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National Archive Reference: WO 171/1349
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The 3rd Battalion Monmouthshire Regiment are mentioned in 1 other war diaries from June 1944.
| Place | Date | Hour | Summary of Events and Information |
|---|---|---|---|
| ALDERSHOT | 1-5 | - | Bn concentrated and awaiting orders for move. Everyone fit and anxious to go. |
| 6 | "D" Day at last. Everybody is pleased, anxiously waiting for any scrap of news and waiting for our move. | ||
| 7 | Div Comd briefed all offrs, giving the general "set up" of ops and progress. | ||
| 2230 | Message received for Adjt to attend District HQ 1400 hrs 8 Jun. This is it at last. | ||
| 8 | 1400 | Movement orders received by Adjt. Bn will move in two parts, one under CO by rail, and remainder with tpt under 2IC by road. | |
| 9 | 0610 | 2IC's party moves off to BECKTON-ON-THE-THAMES Marshalling Area. | |
| 0805 | CO's party moves off to HAYWARDS HEATH Marshalling Area. No time wasted with 2IC's party; all vehs to be loaded by 10 Jun and personnel 11 Jun. | ||
| BECKTON-ON-THE | 10 | Hold-up with our MT Ships. First convoy of vehs have reached the docks, but no ship. | |
| THAMES. | 11 | Issue of rations, Mae Wests and Vomit Bags. Difficult to know where to carry it all, as we are much overloaded already. | |
| 1300 | Remainder of vehs move to Docks, but still no news of our ship. | ||
| 1630 | We have been given two LSTs instead of one MTS. Adjt cursing on Dockside having to amend all embarkation documents. | ||
| 2015 | First LST with 2IC as OC Tps gets under way. | ||
| HAYWARDS | 12 | Party to travel in two LCIs(L). 8 Offrs and 184 ORs in R118, 9 Offrs and 184 ORs in R 119. | |
| HEATH. | 13 | 0700 | Issue of Mae Wests, 24 hr Packs, Vomit Bags, etc. |
| 1100 | Both parties board the same LSI at NEWHAVEN having been conveyed there by TCV. | ||
| 1630 | Ship moves from NEWHAVEN QUAY to join convoy off coast. | ||
| BECKTON ON | 13 | 0100 | Second LST gets under way. What a relief, all vehs with personnel have embarked in one piece. |
| THE THAMES. | 0400 | Anchor struck in Thames Estuary. Now have to wait for convoy. The LSTs are American, and the food for all ranks is superb - will have a job in getting the men off these ships. | |
| Aboard LSTs USS 2 and | 13 | 2200 | Convoy has formed up and we slowly leave good old England. It is the 13th and most of us are apprehensive about passing through Dover Straits. We are warned by Capt, no lights after dark last convoy was shelled. |
| USS 360. | 14 | 0300 | Passing through Dover Straits without incident. The day dawns with beautiful weather, and the sea is behaving itself, no call for vomit bags yet. |
| 2130 | Arrive off our beach with the hope of landing, but air raid alert has sounded and the tide has beaten us, so we lay off until morning. | ||
| Aboard LSI | 14 | 0230 | Moves away from coast of England. |
| 1030 | Coast of FRANCE sighted. | ||
| 1400 | All party disembarks in FRANCE. No casualties. Party marches into Bn conc area outside PIERREPONT, and digs in for the night. | ||
| Sheet two |
| Place | Date | Hour | Summary of Events and Information |
|---|---|---|---|
| ABOARD USS2 and USS 360 | 15 | 0930 | We touch down in beautiful weather and everything is peaceful. This is the first sight of and visit to FRANCE for many of us. Unloading starts immediately - vehs off first. |
| 1000 | Hell. Our first taste of war. Jerry has started bombing the beach and damned accurately too. We suffer our first casualty. Pte Butcher of "A" Coy is wounded in the chest with shrapnel, but it is not serious. We move on to our first area in FRANCE. | ||
| PIERREPONT. | 2100 | All have arrived except two Carriers broken down. We quickly dig our foxholes and how pleased we are at night when Jerry only ventures out in the air. The AA barrage is so intense, spent shrapnel lands in area. | |
| 16 | We have already learnt lesson No 1 after last night. Dig deeper holes. | ||
| 1500 | There is a THUNDERBOLT in trouble; it is on fire. We can see the pilot jumping out, but what bad luck, his parachute is severed by the tailplane and he comes hurtling to earth and death. He lads near "A" Coy area. Everyone's eyes are on the plane; it is diving straight at us, it seems, at terrific speed. All is well, it misses us (not by much ) and hits the village. No casualties. | ||
| 17-18 | All busy servicing eqpt and vehs and getting accustomed to these most trying French maps. There is occasional shelling by Jerry on an airstrip quite near us and the usual "hullaballu's" at night, but we are quite used to it now. The IO is the busiest man, he shoots off to the front line and brings back the latest news each day, and keeps us in the picture. | ||
| 19-24. | Bn continues to prepare for its part in the coming battle. Weather deteriorates, but everyone in good spirits and very fit. | ||
| 25 | News received that the breakout from the brhead will be made in the near future and we would be taking part. | ||
| 26 | The breakout commences 0730 hrs, but we are in rear of assaulting coln of armour and are not called forward until 1400 hrs. on 27 Jun. | ||
| 27 | 1700 | Arrive at a posn a few miles NORTH of the ODON (river). | |
| 2100 | Inf march fwd to reserv posn on NORTH side of ODON. | ||
| 2200 | CO calls for track and essential wh vehs. The night is extremely bad and it is very soon found to be impossible to move the coln of vehs without a number going astray. In addition the corridor to the R. ODON is so narrow that the risk is found too great and we wait until first light to move tpt. Lt W.J.Williams "A" Coy injured - run over by gun of A.TK Regt. | ||
| 28 | 0600 | Bn arrives in allotted area after difficult night march. "C" Coy were dropped outside COLLEVILLE during the night for protection. " C" Coy run into enemy and suffer badly. Three subalterns, Lt. C.E.Spooner, SWB, and Lts. J.E.Davis, C.C.Cassady of Cdn Inf Corps, and 61 ORs missing. | |
| 0700 | Tpt arrives. Bn has already started digging in. | ||
| 2100 and on- wards. | Enemy prepares to counter-attack the two fwd bns. Terrific arty barrage disperses them and the inf holds off all local attacks. | ||
| Sheet three. |
| Place | Date | Hour | Summary of Events and Information |
|---|---|---|---|
| MONDRAINVILLE | 28-29 | Bn suffers it first casualties through enemy shelling and mortaring. | |
| 30 | Sometimes the enemy fire is most severe, and Bn HQ suffers most. Maj H.F.Richards, (MON) killed, and two ptes killed. Capt. G.W.Collins (SWB) wounded. |
The following units mention the 3rd Battalion Monmouthshire Regiment in their war diaries from June 1944:
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