Normandy | D-Day Tours in Normandy

Corporal Bates VC

September 16, 2014 · by pauladlam66

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.

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.

WAR: The Ultimate Disruptive Force

June 21, 2013 · by pauladlam66

US troops prepare to land on Omaha Beach

Unless you have been locked in a cupboard it has been very hard to not be aware that the 69^th anniversary of the Normandy Invasion of German occupied France on 6^th June 1944 has recently passed us. Next year will probably be the last significant year of remembering D-Day that veterans will be able to attend. The Normandy Invasion was and still is the biggest seaborne invasion to ever take place. It was a truly remarkable feat to land 156,000 troops in one day and to defeat the enemy without the modern wonders of technology and communication that we have today. There are many military words that are in common business usage today; campaign, tactics, and battle, to name a few. We can also look to the events of nearly 70 years ago for examples of disruptive change that were exploited by one side to the detriment of the other, with the principles easily transferred to examples of business disruption.

TECHNOLOGY. Every business needs to keep abreast of new technology. The American and particularly the British and Commonwealth forces took full advantage of the most up to date technology around.

Sir Percy Cleghorn Hobart

Hobart’s Funnies. General Sir Percy Cleghorn Hobart of the 79^th 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. Winston Churchill however heard of this and reinstated him with Hobart eventually finding himself in charge of the 79^th with the remit to assemble a unit of specialist and modified armour. 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 tank that was a flamethrower, the Crab that had a flail fitted to detonate and clear mines, the AVRE which was a tank 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. The Americans however were not so taken with them and apart from using the DD tanks (with poorly trained crews) they ignored the new technology and paid dearly on Omaha beach with soldier’s lives.
Mulberry Harbours. It was recognized that it was too dangerous to initially attack a harbour, but harbours would be required to unload men and materials. With fantastic ingenuity and the help of British engineering companies, two floating harbours called Mullberries were made and towed across the channel and moored off of the invasion beaches. The Germans believed that the Allies would have to attack a harbour when they invaded and thus wasted massive resources in improving the defences of harbours all along the coast from Norway to Spain.
Higgins Boats. One of the unsung heroes of innovation was an American called Andrew Higgins. He invented the LCVP (landing craft, vehicle, personnel), which was a flat-bottomed landing craft that could deliver 28 fully armed men or a vehicle directly onto the beach. Eisenhower was quoted as calling him “the man who won the war for us”

INTELLIGENCE. The British led the field in gaining intelligence on their adversaries. It was by knowing the opposition better than they knew themselves that the Allies could find and take advantage.

Aerial Reconnaissance. The Allies spent a huge amount of time sending pilots on sorties in specially adapted fighters to photograph the German defences. By D-Day millions of photos had been taken which the experts at Danesfield House, RAF Medmenham analysed. From this information they were able to establish where the defences were at their strongest and weakest, routes to exit the beaches from and the general terrain of the area.
Breaking Codes. The Aliies had cracked the German Enigma codes at Bletchley Park in England. Key information was now being intercepted and could be acted upon without the knowledge of the enemy.
An X Class Submarine

X Craft. Small 4/5 man submarines called X Craft were used in the build up to the Normandy Invasion. They sat off shore taking photos of the beaches, observing the Germans and making sound echo measurements. At night, divers would go ashore to survey the prospective beaches and take soil and sand samples to ensure that the designated beaches would be suitable for landing upon.

DECISIVE LEADERSHIP. Probably the most important part of any business and military operation is decisive leadership that will take control, command and delegate.

The Germans were crippled by their leadership platform. Hitler had by now taken direct control of many of the elite German units. When the Normandy Invasion took place Hitler was asleep and his officers did not wake him, delaying any response to the Allied assault. Even during waking hours the German chain of command was so long that potential advantages could not be taken.
General Dwight D. Eisenhower

The Allies however had a far more efficient chain of command. Junior officers could make key decisions using the leadership skills that they had been taught in training. The Supreme Allied Commander; General Eisenhower built a command structure that was well balanced with senior officers in place that could act independently to resolve problems. Medal of Honor winners Brigadier Roosevelt and Lieutenant Jimmy Monteith were great examples of this leadership on the day.

ESPIONAGE. By June 6^th 1944 there weren’t any operational German agents in Britain. They had all been killed, captured or turned into double agents. Even though Industrial espionage is illegal it doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t try and find out as much as you can about the opposition.

Operation Fortitude was an operation of deception: British double agents with names such as Garbo, Tricycle, Brutus, Treasure and Bronx fed the Germans with false information. It was so successful that even several weeks after the Normandy Invasion the Germans believed that the D Day landings were a feint and that the real invasion would come in the Calais area.
The Resistance. Even though the role of the French resistance has been over glamourised in recent years they carried out vital operations destroying infrastructure and providing information that would aid the Normandy invasion.

SUPREMACY. If you are going to go into conflict or into the market you want to know that you have a supreme product. Before the Normandy Invasion the Allies had spent much time, effort and resources building their supremacy.

Training. The allies had been training for years for the D-Day invasion. They had learnt their lessons after the debacle of Dunkirk and the disaster at Dieppe. Particular attention to training was carried out by elite forces such as paratroopers, glider borne troops, British commandos and US Rangers.
American P51 Mustangs

Air Superiority. By 1944 the Allies were crippling the German infrastructure with day and night bombing. Their fighters such as the Thunderbolt, Mustang and Spitfire were superior to the German Luftwaffe and had effectively made the Luftwaffe an ineffectual force.
Manufacturing. The American war machine was by now fully in swing and along with British production was making vast amounts of weapons, munitions, tanks, ships, planes, trucks and everything else that would be required.

Many historians today argue that the Normandy Invasion was always destined to succeed because of the overwhelming superiority of the Allied forces. They do however in my opinion ignore the fundamental work that was put in place to ensure victory. In many ways what could go wrong, did go wrong on the day: the weather was poor, bombers missed their targets, naval bombardment was ineffectual, troops landed in the wrong places, paratrooper drops were scattered, and communications broke down. If it hadn’t been for the five items listed above; Technology, Intelligence, Decisive Leadership, Espionage, and Supremacy (TIDES) the outcome may have been very different. The success of June 6^th 1944 really did signify the changing tide of the war in the Allies favour.

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