View MapView MapNational Archive Reference: WO 171/877
All diaries for this unit:
Please use the contact us page to report any errors or inaccuracies.
Many of the location in this diary have been geocoded, these locations are highlighted
clicking on them will display them on a map. Many location also have historical maps and aerial photographs
of the area available.
Found this useful?
If you've found this resource useful please consider supporting us to digitise more war diaries, documents and maps.
| Place | Date | Hour | Summary of Events and Information | References to Appendices |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CHATEAU BEAUREGARD & BRETTEVILLE SUR-ODON CAEN. | 1 - 5 Sep | C' Sqn maintained their state of relaxation in 21 Army Gp Res at the Rest Camp of Chateau Beauregard near Caen and at Bretteville-Sur-Odon for some days during which period no doubt the activities of Major Duffy will be chronicled elsewhere. For this record they are a closed book. | ||
| 6 Sep 44 | But all good things come to an end and on 6 Sep 'C' Sqn began to cross the Seine destined for Le Havre. | |||
| ANGLESQUEVILLE596418 7E4 & 8E3. | 7 Sep 44 | The pattern of things to come took more definite shape the next day when 'C' Sqn came u/c 1 Brit Corps for Operation 'ASTONIA' and moved to Anglesqueville596418 NE of Le Havre. Here they were put u/c 144 RAC (a Regt for which this Regt has the greatest admiration) in sp of 153 Bde. Major Duffy with two tps was with 'C' Sqn 144 RAC to sp 5 Black Watch and Capt Barber with two tps was with 'B' Sqn to sp 1 Gordon Highlenders. | ||
| ANGLESQUEVILLE596418 7E4 & 8E3. | 8 - 9 Sep | The next two days were spent in planning and a demonstration to the Inf and on 10 Sep the Sqn moved a little nearer to LE HAVRE at 553378. | ||
| 553378 | 10 Sep | 51 Highland Div were to move through the gaps made by 49 Div on the EPREMESNIL feature and take on the right of LE HAVRE! through the FORET DE MONTEGON. The Croes were to move in a res role. The critical point of the LE HAVRE battle however was the break through of 49 Div on the EPREMESNIL feature - once this was taken the rest began to crumble and 'C' Sqn were not required. | ||
| LE HAVRE503304 | 11 Sep | On 12 Sep 'C' Sqn moved to 503304 west of the FORET DE MONTEGON via FONTAINE LE MALLET. | ||
| LE HAVRE479285 | 12 Sep | On 12 Sep the fort at 479285 was still holding out and Major Duffy was all primed for action with two tps of Crocs lined up with one Sqn of 144 RAC ready to attack. Before 'H' Hour however the garrison surrendered | ||
| YEBLERON | 12 Sep | Without respite the Sqn moved off that same night all the way to YEBLERON812392 u/c 2 Cdn Corps preparatory to moving on to BOULOGNE. | ||
| 13 Sep | On the next day 'C' Sqn was already en route to 809562 Sheet 49 near LE WAST for, Operation 'WELLHIT' u/c 3 Cdn Div. For 'Wellhit' 'C Sqn provided Crocs and Offrs to the armd colns entering Boulogne. | |||
| BOULOGNE! | 17 - 22 Sep | These are chronicled at Appx 'A' as also are the activities of the Sqn HQ and two tps provided by 'C' Sqn for operations west of R. Liane. | ||
| 770680 Sheet 38. | 23 Sep | There is no rest for the wicked and Major Duffy can be wicked more than somewhat. Within a few hrs of leaving Boulogne he and his fighting retinue were on their way to LEUBRINGHEN770680 Sheet 38 SW of Calais for Operation 'UNDERGO' where 'C' Sqn were to have their show operating as one Sqn. For 'Undergo' 'C' Sqn operated u/c 8 Cdn in conjunction with 'C' Sqn Lothians and a tp The North Shore Regt was to take the strong NOIRES MOTTES feature 7875 and 7975 (see D down to the coastal guns (firing on Dover) after the minefd had been breached by the and supported as for as possible by Crocs The whole posn was to be bombed by heavy a preliminary. | ||
| 778708 | 24 Sep | D Day was 25 Sep and on moved into a FUP at 778708. | ||
| NOIRES MOTTES | 25 Sep | On the next day the gd was e difficult for tks. Worse still the of the NOIRES MOTTES area a complete so as to be almost impassable to tks e of the enemy. Nevertheless the the fla | Trranscription note:Appears type writer did not work for end of lines |
| Place | Date | Hour | Summary of Events and Information | References to Appendices |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lothians slowly forced gaps through the minefds starting along the tracks running NW and NORTH respectively from 787747. The left lane however soon bumped into serious snags and another one was pushed through further west. Up this lane Major Duffy took 13 and 14 Tps whilst 11 and 12 tps proceeded through the rt hand lane. The enemy posns on the crest were taken with very little opposition but whilst waiting to go over the crest the armour received a very heavy dose of shelling from every directions. The Crocodiles returned the fire as best they could and claimed to have knocked out at least one gun south of SANGATTE. Lt Wareing's tk on the right was in a particularly exposed posn having put his nose over the crest to view the fwd slope. A very heavy HE shell hit the driving sprocket and put the tk out of action. He himself was standing some five yards away at the time and was knocked out by concussion, but quickly recovered except for his hearing. | ||||
| The fwd slope proved to be almost a sheer descent, heavily cratered and exposed to fire from SANGATTE! The only descent possible for tks seemed to be on the left - and this also proved to be too much. On the right Lt Wareing with maddening frustration watched the coastal guns not 500 yds away firing their last shells on Dover from their massive concrete emplacements. | ||||
| On the left it was decided to attempt the descent and an Inf patrol was sent over the crest to locate trouble. After only 10 yds however it went to gd. Again the Crocs took the initiative. The first one over the top (Lieut Sutherland Sherriff) was soon ditched and though extricated rapidly repeated the process (it was recovered that night by Sutherland Sherriff who had first of all to fetch batteries from a German posn). A second Croc followed suit and the third Croc saw that it was impossible to circumnavigate the other two. As this decision was reached the Croc was hit seven times by AP??? and lost four bogies. An AVRE close by fell off a pillbox. Darkness was coming on and as the Inf did not appear to have any intention of advancing further it was decided to call it a day and the Crocs withdrew to the previous nights' locn at 778708. Casualties - Lieut Smith wounded by shell shrapnel; two Crocs 'X', One 'Z'. | ||||
| 26 Sep | At first light extensive recces were made with a view to getting the Crocs over the fwd slope from a different directions but on reporting to the North Shore Regt for planning news came that the coastal guns had surrendered, the MO of 141 RAC being amongst those present when it took place. There could be only one logical consequence - 'C' Sqn must take part forthwith u/c | |||
| 797649FERQUES | 27 Sep | 9 Cdn Inf Bde for operations against CAP GRIS NEZ. And so after 8 brief sojourn at 797649 NE of MARQUISE 'C' Sqn pulled out to a Fwd Assembly Area on evening 28 Sep. | ||
| For the Operation against CAP GRIS NEZ 'C' Sqn was divided into two half Sqns - Major Duffy with 12 and 14 Tps in sp of the Cdn HLI on the Right, Capt Barber with 11 and 13 Tps in sp North Nova Scotias on the Left. | ||||
| 797649 | 29 | On the right the attack was divided into two phases - FRAMZELLE fort 6869 then the lighthouse area. AVREs dropped fascines in the river running SW from le CHATELET 699688 and a tp of flails followed by the Crocs and three AVREs managed to cross successfully. Fortunately there was little opposition from FRAMZELLES, no flaming was required and at the end of Phase I Major Duffy was sitting on the crest east of FRAMZELLE with 12 and |
| Place | Date | Hour | Summary of Events and Information | References to Appendices |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 tps and such of the remaining armr as had been able to arrive there through the mud and craters - 4??? flails 3 AVREs and a to of Shermans and four M-10s. | ||||
| At this stage Major Duffy contacted the Inf CO and a plan was made for Phase II with 'H' hour at 1415 hrs from 1245 hrs onwards all tks fired intermittently on the lighthouse area. From 1400 - 1410 the area received a solid - stonk from medium arty, followed by 5 mins conc shooting from all tks on the crest. The procession then started - three Crocs, three AVREs, three Crocs in line ahead (flails were not being used and there was a danger of mines) sp by fire from the remaining armr. They proceeded along the track running SW to 677687 thence NE flaming houses on their way. At this point the garrison surrendered and Maj Duffy took charge of the 2IC of CAP GRIS NEZ. Casualties to this party were nil. | ||||
| On the left again the attack was to be in two phases - HARRINGZELLE FORT 6867 followed by CRAN-AUX-OEUFS the reputed residence of the Garrison Commandent. | ||||
| 713644 | 28 Sep | On the evening 28 Sep Capt Barber moved into a fwd assembly area at 713644 and by first tk light was on the FUP in the area of JUPHEN. 11 Tp (Sgt Ellis) was in sp of 'B' Coy North Nova Scotias on the left and 13 Tp (Lieut Sutherland-Sherriff) in sp 'D' Coy on the Right. With fire sp from flails and Crocs the AVRES dropped fascines in the R du Nouride and the flails ('C' Sqn Lothians) began to clear gaps in the extensive minefds. As they reached the end the Crocs closed up and went through No. 11 Tp immediately lost one Croc ditched and another on the minefd leaving Sgt Ellis lone to flame the outer defs of the coastal guns at 680666 and 682666. He attempted high shots in the apertures of the enormous gun emplacements but could get no penetration. On the right meanwhile Sutherlend Sherrif was "squirting" with two Crocs the defs of the two gun emplacements at 685667 and 685670 including two A Tk guns. PW soon issued from dugouts and Sutherland Sherriff tried HE in the appertures of the gun forts. It was at this time that the last writhings of these guns were witnessed. One, the last to fire, with Cdn Inf actually on the revolving turret fired one shell wildly out to sea, another in the direction of Dover and one more inland before sappers could put it out of action with hand placed charges. During this phase the enemy did not man his A Tk guns and the only fire was from mortars and MMGs otherwise the party might have been very costly in both men and tjs, | ||
| For CRANS-AUX-OEUFS a new attack was laid on with 'C' Coy to be lead by 3 flails and one pl of Inf. The remaining two Crocs (Sgt Ellis had jammed his turret) were to follow on behind. The 3 flails immediately bogged whilst doing a sweep on the right. Three flails and 1 Croc then went up on the left leaving one Croc with no flame. Nevertheless yet another 2 flails managed to slowly push their way through and reached the fort almost without a shot being fired. | ||||
| 797649 | 29 Sep | The was the end of the battle for the Channel Ports and the coastal guns directed against Dover for "C" Sqn who retired immediatela into bibulous and other activities at 797649 near FERQUES for a brief period before entering on another historic phase of the War. |
Found this useful?
If you've found this resource useful please consider supporting us to digitise more war diaries, documents and maps.