War Diary: 5th Battalion Duke Cornwall Light Infantry

Month and year: June 1944

The 5th Battalion Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry (DCLI) June 1944 War Diary covers the units arrival and fighting in Normandy including the destruction of 6 Panthers at Cheux

National Archive Reference: WO 171/1280

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Page 1 of 11

Place	Date	Hour	Summary of Events and Information
CROWHURST	1	1400	The Navies??? Boxing competition took place on the
			cricket pitch. 22 bouts were arranged and
			fighting was of high standard. At the
			end of the 16th bout the Commanding
			Officer decided to postpone remaining events
			owing to rain
		1800	A film "No time for love" was shown in the
			N.A.A.F.I tent.
		1415	The training film "Sex Hygien" was shown in
			the NAAFI and in turn was attended by the whole af the Bn
		1515	A foot ball match between "HQ" and B Coys took
			place. B Coy were the winner by 5 goals to 3.
		1730	The boxing competition was continued and H.Q. Coy
			team were the winners. The Commanding officer

Page 2 of 11

Place	Date	Hour	Summary of Events and Information
CROWHURST	2		presented the prizes and congratulated all
			boxers an a very high standard of fighting.
	3	1400	A Cricket match between the Offrs and Sgts took
			place the offrs were the winners by 218 runs to 48
			The Bde Comd granted permission for
			bounds to be extended to a radius of
			25 miles and all ranks to be allowed
			out until 2359 hrs, a concession which
			was greatly appreciated.
	4		"D" Coy defeated "C" Coy by one wicket
			in an inter coy any cricket match
	5		This day marked the commencement of
			an Inter - Sec Rifle Competition held on
			the 30 yds Range near Crowhurst.

Page 3 of 11

Date	Hour	Summary of Events and Information
7		During the morning the Div Comd gave a talk
		to all Officers and Warrant officers on the 'Invasion'
		of the continent and many interesting points were
		brought to light
		In the afternoon the 2 i/c Major R W James lectured
		to HQ and S Coy, on procedure before and after
		going across!
8	1415	The Cond Officer gave a talk to the BN on
		the part that the BN will play in the Invasion
	1450	Another Boxing competition was held which will
		go on for two nights

Page 4 of 11

Place	Date	Hour	Summary of Events and Information
Crowhurst	10	9-30	The Brigade Comander gave a talk to the whole
			Bn in the NAAFI tent he spoke for about 40mins
			the theme being "as one infantry man to another"
			and said he did not intend to flatter the Bn
			but to give a staaight talk; this he did
			During the afternoon a cricket match took
			place on the Bn sports field between a team from
			the 1st Worc Regt and ourselves. The Worc Regt
			batted first and were all out for 82, they won
			the match however as our team were all out
			for 80. They had been entertained both for
			lunch and tea at the Officers mess.

Page 5 of 11

Place	Date	Hour	Summary of Events and Information	References to Appendices
CROWHURST	11	930	A drumhead Church Service was held in the NAAFI tent
			the address being given by the Padre.
	12	1100	the Bn advance party received instructions to prepare to move
			off and the whole Bn had to remain in camp area also
			at short notice to move the advance party actually left
			at 1600 hrs.
			In spite of the ban on going out the Bn
			on the whole spent an interesting day, a cricket match
			having played between S and HQ Coys the result was
			HQ 83 runs : S Coy 29 runs all out.

			After the invasion various messages were heard	Appendix C.
			to Units liable to enter the battle including one
			from General Sir B L Montgomery C in C 21st Army
			Group

Page 6 of 11

Place	Date	Hour	Summary of Events and Information
CROWHURST	13	1500	An inter BN Boxing Competition was held between the
			Bn and 5th DORSET Regt which ended with a win for
			the D.C.L.l by 6 fights to 5.
		1700	An ENSA show was given in the N.A.A.F.I. tent
			which was called the "Gay Wayfarers"
	14		The Bn at last received its orders to move to a
			marshalling area and all transport left CROWHURST at
			0030 has 15 June and went to Purfleet Camp via
			London, where the troops received a great welcome, the
			star on the vehicles showing they were troops for the
			Allied Expeditionary Force.
NO FIXED ADDRESS	15	1350	The marching personell left Crowhurst at 1350 hrs and
			entrained at Crowhurst Station at 1500 They arrived at
			Glynde at 1635 hrs which was the marshalling area
			and remained there until Monday 19th June.

Page 7 of 11

Place	Date	Hour	Summary of Events and Information
"	17	0830	The vehicles left Purfleet Camp to load on to a ship and
			the riding personell made to the docks in motor busses
			and embarked at 1830. The ship which was the U.S
			William Jones set sail at about 2300 hrs
At Sea.	18		the ship did not leave English water immediately but lay
			off Southend waiting for the Convoy to form up.
" "	19		Set sail at 2000 hrs. Sea choppy

" "	20		Hugged the coast until we reached the Isle of Wight
			which could be seen quite plainly and which brought
			memories to many of the Bn who had been stationed
			there. When we headed across the Channel the sea became
			quite rough and the sea remained so in spite of the
			glorious sunshine. The sea actually held up landing
			operations for about two days, the first boat load

Page 8 of 11

Place	Date	Hour	Summary of Events and Information
			left the ship just before nightfall.
At Sea	24		Unloading continued all day and by evening all vehicles
			were safely ashore, and after wards they
			made their way to the Bn Conc area at Manvieux.
MANVIEUX	25	1200 hrs	Marching personell left present location for a positions
			nearer the battle line and the vehicles left at 1500 hrs
			At 1730 Bn HQ was entablished at RACQUEVILLE.
		2400 hrs	The CO. gave a talk to the Bn on the forthcoming
			operation in which they were to take part.
RACQUEVILLE	26	1200 hrs
			The Bn was given order to be at 30 mins notice to
			move to relieve a unit in the line. The weather was
			exceptionally bad and the Bn was not actually
			called for until late at night and they moved
			off at 0130 hrs 27th June. The bulk of the Bn went
			by the quick lift system though the cycle coy

Page 9 of 11

Place	Date	Summary of Events and Information	References to Appendices
		had to leave their cycles behind and march because
		of the state of the road, and it was dawn when the
		Bn relieved the 9th Cameronians in the area of the
		village CHEUX.
CHEUX	27	Immediately on arrival the Bn was in the midst of
		a counter attack by tanks. During the
		enemy engagement the Bn had the misfortune to lose its
		Commanding officer 34773 Lt Col J W Atherton TD
		who was killed in action whilst handing amunition	See Appx 'D' for report sent to press
		to the anti tank gunners. During the action that
		day our casualties were as follows:-
		34773 Lt Col J.W. Atherton TD, 88173 Capt PEG Coode
		and 13 ORs killed
		288831 Lt K.W Gilbert, Lt 251856 Lt CG. Hopkins
		and 23 ORs wounded and I OR missing

Page 10 of 11

Place	Date	Hour	Summary of Events and Information	References to Appendices
CHEUX	27	-	The counter attack was beaten off and the enemy
			lost 6 "Panther" tanks. Major RW James 2 i/c
			assumed command of the Bn and was promoted
			Lt Col in the field.
CHEUX	28		There was no major action today but the area was	Patrol Reports Appendix B.
			subjected to shell and mortar fine which caused
			slight casualties ie 1 OR killed and 9 ORs wounded.
			There were several snipers in the area and some
			were captured
CHEUX	29		We remained in the same area today and there
			was some activity on the part of enemy tanks. The
			Bn was relieved by a Bn of 130 Bde but during
			the hand over news came through that a large
			number of tanks were approaching us. The two
			Bns therefore remained in the position making

Page 11 of 11

Place	Date	Hour	Summary of Events and Information
			double strength but the tanks were held before
			they reached our area by arty fire and a
			number was destroyed. Our casualties were again
			light 2 ORs being killed and 1 OR suffered from
			shellshock.
CHEUX	30	0130	The Bn left CHEUX and marched to COLLEVILLE
			where they had been given a sector to hold against
			any counter attack and which was to be a base
			for armoured activity together with several other
			localities to be similarly held by other units.
			Bn HQ was established in the village itself and
			was to remain there for several days. Our
			casualties today were 1 Offr 124200 Capt JBB Aimers
			killed, 3 ORs wounded and 3 ORs were treated for
			shellshock and 7 for exhaustion

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War Diary: 5th Battalion Duke Cornwall Light Infantry

Month and year: June 1944

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