NORMANDY, THE “CAP TOURANE” AND ARROMANCHES
Extract is Chapter 7 of Peter Frampton’s book “803 History of a Landing Craft Flotilla”.
© Peter Frampton 2001
See associated information about 803 Flotilla
By the middle of May the whole of the South Coast had become a high risk area, from Plymouth in the West right round to Felixstowe in the East, no one could move in or out of the area without good reason, some parts of the area where security was at its highest, a pass was required. Hayling by its very nature became even more shut off, all leave was cancelled whether you had any to come or not, even compassionate leave, shore leave was cancelled except on the Island, but even this had been curtailed by the 28th May, the only movement taking place was the constant arrival of stores, ammunition and fuel.
We spent many hours in this last few weeks of May, taking turns to swing the compass, out in Langstone Harbour. Just off Thorney Island a Dolphin had been built into mid stream, we had to put one mooring line from the craft to the Dolphin, about 30 yards long. We had a Base Naval Officer aboard, we would then swing round the Dolphin whilst he took bearings with our compass on local known high spots, church steeples etc. He would then correct our compass, this procedure would be repeated for all of the craft. When we were not engaged on this or any of the other duties we were repairing or taking on stores aboard our boats, usually the Trot Boats would bring our meals out to us – the usual “Doorsteps” of corned beef and piccalilli, cold tea and slabs of fruit cake. Occasionally the sandwiches were changed for what most of us knew as Cornish Pasties, but the Scousers amongst us insisted on calling them “Teddy-Oggies”, what ever you called them it was most probably best not to enquire too closely as to the filling.
One or two ENSA Parties were allowed on the camps, and a few concerts were arranged using our own talents. Dick tells of the morning after one such concert, a pair of non-service issue knickers were seen flying from the mast-head. Most nights there was a film in the camp cinema, unfortunately they had been in circulation for some time, however the films action and dialogue was always livened up with asides from the audience, as only Marines and Matelots were able, lots of “Behind you” and “Watch it mate he’s got a gun” or “I wouldn’t touch her mate, Chiefie got there first”.
Despite the security clampdown one or two ATS girls wearing “Signals” badges were spotted near the wire perimeter fence, did they chance their bums crawling under??? Who saw the girl with the tear in her skirt??? Not that these girls were a security risk, they knew more about the coming invasion long before we did.
On the First of June the spare crews and the admin. staff were paraded with all of their kit after an early breakfast, they were quickly ushered on to a Naval coach and away they went, we were told that they were collecting spare craft from Pompey, this did not make sense to us remaining crews, Pompey was only just across the water from Hayling, why should they take all of their kit with them? All was to be revealed in the coming weeks.
The following day we who were left, that is the regular crews, had a kit inspection so that everyone had a full complement of clean underwear, shell dressings etc, the Coxswains were issued with Morphine kits, we had strict instructions to have baths and haircuts, all spare gear to be packed in kitbags, including personal possessions, a change of clothes to be packed in large packs and water bottles to be filled.
On the craft we were issued with spare cans of fuel etc, each craft had a stripped Lewis gun and ammunition, Compo rations for 36 hours. Flotilla Leaders and Division Leaders were issued with ex Fleet Air Arm Bigsworth boards, and of course the appropriate charts, which we were not allowed to see. On seeing the charts being brought aboard one wag was heard to say “All is lost, Digby is doing the Chart reading“.
On the 4th June four craft left the Trot, to join up with a Liberty Ship lying off Nettlestone, there they were hoisted up on davits. The rest of us followed later that night, playing follow my Leader, as we made our way out to Piccadilly Circus, off the Isle Of Wight, this was the area designated for all of the Forces, bound for Sword, Juno and Gold to assemble. Here our small craft were soon swallowed up in a grand melee of Major Landing Craft, Liberty Ships, Coasters and Escort Vessels.
Some time later that day we were informed to take shelter in the lee of the Island, by then a real hooligan of a storm was blowing up, life was very miserable aboard the boats and ships, it was no place to be cooped up for any number of hours. The next morning saw a quietening of the weather, and we tried to form up in some semblance of order. It soon became clear that the big ships were on the move and we soon followed suit, we took position between two long lines of ships and Landing Craft, even so, when we came out from the lee of the island we felt the full force of a westerly wind. We felt very vulnerable in our small craft.
Some time the previous night, Phil and his crew in 1117, and Dick Harper with his crew in 1118, had been detached to be lifted by the US LST carrying the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, bound for Juno Beach.
Meanwhile the remainder of the Flotilla, now forming part of C Squadron, 53rd Assault Group had joined up with the South-bound Convoy, making its way to Sword Beach. We soon realised that we had lost 1112; I later found out that it had had engine trouble and had turned back, this must have been a trifle embarrassing, the Flotilla Engineering Officer was aboard.
It is almost impossible to describe the vast extent of that Invasion Force. As far as the eye could see there were vessels of all descriptions, we had formed into two columns astern, on either side of us was a column of ships, LST’s, LCT’s, LSI’s and Liberty ships. Outside of these lines were the Convoy Escorts, Destroyers and Frigates, and beyond these were the Minesweepers making sure the Convoy stayed within the swept channel. During the previous night the Minesweeper had been busy, sweeping and marking the channels with Dan-Buoys.
At intervals, rescue launches and MTB’s would dash up and down between the columns like fussy old hens, making sure we stayed in our allotted lanes. The major landing craft and the ships were weathering the remnants of the previous days gales, but the small craft were not happy. Somewhere in mid-channel the wind and the tide turned round to come from the East, our small LCV(p)’s, even in the lee of the ships at our side, were yawing in the troughs and the peaks. Not the most seaworthy of boats at the best of times, the sea was now playing havoc with the crews, sea-sickness was rife amongst the lads. For the Army it must have been even worse, at least we did have some experience.
The Coxswains were getting the worst of it, they were in a more exposed position, there was continuous changing, the Deckhands and Stokers giving the Coxswains a breather, apart from dry biscuits and water no one felt like much else. The worst moment of the voyage was when we had to refuel on the move, this necessitated the Stoker emptying petrol into the tank aft. I took a couple of turns of rope round my waist and belayed to the towing post, then taking the full can from whoever was opening it, then trying to pour the petrol into a hole that never kept still. We had been told to keep the empty cans on board, but knowing that empty petrol cans are more dangerous than full ones, mine joined the others that were floating by. Charlie Flint, the Signaller aboard Captain Kerbey’s craft (1100), whilst helping with the refuelling fell overboard. He was very lucky to be picked up by a following craft. He was transferred back to 1100, a very hazardous operation in mid-channel considering the sea that was running.
Unfortunately given the combination of the weather, the sea-sickness and the fact that the convoy was making better progress than ourselves, we were getting left further and further behind, the minor craft Flotillas were becoming mixed up and the nearer we got to Normandy the worse it became.
Several miles off the Beachhead the various convoys split to proceed to their own Beaches, in accordance with their sailing orders. It was at this point that my craft, owing to intermittent engine troubles, lost the Flotilla. Stan decided that the best thing to do would be to follow an LCT into the beach. About 50 yards out we hit an obstacle immediately followed by an explosion, the ramp went down – presumably we had hit a mined obstacle. Our Coxswain, Stan, put the engine into reverse and took us back out to sea, much to the annoyance of those coming in. It would have been far worse had we continued in and blocked the beach with our load of stores and petrol.
Meanwhile the main body of the Flotilla arrived off Sword Beach. The beach and the anchorage were under intensive fire from Le Havre and enemy gun emplacements on the Promenade and inland. Having unloaded their cargoes, human and otherwise, they were given various tasks around the anchorage. Captain Kerbey went alongside “HMS Largs”, the Sword Beach Headquarter Ship, for orders, a mine exploded nearby so he made a hurried exit and waited for his orders to be sent to him via his Signaller. He was told to proceed into the beach and set up a temporary HQ and liaise with the Beachmaster.
There was very little interference from the Luftwaffe, the occasional ME109 would strafe the anchorage, at intervals the 88mm guns from the Le Havre Peninsula would open up, despite numerous sorties by the Allied Fighter-bombers, but the Mortar fire and small arms fire did get less as the day wore on.
The continual build-up of troops, vehicles and stores were being landed from a multitude of landing craft and ships, under an umbrella of Allied Fighters. There was a continual bombardment from the Royal Navy ships, they stood off from the Anchorage and shelled targets many miles inland.
Len Ewington:
“As we went about our business, ferrying people to all parts of the anchorage, now and again we had cause to go out to the big ships, one in particular, HMS Roberts, a Monitor with two 16″ guns, she fired 1 ton shells, sometimes over our heads, you could actually see the red hot projectile flying through the air, a sight and sound that has never left me”.
As well as the Monitor there was HMS Ramillies, HMS Warspite, HMS Frobisher and a Polish Cruiser HMS Dragon. Between the beach and the bombarding ships there were countless destroyers, engaging targets just in front of our troops, as they met resistance. Forward Observation Officers (FOO’s) had landed with the first assault troops, they were now relaying instructions via radio to the AA Cruiser, HMS Scylla, the HQ ship responsible for the bombardment, the target co-ordinates were then passed on to the ships.
As the first troops moved inland so the Support Craft were brought in to deal with the odd pocket of resistance, these were the LCG’s and the LCT(r)’s which came under the local command of the FOO’s on the beach and the spotter aircraft above. The small forest to the East of the river Orne which grew almost down to the shore, was still occupied by a considerable number of the enemy. A Flotilla of Rocket Firing Support Craft made spectacular sorties into about a half of a mile from the shore, most amazing sight to watch these converted LCT’s approach the target and fire thousands of rockets, then turn away to allow the next in line to fire, after firing they went to the rear to re-load, a very tricky business I am told, if the firing tube was too hot, it was not unknown for the projectile to self-ignite. The LCG’s followed the rocket attack, their 4.7 guns soon discouraged any ideas of a flanking attack from that direction.
The LST carrying 1117 and 1118 LCA’s arrived off Juno Beach, Courseilles, and landed the Canadians. Dick Harper recounts his experiences:
“The landing we made were a bit grim, to say the least, having to land our troops in four to five feet of water, we did not have any option, the Beachmasters Party was trying to get as many in as possible, unload and then off again, to make room for the following craft. From then on it was a continuous job of ferrying from ship to shore, what ever the load that they put aboard. We were under constant fire from shore based guns and aircraft braving the barrage balloons, carried by the bigger ships. The LCF’s put up a most amazing barrage, we were more in danger from falling shrapnel than enemy gun-fire. As the tide ebbed the LST came right in and beached on the exposed sand, it could then open its bow doors and unload the support vehicles, we were ordered to make our way along to Sword Beach and rejoin our own Flotilla, there were several of us, craft of various types, we had an escort of an ML to keep us in the swept lanes”.
Meanwhile on Juno, where we were in difficulties, our engine had failed, despite all that I could do, probably salt water had got into the fuel when we re-fuelled earlier. We managed to get alongside HMS Ulster, a destroyer which had stopped for repairs. After imprudently closing the shore when firing on enemy pill-boxes, she had grounded on a sand bank and damaged a screw, she was anchored about a half mile off-shore when we found her. Lt Charlie Redman was Deck Officer, he and some Matelots helped us to tie up abaft the Iron Deck. We unloaded some of our gear, rifles and Lewis guns onto the deck, at that moment a ship passed us at a rate of knots, its bow wave swamped our craft, the deck party cut the lines and we drifted away. She filled with water and that was the last we saw of 1120, we were still wearing our Mae Wests, but the tide took us out towards an LCT which was returning from the beach, it slowed down for us and we were hauled aboard, taken down to the mess deck to dry out and have some hot soup.
The crew found us some dry clothing and best of all dry cigarettes. Our adventures were still not over though, the engines packed up, and the tide running east, took us out of the anchorage and into the unswept area between Juno and Sword. The Middy, who had taken command after his Skipper had been injured, suggested we all stand in the centre of the well deck, as he thought that would be the safest part, should we hit a mine. At that moment the MM’s got one of the engines going and we chugged back out of danger. Our young Skipper decided to beach the craft, and give the MM’s a chance to repair the other engine before setting off for the UK.
We reported to the Beachmaster who sent us off to the nearest dump of stores, we were fitted out with new battledresses and blankets, the blankets fitted better than the uniforms!!! The Beachmaster told us we would have to spend the night on the beach, and not to start roaming, as they had not finished clearing all of the mines, in fact there was a flail Tank still working, clearing another exit from the beach.
By now it was getting dark, we had just finished digging in next to a mobile Bofors AA gun, when the alarm went up, a lone Me 109, it came sweeping along the beach from the west, machine guns and cannons blazing. Stan and I dashed for cover behind a stack of stores, soon after the plane had passed we realised our mistake, we had taken cover behind a dump of Mortar Bombs.
At daybreak next morning we found the Beach Parties galley “A hole in the sand”, they fixed us up with breakfast, afterward we made ourselves as useful as we could. The LST’s were disgorging their loads of vehicles, and beached Coasters were unloading by means of their Derricks, straight into waiting lorries etc. One thing we noticed, on inspecting the stack of “Compo Ration Boxes” that we were loading on to Jeeps, a neat hole had been cut in the outside boxes, just where the cigarettes and sweets were packed, it must have been done in the night, we reported it to the Beach Party in case we got the blame. About mid-morning the Beachmaster sent for us, he had found out where our Flotilla was, an LCT was coming in to beach, it was collecting up all the odd bods who were on the wrong beach, and returning them to their Units. Incidentally I met Charlie Redmond after the war, he was living in Hove. He sent my wallet, which had been in my kitbag that we had left on the deck of the destroyer. He was a Commissioned Gunner at the time he picked us up.
By the time we arrived at “Sword” the “Cap Tourane” was already anchored off the Beachhead. As we approached the ship we hailed one of our own boats which took us on board and, after we had swapped experiences, they took us alongside the “Cap Tourane”. We reported to the Flotilla Office somewhere amidships, they did not seem overjoyed to see us, evidently they had reported us missing to COPRA and now they would have to amend the signal, and we were B***** nuisances, and where was our kit, did we realise the amount of work that it would involve kitting us out, all of this with an invasion going on outside!!!! We eventually got away and found the rest of the lads on the mess deck, it was good to meet up with John Lord again, he had just come off duty.