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B & ES group at Omaha Beach
Maggi Altham, Geoff Lawrence and Sam Altham at Colleville
Simon Marshall at Douvres Radar station
Farnham Rugby Club Coaches
ACE Group EB08
Tourers from The Academy of Chief Executive.
Elleby Family
Landing on Omaha
American troops preparing to land on Omaha Beach
On Fox red beach
Longues Batterie
Categories
Casualties D-Day Famous veterans History Hobart Funnies Normandy Overlord RAF Uncategorized World War Two WWII

Browsing Category History

Farnham’s D-Day hero: Sir Percy Hobart

October 9, 2014 · by pauladlam66

Sir Percy Cleghorn Hobart

Sir Percy Cleghorn Stanley Hobart to give his full title was born in India in 1885. He may well have a fantastically typical eccentric British name, but without him D Day may not have been the success that it was. I have been taking tours out to the Normandy battlefields for a number of years, but it is only recently that I have discovered that he lived and died just down the road from where I live in Farnham, Surrey.

General Sir Percy Cleghorn Hobart of the 79th Armoured Division, not only had a fabulous name he also had a fabulous mind. His “unconventional’ ideas about tank warfare had unfortunately fallen foul of his superiors and by 1940 he had been dismissed and was languishing as a Lance Corporal in the Local Defence Volunteers. With the debacle of the British Forces in France and the retreat from Dunkirk and the need to re-arm, Winston Churchill heard of his position and reinstated him in 1941as Major General. Hobart eventually finding himself in charge of the 79th with the remit to assemble a unit of specialist and modified armour. The requirement for specialist armour was further highlighted after the disaster at Dieppe in August 1942, where a primarily Canadian force was annihilated by strong beach defences.

The armour that was created by June 1944 was a real mix of ingenuity and British eccentricity. There was; the Sherman DD tank that could “swim” in the water, the Crocodile a modified Churchill tank that was a flamethrower, the Crab that had a flail fitted to detonate and clear mines, the AVRE’s which were modified Churchill tanks that could do a variety of operations including the

Churchill AVRE Petard tank.

Petard , which could fire a huge charge known as “the flying dustbin” that could destroy concrete bunkers. The list goes on with various armoured vehicles capable of carrying bridges, filling ditches, laying a road, ploughing minefields, bulldozing obstacles, etc,etc. These “Funnies” contributed massively on the day overcoming problem after problem on the British and Commonwealth beaches of Sword, Juno and Gold. The Americans however , with a mix of scepticism and a shortage of available “funnies” only used the DD tanks (with poorly trained crews) on D-Day. This lack of modern technology on Omaha beach almost certainly cost hundreds of lives.

General Hobart retired out of the Army in 1946 to Farnham Surrey, not far from his more famous brother in law Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery who lived in Alton with Hobart’s sister Elizabeth. Hobart was knighted and became a KBE. He lived only a further 11 years leaving his wife Dorothea a widow at 10 Trebor Avenue, Farnham.Literally just down the road from where I live today.

Sherman Flail (anti mine) tank.

For further information on D-Day battlefield tours please click here.

We will remember: D-Day 70th Anniversary

November 12, 2013 · by pauladlam66

Next year will be a major milestone in the remembrance of the D-Day Landings. June 6th 2014 will be the 70th anniversary when young men risked and gave their lives to invade and and defeat the Nazis in Western Europe. Those young men if they are still alive are now in their 80’s or older and 2014 will be the last major anniversary where a significant amount of veterans will be in attendance. There is a full diary already planned this year.

Next year promises to be very busy with some of the accommodation already full and ferries getting booked. If you are thinking of going next year now is the time to book. A battlefield tour of the Normandy beaches and beyond would make an ideal Christmas present. A private tour can cost as little as £400.00 and will leave you with memories that you will never forget. Fill out the form below for more information.

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How many fell on D-Day?

October 17, 2013 · by pauladlam66

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.

Why Red and Green?

October 8, 2013 · by pauladlam66

The view of Omaha Beach today at Charlie sector looking east, from German strong point WN73

I was recently taking a business group around the beaches of the Normandy Invasion and I was explaining the different code names for each of the beaches: Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword. There is no particular reason for the code names. Codes were generally chosen at random – after all, if there was any pattern to them their codes could be broken. The beaches were then sub-divided into smaller sectors with their own code names: Jig and King at Gold and Charlie, Dog, Easy and Fox at Omaha for example. All the beaches followed the same principles. Each of the designated units had their own place and time to land on these sectors and again there was no rhyme or reason behind the code names. However each one of these sectors were divided into coloured sectors: green, white or red. I had never been able to find out what these colours meant and why the same colours were used on every beach.

On this particular trip there was a sailor and she offered an explanation for me: the beaches are named from the left green, white or red when facing north. Looking out to sea is the typical image we see of the beaches on maps; the viewpoint that the Germans would have had of the approaching armada of 6000 vessels. However, if you were one of the allies approaching the Normandy coast you would look at the beaches the other way round. You would be seeing the green sector to the right, white in the centre and red to the left. In nautical terms left is port and right is starboard. At night port is signified with a red light and starboard with a green light. A white light is used to indicate centre of a ship.

As it was the navy that would be ferrying and landing the troops it makes perfect sense that these colours would be used so that they knew where to land. So now when I look at a map of the invasion beaches I have a far better understanding.

It goes to show that you may be an expert in a particular field, but there are always people out there that can add to your knowledge.

For more information about trips to the Normandy Beaches please look at my home page.

D-Day Lancaster Bomber crew found

April 12, 2013 · by pauladlam66

Battle of Britain Memorial Flight Lancaster PA474 at Kemble Battle of Britain Weekend 2009 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I have stayed dozens of times at Le Fournet, which is a typical Normandy farmhouse located very close to Omaha Beach. Tony Graves the owner is an amateur historian and an authority on The Battle of Britain. Tony has dedicated his life to digging up and recovering crashed and shot down aircraft. Read the amazing story of how he found the shot down Lancaster bomber by a German Focke Wolf fighter on D-Day and how it had the most senior and decorated RAF crew to fly in WWII.

What people say

April 10, 2013 · by pauladlam66

A LCVP (Landing Craft, Vehicle, Personnel) from the U.S. Coast Guard-manned USS Samuel Chase disembarks troops of the U.S. Army’s First Division on the morning of June 6, 1944 (D-Day) at Omaha Beach. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Many people have enjoyed my trips. Here is a typical quote.

“6th June 1944 will forever be remembered as an iconic moment in the history
of the 2nd World War and Paul’s genius rests in the way he not only tells
the story of the D Day landings with expertise and minute by minute
precision but above all in the way he brings it to life in a tangible way
for the visitor. Paul manages to convey the agonising tension, the fear and
the horror of the human experience endured by each man present on that
momentous day. This trip is more than just a wonderful trip in the company
of a passionate expert – it’s an unforgettable experience. Highly
recommended. ” Gordon Bromley