Bill Robertson was an officer in my fathers battalion (Australian 6th Div) and eventually was G1 (Chief of Staff) in the 51st Highland & 50th Division and finished with that division in December 1944 when they returned to Britain. The Australians at War Film Archive - Home 8th Battalion Australia 6th Division Australia HQ 7 Division Australia 51/50 Division British Army Bill landed in North Africa at El Kantara on the Suez Canal and went through Bardia, Tobruk then off to Greece and Crete where he won the Military Cross. Then he went as G1 of the Australian 7th Division in New Guinea where he was MID and was instrimental in having an incompetent American General sent back to the states for incompetence. He returned to Britain to be G1 with the 51st Highland Division being privy to all the D-Day planning then landed at Aromanches with HQ. He then became G1 with the 50th division to General Douglas Graham and had great respect for the Corps commander General Brian Horrocks. Meeting with Bernard Montgomery he saw Bill's Africa Star and not seeing a "9", (which represented the Australian 9th Division), said you weren't at El Alamein then? At all future meetings he was addressed by Montgomery as the Australian who wasn't at El Alamein! Bill went right through from D-Day to Holland when his division (the 50th) returned to Britain. He was also awarded an OBE which was his second award presented by King George VI. Quite a long interview but there now for all time.
I did not know that 50 div returned to England? There were only two British divs that landed on D day... 50 TT div at Arromanches and Third British infantry on Sword. My div... we carried on to the end at Bremen. Sapper
I did not know that 50 div returned to England? There were only two British divs that landed on D day... 50 TT div at Arromanches and Third British infantry on Sword. My div... we carried on to the end at Bremen. Sapper Hi Sapper, I may have interpreted it incorrectly however this is from his interview. [FONT="]Q: Where did you land?<o></o>[/FONT] [FONT="]<o></o>[/FONT] [FONT="]A: I personally landed at Arromanches which was up the far end of our beaches where it was pretty nearly next to the Americans, but the division itself landed along Sword Beach was at the other end. The headquarters landed there at Arromanches and we drove down the coast and joined the troops at around about outside <st1:city w:st="on"><st1>Caen</st1></st1:city>.[/FONT] [FONT="]<o></o>[/FONT] [FONT="]Q: Did you encounter incidents or close calls on the first night?<o></o>[/FONT] [FONT="]<o></o>[/FONT] [FONT="]A: The first night we did - one German post was holding out which was within range of the road but didn't interfere with us because we drove down. On the first night the headquarters was bombed, about the only time the German air force came over and bombed anything. I don't think they were bombing our headquarters, it was just a general bombing of the area. That was a fairly close call in the sense that some of the caravans were knocked around a bit, but otherwise I wasn't concerned by this. I was actually sleeping in a little ditch. I'd got my batman in to dig it which is customary for me and I wasn't actually in the caravan where I might have been sleeping, which is lucky because that really did get knocked about and might well have been a casualty then and that would have been the end of the war for me.[/FONT] [FONT="]<o></o>[/FONT] [FONT="]Q: Another close call.<o></o>[/FONT] [FONT="]<o>:</o>[/FONT] [FONT="]A: Well I suppose you could call it a close call. The main objective of our front was <st1:city w:st="on"><st1>Caen</st1> </st1:city>itself. We were the Reserve Division of the 1st Corps. The 1st Corps consisted of the 3rd British Division and the 3rd Canadian Division and the Highland Division was the three divisions of the 1st Corps. The 3rd Canadians and the 3rd British landed on D-Day itself on the beaches and our battalions and brigades landed later in D-Day, but we were really the reserve - most of the fighting well the fighting had gone before we got there. [/FONT] [FONT="] [/FONT] [FONT="]The main objective of the Corps was <st1:city w:st="on"><st1>Caen </st1></st1:city>itself. We didn't reach <st1:city w:st="on">Caen</st1:city>, which was ten or fifteen miles inland from the beach and of course the airborne division that landed on our left and secured the bridges over the <st1><st1:placename w:st="on">Orne</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">River</st1:placetype></st1> and they'd had a lot of fighting on the left. We came in as a reserve division. Over the next few days we relieved some of the British units of the 3rd Division and gradually took over some of the fronts there, especially on the left hand side. That's the left hand side looking at it all.[/FONT] --------------------------------------------------------------------- [FONT="]Q: What was your role in the 50th Northumberland Division?[/FONT] [FONT="]<o></o>[/FONT] [FONT="]A: I was the GSO 1 - General Staff Officer 1st Grade, which is the head staff officer of the division really. I had all the responsibilities of then issuing orders and preparing and advising the general and talking to him about what he was going to do and how we were going to do it and seeing that the brigade commanders had got proper orders and writing the orders. It's a very interesting job.[/FONT] [FONT="]<o></o>[/FONT] [FONT="]Q: You reported directly to the general?<o>:p></o>:p>[/FONT] [FONT="]<o></o>[/FONT] [FONT="]A: Oh yes absolutely.[/FONT] [FONT="]<o></o>[/FONT] [FONT="]Q: There was no-one in between?<o></o>[/FONT] [FONT="]<o></o>[/FONT] [FONT="]A: No, the British system doesn't have anyone in between the general staff officer and the general. Then of course there were other people; the AQ - the adjutant quartermaster. He was head of another branch but he was responsible for the supply side of the division and not the operational side.[/FONT] [FONT="]<o></o>[/FONT] [FONT="]Q: Which general?<o></o>[/FONT] [FONT="]<o></o>[/FONT] [FONT="]A: That was General Douglas Graham. He was a very fine man. It was a wonderful division because it too had been involved in North Africa and in Sicily and very highly trained division and a very big division too because we had four infantry brigades as opposed to most divisions only had three. We had an armoured brigade under our command so it was a very interesting post. And of course it formed the infantry element of the breakout force. Eventually we joined up with the Guards Armoured Division and the 11th Armoured Division and advanced out of the bridgehead eventually through Falaise and on up into <st1:country-region w:st="on">France</st1:country-region> across the Seine and advanced up through <st1:country-region w:st="on">Belgium</st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">France</st1:country-region> and into <st1:city w:st="on"><st1>Holland</st1></st1:city>. <!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--> <!--[endif]-->[/FONT] [FONT="]<o></o>[/FONT]
I did not know that 50 div returned to England? There were only two British divs that landed on D day... 50 TT div at Arromanches and Third British infantry on Sword. My div... we carried on to the end at Bremen. Sapper He was a bit of a dapper man in those days. A bit like yourself. Bill then, Bill today, Bill in Holland,
The mention of the Highland div??They came in much later?? I am not sure how long, but it was certainly not on D day. I had an idea they came in many days later ? two weeks? Someone will know/Oddly we never came into contact with them at any time. Sapper
Brian some of 51st Div, 6/7th Gordons, landed late afternoon of D-Day,at Courseulles-sur-Mer (JUNO), their GOC landed D+1. 50th Div were broken up November '44. Most men were sent to other units but the rest returned to UK as a Training Division. (51 Highland) aka Richard says his this about his Dad from www.keep-em-moving.com <B>5th camerons were split into three landing groups for<BIG> Normandy, D+1, D+7 and D+14.</BIG></B> George would be amongst the first Camerons ashore, landing early afternoon, D-Day 6th June 1944, about 12 hours early.
Brian some of 51st Div, 6/7th Gordons, landed late afternoon of D-Day,at Courseulles-sur-Mer (JUNO), their GOC landed D+1. 50th Div were broken up November '44. Most men were sent to other units but the rest returned to UK as a Training Division. (51 Highland) aka Richard says his this about his Dad from www.keep-em-moving.com Q: Why was the division called back? A: As I did explain, or roughly, that the army was getting very short of infantry. This division was very tired having done a lot of the fighting, we lost a lot of the troops and officers. To reform it wasn't a profitable thing to do so the artillery were taken away to be turned into an infantry and we went back to England to establish, it was originally thought that we were to be a training division back in England to train reinforcements to come over. In point of fact just after I left them, unfortunately, they regrouped and went to Norway. They were reformed, they had to replace a lot of the units because they were exhausted in Europe. They had to reduce the size of the army in the 21 Army Group by one division. It was decided that our division was the one to go back and do that.
The mention of the Highland div??They came in much later?? I am not sure how long, but it was certainly not on D day. I had an idea they came in many days later ? two weeks? Someone will know/Oddly we never came into contact with them at any time. Sapper From Richards site: www.keep-em-moving.com
Sadly. 51st Highland were never the same div as they had been in the desert. I was genuinely not aware that 50 TT div (Great mob) had been withdrawn back to the UK... that is odd because "Monty's Ironsides" Third British Infantry, fought on to Bremen and their casualties were the highest of any division in Normandy. All sorts of numbers get bandied about, but it is generally accepted that the casualties were roughly equal to its total strength. One thing is for sure...Sword Beach was the most heavily defended area anywhere on the Normandy invasion coast..... Morris..... Hillman..etc the guns of Le Havre. I was aware that after fighting all around the world for years, we were running short of men and that several units were broken up to supply reinforcements for other mobs. I wrote a narrative of five men from, or associated with the leading 8th brigade...Of those five, only one got to Bremen, the other 4 fell by the wayside on the way, including myself, two of us were wounded twice. Sapper
Shortage of men, 5th Camerons received men from the staffordshires, beds & herts etc. late june 1944. My Father told me that after de-mob he was told that of the 1500 or so who had joined the Camerons in January 1940, 37 men ( 1 of who was my Father) was still fit to fight. the others were all casualties, either killed or wounded. Also 51st HD were fighting under command of Canadian army from Normandy to until crossing the Rhine. Dad also won his MM at St Honorine on 13th June.
That is odd...The 51st HD were on our left around the Colombelles industrial estate. Then we took up most of the ground in the central Caen front.While the Canadians were on our right. The 51st HD were miles away from the Canadians...So I cannot see how they were under command of third Canadian div???? But as usual someone will tell me. Sapper
To clarify, 51st HD were under command of 1st Canadian army and 1st British corps. Dad was supposed to land on Juno but landed at sword. or rather waded ashore from neck deep water.
That was not unusual to land on the wrong beach, there was a strong current running along the shore. One of our dedicated assault teams landed in the wrong place and made their way to join the others through enemy held territory. Arrived in time to carry out the breaching from the beach to the road beyond. Sapper
