Casualties | D-Day Tours in Normandy

Corporal Sidney Bates VC grave at the Bayeux CWGC

I was recently taking a tour and amongst them was a 16 year old lad that was greatly moved by the CWGC cemetery at Bayeux. He was drawn to the grave of Corporal Sidney Bates of the Royal Norfolk Regiment that had a great deal of messages, crosses and flags around it. Corporal Bates sacrificed himself for his platoon. Bates showed the ultimate form of leadership and bravery by doing something that was so dangerous that he didn’t make the soldiers under his command carry out the required action. I am sure he didn’t want to die, but he also didn’t want all his pals to die.

Bates came from a humble background, brought up in Camberwell South London and died at the age of only 23.

This is the announcement and accompanying citation for the decoration and was published in a supplement to the London Gazette on 2 November 1945, reading:

‘War Office, 2nd November, 1944.
Headstone in the Bayeux Commonwealth Grave Cemetery
The KING has been graciously pleased to approve the posthumous awards of the VICTORIA CROSS to:—

No. 5779898 Corporal Sidney Bates, The-Royal Norfolk Regiment (London, S.E.5).

In North-West West Europe on 6th August, 1944, the position held by a battalion of the Royal Norfolk Regiment near Sourdeval was attacked in strength by 10th S.S. Panzer Division. The attack started with a heavy and accurate artillery and mortar programme on .the position which the enemy had, by this time, pin-pointed. Half an hour later the main attack developed and heavy machine-gun and mortar fire was concentrated oh the point of junction of the two forward companies. Corporal Bates was commanding the right forward section of the left forward company which suffered some, casualties, so he decided to move the remnants of his section to an alternative position whence he appreciated he could better counter the enemy thrust. However, the enemy wedge grew still deeper, until there were about; 50 to 60 Germans, supported by machine guns and mortars, in the area occupied by the section. Seeing that the situation was becoming, desperate, Corporal Bates then seized a light machine-gun and charged the enemy, moving forward through a hail of bullets and spnnters and firing the gun from his hip. He was almost immediately wounded by machine-gun fire and fell to the ground, but recovered himself quickly, got up and continued advancing towards the enemy, spraying bullets from his gun as he went. His action by now was having an effect on the enemy riflemen and machine gunners but mortar bombs continued to fall all around him.

He was then hit for the second time and much more seriously and painfully wounded. However, undaunted, he staggered once more to his feet and continued towards the enemy who were now seemingly nonplussed by their inability to check him. His constant firing continued until the enemy started to withdraw before him. At this moment, he was hit for the third time by mortar bomb splinters, a wound that was to prove mortal. He again fell to the ground but continued to fire his weapon until his strength failed him. This was not, however, until the enemy Had withdrawn and the situation in this locality had been restored.

Corporal Bates died two days later from his wounds.

Outline stencils of fallen troops. (Photo: Erica Rae) on Gold Beach Sept 2013. Parts of “Port Winston” the British sector Mulberry Harbour can be seen.

Recently the outlines of 9,000 fallen soldiers were stencilled onto the Normandy Invasion beaches. It was in recognition of International Peace Day and was in tribute to the amount of losses incurred on D-Day in 1944. British artists Jamie Wardley and Andy Moss along with 60 volunteers went to the beaches to create the stunning scape, but they were soon joined by hundreds of locals that also helped. The final result was moving and poignant. The results of course were quickly washed away, but the men that fell on that day have never been forgotten and so they should remain that way.

When I take tours to the D-Day beaches one of the questions that I am always asked is “how many people died?” This is always a difficult question and one that cannot be exactly answered. Men’s remains that have never been found, wounded soldiers dying later, miscalculation and propaganda have all played their part in obscuring the facts. One thing that can be sure is that more men died than the official figures that were released by the Allied top brass and politicians. There are also the German losses that people seem to forget about along with civilian losses.

On Utah beach the most westerly landing point, the main body of troops that landed were the US 4^th Infantry Division. This unit did receive the highest casualties, but there were also casualties amongst Engineers, Tankers, Artillery, Navy, Coast Guard and the Air Force. In relative terms Utah was the beach that had the fewest amount of casualties, but this was still in the region of 500 men. On top of this you have to consider the American Airborne landings that were an integral part of the invasion and particularly with Utah Beach. There were about 2,500 casualties amongst the 82^nd and 101^st Airborne. If you take into consideration training you also need to include the 2000 from Operation Tiger, which was a training mission that went horribly wrong off of the coast of Slapton Sands in Devon.

Casualties of course are not just those that died, but also include the injured and the missing. I think one can today; now classify those listed missing as dead. Those taken prisoner would also be included.

Heading east the next landing beach was the famous Omaha or bloody Omaha as it became known, but there was another landing point between Utah and Omaha, Pointe de Hoc. Of the 225 Rangers that landed here 135 were either killed, wounded or injured. At Omaha the losses were massive, but until very recently the official figure of killed in action was in the region of 862, with total casualties in the region of 2000. However, with recent research by the US National D-day Memorial Foundation and well publicised TV programmes the figure is more likely to be in the region of 1500 to 3000 deaths.

Carrying on East you come to Gold, Juno and Sword Beaches. British casualties on Gold and Sword beach were about 1000 on each, but there were also the British Airborne casualties that landed to secure the eastern flank of the landings. Amongst them the total was in the region of 1300 including 100 glider pilots.

Juno beach was where the 3^rd Canadian Division landed and saw the heaviest fighting second only to Omaha. On this beach there was probably over 1000 casualties.

So taking all of the above into consideration you are probably looking at about 11,000 Allied casualties on the day with another 2000 in training exercises. This would equate to roughly 6000 deaths. There were of course the Germans and their allies as well. These figures are very hard to verify, but they are probably somewhere in the region of 5,000 to 10,000 killed in action. Civilians killed on the day would have been significant, certainly in their hundreds, particularly when much of the Allied bombing was in discriminant and off target. It’s no wonder that there were reports of French men and woman spitting, cursing and even shooting at their liberators.

The whole Normandy campaign though puts these figures in the shade: over 425,000 Allied and German troops were killed, wounded or missing and 15,000 to 20,000 civilians were killed, many of these in the bombing of Caen.

We will probably never know the exact amount of men that died that day and it is foolish for any historian to say that any figures they quote are correct. What we do know is that a lot of men and woman died on all sides in a war that has been called the “last just war”. I doubt if their family or friends thought it was justified at the time.

D-Day Tours in Normandy

Browsing Category Casualties

Corporal Bates VC

How many fell on D-Day?