Unknown 6th Airborne Officer at Pegasus Bridge - ?

Discussion in 'Airborne' started by Cee, May 24, 2014.

  1. Cee

    Cee Senior Member Patron

    Hello,

    I came across the attached photo of what I assume is a 6th Airborne officer at Pegasus Bridge and wondered if any one could possibly identify him. He looks familiar. It should be noted it was found on a site with connections to the French Commandos.

    http://www.ouistreham.mobi/fr/1944/pegasus.html

    Unknown Officer.jpg

    Regards ...
     
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  2. Bernard85

    Bernard85 WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    good day cee sm,yesterday.05:09.re:unknown officer-possible 6th airborne,i realy cannot answer who he is,but i read your link.it is in french,i have transerlated the best i can and it may be all rong,so apology in advance,here goes,major howard with his men it was who in the night crossed the canal at benouville bridge immortalise on the name of pegasus bridge.thats the only officer named.there is a lot more to the link if you are interested regards bernard85
     
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  3. Cee

    Cee Senior Member Patron

    Bernard,

    Your French is better than mine I must say. I meant to link to the English version, so thanks for the heads up. All the photos shown are fairly well known, except for the one of the Officer which was a new one for me.

    http://www.ouistreham.mobi/en/1944/pegasus.html

    Cheers ...
     
  4. Bernard85

    Bernard85 WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    good day cee,today 03:49am.re:unknown officer #3.you are welcome regards bernard85
     
  5. brithm

    brithm Senior Member

    Attached Files:

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  6. Cee

    Cee Senior Member Patron

    Brithm,

    That particular Battlefield Historian series seems to run from 007001 to 007200. I can't say I've looked at them all but various search terms hasn't pulled up the photo in question. If no one has a clue they may do at one of the sources listed in the photo accreditations:

    http://www.ouistreham.mobi/en/partnership-soldat-leon.html

    The photo you show is interesting as well. You have to wonder where they are and what the occasion was?

    Regards ..
     
  7. airborne medic

    airborne medic Very Senior Member

    Just a thought as a number of people in the background in civvies one in a suit and flat cap.....perhaps taken on a staff ride tour post war.....
     
  8. Cee

    Cee Senior Member Patron

    AB,

    It could be. There is no evidence of military activity at the bridge in the other photo, however, there is no knowing at this point if the two photos are connected. I believe Jonathan on Twitter suggested it could be a 7 Para officer. None of the faces in the officer row (seated) of the battalion photo jumped out at me. I've sent off an email to one of the museums associated with the site, but I don't expect to hear from them any time soon seeing how busy they must be at the moment with preparations for the D-Day commemorations. His pips are hard to make out. An extreme zoom suggest the possibility of at least two.

    Regards ...
     
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  9. brithm

    brithm Senior Member

    Attached Files:

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  10. Cee

    Cee Senior Member Patron

    Brithm,

    I don't know, but I can see where you are coming from. Some of these men aged after a year of being in and out of combat. Funny thing that, I kept running across the same photo in the past thinking, ah good I've finally found a decent picture of Captain/Reverend George Edward Maule Parry. Turns out it was his brother. I'll put up a comparison anywhoo. Major Parry strikes me has having finer features than our unknown officer.

    Major Parry-Unknown Officer.jpg

    It's too bad you can't see some of the men more clearly off to the side in your photo. airborne medic may have a point about it being a post war tour of some kind. Looked around Benouville on the off chance in maps but couldn't come up with a location.

    Cheers ...

    Added:

    Making the big, big assumption that it is indeed Major Parry, you have to ask why is a 9 Para Officer having his picture taken at the Bridge. Well for one his brother, Padre George Parry of 7 Para, was killed in a truly heinous way not far from where he is standing. Probably just a coincidence, but an interesting choice by brithm especially if he was unaware of that, which I suspect not ... :)
     
  11. Cee

    Cee Senior Member Patron

    Here's another photo of Major Allen Parry, taken in 1945. The National Portrait Gallery claims he was born in 1916 which would put him at 28 or 29 years of age here and still looking youthful. I can't find anything on his post war life and if he remained with the Airborne. To my eye that doesn't look very promising, but I've been wrong before ...

    Major Allen Parry - 1945.jpg

    Regards ...
     
  12. Cee

    Cee Senior Member Patron

    A couple of more suggestions for the identity of the unknown officer.

    Michael Pine-Coffin offers Major Nigel Taylor of " A " Coy, 7th Battalion (L.I.), The Parachute Regiment. He writes, "I think it must have been taken shortly after the war at one of the reunions, I have the names of several officers who attended in 1946, and Nigel Taylor revisited for Staff College talks ..."

    Major Nigel Taylor, A Coy, 7 Para.JPG


    Author Carl Rymen thinks it could possibly be Major N.C Stockwell, of the 12th Parachute Battalion. Major Stockwell became Commanding Officer after the wounding of Lt.Col. Harris (who succeeded Lt. Col. Johnson after his death at Breville).

    "Hello, it's indeed a beautiful picture. If I would have to do a guess. I would think N.C. Stockwell. He was a major and became Lt.Col. taking over 12th para Bn. But after the war he would have been likely to lose a rank due to rearranging the army. N.C. Stockwell is in my book on page 17. On the other hand, there were probably many officers with moustaches."

    I'm not sure who Major N.C. Stockwell could be in the unit photos, so nothing for comparison purposes at this time.

    Regards ...

    Added: Photo of Major Stockwell from Carl Rymen's Book

    Major Stockwell.jpg
     
  13. Staffsyeoman

    Staffsyeoman Member

    Not to upset the apple cart, but the unidentified officer is wearing black buttons - suggesting origin in a Rifle regiment - and Parry was Essex Regiment before 9 Para, and the former did not wear black buttons.
     
  14. Cee

    Cee Senior Member Patron

    I wasn't even aware of that. Michael pointed it out as well:

    "... it is a great picture, he is wearing a majors crown and appears to have dark buttons on his tunic, which would make him Light Infantry or Rifle Brigade, but can not be from the Ox and Bucks Light Infantry due to the fact they used the double straps on the Sam Browne belt."

    Thanks ... :)
     
  15. Cee

    Cee Senior Member Patron

    Yo,

    I'm having no luck finding photos from the post war Staff College Tours. Here's a poor quality one from Françoise H. Gondree's site taken in 1946.

    1946 – Le Staff Collège visite la Batterie.jpg

    This pic from the mid 70's showing Lt. Col. Parry from Twitter (S. Disbrey) may be of interest.

    Lt Col Parry-mid 1970s.jpg

    Regards ...
     
    Last edited: Aug 27, 2016
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  16. Cee

    Cee Senior Member Patron

    I was able to get a better quality image of the photo brithm put up in post #5 above of the Officer leaning on the railing of a bridge. It turns out he is a Major with the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion. Brigadier James Hill can be seen in the background amongst the men wearing a button down flat cap. The location is the small bridge over the Divette River at Varaville that was destroyed on D-Day by engineers under the protection of Canadian Paras.

    bhc007068.jpg bhc007068-crop.jpg La DivetteJPG.jpg

    Hidden away on ParaData was another post war photo showing the same Major with Brigadier Hill and Major Charles Edward Strafford, editor of "Pegasus Goes To It!", which I assume was taken on the same tour. The location is the Mesnil Pottery and the French couple they are in conversation with are probably the owners of the brickworks?

    Mesnil Brickworks Tour.jpg

    Any ideas on the identity of the Canadian Major?

    Regards ...
     
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  17. canuck

    canuck Closed Account

    The mission for C Company (Major H.M. MacLeod) was to "secure the DZ, destroy the enemy headquarters (HQ), secure the SE corner of the DZ, destroy the radio station at Varaville, and blow the bridge over the Divette stream in Varaville. "
    As MacLeod was killed in the engagement, I assume this photo was taken afterwards and depicts another officer.

    The Battle for the Village of Varaville
    By John A. Willes

    Excerpts from Out of the Clouds, The History of the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion, 1995, p. 78-81. Reproduced with the author’s permission.

    [​IMG]
    A weary paratrooper takes some rest in a slit trench. Varaville June 6, 1944.
    Photo John Ross, courtesy of the Archives of the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion Association.

    ‘C’ Company [had been given] the task of clearing out the enemy garrison at Varaville, the gun emplacement at the road near the Chateau just east of Varaville, the destruction of the bridge over the Divette River, and the radio transmitter station near Varaville as well. Given the size of the force represented by ‘C’ Company, the undertaking was formidable. At the Chateau de Varaville, a 75 mm anti-tank gun and fortifications, which included bunkers and trenches, had been established to control the road intersection. This was manned by a much larger force than had been anticipated, as was the estimated number of enemy troops in Varaville itself. The scattered drop of ‘C’ Company only served to exacerbate the problems facing the small group that landed in the immediate area. Only 30 all ranks landed on the Drop Zone, the remainder being distributed as far away as 10 miles.

    Lieut. S. (Sam) McGowan of ‘C’ Company was dropped some distance from the Drop Zone, but managed to gather together a number of men from his platoon and move towards Varaville. As they approached the village, they encountered two German infantry sections, and opened fire on them. A battle ensued that denied the enemy entry to the village, and resulted in the eventual surrender of a number of the German infantry force.

    McGowan set up a temporary company headquarters in a churchyard, and used the church tower as an observation post. It was not long until the observer reported an enemy section advancing through a bomb crater, and a fire party was detailed to pin down the group before they reached the churchyard. The enemy section was eventually driven off, leaving behind three of their dead in the bomb crater.

    Heavy enemy mortar, and artillery fire on the ‘C’ Company position followed, and the small group was subject to much sniping from the woods and buildings in the area. The French civilians at this time were of great assistance to McGowan’s platoon, the women dressing wounds, and the men offering to help drive out the enemy. One Frenchman who had been given a maroon beret and a rifle, killed three enemy snipers. In spite of the heavy fire, McGowan maintained his position in the village until eventually relieved in the afternoon of June 6th by the 6th British Commando cycle troops. He then proceeded to the Le Mesnil cross-roads Battalion area.

    Major H.M. (Murray) MacLeod of ‘C’ Company had jumped as number one from aircraft number ten, and landed near the northerly end of the Drop Zone. His runner, Pte. P.I. Bismutka had landed nearby, and as both moved to the Rendezvous area, the Lancasters directed to bomb the Merville Battery swept through the area, some emptying their bomb loads over the Drop Zone. The bombing raid, which was totally unexpected on the Drop Zone, left MacLeod and many others in a badly shocked condition. When the barrage finally ended, MacLeod and Bismutka continued on to the rendezvous point, and arrived there at approximately 0030 hrs.

    Lieut. H.M. Walker, Sgt. G. Davies, Cpl. W.E. Oikle, and Pte. G. ‘Mousie’ Thompson arrived at almost the same instant, to find Sgts. M.C. MacPhee and R.O. MacLean, Cpl. A.M. Saunders, and Ptes. W.S. Ducker, B. Swim, R. Mokelki and A.J. McNally already there. Things were clearly not going according to plan. By 0030 hrs., over 100 men were expected to be at the rendezvous, but instead, MacLeod had only 15. The plans called for heavily armed troops with machine gun crews, heavy mortars, and Bangalore torpedoes, but the little band had only one PIAT gun, three Sten guns, eight rifles, and MacLeod’s pistol; hardly the right kind of armament to attack a strongly defended enemy position. The plan had to be changed.

    With his pathetically small force. Major MacLeod nevertheless set out to take on the defenders. As they moved in the dark in the general direction of Varaville, they met Private F. Rudko leading a group of 5 badly shocked riflemen from 9 Platoon. The group had suffered severely from the bombing, but all had survived and had their equipment with them.

    The massive drop on the Drop Zone was expected to begin in about twenty-five minutes, and MacLeod decided to engage the defensive position to prevent it from interfering with the jump of the rest of the Brigade. The close proximity of the bombing to Varaville had driven the Germans from their barracks to their defensive positions, but from their actions, it appeared that they were unaware of the airborne invasion.

    MacLeod and his men made their way through the village without detection to the gate house of the Chateau. The gate house was an impressive yellow brick building some distance from the Chateau, and overlooked the German defensive position, which consisted of a long trench protected by earth and concrete, with machine gun bays at fixed intervals. At each end of the trench, a bunker was located, and unknown to MacLeod at the time, a short distance behind the trench was a 75 mm gun.

    Part of the small band entered the building and searched it in pairs. They discovered that the gate house had been used as a barracks, with six double-deck bunks to each of the eight rooms. The building was empty, but the state of the beds indicated that they had been recently slept in, and the occupants had left in haste, probably when the bombing started. MacLeod translated 96 bunks into 96 men, and moved his men into position around the gate house.

    Lieut. Walker positioned 12 men in a shallow ditch where the ‘covering fire’ group would have set up their machine guns had things gone according to plan. He placed the rest of the men around the building.

    Major MacLeod and Thompson went up to the second floor of the gate house to observe the enemy position, leaving Swim and Rudko to guard the doors. Minutes later, a thunderous crash sprayed Rudko and Swim with bits of flying brick and plaster, and filled the lower part of the building with choking plaster dust. The two men stumbled to the door and into the yard for air. At this point, MacLeod realized that he was up against a heavy gun, as well as a heavily entrenched force.

    Their only hope of dealing with the gun was to score a hit with a PIAT bomb. MacLeod summoned Cpl. Oikle with his PIAT to the second floor, and asked him to try for the gun. Oikle took careful aim and fired, but the shell landed a few feet short of the gun, exploding ineffectively in front of the concrete gun emplacement. Oikle reloaded for a second shot, but before he could fire, the heavy gun answered his first round. A high explosive shell tore through the wall of the building, exploding Oikle’s PIAT bombs. Cpl. Oikle and Lieut. Walker were instantly killed by the explosion, and McLeod mortally wounded.

    Bismutka, who had just entered the room to report that he had brought in another fifteen men and a machine gun, was also fatally injured. Thompson, the fifth occupant of the room, was left standing with a broken rifle in his arms, but the part of his hand that had been wrapped around the stock was missing.

    Hanson arrived with two more men, just as the explosion took place, bringing the total Canadian force to about 30. Pte. W.D. Ducker, the medical aide, could do nothing for Major McLeod, and he died in Captain Hanson’s lap a few minutes later. Thompson and Bismutka were taken to the medical aid station at the Chateau by Pte. Ducker, where Bismutka soon died.

    At this point, Hanson assessed his position. He had 30 men, including four Sergeants, four Corporals, about twenty Privates, and himself. On the equipment side he was little better off. He had lost the PIAT gun, but instead, now had a machine gun. Other than that, he had four sub-machine guns, twenty rifles, and an assortment of grenades and gammon bombs. The officers each had a pistol. Hansen sent off two men to Le Mesnil to report on their progress, and to ask for the 17-pounder field gun that he hoped had arrived. In the meantime, there was little more that he could do, other than use his snipers to keep the Germans down in their bunkers.

    A short time later, Cpl. D. Hartigan and Pte. W.C. Mallon came through the village of Varaville, and approached the gate house defences, believing the fight to be over. By some miracle, they were able to reach the edge of the ditch, where, at the urging of Sgt. D.F. Wright, they dove for cover just as the enemy machine guns raked the roadway with fire. Cpl. Hartigan’s 2-inch mortar augmented the meagre fire power of the Canadians, but it was inadequate in the face of the Germans’ heavy gun. For the next few hours the stalemate continued.

    At 0830 hrs., the Germans raised a white flag and sent out an emissary to talk to Captain Hanson. They wanted to send out their wounded, as they did not have medical personnel in their bunker, and with Hanson’s permission, returned to bring out their wounded. Two soldiers pushing a cart containing three wounded and accompanied by three walking wounded soon appeared and proceeded down the roadway to the Chateau. When the five German soldiers reached the point in the road where Hartigan and Mallon had made their headlong dive into the ditch, a German machine gun crew opened fire on their own men, riddling the cart and the wounded with bullets. The two soldiers pushing the cart were uninjured by the fusillade, and after collecting their wits, raced down the roadway to the Chateau aid station.

    About this time, a terrific explosion was heard to the southeast, and all knew that the bridge at Varaville had been blown. A cheer went up from the paratroopers, as they realized that one of their objectives had been accomplished by Sgt. Davies and his men. Many also gave a sigh of relief, as they now knew that enemy tanks could not reach the village without encountering some difficulty.

    [​IMG]
    German troops surrendering at the Gate House, Varaville, 6 June 1944.
    Photo John Ross, courtesy of the Archives of the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion Association.

    Shortly after 1000 hrs., Cpl. Hartigan gathered up some 2″ mortar bombs and his mortar, and moved out along a shallow drainage ditch which ran at right angles from the depression in which the main body of paratroopers were concealed. The shallow ditch brought him within the distance at which he could fire his mortar on a relatively flat trajectory into the gun emplacements. Holding the mortar in an almost horizontal position against the base of a small tree, he fired four mortar bombs in quick succession into the German positions, then followed with several smoke bombs.

    He quickly crawled back to the deeper ditch, expecting at any moment to be at the attention of much gun fire, but none came. A few minutes later, a white flag was again raised at the bunker, and Corporal Hall, the only remaining medical man at the site, accepted the surrender of the 43 German troops remaining in the defensive position. Cpl. John Ross, the radio operator, shortly after 1000 hrs. radioed the code word ‘Blood’ (which stood for ‘success’ at Varaville) to headquarters. The battle for the village of Varaville was over.

    The surrender of the enemy fortifications at Varaville also represented the release from captivity of a detachment commander of the Mortar Platoon that had landed on the enemy pillbox, and of Cpls. MacKenzie and Mowat of the 224 Field Ambulance that had landed inside the barbed wire fortification.

    The paratroopers occupied the German position in the event of a counter-attack by enemy forces in the area, confident in the belief that with the plentiful supply of captured weapons and ammunition they could give a good account of themselves. The attack, however, never materialized, and by mid-afternoon, the British Commando relief force arrived from the beach area and occupied the Village of Varaville. The time had come for ‘C’ Company to move out. The small contingent of paratroopers rounded up their prisoners, and prepared for the move to the cross-roads at Le Mesnil. It was at this point that they discovered that a German patrol had entered the Chateau at some time during the battle and had taken as prisoners all of the Canadian wounded.

    For the troops from Varaville, the march to Le Mesnil was anti-climatic, yet it was along the way that they encountered their first harassing fire from concealed positions. The three mile route which skirted the western edge of the Bois de Bavent was a paved highway through the villages of Petiville, St. Laurent and Laroucheville. Several times enroute the small force came under fire, and each time two sections were detached to deal with the nuisance. Eight more prisoners were added to the bag, and by 1800 hrs. on D-Day, Captain Hanson and his tired band moved into the Battalion position at Le Mesnil.


     
    Last edited: Sep 8, 2016
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  18. canuck

    canuck Closed Account

    More clues but officer photos are difficult to find:

    "The Intelligence Officer set out with two men to recce VARAVILLE and bring back a report on the situation. In the Battalion Headquarters meantime the party moved off to LE MESNIL taking with them many scattered elements including a 6 Pdr. A/Tk. Gun and crew. Upon reaching the Chateau 1574 they encountered part of the Brigade Headquarters. The party there upon split up into unit parties and continued until they reached the orchards 141729 where they came under heavy sniping fire from nearby houses"

    "3rd Brigade Headquarters will have passed to the south and will dig in around the Manoir du Mont just off the Varaville-Troarn highway across the road from the Le Mesnil pottery plant, the Canadian Battalion HQ."
     
    Last edited: Sep 9, 2016
  19. Cee

    Cee Senior Member Patron

    Thanks Canuck for the great background material!

    I think the Germans on surrendering must have been totally dismayed to discover the small force they were up against. As for the destruction of the Varaville bridge brithm in an old email informed me, "Lt. Ted Baillie 3 Troop, 3 Para Sqn RE dealt with the Divette bridge attached to 1 CPB."

    From the WD of 3 Para Sqn RE:

    16. Lieut. INMAN collected 12 sprs and 3 containers of explosive and after much hard work in crossing numerous ditches reached VARAVILLE where he found Lt. BAILLIE who was alone. 5 sprs and 200 lbs of explosive and accessories were left with Lt. BAILLIE who proceeded to destroy the br. successfully making a gap of 15 ft. This was completed at 0440 hrs.

    Another group of sappers from 2 Troop, 591st Parachute Squadron, RE under Lieutenant J.R. Hinshelwood were also drawn into the battle for Varaville while trying to make their way to the 9th Parachute Battalion.

    Regards ...
     
  20. Cee

    Cee Senior Member Patron

    The post war photos showing the Canadian Major were from a battlefield tour conducted by the Camberley Staff College who every year undertook various on-site studies in Normandy. From the state of the bridge at Varaville with its wooden railing the photo could have been taken as early as 1946.

    I came across another photo of the Major at Mesnil which can only partially be seen bottom left in this still from a video by Françoise Gondrée.

    Interview Françoise Gondrée.mp4_snapshot_02.34.jpg

    There is photo of a Canadian Para Major with glasses shown in a WLU document who resembles our Officer in the tour photos.

    CSM J.M. Kemp & Major S. W. Waters.jpg

    "Personnel of the Battalion catch a rest. (l. to r) CSM J.M. Kemp and Major S. W. Waters. Wiedensahl, Germany, 7 April 1945. - Photo by C.H. Richer. NAC PA 145926

    There was a Major S. W. Waters who was the CO of 2nd Company, 1st Battalion, 2nd Regiment of the First Special Service Force (The Black Devils). No doubt a red herring, but an interesting one ...;)

    Regards...
     
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