Aussie & NZ involvement in the D-Day / Normandy campaign & beyond"

Australians serving with 50th (Northumbrian) Division:

Both Lt-Col William T 'Bill' Robertson and Major Henry 'Jo' Gullett were two of 14 (sometimes reported as 13) Australian officers that were selected in March 1944 to serve with the British Army in the NW Europe campaign.

Bill Robertson was former GSO1 of 7th Australian Division, landed on D+1 in Normandy. He served with two British Divisions, the first as GSO1 of 51st (Highland) Division. In early August 1944 he moved to the 50th (Northumbrian) Division who he served with as GSO 1 until they returned home as a Training Cadre in December 1944.

Jo Gullett served from circa 16 June 1944 as CO 'D' Coy, 7th Bn Green Howards, 69th Infantry Brigade, 50th (Northumbrian) Division.


According to his autobiography, Gullett actually joined 7th GH some time before D-Day. See another post here for my comments on Gullett and Robertson. (Robertson thought highly of 50th Div, for the most part; I don't think Gullett did.)

 

Sub-Lieutenant Denis Glover, later a leading New Zealand writer and poet, commanded a landing craft. His vessel narrowly missed getting sunk in Ex 'Tiger Sands', when German S-boats attacked the formation off the UK Channel coast.

Squadron Leader Bob Spurdle, flying, from memory, with 485 (NZ) Sqn, was the first Allied airman over the beaches on D-Day.

Many New Zealand officers, such as the writer Dan Davin, who joined the British Army on war's outbreak transferred to the 2nd (NZ) Division.

I imagine that most Kiwis in action on D-Day and beyond would have been in Fighter Command, Bomber Command, and 2 TAF

 

ORIGINAL INFORMATION FROM A LINK ON POST #1 WHICH DOES NOT WORK. THE AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL HAS SENT ME A COPY AS THE LINK HAS BEEN ARCHIVED.

D-Day: 6 June 1944


As a result of our D-Day operations we had gained a foothold on the Continent of Europe. We had achieved surprise, the troops had fought magnificently, and our losses had been much lower than had ever seemed possible.
- Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery
More than 2500 Australians soldiers and airmen took part in the operations in the air, at sea and on land in the lead up to and during the massive Allied operation to liberate occupied France on 6 June 1944. Serving on secondment to Allied forces or in Australian units, Australian personnel, took part in the deception operations before the invasion, provided air and sea support or themselves took part in the landings and in operations in the days following as the Allies drove back the German forces.
See:

• Background
• D-Day and Beyond
• Australian Participation
• Air War
• At Sea
• On Land
• Back to the Legion of Honour main page

Background
The Allied landing at Normandy, France on 6 June 1944 (D-Day) was the largest military operation ever undertaken. Allied air, sea and land forces were pitted against German forces and by the end of this day – famously hailed as ‘the longest day’ – the Allies had a foothold.
Australian participation was relatively small. Of the many tens of thousands of Allied troops, airmen and sailors, Australia contributed between 2500 and 3000 men as part of the D-Day operations, including the battles in the weeks immediately following 6 June. Although relatively small, this commitment was significant nevertheless. Fighting far from their homeland, these Australians demonstrated through conviction and courage in battle that Australia, although contending with an enemy close to home, remained committed to the common cause of liberating enemy-occupied Europe and defeating Nazi Germany.

The Allies, like the Germans, had long realised that an Allied victory in Europe required a landing on the western coast of Europe. Since occupying France in 1940, the Germans had built a string of fortifications – called the Atlantic Wall – to defend the coastline.
Since early 1942, after the USA entered the war, the Soviet Union, fighting on the Eastern Front, had pressured the Western Allies to open up a ‘second front’. In 1943, they agreed to land in France in May 1944. Normandy was chosen because it was south of the narrower parts of the English Channel, where the Atlantic Wall was strongest, and its beaches were suitable for amphibious landings. A difficulty securing enough landing craft in time pushed D-Day, as it was codenamed, back a few weeks into early June 1944.

For months ahead of D-Day, the Allied air forces raided German defences, roads, railways, bridges, supply depots and other facilities over much of France – not just the invasion area, as this would have given away the Allied plan. French resistance fighters also attacked German facilities and troops. In Britain, the Allied armies stepped up training and employed various ruses, like erecting fake tanks in fields away from the build-up and embarkation areas, to hide preparations from German reconnaissance aircraft. The Allied navies and merchant navies assembled more than 6000 vessels to transport the invasion force and provide naval fire support.

D-Day was originally to be 5 June 1944 but bad weather set in and so it was pushed back one day. When weather forecasters assured the Allied supreme commander, General Dwight D Eisenhower, that conditions would be better on the 6th, he declared: “OK. We’ll go.”
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D-Day and beyond
D-Day operations began on the evening of 5 June 1944. As the invasion fleet started across the English Channel, bombers took off to ‘soften up’ German positions and glider-tugs and transport aircraft took off transporting airborne troops who would land in darkness behind the beaches and secure roads and bridges. Allied aircraft also flew radar-jamming sorties and to the north conducted deception flights, using electronic counter-measures equipment, and diversionary bombing raids to fool the Germans into believing the landing would be there.
Before dawn on 6 June 1944, the invasion fleet arrived off Normandy without having been attacked. Five beaches had been selected for British, Canadian and American troops to land on. From the Allied left, or northern flank, the beaches had been codenamed Sword (British), Juno (Canadian), Gold (British), Omaha (American) and Utah (American). Warships opened fire on German positions and at about 6.30am waves of troops began storming ashore.

At Sword, Juno, Gold and Utah, the landing forces overcame relatively light opposition – the Allies suffering a few hundred casualties at each beach – and began advancing.

The most famous (or infamous) of the five beaches was Omaha, where the American 1st and 29th Divisions encountered fierce resistance. Choppy conditions added to difficulties, with many troops landed in the wrong locations along the beach and most of their amphibious tanks sinking in deep water. German machine-gunners poured fire into the Americans, who suffered heavily. This landing went closest to disaster. Finally, warships came inshore, some scraping their hulls along the bottom, to pound enemy positions at close range. After losing 2400 men killed or wounded, the battered 1st and 29th Divisions secured this fifth beachhead.

By the end of D-Day the Allies had landed 133,000 troops from the sea and 23,000 airborne troops. But the battle for Normandy was not won with the capture the beachheads on D-Day. While the Allies poured in more troops and supplies, the Germans rushed divisions to the area. The Allies also faced logistical challenges supplying forces by sea and air. One of the most impressive achievements was the assembly of two Mulberry Harbours – prefabricated docks floated across the English Channel in sections. On the sea flanks, warships fended off enemy submarines, while fighters flew continuous top cover and close air support of troops.

It took seven weeks of fighting for the Allies to take the whole Normandy area and on 25 July embark on the ‘break-out’. While the Allies did not suffer any serious setbacks in this time, it was nevertheless a hard and costly slog. Today, some 27 war cemeteries are scattered across Normandy holding some 110,000 dead from both sides including more than 22,000 from the British Commonwealth (a quarter of them Canadians) and more than 9000 from the United States.
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Australian participation
Australians participated in the D-Day operations in the air, at sea and on land; in front-line, behind-the-lines and support roles; and in Australian and Allied units. The exact number of Australians directly involved in the D-Day landings was not officially recorded – they were spread over too many units, and with varying duties that day, for the precise number to be tallied. The best estimate is that between 2500 and 3000 Australians saw action during the Normandy operations. About 2500 were airmen, perhaps 200 sailors and up to 25 soldiers. Other Australians served in support roles back in Britain.

Members of the Royal Australian Air Force flew over the battle area on D-Day itself as well as in the lead-up to the battle and in the days following the initial landings. Some also were based at Normandy after airfields were built. At sea, the Royal Australian Navy had about 200 personnel involved, all on secondment to the Royal Navy, serving in a variety of vessels ranging from warships providing fire support to landing craft, and some sailors of the Merchant Navy served in Allied troop transport and supply ships. On land, a small number of Australian soldiers served on secondment in British Army units, and a very small number of Australians served in the French Resistance. In addition, some Australian war correspondents reported the battle, often accompanying Allied air, land or sea forces into action.

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Air war
For weeks before D-Day, Australian airmen took part in a range of air operations preparing the way for the landings. They also supported the ground forces during and after the landings. Almost all were aircrew who had enlisted under the Empire Air Training Scheme. One-third served in Australian squadrons and two-thirds in British squadrons.

The Royal Australian Air Force had 10 squadrons involved directly or indirectly with the Normandy operations. One, 10 Squadron, was a regular RAAF squadron, while the rest (453, 455, 456, 460, 461, 463, 464, 466 and 467 Squadrons) were squadrons raised by the Royal Air Force as Australian units. Only 10 and 453 Squadrons RAAF could boast that all aircrews were Australian – the rest comprised aircrews and ground staff of various nationalities.

Of the Australian squadrons, five belonged to Bomber Command, two to Fighter Command and three to Coastal Command. Four were heavy bomber squadrons flying Lancaster (460, 463 and 467) or Halifax (466) bombers on night raids and later also some daylight raids, while another (464) flew Mosquito light bombers (464) by day and night. One fighter squadron (453) flew Spitfires, mostly in daylight, and another (456) operated radar-equipped Mosquito night-fighters. Two Sunderland flying boat squadrons (10 and 461) hunted for submarines, while cannon and rocket-equipped Beaufighter strike-fighters (455) attacked enemy vessels moving along the English Channel towards the battle area.

Table 1: Squadrons of the Royal Australian Air Force involved in Normandy operations

10 Squadron Coastal Command Sunderland flying boats
453 Squadron Fighter Command Spitfire fighters
455 Squadron Coastal Command Beaufighter strike-fighters
456 Squadron Fighter Command Mosquito night-fighters
460 Squadron Bomber Command Lancaster heavy bombers
461 Squadron Coastal Command Sunderland flying boats
463 Squadron Bomber Command Lancaster heavy bombers
464 Squadron Bomber Command Mosquito light bombers
466 Squadron Bomber Command Halifax heavy bombers
467 Squadron Bomber Command Lancaster heavy bombers

Many more Australians flew in other British Commonwealth squadrons in all manner of aircraft including heavy, medium and light bombers, glider-tugs, transports, day and night fighters, and fighter-bombers that flew at low level attacking enemy positions, transport and tanks.

On the evening of 5 June 1944, streams of Lancaster and Halifax heavy bombers took off to bomb German positions near the beaches. Also taking off were Albemarle, Stirling and Halifax glider-tugs and Dakota transports delivering the airborne forces. The aircrews of these glider-tugs and transport — 10-15 per cent of them Australians — serving in varying numbers in virtually every squadron, encountered flak (anti-aircraft fire) over the target areas and drop zones but casualties fortunately were light. More bombers followed after midnight, attacking artillery near the beaches, again with relatively light losses. Partly, this was due to the efforts of aircrews to the north flying carefully orchestrated radar jamming and counter-measures missions to trick the Germans into thinking the landing would be elsewhere. Diversionary air raids and strikes against airfields helped to prevent Germans fighters from taking off. Australians flew in all of these roles.

As D-Day dawned, Spitfire pilots flew ‘top cover’ over the beaches. Few German aircraft ventured into the area, and Australians, including those of 453 Squadron, did not score any victories that day. Others in British squadrons flew Typhoon fighter-bombers in dangerous low-level air support missions, a role later increasingly flown by the Spitfire pilots. Mitchell, Boston and Mosquito medium and light bombers kept up the bombing effort and that evening heavy bombers again took off, and in subsequent days also flew daylight operations. At night, Mosquito night-fighters patrolled with Australians in 456 Squadron RAAF shooting down several enemy bombers.

The air effort over Normandy continued until the ‘break out’ in late July when the Allies began pushing on towards Germany. Aircrews supported the operations directly or, in the case of those in Coastal Command, protected the sea flanks. Just one Australian unit – 453 Squadron –ended up based in Normandy. One of the first fighter squadrons moved from Britain, its aircrews and ground staff landed several days after the beachheads were established and airfields built. The men were subjected to shelling and air raids but were able to continue providing air cover and close air support for the troops.

The Roll of Honour lists 12 members of the RAAF who died on D-Day. Casualties continued to mount as the air forces supported the advance. The largest single crew loss of Australians in operations relating to Normandy was on 7 June when a Liberator of 224 Squadron RAF, in Coastal Command, searching for German submarines, crashed into the English Channel with eight Australians lost in this incident. More than 200 other Australian airmen were killed during June and July on operations relating to the seven-week battle for Normandy.

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At sea
Although no Australian warships were involved in the Normandy landings, about 200 members of the Royal Australian Navy – mostly Naval Reservists – on secondment to Britain’s Royal Navy were directly involved in the landings and subsequent operations. Like the Air Force, the Navy’s involvement began ahead of the landings, with crewmen in midget submarines going inshore to reconnoitre the beaches – even taking sand samples – and checking currents.

On D-Day itself, Australian sailors crossed the English Channel in a variety of British warships and smaller vessels – cruisers, destroyers, frigates, corvettes, submarines, minesweepers and landing craft. At the vanguard of the invasion force were minesweepers, which swept the sea lanes and crept inshore to finish clearing channels for landing craft as warships behind them opened fire on enemy positions. Several Australians were in these minesweepers, and in the landing craft that came next, several being commanded by Australians, shuttling troops and tanks to the beaches, disgorging them, sometimes under fire, then returning to ships offshore or back to England to load up and carry the next waves in. It was a hazardous journey in choppy seas repeated several times.

Further out to sea, other Australians – including gunnery officers – were in British warships that were pounding shore positions, while specialist anti-submarine officers and ratings were in destroyers and corvettes patrolling the flanks. Other Australians followed the invasion, bringing in the next waves of troops and also manning tugs pulling the prefabricated Mulberry Harbours to be assembled at the beachheads. Also vital for supply operations were members of the Merchant Navy, with some Australians in the crews of Allied troop transports, supply ships and oil tankers making repeated hazardous crossings of the English Channel.
Two members of the Royal Australian Navy are known to have died on D-Day operations.
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On land
The Australian Army contingent to Normandy was small. Up to 25 Australian officers who had been seconded to the British Army for experience or to assist in the training of amphibious troops – Australians had experience of amphibious landings in New Guinea – were involved in the Normandy operations. Those who took part mostly were serving in various divisional headquarters as staff officers responsible for planning and administration – key roles in any force. A handful fought in infantry and tank battalions, engaging the enemy. No members of the Australian Army died in D-Day operations.

Behind enemy lines, a small number of expatriate Australians was involved in French Resistance activities. Most famous was Nancy Wake, a member of the Special Operations Executive who had been parachuted back into France to plan resistance activities in her area as the invasion loomed. A few others, including airmen who had been shot down behind enemy lines, either assisted the Resistance or were hidden by them until Allied forces could advance and rescue them.

If there was one Australian better known as a result of D-Day, it was the already famed war correspondent Chester Wilmot. Having previously covered Australian operations in North Africa and on the Kokoda Track, he had transferred to Europe. Working for the BBC, he accompanied the British 6th Airborne Division into Normandy, landing in a glider, certainly one of the first Australians to land in France on D-Day. His reporting from the battlefield thrilled his radio audience in Britain and further afield. His recording of the chiming of the church bells of the first village liberated in France was heard around the world.

Table 2: Australians killed in France on D-Day (from the Roll of Honour)

Sub-Lieutenant Bruce Valentine Ashton RAN Attached to the Royal Navy
Flight Sergeant Malcolm Robert Burgess RAAF 50 Squadron
RAF Pilot Officer Albert Lance Coates RAAF 299 Squadron
RAF Flight Lieutenant Ronald John Conley DFC RAAF 97 Squadron
RAF Flight Sergeant Barry Alan Croft RAAF 299 Squadron
RAF Flight Sergeant Leslie John Gilbert DFM RAAF 299 Squadron
RAF Flight Sergeant George John Howard RAAF 181 Squadron
RAF Flying Officer Graydon Raymond Howe RAAF 42 Operational Training Unit
RAF Pilot Officer Harvey Francis Munday RAAF 149 Squadron
RAF Squadron Leader Arthur Geoffrey Oxlade RAAF 464 Squadron
RAAF Sub-Lieutenant Richard Pirrie RAN Attached to the Royal Navy
RAAF Flying Officer Alfred Ernest Roberts 164 Squadron
RAF Pilot Officer Roland Gilbert Ward RAAF 50 Squadron
RAF Flight Sergeant Gordon Washbourne RAAF 115 Squadron RAF

 

ORIGINAL INFORMATION FROM A LINK ON POST #1 WHICH DOES NOT WORK. THE DEPARTMENT OF VETERAN AFFAIRS HAS SENT ME A COPY AS THE LINK HAS BEEN ARCHIVED.

Legion of Honour

Veteran Biographies

Members of the Commemorative Visit to France
William Robertson
Dacre Smyth
Charles Turner
Collin Wheatley
Veterans who received their Legion of Honour Medal in Australia
Hamilton Connolly
Frederick Cowpe
Robert Cowper
Ian Hill-Smith
Laurence Turner
Willis Wright
Back to the Legion of Honour main page

William Robertson CBE MC
Campbell, ACT
Army 1939–1947
file:///images/commems/d_day/Robertson_now.jpgAt the outbreak of World War 2, William Robertson was studying science at Oxford University, England. He abandoned his studies and returned home to enlist in the Australian Imperial Force in October 1939. He was posted to the 2/8th Infantry Battalion, sailing to the Middle East in early 1940, and promoted to Captain. After training in Palestine and Egypt, the 2/8th took part in the first Australian land battle of the war capturing the Italian fortress at Bardia, Libya, in January 1941 and then the capture of Tobruk, where William was wounded.
“During an attack a shell landed close to me blowing me off my feet and peppering me with small pieces of shrapnel,” he said.
William was sent to hospital in Alexandria, Egypt, and later to Jerusalem for treatment and recovery. He rejoined the 2/8th Battalion in time to take part in the Greece campaign, which began in early April 1941. He fought in the fierce battle at Veve Pass on 11-12 April, in which his company bore the brunt of repeated German attacks, and was awarded the Military Cross for gallantry and devotion to duty during the battle. On the way out of Greece to Alexandria, the ship he was travelling in was sunk. As a result he landed in Crete with his company and they also fought in the campaign to defend Crete against German parachute attacks.
William then served in staff appointments, including as a Senior Liaison Officer at Headquarters, New Guinea Force and then later as a General Staff Officer (Operations) with the 7th Division AIF. He was mentioned in dispatches for his service in New Guinea. In March 1944, he was one of a select group of Australian army officers sent to Britain to gain further experience in planning and operations with the execution of the D-Day landings.
William recalls it was anticipated at the time that the Australian Army might be involved with American forces in a similar attack in the Pacific or even Japan itself in which case the lessons of D-Day would be invaluable. “Our party to the UK was made up of one officer from each branch of the staff and each arm of the service,” he said.
William, with his previous experience in New Guinea, was posted to the Headquarters of the 51st (Highland) Division, a seasoned Scottish division, as a General Staff Officer (Operations) responsible for operational planning matters. The leading units of the 51st (Highland) Division, part of the British 21st Army Group, landed at Sword Beach on D-Day, 6 June 1944, advancing inland. William and other headquarters staff, having planned the division’s actions, then landed at Normandy, where the divisional headquarters was established on the beachhead, one day later.
file:///images/commems/d_day/Robertson_then.jpgOne of William’s memorable experiences just after the invasion occurred on the night after D-Day when the Germans bombed his division’s headquarters. He was unharmed having had a gut instinct not to sleep in the caravan, which he normally used. He later saw the damage the bombs had done to the caravan.
William continued serving with the 51st (Highland) Division until early July 1944 when he was posted to a similar staff position in the 50th Division. He was involved in staff work for the whole of the division’s advance from the River Noireau in France on 5 August 1944 until its final halt at the River Waal at Nijmegen, The Netherlands, in March 1945. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for his ‘quiet efficiency, quick and skilful appreciation ... and his clear concise instructions’ in carrying out operational staff work.
William recalls being impressed by the detailed planning undertaken to ensure the success of the D-Day invasion. He was also struck by the way British troops carried off the operation and said their previous experience, particularly at the Battle of El Alamein fought in Egypt in late 1942, and subsequently the landing in Sicily, was clearly demonstrated.
“In my case, I was very well received when I joined the Headquarters and was soon made to feel at home. I had no difficulty fitting in with their methods of operation as my Australian Army training was entirely based on British practice,” he said.
William recognised the significance of D-Day at the time as the “beginning of the end of the German oppression and occupation of Europe”.
After serving for two years with the Australian Army staff in London he returned to Australia and was discharged from the AIF on 16 April 1947. He joined the Australian Public Service and retired in 1982. He was made Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1976.
William married Emily, whom he met at a dance in Suffolk before D-Day. They were married in London in 1946 and had two children. Sadly, Emily died in 2000. Today William enjoys visiting their children, five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
William considers it a “very great honour” to be attending the D-Day commemorations in France and representing the Australian Army officers who participated in the major D-Day operation.
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Commodore Dacre Smyth AO
Toorak, Victoria
RAN 1940-1978
In September 1940, a year after the outbreak of World War 2, Dacre enlisted in the Royal Australian Navy as a Cadet Midshipman, aged 17. In May 1942, while serving as a midshipman in the heavy cruiser HMAS Australia, he was involved in a critical action in the war in the Pacific – the Battle of the Coral Sea. Dacre recalls the ship had several near misses as she was attacked by Japanese bombers. He had his 19th birthday during the battle.
Dacre was posted to Britain later in 1942 on secondment to the Royal Navy, serving in motor gunboats at Lowestoft in the English Channel. In 1943, he returned to Australia to again serve in Australia in the Pacific before a further posting to Britain, joining the British light cruiser HMS Danae as a Lieutenant in early 1944.
It was while serving in Danae that Dacre was involved in the D-Day operations. As a Gunnery Control Officer, he controlled all of the 6-inch guns, which were the ship’s main armament. Danae was part of the naval bombardment force off Sword Beach, where British troops landed, taking out numerous targets behind the beaches and participating in several gun duels with German batteries on the Le Havre peninsula. Dacre recalls his fellow personnel in Danae were “efficient, fearless and likeable” and, although he was the only Australian on board, he was accepted without question as “one of the team”.
Even at the time Dacre recognised the significance of the D-Day operations and kept a daily diary, realising what a vital moment it was to be in the war. He recalls the great size of the D-Day operation and the courage of the soldiers he could see streaming onto the beaches. He was also amazed by the ship’s luck for not being hit by the enemy shells falling thick around them.
While there were only a few hundred members of the Royal Australian Navy involved in the D-Day operations, Dacre said “each of us was played a vital role”. After D-Day, Dacre stayed with Danae, which acted as a mothership for all the small craft operating off the beaches and continued to support Allied troops as they advanced beyond the beachheads, until October 1944 when the ship was transferred to the Free Polish forces.

He then served in the Australian destroyer HMAS Norman in the Burma campaign and, in mid-1945, as part of the British Pacific Fleet, off Japan, including supporting the American landings at Okinawa.
After World War 2, Dacre continued to serve in the RAN for a further 33 years, reaching the rank of Commodore and retiring at the age of 55.
During his RAN career, he saw further active service in the Korean War as second-in-command of the destroyer HMAS Bataan. His final sea posting in 1967 was as the captain of HMAS Supply, providing logistical support to naval ships involved in the Vietnam War.
In 1977, Dacre was made an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in recognition of his naval service.
Dacre married Jennifer Haggard in 1952. She is the daughter of Commander Geoffrey Haggard DSC who served in the Australian submarine AE2, which forced the Dardenelles on the original Anzac Day. Together they had five children and today they have nine grandchildren and live happily in Toorak.
In retirement, Dacre spends his time painting and writing. He is a well-known artist and has held 26 solo exhibitions and published 13 art books, including Pictures in My Life: An autobiography in oils, with artworks recalling his naval service including on D-Day. He has also created nine memorial stained glass windows for Royal Australian Navy chapels.
Commodore Dacre Smyth is the son of the late Sir Neville Smyth VC KCB, who served in the British Army and was awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions at Khartoum in Sudan in 1898 and later commanded the Australian 1st Infantry Brigade at Gallipoli and the Australian Second Division in France. He was also awarded the French Legion of Honour.
Dacre said it was a “great honour” to be attending the D-Day commemorations in France as a representative of all those Australians who served in this historic operation.

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Charles Turner
St John’s Park, New South Wales
RAAF 1942–1945
As a navigator in an aircraft dropping troops and supplies during D-Day, Charles Turner recalls: “the volume of aircraft over the channel gave the impression one could step from aircraft to aircraft all the way to France”.
Charles worked as a clerk and also served in the Citizen Military Forces before enlisting in the Royal Australian Air Force in 1941. He was called up for service in July 1942. He began his training under the Empire Air Training Scheme in Australia before leaving in April 1943 for further training in Canada. After graduating as a navigator, he was sent to Britain in December 1943. On completion of his operational training he was posted to 575 Squadron RAF. The squadron was training with Allied airborne troops in preparation for the liberation of occupied Europe and also conducting leaflet drops over France. The training with paratroopers and glider troops was stepped up as D-Day approached.
Charles was the navigator in the crew of a Dakota transport aircraft. On 5 June 1944, his squadron was briefed to drop paratroopers over Normandy in the early hours of D-Day.
“The mess was full of English, Americans, New Zealanders, Aussies and Canadians who were serving as aircrew, paratroops, glider personnel, ground staff and aircraft maintenance. We were all mates – knowing the huge job in front of us all to make the landing a success,” he said.
This was a hazardous mission as the transport aircraft were unarmed and would be exposed to anti-aircraft fire over enemy territory. They arrived over the drop zone just after midnight on 6 June, the first hour of D-Day, carrying the first wave of paratroops who went into battle ahead of the main amphibious landing.

Charles recalls the need for accuracy in dropping paratroops in the exact location so they could assemble in strength. “We spent days studying and memorising photographs of the paddocks for the nights and days ahead of us,” he said.

Although their passage over the drop zone was reasonably smooth, Charles’ crew experienced some obstacles. The enemy had destroyed an Allied homing beacon and they could not locate one of the nominated places to drop the paratroops. The pilot took the initiative not to take the paratroops home and they searched the area to find another beacon. He was later commended on his initiative.

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Collin Wheatley
Salisbury, Queensland
RAAF 1942–1946
Collin Wheatley was working as a clerk before enlisting in the Royal Australian Air Force in May 1942, training under the Empire Air Training Scheme. Collin completed his training as an Air Gunner at a bombing and gunnery school in Australia a year after enlisting and was posted to the United Kingdom in August 1943.
In Britain, he ‘crewed up’ with a trainee bomber crew and they completed operational training before being posted to 460 Squadron RAAF at Binbrook in March 1944. Collin flew in Lancaster bombers on 30 night bombing missions over Germany and occupied Europe in four months.
On the night before D-Day, Collin was involved in a bombing mission to destroy a German howitzer batteries at St Martin de Varreville, which overlooked one of the landing areas, in a bid to reduce Allied casualties during the landings at Utah Beach the next morning. 460 Squadron provided 13 aircraft to attack each howitzer and Collin was part of the second group, which successfully bombed its target at 11.50pm.
On the evening of 6 June, after the Allied troops were ashore, Collin flew on a further mission to attack the railway marshalling yards at Vire and hinder German efforts to reinforce and resupply their forces engaging American troops at Utah beach. Collin recalls that the squadron lost one of its 30 aircraft shot down during this attack.
Collin’s most memorable moment during the D-Day operations was circling in the dark while their target was being pinpointed and marked with flares by ‘pathfinder’ aircraft. He recalls this was a very dangerous manoeuvre, with many lives having been lost through collisions or the intervention of enemy fighters. He regards his crew as fortunate not to encounter these dangers on D-Day.
Collin said he and his fellow servicemen were “united in their desire to stand the ‘second front’ as it was then known” – the other front being the Eastern Front where Soviet forces had long been fighting the Germans. He described the relationship within his aircrew of four Australians and three Britons as “excellent”. “We got along like a family and lifelong friendships were formed which still exist today,” he said. Of his fellow Australians during D-Day, Collin said: “we were comparatively few in numbers but our operational skills were second to none and judging by the number of decorations awarded, I would rank our role as quite important.”
At the time, Collin recalls thinking of the D-Day operations as the beginning of the end of the war. He flew on 15 more operations over Normandy after D-Day, some of them in daylight, bombing enemy gun positions, railways and other targets to support the Allied ground forces in the breakout from the Normandy beachheads. He completed his tour of operations in August 1944 and returned to Australia in January 1945.
After World War 2, Collin joined the Bureau of Meteorology in 1947 and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Meteorological Society in 1958. In 1962, he completed a Bachelor of Economics degree and took an appointment as an economist with the Queensland Government, staying until retirement in 1986.
Collin married Fay who also served during World War 2 as a Telegraphist in the Women’s Auxiliary Australian Air Force. They had three children, seven grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. Collin said attending the D-Day commemorations in France would be “an unforgettable link with the past”.

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Hamilton Connolly DFC
Buderim Pines, Queensland
RAAF 1940–1945
Hamilton Connolly enlisted in the RAAF in September 1940. After operational training on heavy bombers in Britain he completed his first operational tour in early 1943 in 78 Squadron RAF and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) for skilful flying on this tour.
On D-Day, he was the Commanding Officer of 466 Squadron RAAF, which dispatched 13 Halifax bombers as part of an attack on an artillery battery at Maisy, which threatened the Utah and Omaha beaches where American troops were to land. The squadron’s aircraft experienced a number of near misses while helping to reduce heavy fire against American forces when they began landing.
After D-Day, he flew a further eight operations in support of Allied forces breaking out of the Normandy beachheads. He was awarded a Bar to the DFC in July 1944 for his part in an attack on a flying bomb site and was later also awarded the American DFC for extraordinary achievement in many attacks over heavily defended targets in Germany. He was discharged in 1945.

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Frederick Cowpe DFC
Mt Druitt, New South Wales
RAAF 1941–1945
Frederick Cowpe enlisted in the RAAF in July 1941. After training under the Empire Air Training Scheme, he was posted to Britain in late 1942 for operational training as a fighter pilot and was posted to 453 Squadron RAAF in August 1943.
On D-Day, he flew Spitfire fighters on sorties over the Normandy beachheads, patrolling to intercept enemy aircraft. He flew on three sweeps over the beachheads that day, flying ‘top cover’ over Omaha, Utah and Gold beaches, witnessing the sinking of the American destroyer USS Corry and also air attacks, although the pilots of 453 Squadron were patrolling another sector when the enemy aircraft appeared and were too far away to engage them.
After D-Day, Frederick continued flying in support of the invasion and on 11 June 1944 he moved with the rest of the squadron to Normandy as one of the first air force units, and the only Australian unit, to be based in Normandy. During his tour, he shot down two enemy aircraft. On 28 August 1944, Frederick was wounded when his Spitfire was damaged by anti-aircraft fire and the cockpit caught alight. He managed to fly back to the airfield and land. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his keenness and courage on many sorties. He returned to Australia and was discharged in August 1945.
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Robert Cowper DFC
Netley, South Australia
RAAF 1940–1945
Robert Cowper enlisted the RAAF in December 1940, training as a pilot under the Empire Air Training Scheme. He completed operational training as a night-fighter pilot in Britain.
He completed his first tour of operations based at Malta, and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC). He returned to Britain and on D-Day was serving as a night-fighter pilot in 456 Squadron RAAF, flying Mosquito fighters in defence of the landing area. He flew missions over the invasion beaches, and continued doing so over subsequent days as the German air force launched attacks on Allied shipping off Normandy. He shot down four enemy aircraft over the invasion area.
After D-Day, he continued serving in 456 Squadron, and was Acting Commanding Officer of 456 Squadron at the war’s end. He was awarded a Bar to the DFC for this second tour of operations during and after D-Day. After his return to Australia, he was discharged in November 1945.
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Ian Hill-Smith
Applecross, Western Australia
RAAF 1941–1945
Ian Hill-Smith enlisted for service on 7 December 1941, training under the Empire Air Training Scheme as a Navigator. He went to Britain and, after operational training, in early 1943 was posted to 101 (Special) Squadron in RAF Bomber Command to fly Lancaster bombers equipped with special electronic counter-measures equipment that jammed radar used by German night-fighters to intercept RAF bombers.
On the night of 5-6 June 1944, Ian took part in an operation to confuse the Germans as to where the Allied forces would be landing. As the invasion force steamed towards Normandy, his squadron sent 24 Lancasters over the Somme area of France jamming German radar and communications. The Germans reacted by sending night-fighters to attack a ‘major bombing force in the Paris area’, which did not actually exist, thus reducing aerial opposition over the Allied landings.
After flying further operations in support of Allied forces, Ian Hill-Smith completed his tour of operations on 1 July 1944. He was discharged in October 1945.
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Laurence Turner
Mollymook, New South Wales
RAAF 1941–1945
Laurence Turner enlisted in the RAAF in July 1941 and trained under the Empire Air Training Scheme. He completed operational training as a fighter pilot in Britain. In May 1944 he was posted to 74 Squadron RAF flying Spitfire fighters in sweeps across the English Channel over occupied France, including escorting bombers.
On D-Day, he flew over the landing area, as the squadron was first ordered to fly ‘top cover’ over the Allied invasion fleet. After the landings, the Spitfire pilots escorted bombers and engaged in low level strafing of German positions, troop concentrations and lines of communication in support of the Allied troops advancing inland.
After D-Day, Laurence continued flying bomber escort missions and also flew low level bombing and strafing of German positions as Allied forces moved from the beachheads at Normandy. He remained with 174 Squadron until after Victory in Europe Day and flew a total of 147 operational sorties.
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Willis Wright
Menora, Western Australia
RAN 1941–1946
Willis Wright enlisted in the Royal Australian Naval Volunteer Reserve in November 1941. After training in Australia, he was seconded to the Royal Navy in Britain in early 1942 and served on various ships and in shore establishments before training as a landing craft commander.
On D-Day, he served as the captain of a landing craft known as an LCT – Landing Craft (Tank) – numbered LCT465, which landed British tanks and troops during the initial landings. The LCTs sailed up to the beaches, landing their tanks, sometimes under enemy fire, before withdrawing to make further delivery voyages in support of the landings. Willis made 12 further crossings of the English Channel over subsequent days to land more tanks, troops and supplies. He returned to Australia in March 1945 and was discharged in June 1946.

 

Anniversary talks


Australians and D-Day

Presented by Peter Stanley on Sunday 6 June 2004 beside the Roll of Honour at the Memorial.


Transcript

In the early hours of Tuesday 6 June 1944 British and American paratroops landed in the fields of Normandy. At dawn thousands of British, Canadian and American troops landed on the beaches. 6 June 1944 became “D-Day”, the target date on which a vast Allied military, air and naval force began the long-awaited Allied invasion and liberation of Nazi-occupied Europe.


The Normandy landings were necessary because in 1940 Nazi Germany had occupied most of the continent of Europe. Although the Allies had launched an increasingly destructive bombing campaign against Germany, and had landed in Italy, the only way Germany could be defeated was by successfully crossing the English Channel to liberate the occupied countries and invade Germany itself.


The Allies made the most of several advantages: sea and air power superiority and insights into German plans through the possession of the secret “Enigma” codes. Allied (and especially American) industrial and technological power gave the Allies a strong advantage. Even so, the challenge was to get the force to France and ashore and meet the expected counter-attacks.


After a year’s intensive planning and training (including devising new weapons and techniques, such as specialised armoured vehicles, landing craft, and even floating harbours called “Mulberries”) the force was assembled in secret. An armada of 7,000 vessels carried 190,000 sailors and 130,000 soldiers across the Channel to five designated beaches – Utah and Omaha on the American side, Gold and Sword for the British, and Juno for the Canadians. Some 7,000 aircraft took part, including transport planes and gliders carrying three divisions of airborne troops, as well as fighters covering the convoys and heavy bombers dropping bombs on German defences in Normandy and railways leading to the area.


Australia, with the great bulk of its forces fighting Japan in the south-west Pacific, took a relatively small part in the operation, but the invasion force included up to about 3,000 Australians.


About a dozen Australian soldiers were attached to British army formations, learning the ropes in preparation for amphibious operations in the Pacific later in the war. Some 500 Australian sailors served in dozens of Royal Navy warships, from battleships and corvettes down to motor torpedo boats and landing craft. Several Australians commanded flotillas of tank-landing ships, while others piloted landing craft carrying British and Canadian infantry onto the beaches.


Australia’s main contribution was in the air. Between 2,000 and 2,500 Australian airmen served in dozens of RAF and ten RAAF squadrons of all kinds. Australian aircrew served in transport and glider-towing squadrons which carried airborne troops, fighter-bombers and fighters operating directly over the beach-head, and many in heavy bomber squadrons which dropped thousands of tons of bombs in support of the landings. Coastal Command squadrons operated far from the beaches of Normandy, protecting the Channel crossings from German naval forces.


Fourteen Australians were killed on D-Day (two RAN and 12 RAAF).
Allied forces made a successful lodgement on D-Day and in the following weeks poured tens of thousands of troops ashore and gradually enlarged the beach-head. After ten weeks of bitter fighting in the close hedge-row (“bocage”) country of Normandy, British, Canadian and American forces at last broke out of the beach-head. The ten-week battle had cost over 200,000 Allied casualties, but it had cost the Germans 240,000 killed or wounded and over 200,000 captured, the greatest single defeat ever inflicted on Axis forces in the war. The break-out led to the swift liberation of Paris and the whole of France and most of Belgium by the end of September 1944.


Though a further eight months of fighting remained, in the liberation of the Netherlands, the German counter-offensive in the Ardennes, the crossing of the Rhine and the final advance into Germany to meet Soviet forces on the River Elbe, the success of the Normandy landings was arguably the key stage in the Allied victory over Nazi Germany.



Australian airmen supported the campaign in north-west Europe throughout.

 

Double Post

 

Chester Wilmot and others:

Wartime Radio 1939 : Wartime Radio 1939 : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive


Wartime Radio 1940 : Wartime Radio 1940 : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive


Wartime Radio 1941 : Wartime Radio 1941 : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive


Wartime Radio 1942 : Wartime Radio 1942 : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive


Wartime Radio 1943 : Wartime Radio 1943 : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive


Wartime Radio 1944 : Wartime Radio 1944 : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive



Wartime Radio 1945 : Wartime Radio 1945 : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive



Wartime Radio 1946 : Wartime Radio 1946 : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive




Internet Archive Search: wartime radio

 

Peter Stanley is a bonzer bloke, he helped me tremendously with my book. Thanks for posting that, Spidge.

 

Peter Stanley is a bonzer bloke, he helped me tremendously with my book. Thanks for posting that, Spidge.

Glad it was of interest. I have heard he is well respected.

I was worried that the link was gone for good however a group of people from the department of Veteran Affairs and the AWM tracked this down in the archives and have been directed to ensure this is relisted on the website.

Cheers

Geoff

 

No doubt there were also many people born in Australia or with parents born in Australia who had enlisted in the British forces. Just as their were many people born in UK or with parents born in UK who enlisted in the Australian forces.

The bit about providing amphibious landing expertise was a particularly good joke, well done. How many commando actions had their been on the coast of Europe, (not forgetting the learning experience of Dieppe). Then there were the landings in N Africa (early 1943), Sicily (mid 1943) and across into Italy, and throw in Anzio. Exactly what relevant expertise could Australian experience add?

 

I don't think it was about providing expertise but gaining it for the Australian observers.

Obviously DDay was going to be the largest amphibious landing ever undertaken. The Aussies might have learnt something that they could impart upon their return to Australia in time to assist with the planning for the large amphibious landings scheduled for 1945 (Oboe in Borneo etc).

 

A very influential New Zealand Soldier served and died in Normandy.

James Hargest - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Brigadier James Hargest was killed in action 12 August 1944 as the NZ Observer. A sheep farmer MP and Great War veteran his report on the 50th Infantry Division has been heavily quoted by Carlos d'este and Max Hastings of evidence of the failings of the British infantry in 1944.

CWGC - Casualty Details

I was surprised that I couldn't find a mention earlier, and apologize if I have missed someone's post.

 

Nudged by the recent BBC series Tankies, I finally acquired a copy of Jake Wardrop's diary:

Snowy had lost his gunner Jimmy Harper and the lap gunner Hope, who was an Australian, so we had taken a bit of a knock.

Paul Hope's parents are recorded on CWGC, but not his or their nationality or place of residence. Somewere, I have seen a mention (Press on Regardless, I think) that one of these casualties was foreign and serving under a false name - Hope is the obvious candidate.

Can anyone confirm?

 

Just to balance the books a little.... I saw these three D-Day heroes at a Duxford airshow during 2006.
I was going back to my car to get some more film when I saw these three chaps.
Chatting to them briefly, I asked if I could take some photographs of them together just as soon as I got my new rolls of film. They all agreed.
Hurrying back to them they stood and posed, the small chap on the right said; '' Well it wasn't just us three you know, we had some others with us'' This with a big grin and a sparkle in his eye.

 

Nudged by the recent BBC series Tankies, I finally acquired a copy of Jake Wardrop's diary:



Paul Hope's parents are recorded on CWGC, but not his or their nationality or place of residence. Somewere, I have seen a mention (Press on Regardless, I think) that one of these casualties was foreign and serving under a false name - Hope is the obvious candidate.

Can anyone confirm?


I can't find any reference to the loss of Paul Hope (Hollos) in any of the Aussie sites. Pity......


Son of Alexander and Margaret Grace Hollos; husband of Gertrude Grace Hope, of Brixton, London

 

Then again there was this bloke, an Australian from St Kilda Melbourne who ended up in the US army in Normandy.




1945, English, Book, Illustrated edition: Born to adventure / by Keith Douglas Young





Published

• London ; Melbourne : Stanley Paul &​ Co., [1945?]

***************************************************************************

The National Archives of Australia (NAA) hold a digitised copy of pre-war militia paperwork for a Young, Keith Douglas Montgomery; Army Number - 93472; Date of birth - 10 February 1916

It gives an address in St Kilda, Melbourne so I presume it is the same guy.

If so, there is a grave situated in Section 46A, Riverside National Cemetery, Riverside County, California, United States for a Keith Douglas Young, born 10 Feb 1916


Died - 26 Jul 1997


Age - 81y 5m 16d


***************************************************************************


Article in the 1940 Milwaukee newspaper -


The Milwaukee Journal - Google News Archive Search

 

That is a good find Dave.

Is the a DoD for the grave in California?

Cheers

Geoff

 

That is a good find Dave.

Is there a DoD for the grave in California?

Cheers

Geoff


Died - 26 Jul 1997


Age - 81y 5m 16d

 

Died - 26 Jul 1997


Age - 81y 5m 16d

Glad to see he had a long life!

 

A very influential New Zealand Soldier served and died in Normandy.

James Hargest - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Brigadier James Hargest was killed in action 12 August 1944 as the NZ Observer. A sheep farmer MP and Great War veteran his report on the 50th Infantry Division has been heavily quoted by Carlos d'este and Max Hastings of evidence of the failings of the British infantry in 1944.

CWGC - Casualty Details

I was surprised that I couldn't find a mention earlier, and apologize if I have missed someone's post.

I must admit to being with Copp on this, namely, "what failings". As he points out, the Allied soldiers in Normandy, employing flexible and innovative operational and tactical solutions to challenging hurdles, defeated two German Armies in just seventy-six days. ...[and the] 21 Army Group fought a highly successful campaign that required flexibility and improvisation. Battle never is 'perfect' in its execution.

Brigadier Hargest did criticise certain things he saw about Fifty Div and I dare say he could have said the same thing (and more) about any division of any Army in Normandy. What some writers forget, probably because their agenda is not historical fact or balanced view but books sales, is that Hargest also said that Fifty Div fought well. Source: CAB 106/1060 Hargest Report, Page 11.

Best,

Steve.