Commando Despatch Rider: With 41 royal Marines commando in North-West Europe 1944-1945

132 Pages·2009·2.13 MB·English

by  Raymond Mitchell

By the same author
Marine Commando, Sicily and Salerno 1943
with 41 Royal Marines Commando, Robert Hale Ltd 1988,
re-issued in paperback 1994.
They Did What Was Asked of Them,
41 (Royal Marines) Commando 1942–1946
Firebird Books, reprinted 1996.

Dedicated to the memory of
Ply/X 111113 Marine H.T.W.B. (Bill) SWINDALE
No. 41 (Royal Marines) Commando
Killed in Action, 6 June 1944
Lion-sur-Mer, Normandy
a fellow ‘Geordie’ and good friend
CONTENTS
Foreword
Glossary
Author's Preface
1 From Rifleman to Despatch Rider
2 UK Trips and Concentration Camps
3 D-Day, Sixth of June 1944
4 In the Normandy Beachhead
5 First weeks east of the Orne
6 Life in the Orne Bridgehead
7 Forward from Troarn
8 Across the Rivers Tougues and Seine
9 Cany-Barville, Le Havre and Dunkirk
10 Into Belgium, Training for Walcheren
11 The Walcheren Landing
12 Return to Holland, and V-weapons
13 The Maas River Front
14 The End of the War and Occupation Duties in Germany
15 From Serviceman to Civilian
FOREWORD
by
MAJOR GENERAL JULIAN THOMPSON
CB OBE
Before Ray Mitchell reached the age of 24 he had taken part in four of the major
Allied amphibious assaults of the Second World War: Sicily, Salerno, Normandy
and Walcheren, all with 41 (Royal Marines) Commando. This book is about the
latter two; his experiences in the first two operations are the subject of an earlier
book, Marine Commando: Sicily and Salerno 1943 with 41 Royal Marines
Commando. His latest book is more than just an account of the great events of
June and November 1944, it is also a marine's eye view of the campaign in
North-West Europe.
Ray Mitchell kept a diary, which, for security reasons, was forbidden. This,
now lodged in the Imperial War Museum, is the basis for his new book. As an
author who has spent much time researching in the archives of the Imperial War
Museum, I can vouch for the value of books based on diaries written at the time.
Time can play tricks with even the sharpest of memories and Ray Mitchell's
book is all the more valuable as a testimony to one Royal Marine's experiences
because he can refer to his diaries as a backup to his recall of events.
Anyone not familiar with commando soldiering might regard being a
despatch rider (DR - or Dog Roger in the phonetic alphabet of the time) as a
‘cushy number’. Starting with landing on Sword Beach on D-Day carrying a 75
lb Welbike (folding motorcycle) in his arms, down the see-sawing wooden
landing plank of one of the infamous Landing Craft Infantry (Small), Ray
Mitchell's experiences as a DR varied from ‘hairy’ to ‘hilarious', mostly the
former.
A DR's life was both lonely and dangerous. Carrying despatches necessitates
knowing exactly where you are going and how to get there, including avoiding
any route that will lead you straight into enemy hands, all of which requires
good map-reading. Road and tracks were usually pinpointed on the enemy's map
and treated to frequent doses of artillery and mortar fire. If that was not enough,
‘friendly’ traffic was an added hazard. DRs were, of course, also required to take
their place as riflemen from time to time.
Churchill wrote about the Westkapelle operations at Walcheren, ‘The
extreme gallantry of the Royal Marines stands forth’. Ray Mitchell was one of
the Commando DRs selected to land with his comrades of the 4th Special
Service Brigade to capture the five great batteries of coastal guns guarding the
entrance to the River Scheldt. He recalls that, in contrast to Normandy five
months earlier, ‘The task force had been put ashore, and all craft still seaworthy
had been withdrawn. There would be no streams of supplies, no backup, no
reinforcements: the Brigade was on its own’. The only way off the saucer-
shaped island, whose centre had been deliberately flooded, was by silencing the
batteries sited on its sand-dune rim, a costly and hazardous operation.
In ‘normal’ circumstances ‘man proposes, God disposes'. In battle it is the
other way around, ‘God’, in the form of the higher command, may propose the
strategy, but the outcome will ultimately depend upon what someone called the
most exclusive club in the world: the relatively small number of those who do
the actual fighting. The Royal Marines Commandos occupy a special corner of
that club. This is a fascinating account of the second part of one marine's very
busy war in that company.
GLOSSARY
Anti-aircraft, from early signaller’s spelling code for
radio or telephone – e.g. ‘A’ for Ack, ‘B’ for Beer, ‘C for
Ack-ack
Charlie, etc., and was applied to both the guns and to the
bursting shells.
Advanced Dressing Station – the next stop for a casualty
ADS
after he had been ‘patched up’ at his Unit’s RAP (qv).
AMGOT Allied Military Government of Occupied Territories
Armoured Vehicle, Royal Engineers, basically a
Churchill heavy tank but specifically adapted for
attacking reinforced concrete fortifications. Its primary
AVRE
armament was a 290mm spigot mortar which hurled a
40-pound missile, known as a ‘flying dustbin’, a distance
of some 80 yards.
AWOL Absent Without Official Leave.
A six-foot length of 2½ inch diameter steel tubing
Bangalore packed with explosive, used for blowing a gap in barbed
Torpedo wire and detonating mines. Two or more could be fixed
together and pushed forward to deal with broad defences.
Metal container, such as a biscuit tin, partially filled with
Benghazi sand which would be partially filled with sand which
Cooker would be doused with petrol and set alight to heat water
for a ‘brew up’ (qv).
A wound that was severe enough to get a serviceman
Blighty one sent back to the UK – or Blighty, a corruption of the
Hindi word bilayati, meaning foreign.
A Light Machine Gun (LMG) named from the first two
letters of the Czechoslovakian town Brno where it
Bren (Gun)
originated and Enfield where it was later manufactured –
0.303 inch/7.65mm calibre.
1. Make a brew of tea. 2. A tank bursting into flames
Brew-up
after being hit by a shell.
Common name for a Landing Vehicle Tracked, (LVT)
Buffalo
qv.
Been killed. Originating in the RAF, as the medical
Burton (Gone
centre for new intakes in Blackpool was set up in the
for a …)
former premises of Burton the Tailor.
Naval term for ‘rumour’, hence buzzmonger, one who
Buzz
spreads them.
Casualty Clearing Station – the primary function of
CCS which was to ensure that all casualties were fully
documented.
‘Composite’. The standard Field Rations of WWII. All
the creature needs for fourteen Service Personnel for one
day – tinned food, cigarettes (seven per person per day),
Compo
confectionery and toilet paper – were packed in stout
hardboard boxes and labelled ‘A’ to ‘E’, according to the
food content.
Continuous Service. The usual name for a ‘regular’
CS
Royal Marine as opposed to an HO (qv).
The day on which any planned military operation was to
D-Day be initiated, now synonymous with 6 June 1944 – the
biggest one of WWII.
Any area which lay below the line of enemy small arms
Dead ground
fire (qv) and was therefore safe from that form of attack.
Washing clothes – in the Indian Army a dhobi was a
Dhobying
washerwoman.
Identity discs, two in number and of different shapes,
stamped with the bearer’s Name, Regimental Number
and Religion. All Service personnel were required to
Dog Tags
wear them around their necks and, if killed, one was
snipped off for the records, while the other would
identify the dead man.
Dripping Naval term for grumbling, hence Dripper.
Amphibious wheeled vehicle, being the factory coding
of the manufacturer, General Motors, D=1942,
DUKW (Duck)
U=Amphibious, K=all-wheel drive, W=dual rear axles;
naturally, they were known as ‘ducks’.
German gun of 88mm calibre, originally designed as an
anti-aircraft weapon but quickly to become their most
Eighty-eight
effective general artillery piece – most especially as an
SP (qv).