keep any of the existing members of the unit and all of us are to be deployed elsewhere. |
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
Friday, 28th July 1944
Much the same as yesterday, but this time there is a German among the casualties. He glares when Bundy takes the cigarette out of his mouth to light the “fuse” on a self heating tin of soup before returning the fag to his mouth. His eyes nearly pop out of his head when the soup starts to boil but he calms down while eating it. Saturday, 28th July 1945 Now we have finished our job, both there and in Schloss Rohlstorf, the divisional strength is lower and most of the men replaced, rather than reinforced. Those who were not replaced are going nevertheless and the whole unit is now small enough to fit in Schloss Rohlstorf. Bundy tidies up the office, retrieves his few personal possessions, including his mug, which “Tommy” Atkins had appropriated on leaving Schwerin, claiming to think Bundy had left it behind. Bundy accepts his apology and packs up. |
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
Saturday, 29th July 1944
----------------------------------------Today’s move proves to be a short hop and the whole company arrives together, so the flying squad take over an R.A.P. which packs up for the infantry move while the main squad sets up the C.C.P. and takes on the day duties, leaving the flying squad to work the night. Sunday, 29th July 1945 All three companies now board what was our unit transport and make for Hamburg. None of us knows where he or any of the others are going, but we learn, much later, that Tommy Fleming was to have gone to the Far East for the defence of Burma, but his plane crashed on takeoff from St. Mary's Airport near Brussels and he did not survive. In the evening, a comrade from another unit persuades Bundy to go with him to an “all star variety” show in the Hamburg Garrison theatre. After last week’s Booboo by the divisional clerks, Bundy is not surprised to find that the “show” is actually a celebrity concert, with a high artistic standard. He enjoys it, but most of the audience walks out, leaving him a good choice of seats. [Edit 1 times, last edit by Former Member at Jul 29, 2007 7:39:00 AM] |
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
Sunday, 30th July 1944
The landings are now complete, except for the last few who will land tomorrow. The remainder of the last wave has come ashore in a civilized manner, at Cherbourg. One American commentator has said "Up those beaches came a million men and Dinah Shore". Today is the new start date of Operation “Bluecoat”, a manoeuvre to hold the junction between the two armies, keeping the enemy busy at the “hinge” while the door shuts on the trap, to envelope them? Because of rapid developments, the operation date has been advanced by two days. For a change, our armoured support is the 6th Guards Tank Brigade in their Churchill tanks, with which Bundy is familiar, having spent one evening in Kent as a tank commander and a whole month in Scotland as troop commander with the newly mechanised East Lancashire Regiment. Monday, 30th July 1945 We all entrain here for Osnabruck barracks, where we have lunch, then for Belgium, to take trucks to a transit camp, where we have nothing to do but count blankets. Nobody has any idea where we go from here, or why. |
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