A pilgrimage to Sword Beach

Royal Marine Badge

As a prelude to our holiday with the family in Brittany, Mrs P and I had a week in Normandy. One of the reasons for this was to visit the D-Day Beaches and to see some of the places that my dad, Marine Derrick Parsons, 41 Royal Marine Commando, encountered on June 6th 1944 and the days thereafter.

His unit, 41 Royal Marine Commando, was part of the 4th Special Service Brigade of the 3rd Infantry Division and landed at Sword Beach, which was the invasion beach furthest to the east of the five involved. It is located between Hermanville and Lion-sur-Mer and, when we visited, it looked like a beach on any seaside resort. The expanse and flatness of all the beaches in this region gives an immediate clue as to why they were deemed suitable for an invasion from the sea. Wouldn't the present day holiday-makers have a shock if hundreds of landing craft suddenly landed?

The following extract from the 41 Commando unit war diary describes what happened as the real landing crafts approached the beaches. As is typical of these journals, the descriptions are matter-of-fact and understated.

0825 - Coastline now perfectly visible and Troop Commanders were able to identify their beach from previous study of low obliques during the briefing.  The beach appeared a bit of a shambles.  It was littered with dead and wounded and burnt out tanks and with Flails flailing through wire and mines, Bulldozers clearing gaps etc.  The beach was quite obviously still under fire as mortar bombs and shells were crashing down fairly plentifully.  It appeared however that Red Beach was getting a better share of this fire than White.
0830 - Shells started falling around the craft and several near hits were reaching ships damaging ramps etc. on some craft but caused no casualties to personnel.

0840 - Due to land.

0845 - Touch down about 200 yards out to sea on Red Beach with our proper Beach, White, 300 yds. away on our left.  Whilst still coming in, Lieut. Colonel Gray had foreseen this and did his best to get the craft to slew right on to the proper beach which was in fact drawing less fire than Red.  In the general confusion, however, his efforts were unsuccessful.  'P' Troop commanded by Captain B.J.B Sloley with a nucleus Advance H.Q. moved swiftly across to White Beach and within about 5 minutes were off the beach almost complete.  Within another 5 minutes a section of A. Troop with Captain C.N.P. Powell, DSO, Troop Commander had followed.  Lieut.Colonel Gray then decided to move this body up to the first lateral and to find a more suitable spot for assembly.

0920 - P. and A. Troops halted at road junction 080809 and waited there for the remainder of the Commando.

0940 - By this time a dozen men of 'X' Troop had joined up and reported that their Troop Commander Captain H.E. Stratford, M.C. had been wounded on landing and that they had also lost about 25 men killed and wounded, on the beach.  'Y' Troop reported that the 2 i/c Major D.L. Barclay had been killed and that the Signal Officer Lieut. A.G. Aldis M.M. was a casualty.  Lieut. Colonel Gray then decided to push on with the troops he had collected and P. Troop followed by Y. Troop and A. started to move into LION. 

The road junction 080809 mentioned above no longer exists in its original form and is now the site of a memorial to 41 Commando.

The memorial itself takes the form of a large sundial with the time the marines landed on the beach marked by the location of a plaque on the dial. I've chosen the above IR image from the many I took because the weeds are not so obvious! Sadly, it had a rather neglected look. Time for the locals to get their act together and spend an afternoon with their trowels.

The inscription on the plaque reads:

6 Juin 1944

MONUMENT DE LA LIBERTE
ERIGE A LA MEMOIRE DU
41 ROYAL MARINES COMMANDO
QUE A DEBARQUE SUR NOTRE
PLAGE S L'HEURE INDIQUEE PAR
L'EMPLACEMENT DE CETTE PIERRE
SUR LE CADRAN SOLAIRE AU SOL

Which translates to:

June 6, 1944

MONUMENT OF FREEDOM
IN MEMORY OF
41 ROYAL MARINE COMMANDO
WHO LANDED ON OUR
BEACH TIME INDICATED BY
THE LOCATION OF THIS STONE
ON THE GROUND SUNDIAL

It also gives the Roll of Honour of those commandos who died during the landing and the subsequent engagements with the enemy. There was considerable close ranging fighting as they moved through the streets.

LIBERATION OF LION-SUR-MER 6TH-7TH JUNE 1944 41 ROYAL MARINE COMMANDO Roll of Honour
Major D.L. Barclay	Marine W.Dabbs
Capt. P.T. Howes-Dufton	Marine A.R.H. Drew
Capt. P.C. Dixon R.A.	Marine J. Egan
Lieut. A.G. Aldis M.M.	Marine C.L. Hunter
Lieut. J.C. Pearson	Marine J.G. Jackson
RSM E.J. Belcher B.E.M.	Marine J.H. Parkinson
Sgt R. Fielding	Marine R. Poultney
Sgt A.U. Hey	Marine F.A. Reynolds
Sgt F.W. Pryor M.M.	Marine E. Spence
Cpl E. Johnson	Marine H.T.W.B Swindale
Cpl J.W. Peat	Marine P.J.W. Trolley
Cpl H. Spawforth	Marine E.C. Welham
Cpl F.G. Wiehtman Bde. Sigs.	Marine E.G. White
L/Cpl J.McNeill	Marine W. Jackson
Marine REC. Brown	Marine J.A. Smith

Dad never said much about his experiences during and after the landing but, to some of us, he did mention that he lost several of his friends, the exact details of which I'll pass over. However, they will be listed above. As many of them are buried in the nearby war cemetery in Hermanville, we went there to pay our respects.

The Hermanville cemetery contains 1,003 Second World War burials, 103 of which are unidentified. The majority of those buried here died on 6th June or during the first days of the drive towards Caen. As with all cemeteries looked after by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Hermanville exudes an air of respect and quiet dignity. It is an organisation that I rate highly.

Six of the marines named on the 41 Commando Roll of Honour are buried in Hermanville. I found it sobering to think that an inch or two either way or a minute or two sooner or later, my dad could have lain with them. Hence no me and no-one to make this small pilgrimage to remember his comrades. The details of each I've taken directly from their entries in the CWGC Register. Dad's service number started with PO/X because he had first enlisted at Portsmouth. Perhaps those below with PO/X numbers had been with him from the start?

BROWN, ROBERT REGINALD CYRIL

Service Number CH/X 100561
Died 06/06/1944
Aged 24
No. 41 R.M. Commando. Royal Marines
Son of William Charles Horatio and Annie Elizbeth Brown, of Tottenham, Middlesex; husband of Violet Brown (nee Field).

DABBS, WILLIAM

Service Number PLY/X 102644
Died 06/06/1944
Aged 23
No. 41 R.M. Commando. Royal Marines
Son of George Dabbs, and of Nellie Dabbs. of Harden, Staffordshire.

EGAN, JOHN

Service Number PLY/X103476
Died 07/06/1944
Aged 24
No. 41 R.M. Commando. Royal Marines
Son of John and Norah Egan; nephew of Margaret Shanahan, of Miltown, Malbay, Co. Clare, Irish Republic.

POULTNEY, RONALD

Service Number PLY/X104049
Died 06/06/1944
Aged 22
No. 41 R.M. Commando. Royal Marines
Son of Thomas and Esther Elizabeth Poultney, of Leek, Staffordshire.

REYNOLDS, FREDRICK ARTHUR

Service Number PO/X 120294
Died 06/06/1944
Aged 19
No. 41 R.M. Commando. Royal Marines
Son of Thomas Henry and Elizabeth Jane Reynolds, of Westminster, London.

TROLLEY, PHILIP JOHN WESTON Service Number PO/X 121657
Died 06/06/1944
Aged 18
No.41 R.M. Commando. Royal Marines
Son of Edmund Weston Trolley and Vera Annie Trolley, of Banbury, Oxfordshire.

WHITE, ERNEST GEORGE

Service Number CH/X115681
Died 06/06/1944
Aged 22
No. 41 R.M. Commando. Royal Marines
Son of Henry and Louise E. White, of Canning Town, Essex.

During the days following the landing, 41 Commando were actively engaged with and involved in the continuing push-back of the German forces and the consolidation of the territorial gains made. In the process Lion-sur-Mer, Duc-sur-Mer and Hermanville were all liberated. On the 16th and 17th June, they were a key part of the action that became known as The Battle of Douvres Radar Station. This radar station was an extremely important communication hub for the Germans and was very well defended, mainly by Luftwaffe ground forces. The attack itself was preceded by an artillery bombardment and supported by mine-clearing and anti-bunker tanks of 79th Armoured Division. 

At 5:40 pm on the 17th, the 160 men of 41 Commando rushed the bombarded positions and soon after swept over the outer defences. Not long after that, they entered the casemates, tunnels and bunkers, opening fire and they found many shocked and dazed Germans. Having lost nearly all their strong points, for the Germans it was clear that the station could no longer be defended. With their protective concrete breached, they surrendered. The assault was similarly successful on the small station on the northern site that was found to contain thirty eight Germans but almost immediately they also gave up; like the others they had been dazed, shocked and exhausted by the heavy bombardment.
41 Commando had suffered six casualties, including one killed, in the engagement. The relevant extract from the War Diary is given below.

The radar site at Douvres-la-Délivrande is now home to a museum. This is the main bunker which housed the main living quarters for the Germans. It was weird walking around this placing thinking that my father might stood in exactly the same spot, but with a smoking gun in his hand rather than a camera.

16th June 1944

Harass each station.  Commander 1 Corps orders an attack to be put in on both station on the following day.  For this purpose 5th Assault Squadron R.E. and the 22nd Dragoons were attached to the Commando.  The plan for the attack was devised as follows - 3 teams of flails should go forward to the main wire under cover of an artillery barrage lasting 1/2 hr. and should make 3 gaps through the wire and minefields at the following points 006803, 007802, 010801.  The gaps having been made, the Avres were to move through inside the wire covered by fire from the flails and engage any targets presented.  After 10 minutes they were to lay smoke and lay hand placed charges on those targets unsuitable for their Petards.  The Commando was then to follow in with 'B' Tp. on the right through 006803, 'P' Tp. through the centre 007802, 'X' Tp. through 010801 and to mop up, 'Y' was to be held in reserve.  A similar and smaller team of flails and Avres was to make a breach in the Northern Station at about 005811 and 'A' Tp. to follow in.  Zero hour was fixed for 1700 hrs. on the 17th.

17th June 1944

1400 - 'A' Tp. moves to FUP area orchard 003815.  B. X. and Y. to Douvre with FUPs in orchards facing the Radar Station in square 0180.

1630 - Barrage commences intense.

1700 - Flails commence clearing minefields.

1720 - Avres move up and into Radar Station.  Avres suffer two casualties (in tanks) and one flail.  According to plan, yet a little behind time, troops go in at about 1740.  By this time the enemy had been dazed, shocked or frightened into surrender and came out in large numbers with their hands up.  The assault was similarly successful on the small station which was found to contain 38 Germans.  The bag in all was 5 Officers and 222 O.Rs.  'A' Tp. suffered the only casualty, 1 man wounded.  In all 44 tanks had taken part in the assault, all was over by 1830 hrs.  Our troops withdrew to the positions previously occupied in the wood.

The main receiver at Douvres-la-Délivrande and the object of the battle.

One of the primary objectives for the main body of forces landing at Sword Beach was Caen to the south. However, 41 Commando and others were deployed eastwards (X on the map above) to both penetrate further into France and also to secure crossings over the Seine. After traversing the nearby Orne (location of the famous Pegasus Bridge at Ranville, which was captured overnight on the 5th/6th June), 41 Commando fought/worked their way through the following towns and villages: Sallenelles, Amfreville/Hauger, Troarn, Goustranville, St Richer, Putot-en-Auge, St LegerevDuboq, Dozule, Pont l'Eveque, thence to St Maclou and Barentin in the region of the Seine. Their journey after that took them northwards through France to the Ostend area. I'd like to say that, for dad, the fighting had stopped but the worse was to come with his involvement in the Battle of Walcheren in November 1944. I'll describe his experiences there closer to the 75th Anniversary of that engagement. Nothing quite like ending a post on a cliff-hanger!

Once a marine, always a marine. Dad in his dress uniform. I think this was taken before all of the events described above.