Monty's Moonlight / Artificial Daylight Attack 17th Sept. 1944

Sorry to throw a spanner in everyones works but...

The first I've found on Monty's Moonlight was that it started off as a recommendation from ap Rhys Price of 53rd Division and was passed up through command (this appears in Delaforces Red Crown and Dragon), early in the war whilst strolling through fields and seeing the reflection.
This is something I am trying to get my teeth into and see if its true/an urban legend.

He also mentions it was tried for Operation Greenline on July 17th - I need to check the Scottish War Diaries but there is no real mention of it in the RWF diaries of the period (entirely possibly due to the decimation of the key officers) and that the first night was beset by terribly heavy mist and smoke from enemy smoke rounds.

 

I remember it being used quite a lot, usually with a number of searchlights with their beams low down. It was blinding to look at and assumed that was the intention - to blind the Hun.

 

I think that you will find the date mentioned 17th Sept 1944, was the first time the 4th Division used this method in Italy (I believe it had been used previously).

My late father said that this first attempt, which he took part in, was not very successful, as the attacking troops became silhouetted and took heavy casualties.

In the past I have corresponded with Trooper Tom Canning, who saw the attack from the back of his ambulance after being wounded when his tank was hit earlier.

It appeared that my fathers 4th Recce Regiment sometimes provided his tanks with covering support.

I am informed that the technique was however perfected and used in later attacks which were successful.

Regards
Tom

 

It was also used before that, by the Canadians in July 44. Verrieres I think it was, operation Spring.

There is a reference to that operation in the attached.

http://www.wlu.ca/lcmsds/cmh/back%20issues/CMH/volume%208/Issue%202/Copp%20-%20General%20Simonds%20Speaks%20-%20Canadian%20Battle%20Doctrine%20in%20Normandy.pdf

 

I know it's an old thread, I am living in St-Huibrechts-Lille where Monty's moonlight was used by the 474th moonlight battery during the river assault across the Meusse escaut canal in september 1944.

All I know is that search-lights were used to cast beams onto the clouds creating a full moon like effect.

There is not much written about this technique or it's origin. I've read that Baden Powell already used it during the boerwars.

I noticed that Sapper took part on the operation 'Hurry On' which liberated my village. Is he still an active member?

The putting the farmhouse on the other side of the canal is known over here but we asumed that the Germans did it to also have some illumination.

Where can I find more ifnormation about this? What extra info could I find in the war archives in Kew? Some good pictures or filmmaterial would be nice.

Kind Regards,

Nick

 

Even the Germans (at least Sixth Pz Army did) used artificial moonlight during the opening of the Ardennes Offensive in the early morning hours of December 16th, 1944 ... they didn't refer to it as Monty's Moonlight though.



This picture of the Ardennes offensive shows Wehrmacht soldiers pulling a huge floodlight behind them. At the beginning of the Ardennes offensive, a so-called artificial moonlight is produced. For this purpose, the light is radiated against the sky at night and thrown back from the cloud cover onto enemy territory. This enables the attacking army to bring a little more light to where the fighting is taking place, even at night. The soldiers in this picture from the Bundesarchiv smile at the photographer. It can be assumed that the picture was taken before the Ardennes offensive when the Wehrmacht positioned itself in the Eifel.

German General-Major Viebig later complained that the assault formations of his 277. Volksgrenadier Division did not always profit from the artifical light. The floodlights were positioned behind the front. The assaulting infantry in some instances became clearly silhoueted against the horizon and suffered heavy losses as a result.

 

I remember a couple of years ago I went on a girl scout camp with my daughters. One of the other parents I found out was a former sapper. At one point he shone the torch up at a low hanging branch of a tree so the girls could see what they were doing below. I said they used to do that during the war with clouds and called it Monty's Moonlight. He said they still do. So, it must be a technique still used and taught in the Royal Engineers.

(Perhaps I should have put this story in the "I can relate anything to WWII" thread!)

 

There is certainly a research subject here. I had the honour of interviewing a former 4/7 RDG Sergeant in 2004. He had previously been on CDLs however in the time available I couldn't delve too deep as it was his RDG service I was there for.
He recounted that his RTR unit was intensively trained for night fighting with lots of time spent acclimatising to the dark, night vision, station keeping on the move, target identification and such. 'Moonlight was a big part'. The CDL's were to dazzle the enemy for a quick, sharp victory. They had a big excercise where the troops playing the 'enemy' had to be down graded due to the psychological effect of the surprise attack. Apparently Monty (typically) was convinced the whole system would have such a decisive effect it had to be used for 'one big push'. In Normandy they had a number of stand to's but they weren't used. Knowing the battle was going on around them, fed up of being shut down for security, morale plummeted. My interviewee's crew and others threatened mutiny. They were separated, threatened, one charged and the rest 'reduced' and transferred. It was realised the optimum opportunity for the big scheme was not going to happen so the individual techniques gradually allowed to be used. His night fighting abilities were recognised and he was soon back to Sgt. commander often leading night marches for pre dawn attacks in Germany.
I am sure I have recounted this on here before. I don't have access to my notes so this is from memory. Hope it helps.

 

Two regiments (11 Royal Tanks and 42 Royal Tanks) were equipped with Matilda CDLs in the Middle East but were not used operationally. When the 79th Armoured Div took on it's specialised role it contained the 35 Tank Brigade equipped with CDL Matilda's but these were replaced with the Grant version later. The Grant seems to have been chosen as it could retain it's hull mounted 75mm gun when the turret was replaced with the CDL equipment. The CDL turrets on both the Matilda and Grant were the same.

Geoffrey Futter, in 'The Funnies', gives some figures about the lights' performance. Traverse was 180 degress to either side and the light could be depressed or elevated 10 degrees from horizontal. At 1,000 yds the light beam was 340 yds wide by 35 yds high. At 1,500 yds it was described as no more than moonlight but did provide some illumination out to 4,000 yds. The carbon arcs had to be replaced about every 30 minutes.

The Brigade landed in Normandy in Aug 44 but wasn't used and apparently lost it's CDL role in October (not sure if it was re-equipped). When it was thought they might be useful for the Rhine crossing 24 Grant CDLs were quickly gathered together and issued to B Sqn of 49 APC Reg of the 79th AD and were used in the crossing at Rees to distract the enemy from the actual crossing points. They also proved useful for detecting floating mines, debris, sabotage swimmers and even midget submarines.

Their only other use I can find was during the Elbe crossing at the begining of May 45 when the same unit provided Movement-light at both the British and American crossing places.