Dangerous Times

The Landings on Walcheren were called Operation Infatuate. The landings at Flushing were Infatuate I and at Westkapelle Infatuate II. The Operation was scheduled for 1^st November 1944. The first landings were to be at Flushing. The 4^th Royal Marine Commandos were to be the troops used. They consisted of the 4^th Commando. They left Breskens on the east bank of the Scheldt at 0440 just as the artillery bombardment of 300 guns started up from the Breskens pocket to subdue the landing site. At 0620 the first landing craft hit the beach to little opposition and moved in land. A second wave landed shortly afterwards. Although the landing was lightly opposed there was heavy fighting in the town with numerous snipers hidden in the gantries and cranes of the port and dock yard. The town was finally taken on 4^th November.

Infatuate II was to have the jump off port of Ostend. The code for the Naval group was Force T with Commander Pugsley RN in command. Force T consisted of the bombardment craft of HMS Warsprite with monitors Erebus and Robert. The HQ vessel was HMS Kingsmill (K484), a Captain Class escort destroyer. She had her keel laid in Boston, USA, on 9^th July 1943. She was launched and fitted out on 13^th August 1943, a very speedy 35 days. She was commissioned into the Royal Navy on 29^th October ’43. She was 289’ long and 35’ beam with a draft of 11’. Four General Motors engines driving two shafts moved the vessel at 19kts. She had a compliment of 156 men. Her armaments were 3 x 3” guns, 4 x 20mm AA guns, and 4 depth charge projectors. She was scrapped 17-Feb-47 so only had a life of 3.3 years!

HMS Kingsmill K848 Captain Class Escort Destroyer

HMS Kingsmill in Portsmouth Dry Dock December 1944

Dad was probably aboard the Kingsmill as he was a staff Officer, and this was the Headquarters vessel, but it was Force T Headquarters ship. The rest of Force T consisted of 27 vessels of the SSEF which were commanded by Commander K.A. Sellar, and the transport craft used to land the Commandos. The Support Squadron Eastern Flank Headquarters vessel was LCT269 with Commander Sellar aboard. I have a photograph of Dad as a Staff Officer of Support Squadron Eastern Flank. To my mind that could mean that he would be with the C/O of that unit rather than Force T. In this case Dad would have been right in the thick of the action as we will see. However there is a report that after the battle the crew of LCT(H)269 was 18 men. I think the normal complement was about this number so it sounds as though extra hands, as in staff officers were not aboard. However Mum tells me that Dad suffered nightmares after the war as he had witnessed a crew mate next to him being hit in the head. Apparently it was somebody that he had done training with previously. He had come aboard with a Senior Officer for a quick up date of orders. Whilst waiting and chatting at the ship’s rail the other bloke was hit in the head and died. Mum says that dad volunteered to take his place and go back with the Senior Officer.  She felt sure that this had been at Walcheren. This could have been when Dad was on the Kingsmill and returned to one of the close support squadron landing craft, or maybe when he was on the LCH 269 and then went aboard one of the other landing craft. Mum thinks that it was a contemporary of Dad’s so looking in the lists of Temp. Act. Sub Lieutenants lost on 1^st November there are none for Kingsmill or LCH 269 but there are plenty from other vessels. We will never know I suppose.

Force T assembled at Ostend and then left there approx 0030 1^st November 1944. There were great worries that a big shore battery at Knokke on the Belgium coast would be a real problem to the fleet. It was supposed to have 4 x 11” guns which could have played havoc with the small vessels. In the end nothing happened. It was latter found that Canadian Forces over ran the fortifications a few hours before the landings. It was also found that the 11” guns had never been fitted. It was a lucky escape for the flotilla. During the night there was a scare when LCH 269 picked targets moving at speed on her radar. They could only be E Boats and Actions Stations were called. They could have caused severe casualties if they had got amongst the fleet. As it was a British destroyer had also seen them and her larger guns drove them off and caused some damage to the Germans. The Commander of the Destroyer just happened to be the old commander of LCH 269 who had been replaced by Commander Sellar! Another lucky escape!

Convoy to Walcheren morning of 1^st November 1944.

Onboard the Kingsmill with Commander Pugsley was Brigadier B.W. Leicester who was the Commander of the 4^th Royal Marine Special Service Brigade, which consisted of Nos 41, 47 and 48 Commandos. These two had to make the final decision as to whether the landing should take place. It was known that the aerial bombing would not take place as the French and Belgium airfields were shut due to low cloud (although Walcheren was clear) and the damage already caused to the fortifications was unknown. The War Office, despite knowing how desperately important the lifting of the blockade of the Scheldt  was, had given the last word to the field commanders. Their orders stated that they should not attack if it was felt that the German defences were ‘ more than very weak’. The sea state was calm, which may not occur again for along time at that time of the year, and with the possibility that the low cloud would lift and air support would be available later, and being fully aware of the urgency of getting supplies to the front lines, they gave the code for the commencement which was ‘Nelson’. They must have had great anguish knowing that the odds against the SSEF escaping with light casualties were small.

 

One of the German fortifications on Walcheren.

The shore guns opened fire on the motor launch that was marking the anchorage spot for the Kingsmill at 0809. This was about 5 miles west from the beaches and was also where the hospital craft would wait. At 0820 the Warspite and the Roberts opened fire as they were easily in range. The Erebus had developed a problem with her turret so was unable to join in until later. As the Warspite had had one of her turrets put out of action when damaged in the Mediterranean there were salvos of 10 15” shells going over. Afterwards it was found that due to the lack of air spotting due to the weather the accuracy wasn’t very good compared to later in the day when trained spotter planes were able to direct the guns. It was found later that the naval bombardment had knocked out two of the guns, at W15 (location on the map above).

The SSEF were to go closer to the beach and protect the convoy of landing craft that were to land the Marines. The plan was for 47 and 48 Royal Marine Commandos to land to the north of the gap and the 41^st RM Commando with the 10^th International Allies Commando consisting of Norwegian and Belgium troops, to land south of the breach. The first few troops ashore would land directly from LC(I)’s, landing craft Infantry, and those following would go ashore in tracked vehicles called Buffaloes and Weasels. There would also be some tanks, all landing from LC(T)’s., landing craft Tank.

Part of 47 Commando Royal Marines on LCT4 that was hit on the beach later. The large tracked vehicles on the right are Buffaloes and the smaller one on the right a weasel.

On the run in to the beach the artillery from the Breskens side of the river was to lay down a barrage and just as the first craft were approaching. The SSEF were to close the beach and offer support for the actual landings. At 4000 yards out the vessels of the SSEF were taking heavy hits. One of the rockets ships was hit and there was a premature detonation of the missiles. It is variously reported that they caused destruction on their own forces but from other reports it sounds as though there were several very close calls and a very real scare to many of the other landing craft. Even before the first landing craft had beached some of the SSEF vessels had been rendered useless. As they closed the beach they could see that their guns were just bouncing off the concrete embrasures. Commander ‘Monkey’ Sellars ordered them to get even closer to the shore to fire directly into the slits. It had been noticed on previous landings that the German guns were very likely to concentrate their fire on the vessels that were actually attacking them, rather than the ships carrying the men or material that was to be landed. Thus drawing the German fire they allowed the troop carrying craft to close the beach with few casualties. They also found that they were so close that many of the guns could not depress low enough to fire at them. However the 88mm guns were deadly.  Just as the first troops were about to land 12 rocket firing Typhoon fighters from No.183 Squadron that had managed to get air borne despite the low cloud and arrived to add their weight to the safety of the landings by picking targets close to the beach.

A team of war correspondents went with the troops so recording some remarkable photographs and film of the Support Squadron’s actions and battle.

Movietone film of the Battle  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doq8s68Xoo8

Norwegian movie newsreel    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIber1VFkn4

Dutch Newsreel showing flooding and repair of dykes http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fg7zGo9Wy08

The next Battle.

SUPPORT SQUADRON, EASTERN FLANK.               7-Jul-1944  to  30-Jun-1945

Dad wasn’t to be away from the action too long it seems. Again it is extremely difficult to track him down to specific places and times as he was not on any particular vessels books that we can track. He is still down as an additional to HMS Odyssey the ‘hotel in Ilfracombe’. His duty is written as special service for cipher duties on the staff of the Supports Squadron Eastern Flank. This is also the time that he was again promoted to the dizzy rank of Temporary Sub Lieutenant. If you remember he was only ‘Acting’ previously. He is Temporary due to the fact he was RNVR, hostilities only, draft.  He actually is recorded as going back on the Secret list on 25^th July 1944. This may indicate that this was when he went aboard a vessel and not ashore.

Dad’s final report for this phase in his career is signed by Commander Anthony F. Pugsley RN. This chap was the commanding officer of the support squadron so once again Dad was at the centre of things. I cannot find much about Commander Pugsley, or for that matter the Support Squadron, Eastern Flank SSEF. It seems that the SSEF was formed after the Normandy Landings and was the follow up to the ‘Trout Line’ that was established on the eastern side of Sword beach. This utilised the smaller assault ships that had participated in the landings. At night they were anchored in a long line around the large units, very close to each other to provide a barrier against the attack of E Boats (Called E boats as it was ‘Enemy’! The Germans called them Schnell S Boats), unmanned explosive boats, human torpedoes and drifting mines. The earliest reference to the SSEF I can find is about 5 days after D Day. The vessels had been used to support the landings but as the battle had moved in land they had become redundant for their primary role. Dad had spoken of being involved in throwing hand grenades over the side and patrolling all night to protect the ships from human topedoes and I had always assumed this would be in the Mediterranean as I didn’t know that the Germans had them. He also spoke of driving DUKWs so I assume that this was when he was with the SSEF.

The SSEF was made up mainly of LCG (L) and (M)’s (Landing Craft Gun, large and Medium), LCF (Landing Craft Flak) and LCT(R) (Landing Craft Tank (Rocket). As an aside the LCF’s were the only RN vessels to have a German name as Flak is German for anti aircraft fire! All these craft were landing craft for tanks that had the deck space plated over and magazines and accommodation put under. The LCG’s had two 4.3” guns and some machine guns mounted and a crew of 40, 24 of whom were Royal Marines to man the guns. The LCF’s had Oerlikons and Pom Pom guns. The LCT(R) had 1080 6” rockets fitted in ranks that were fired off by a 12v battery, They were fired off in salvos at the beaches to clear obstacles etc.

LCF 37 at Portsmouth before D Day. Note PLUTO reel in background.

LCG(L) 2 before Operation Infatuate

LCT(R) showing details of rocket launch apparatus.

Another photo of the deck of an LCF.

There were also LCH’s Landing Craft Headquarters and landing craft used for hospital first aid stations.

Dad was specifically on the staff of the Support Squadron. I am not sure whether this means he was attached to a particular vessel or moved with the Commanding Officer or not.

The Support Squadron, Eastern Flank’s big battle was one of the bloodiest and funnily enough one of the least known of the Second World War. It was also in a place where British Forces had been humbled previously whilst trying to open up a second front. On 30-Jul-1809 during the Napoleonic wars 300 ships landed 42000 men on the island of Walcheren. Their task was to open up a second front, to capture a French fleet in Holland, to capture the arsenal at Antwerp and deny the use of the Scheldt to the French. They never left the island as they were literally bogged down as the French had flooded the place. The troops suffered a terrible disease that became known as Walcheren Fever. 8000 died and 10’s of thousands were too sick to do anything. They eventually withdrew to lick there wounds.

The same island was to be the site of a decisive battle once again as the tide of war again broke on the beaches of the Scheldt. Following the D Day landings the fighting had moved from the beaches and the supply lines were getting ever more stretched. Eventually the French Channel ports were taken but these were already far from the lines. Montgomery was urged to move on Antwerp and the Belgium and Dutch ports but he waited until his supplies had built up but finally took Antwerp in early September. However it could not be used as a port as the river access to it was protected by very heavy gun emplacements on the island of Walcheren. Polish and Canadian troops were ordered to take the ground between Antwerp and Walcheren and then storm the island. The island had a causeway to the mainland that was about 30yds wide and dead straight for nearly a mile. Either side were marsh and mud flats. The Canadians fought their way to the causeway over the next weeks and continued to try to cross the causeway. It was decided that a three pronged attack should take place to speed up the taking of the island. The island had perhaps the most heavily fortified coastline in the world. It had 30 batteries in various types of fortifications. There were 50 to 60 guns of 75 to 220mm calibre. The guns were manned by Lieutenant General Dasser’s 70^th Infantry Division. They were known as the ‘white bread men’ as most of them had gastric complaints so were not fit of front line infantry. It was thought there were approximately 4000 German troops.

Map showing the German defences of Walcheren and the landings of the Allies.

After much soul searching and discussion it was decided that to try to disable the guns the dykes surrounding the island should be breeched which would mean most of the island would be inundated. It was obvious that there would be loss of life amongst the inhabitants so on 2^nd October they were warned by radio, and by pamphlets dropped by planes. Most chose to stay. Between 3^rd and 11^th October the dykes were pounded with 2378t of explosives and 4 large breaks were created. The fields were completely flooded and at certain states of the tide a 6kt current flew in and out of the breeches. However there was little damage caused to the gun emplacements as they were either built on the dykes them selves, or were sufficiently elevated to avoid been flooded. Communications between them and the ease of supply were severely disrupted though. In Westkapelle only 50 house were left habitable.

Air reconnaissance photograph showing the breech at Westkapelle and the damage to the town.

There were further air raids in the run up to the invasion for which the date had been set when there were the first favourable tides, 1^st November 1944. It was decided that heavy bombardment by airplanes would be required to ‘soften up’ the opposition despite the belief that only direct hits would have any effect on the fortifications. On 28^th October 261 bombers dropped 1189t, on the 29^th 327 planes dropped 1562t and on the 30^th 89 planes dropped 555t of explosives. Six aircraft were lost during these operations. Further bombardments were to have taken place just prior to the landings but there was much political to’ing and fro’ing about the priorities of Bomber Command, and in the end the weather was not good enough for the planes to take off any way.

The three pronged attack was for the Canadians to the east, who were fighting to establish a bridgehead on the island end of the Causeway, to continue their attempt. The second prong was for a force of Royal Marine Commandos to go ashore from Landing Craft in the area of Flushing to the south and the third would be a landing from the sea at Westkapelle to the north west. Dad and the SSEF were to be the protection for the third Prong to Westkapelle.

After the Landings.

AFTER THE LANDINGS.

In the early hours of D Day +1  the code for the approach of enemy E Boats was given (Influenza) nothing came of it but all would have been tense and I suppose that it would have just added to the tiredness of those aboard. About this time a low flying plane was shot down and crashed near the Largs. It was later found that it was actually carrying paratroops. I wonder if this was felt as a disaster for the Combined Ops on the HQ Ship as there job was to try and prevent this sort of thing happening. The person nominally in charge was put on a charge but exonerated at the hearing. The shore glowed with an incandescent light as the rockets from the landing craft had phosphorus warheads. The noise was added to when HMS Rodney was blazing away with her 16” guns right over head of the Largs from 500ft away. The vibration and noise were shattering. During the day the enemy batteries around Le Havre and the rest of the coast would range in on the ships anchored off the beaches. When they got a bit close to Largs they picked up the anchor and just steamed around in circles around their allocated spot. ‘Action stations’ were called in the second day as there were warnings of glider bombs being directed at them. Through out the first week the signallers were doing four hour watches, watch and watch about, so they would have been extremely tired as the noise would have made sleep difficult at the best of times.

The early morning of D Day +2 saw the Largs called to action stations as there had been a warning of glider bombs being aimed towards them but nothing came of it. During the day Rodney and Ramilies were still finding targets ashore. The crew of Largs were witnesses to 100’s of bombers going over head and the air war got a little too close to them when a pair of FW109’s broke through in the afternoon and attacked. One of them was shot down and the pilot was picked up and taken aboard the Largs.

From D Day +3 things started to quieten down but on D+6 dive bombers again attacked the ship which came through unscathed. A few days later they managed to detonate a mine but only minor damage was caused to the hull. They had lived a charmed life until a German battery that was still active around Honfleur managed to find their range and they sustained a 4 foot hole just above the waterline. This was quickly repaired at sea by a small repair ship coming alongside and drilling holes and holding a plate up to the hole and bolting or riveting it into place! This was fortunately the last damage done to the ship. As the beachhead was extended, and the frontline got further from the beaches, the ships standing off were released. On D Day +24 HMS Largs sailed back to England. I suspect that Dad stayed with the vessel until it went up to Greenock on the Clyde. Here it was repaired and updated and made ready for it’s next landing which was to be the invasion of Southern France. Dad’s file says that he left the Staff of the Naval Force Commander Force S on 6^th July, a month to the day after the landing. HMS Largs sailed from Greenock on 18^th July for the trip to the Mediterranean.

Dad won no awards or medals for his part in the Normandy. He won no Mention in Dispatches, but like the vast number of other participants he got the grateful thanks from a whole nation and the high appreciation of his Admiral.

Citation presented to Dad following D Day, signed by Rear Admiral A.G. Talbot.

There is a personal report S206 for dad for the period of his appointment with Staff of Flag Officer Commanding Force ‘’S’’. 15^th Feb 44 to 6^th July 44. The reporting Officer is Captain A. Duckworth for Rear Admiral Commanding Force ‘S’.

He is reported as having satisfactory general conduct (rather than unsatisfactory) and to be of temperate habit.

His Professional Ability is 5, Personal Qualities 4, Leadership 4, Intellectual Ability 5, and Administrative Ability 4. (Out of 10).

The general Opinion of the Officer is ‘A hard working officer who pulled his weight in the Cypher organisation of H.M.S. Largs during Operation Neptune’. He is recommended for promotion in the ordinary course! Not exactly a glowing report!!