Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry in Normandy.Berjou 16-8-44

I'm reading a memoir by a troop leader of the Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry (8 Armoured Brigade) in Normandie. He describes a difficult, if minor, action but there are no detailed maps, just a route sketch.

The action begins for C Squadron with a river crossing during Operation Blackwater on Aug 16. They were supporting 130 Brigade (1 Worcestershire and 5 DCLI) of the 43 Wessex Division. They needed to take the town of Berjou and the surrounding high ground.

I found the following image online. He describes approaching the river through a wooded defile. On the opposide side of the river he describes climbing a wooded slope with many curves. At some point, a clearing on the right. He describes leaving the main road or trail by going left, not sure if he went cross country. From the top they over look Berjou and have great observation further east.

The best match for the "wooded climb" appears to be on the lower left, but I wouldn't rule out anywhere on the wooded slope.

If anybody has more information on this action (armour or infantry) please post here.

http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=35669&stc=1&d=1283438888

 

I believe you need to purchase Stuart Hill's book By Tank Into Normandy, this will give you a lot of information unless this is the book you are reading.

Although you say go left it could have been anywhere on the scarpe, further left looks like good open going

 

Also have a look at the Sherwood Rangers website, it is under going an update at present but still worthwhile, a member of my mothers family lost her husband that day killed by a sniper whilst he had his head out of the turret hatch.

 

Yes, I'm reading By Tank Into Normandy.

This could be helpful if I could convert the grid coordinates to lat/long. I've seen the threads, I'll have to study them some more.

Bn. crossed the NOIREAU & successfully attacked high ground to the SOUTH. The area was heavily wooded and steep but at 19.30 hrs we received news "A" Coy leading Coy was on its objective. Two other Coys moved up, "C" and "B" giving us three Coys up with "D" in reserve and Bn. H.Q. at 941329.



I'll have to study the division history tomorrow, it has more clues, thank you.

 

Excellent, that saved me some potentially distracting research, though I would like to learn more about those coordinates.

At first I thought there might be some error in the translation (I believe there's a 100 meter error inherent in a six digit grid). I was expecting the HQ to be deep in the woods. But when I compare the Bn HQ grid at 941329 (round to 9433) to the objective coordinate of 9332.

Coys moved off on tpt for attack on BERJOU feature 9332.

I reckon the objective to be 1 km south and one km west of the Bn HQ. That is exactly the hill top northwest of Berjou. Here's a shot from the French Google with the km scale in the lower left. Recall the Bn HQ is about the "a" in Cambercourt

http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=35714&stc=1&d=1283523814

 

Here's a nice summary of the action, although his book has some additional details.

Captain Stuart Hills, who has died aged 80, landed on the Normandy beaches in a dinghy after his tank was sunk by shellfire; he was subsequently awarded the MC for an action at the River Noireau crossing.

On August 15 1944, the Nottinghamshire Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry, part of 8th Armoured Brigade, came up to the Noireau in Normandy. The river was about 20 yards wide and beyond it, above steep wooded hills, were three fortified villages. At least two enemy battalions were known to be holding the ridge, including young, tough troops from the German 3rd Parachute Division.

That night, the crossing was forced by 1 Worcesters and 5 Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry, who dug in and called urgently for armoured and artillery support to beat off the inevitable counter-attack. The next morning, C Squadron led the Rangers' advance across the river.

The enemy artillery observers called down accurate shell and mortar fire and, within a short space of time, the squadron lost six experienced tank commanders; Hills's troop was, effectively, the only one still intact, and he was the only one able to continue the advance.

Two of his tanks were badly damaged when the enemy allowed his troop to pass through them in the thick woods and then attacked him in the rear with Panzerfausts. On the crest of the hill, he came under Spandau and mortar fire, but he could now see the Germans dug in under the hedgerows, and he opened up. A trickle of prisoners started to come in, and on August 17 the infantry, supported by the other Rangers squadrons, completed the capture of the Berjou Ridge above the Noireau.

 

The information is still fragmentary (which actually makes this inquiry interesting), but without excess speculation, I believe 1 WORCESTER was on the British left (or east) of the bridgehead and 5 DCLI was on the right (or west).

Now I speculate. Given the terrain and road net, I feel the bridge site is approximately where I indicate (attached). This would allow the use of existing roads for approach. The roads in the wooded defile to the northeast would allow vehicles to collect, "nose to tail", without direct observation which seems to match the description in the book.

If that is correct then C Squadron Sherwood Rangers would have had to follow the river to reach 5 DCLI positions. However this is not described by the book.

Regardless, the key features described in the book are a curved road/trail up a wooded slope, at the top an open field to the right, turning left off the road/trial (which leads to Berjou) to high ground, and from there over looking the road to Berjou.

My first guess for the route of C Squadron is in RED (attached), however I could not rule out something like the route in YELLOW.

These might provide some more detail if anyone has a copy:

The Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry, 1939-45 by E. G. Godfrey (452 pages, Published by Images Pub. (Malvern), Dimensions: 25 cm., ISBN: 189781741X). 34 maps.

TAYLOR, BRIG. GEORGE INFANTRY COLONEL 1990. Privately published, 1st edn, 203pp, ills, maps, d/w, fine. The author was the third in command of the 5th Bn. The Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry, on Hill 112

http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=35715&stc=1&d=1283530484

 

I wouldn't like to point a finger and say where 5 DCLI and 1 Worcs were, but I offer this alternative interpretation of Hills' route:

http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=35740&stc=1&d=1283538574

The contours are exaggerated (3x) on this GE view. We're looking SSW more or less down the brigade's axis. There is definitely a calvary at point 224 on the modern map, it probably hasn't moved since 1944. There is high ground to the left (Ridge A) that overlooks the Berjou road.

What do you think?

 

I wouldn't like to point a finger and say where 5 DCLI and 1 Worcs were, but I offer this alternative interpretation of Hills' route:

What do you think?

From the second scanned page that Owen posted, I get the impression that the "winding road" is the direction that 1 Worcestershire attacked up late in the day.

Of course, I can't explain why Lt Hills does not mention moving from the bridge site, along the river, to the base of the hill. Except, he does say it was a very long ride from the bridge to the top. So perhaps he has combined the two.

 

Off top of my head I think the sappers built bridges & a tank ford by old destroyed railway bridge.


I found this on the BBC People's War:

People in story:
Doug Burdon, Forward Observation Signaller, Captain Woodward and other battery command troops

....
Our advance continued and we reached the River Noireau, a tributary of the River Orne, on the 8th. August. The 1st Worcesters and the 7th Somersets made the crossing under heavy fire. The crossing was a diversionary attack designed to deceive Jerry into thinking it was the main attack, which in fact was being made across the Orne, but Jerry was not fooled and gave us a rough handling at both places.

We in Roger Dog crossed the river at a shallow spot, and as I sat at my radio in the back of the carrier as it ground its way slowly across the rough bed of the river I wondered vaguely what might happen to us if someone decided to blow up the railway viaduct that towered high above us only a short distance away; but fortunately no one did.

Shells and mortar bombs fell around us as we reached the opposite bank. So heavy was the barrage that we were forced to shelter behind the solid stone walls of some farm buildings before venturing forward again. As we moved slowly along an exposed stretch of rough track that snaked across the side of a grassy slope, shells and mortar bombs erupted earth all round us as we forced our way towards the thick woods ahead. One of the Worcesters crouched beside the carrier as we went along but he was on the side the firing was coming from and in great danger of being hit. I told him in no uncertain terms what he was and advised him to take cover on the more sheltered side. He needed no second bidding!

The Worcesters gained the top of the thickly-wooded slopes on the far side before the Germans reacted strongly in front of Berjou, where the Worcesters and the D.C.L.I. fought a hard battle before the latter outflanked the Berjou defences and the Germans retired from the town. It was then that the whole German front collapsed, leading to the slaughter in the Falaise Pocket and the beginning of the end of an army.
Bill Ingram was killed on 16th. August.

 

Just Google Street viewed an old railway viaduct at Cahan near Cambercourt
Is it the viaduct mentioned in that quote?


I believe so, it's the one I was looking at earlier.

There is a rail bridge across the river just a few hundred meters south of the viaduct, but it doesn't seem to fit the descriptions.

A bridge is also visable, made from old Mulberry harbour.

There's a second reason to visit B).

Cheers

 

I just wanted to bring this thread back to the top, and hope someone could post some information on the actions of 5 DCLI.

Lt. Hills recounts that on the twisting drive up the hill, it seemed that the DCLI were on one side of the road/trail while the Germans were on the other. This suggests that the route was on the right flank of the DCLI.

 

From Infantry Colonel: the general gist is that overnight the Worcesters were left of the road on the lower slopes of the Les Monts (according to IGN, 'Les Bruyeres' on the contemporary map, or 'The Mound' as 5 DCLI knew it): "... held partly by the Worcesters and partly by the Germans."

Taylor (CO 5 DCLI) says that he made contact with the Worcesters right hand company as they (the DCLI) came up to the crest. The DCLI moved up slightly ahead of the Worcesters which points to them being to the right of, or on, the road.

The final assault appears rather complicated as the Worcesters were to head for Berjou itself, whilst A Coy, 5 DCLI must have crossed behind them to attack and clear the Mound. It still worked, though.

 

Thanks for that, can you gleen anything from the previous night battle or fighting earlier that day on the right flank of the DCLI?

This excerpt from the 43 Division history seems to track with Lt Hills account:

"An enemy counter-attack now developed on the left-hand company of the Worcesters, in which Major Matthews, the company commander, was wounded. A further attack now came in round the D.C.L.I. right flank and succeeded in bringing the track down to the valley under heavy fire, thus cutting off communication with the rear. Casualties in both battalions began to mount. "

 

Taylor says almost exactly the same thing, adding that the first attack on the left was a feint before the 'main' attack on the right. There was also a limited attack by one coy of DCLI to neutralise some MGs on their front - I think that was after the German attacks and the arrival of the SRY.