D-Day Beach Force E-Book

David Rogers

• Herausgeber: The History Press
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2011

Beschreibung

The British Beach Groups were a combined force of men stationed on the Normandy Beaches from the initial landing until the last unit was disbanded a few weeks after D-Day. They performed many vital roles during the assault, including: arranging and controlling the movement of all personnel and vehicles from landing craft to inland assembly areas; moving stores from ship's holds to dumps in the beach maintenance areas; developing and organising the beaches and beach maintenance areas for defence, movement and administration, including the evacuation of casualties and the recovery vehicles; providing a beach signal organisation; organising the removal and repatriation of casualties, prisoners of war and salvaged equipment; creating dumps to hold the petrol, ammunition, rations etc. that were being landed; and establishing assembly areas for arriving personnel and their vehicles. This book explores how this often-forgotten unit were the first to arrive and the last to leave one of history's greatest military operations and how their behind-the-scenes action saved lives and were essential for the success of the landings.

Leseprobe

CONTENTS

Preface

Acknowledgements

Introduction

1. Secret Preparations

2. D-Day-5 to D-Day

3. D-Day and Beyond

4. Beach Defences and Clearance

5. Sword Beach and Beach Groups 5 & 6

6. Juno Beach and Beach Groups 7 & 8

7. Gold Beach and Beach Groups 9 & 10

8. The Aftermath

Appendix

Glossary

Bibliography

Dedicated to all of the men who landed on D-Day and maintained the beaches under difficult conditions to ensure that essential stores, ammunition and medical care were ready for the invading troops.

PREFACE

Much is known about many of the units connected with the Second World War. There have been films, documentaries and books concerning campaigns, armed services units, battles and military figures. Disappointingly, there is not an account of the formations collectively known as the ‘Beach Groups’ which were stationed on the Normandy beaches from 6 June 1944 until disbanded many weeks later. Their role is summed up by the Royal Naval Commandos’ maxim ‘first in last out’, but while they were certainly ‘first in’ the latter part seemed more vague. The mammoth tasks faced by these soldiers were complex and dangerous, especially against an enemy which was determined to push the Allied invasion forces back into the sea. Churchill remarked:

Unless we can land overwhelming forces and beat the Nazis in battle in France, Hitler will never be defeated.

The shoulder patch of the combined services in the Beach Groups. Members of the REME, RASC and RAMC also displayed this badge.

Initially, the Royal Navy undertook the naval phase of the D-Day landings, known as Operation Neptune, and once complete the scene was set for the invasion. Such was the Beach Group workload that on one beach they were credited with the movement of stores equal to 10 tonnes for each man, whilst medical teams cared for the evacuation of casualties and engineers covered a multitude of tasks including clearing wrecked or drowned vehicles and beach defences such as barbed wire and land mines.

All Beach Groups were identified by their circular shoulder badge, which had a fouled anchor in the centre on a blue background surrounded by a red ring. Their steel helmets had a 2in white-painted band identifying them as Beach Group members. Principal Beach Masters wore blue-painted steel helmets along with a red scarf and also carried a walking stick. Even under such stress and frantic activity they managed to introduce some individuality.

There were approximately 75,000 men, along with their heavy kit and vehicles, involved in Beach Group activities, which was carefully orchestrated by planners to an exact schedule, with on-site alterations by commanders on the beaches.

The landing of vast amounts of war materiel on to Omaha Beach, Normandy. (© US Government. Public domain)

A BBC correspondent, Colin Wells, summed up his feelings of the beach landings in an article titled ‘What the fighting man felt as he approached Hitler’s wall’:

This is the day and this is the hour. The sky is lightening, lightening over the coast of Europe as we go in… the whole sea is a glittering expanse of green with white crests everywhere… The sun is going down. It’s almost like an omen the way it’s suddenly come out just as we were going in. The whole sky is bright. The sea is a glittering mass of these craft of every kind, moving across it, and the great battleships in the background blazing away… You can’t imagine anything like this march of ships, just marching in line, like soldiers marching in line, a purpose shared by many hundreds of thousands of fighting men, who are going to the coast of Europe to do the biggest job they’ve ever had to do… I can’t record any more now. The time has come for me to step off on that shore – AND IT’S A GREAT DAY…

General Dwight David ‘Ike’ Eisenhower, Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force, issued the following prior to D-Day:

Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force!

You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you. In company with our brave Allies and brothers-in-arms on other Fronts, you will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world.

Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped and battle hardened. He will fight savagely.

But this is the year 1944! Much has happened since the Nazi triumphs of 1940–41. The United Nations have inflicted upon the Germans great defeats, in open battle, man-to-man. Our air offensive has seriously reduced their strength in the air and their capacity to wage war on the ground. Our Home Fronts have given us an overwhelming superiority in weapons and munitions of war, and placed at our disposal great reserves of trained fighting men. The tide has turned! The free men of the world are marching together to Victory!

I have full confidence in your courage and devotion to duty and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full Victory!

Good luck! And let us beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking.

SIGNED: Dwight D. Eisenhower

The photographs throughout the book are mainly from the personal collection of Joseph Rogers, which has been built up over many years. Some photographs have been donated to this archive by contacts only too happy to share these pictures with a wider audience. The photograph on p.8 is of a typical scene encountered across all of the British and American beaches, and shows the vast numbers of ships, vehicles and men involved in the D-Day landings. This particular photograph is of Omaha Beach, used by American forces during the invasion, as the sightlines and terrain afforded a better vantage point from which to show the scale of activity on each of the invasion beaches.

Every endeavour has been made to ensure that photographs comply with copyright regulations. The authors are mindful that Crown copyright of photographs taken prior to 1 June 1957 have a copyright of fifty years from the end of the calendar year in which the photographs were taken (schedule 7, paragraph 30 of the 1956 Copyright Act).

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thanks are offered to everyone who has contributed to the pool of information on which this book is based. Although desirable, it is impossible to thank everyone for their kindness. We are most grateful for their freely given time and memories. Many museum archivists and curators have also freely given their time. The limited lifespan of the Beach Groups led to fragmented records scattered throughout many documents. The patience shown by everyone who helped is much appreciated. Finally, the many phone calls with former soldiers will only be worth the effort from them once this record is made permanent, for it is their story.

Thanks are also due to Ted Neville of Cody Images and Judy Booth, Brian Baxter, Malcolm Heppolette and Colonel Mike Sibbons of the REME Museum of Technology for helpful discussions and permission to use some of the photographs.

INTRODUCTION

The withdrawal from mainland Europe at Dunkirk resulted in the British Army losing most of its vehicles and equipment. Furthermore, for some years after Dunkirk the priority was the defence of Britain itself. Set against this backdrop, the army slowly rebuilt its equipment, fighting force and morale balanced against the needs and requirements in the other theatres of war. There were many other priorities including the conflict in the Middle East and the Far East, the shipment of arms to Russia, aid for occupied countries and the needs of the RAF and Royal Navy to name but a few.

The proposed seaborne invasion on to the Normandy beaches required the country to rise to the challenge of producing weapons, vehicles, ammunition, spare parts and other essential stores; training and equipping the soldiers; and many other tasks. Arguably the main problem was the question of what would be required to ensure a successful bridgehead on French soil. As one might expect, planning was extensive; not only in establishing an inventory of the needs and wants of the invasion force, but also the organisational infrastructure able to cope as the situation developed. For example, landing craft were in short supply and the type of craft available for the mission determined that some units could not land en masse and were sent in small groups, described by the army as ‘echelons’. Such was the detailed planning that those craft earmarked to transport heavy vehicles were loaded and their weights carefully checked.

Another aspect of the planning process was to evaluate the extent of the German defences on the beaches and determine how these were to be overcome in a timely manner. A vital part of the Normandy landings was the ability of the soldiers to cross unimpeded over the beaches with the minimum delay, especially as they were heavily laden. Stabilising the beaches, organising communications and the management of vast quantities of essential stores and ammunition was therefore essential. Curiously, this aspect of the Normandy landings has hitherto received scant attention.

The 79th Armoured Division was established and equipped with special armoured assault vehicles as part of the preparations for the Normandy landings. These vehicles were essential to the task of clearing the beaches of German defences and assisting the incoming troops and vehicles on their way into mainland France. Known by several unofficial names, the unit was often referred to as ‘Hobart’s Funnies’ after Major General Sir Percy Cleghorn Stanley Hobart. General Hobart, who masterminded this force, actually retired from the army prior to 1939 and was recalled to active service as he was an outstanding tank officer. The 79th Armoured Division comprised, at least in part, of heavy tracked vehicles along with some heavy recovery vehicles. Such were the tight timescales for the landings that there would have been complete chaos were the assault troops delayed by any number of factors, primarily enemy fire, during the first few hours of the invasion.

The heavy and stormy sea on the day added to the already difficult conditions. As planned, the Royal Navy provided support fire cover as part of Operation Neptune, as well as much needed help with the flotilla. This assistance on the beaches was provided by the newly formed Beach Groups, which comprised of a mixed force of army, navy and air force personnel, and two Beach Groups were allocated to each of the three beaches under British command. Whilst most of the Beach Group organisation was well thought through prior to the landings, it was noted later that the whole of the Beach Group signals section was scheduled to land from one craft. This would have left the invasion forces very vulnerable had anything happened to that vessel, but fortunately the signal section landed on the beach with no problems.

As early as the end of 1942, the Chief of Combined Operations (Louis Mountbatten, later 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma) set out the function of the Beach Groups. They were:

• Arrange and control the movement of all personnel and vehicles from landing craft to inland assembly areas.

• Move stores from ships’ holds and craft to dumps in the beach maintenance areas.

• Develop and organise the beaches and beach maintenance area in regard to defence, movement and administration, including the evacuation of casualties and the recovery of vehicles.

• Provide a beach signal organisation.

• The removal to the UK of casualties, prisoners of war and salvaged equipment.

• The creation of dumps to hold the petrol, ammunition and rations that were being landed.

• Assembly areas for the arriving personnel and their vehicles.

Training and co-ordination of the fledgling Beach Groups started shortly after the above remit was determined. Whilst in hindsight it might look as if there was adequate time to prepare the relevant personnel, men from the army, navy and air force could only be drafted into the units over a period of several months. The whole force was equivalent to a battalion and such a large number of troops could not be spared from other duties without a strategy of redeployment to back-fill their duties. Also, adequate training facilities were required.

A sketch of the British assault beaches. It shows that the total seafront was 24 miles, a large area of beach to control and maintain. (Author)

Unfortunately, records do not exist of any inter-service assessments or of the workings and shortcomings of the Beach Groups, except in the individual branches of the three main armed services, which are not comprehensive. Additionally, it is possible that the formal documentation is, at least in part, unreliable, as two Beach Groups are found to claim ‘ownership’ of the same unit.

General of the army Omar Nelson Bradley, one of the main US Army field commanders in North Africa and Europe during the Second World War, commented at the time:

… you have got to remember that just as soon as we land this business becomes primarily a business of build-up. For you can always force an invasion but you cannot always make it stick…

The assault phase of Operation Neptune and the complexity of the naval bombardment. (Author)

The Beach Groups were created as units responsible for beach maintenance during and after the Normandy landings and so, essentially, their work was complete when the beaches were no longer being worked or when normal organisation of supply and movement was established. Operation Neptune, the code name for the landings, officially ended on 30 June 1944. In practice at least, some of the Beach Groups continued to work in July and were not officially disbanded until August.

The numbers of troops and the amount of equipment landed on these beaches on D-Day alone was staggering. There were 83,115 British and Canadian troops landed on the 6 June 1944; 24,970 on Gold Beach, 21,400 on Juno Beach and 28,845 on Sword Beach. They were supported by 2,395 aircraft and 867 gliders of the RAF and USAAF. Operation Neptune involved 6,939 ships, including 4,126 landing craft, 736 ancillary craft and 864 merchant vessels. By D-Day+5, the total number of troops landed was 326,547, with 54,186 vehicles and 104,428 tons of supplies also landed in the same time frame.

About 5 per cent of vehicles reaching the Normandy shores were drowned, 1 per cent of which was due to poor or insufficient waterproofing. Most of these vehicles were either discharged from the landing craft into deep water and the engines became waterlogged, or they were dropped into underwater shell craters. Shell craters were a hazard that could not be anticipated, located nor predicted.

Many of the exploits of these troops are well documented. For example, the initial assault forces are known and their activities throughout D-Day and subsequent days and weeks appear on many websites and in many books and films. Yet the activities of those soldiers whose orders were to stay on the beaches and facilitate the landing and onward deployment of troops and equipment is less well known and not at all well documented. This is their story.

CHAPTER 1

SECRET PREPARATIONS

The story of the D-Day landings actually began in 1942 and the overall plan would have been known to just a few high-ranking officers. Logically, for an operation such as the Normandy landings there needed to be:

• Sea support, both in terms of transportation for all soldiers, stores, ammunition, fuel, and vehicles, and also off-shore bombardment.

• A force capable of landing on the beaches and fighting into the interior.

• Air support capable of keeping enemy aircraft out of the area.

• A facilitation team comprising a multi-disciplinary force pulled together from across the services whose remit was to clear the beaches and provide/facilitate troop movements from ships to the French interior.

Every county of mainland Britain was pressed into service. Tank manoeuvres in the remote moorland of Yorkshire, ’swimming tank’ training in Norfolk and Beach Group training in Scotland to name but three. Arguably the troops undergoing the training would have been unaware of their own objective and of the other parts of the overall plan.

Different timescales were needed for the different aspects of the invasion force. With over 20 miles of beach to clear and maintain, as well as the task of facilitating troop landings, the Beach Groups were deployed across all three British beaches.

The Beach Groups were multi-disciplinary forces of approximately 3,000 men under the command of a lieutenant colonel. Initially, the Beach Groups were to be of 120 or so men within a larger unit; however, these plans were changed over time. There were six Beach Groups deployed over the three British beaches of Gold, Juno and Sword, with a further two groups held in reserve. All six groups had a core battalion of infantry with a mixture of RAF, navy and other army servicemen. Whilst the groups performed many common tasks, the terrain and problems encountered over such a large beach area also led to specific, localised problems.

Initially, the groups were a loosely knit formation, although over time they formed an effective body of soldiers. An infantry battalion formed the core of each group, which was necessary to clear pockets of enemy soldiers still fighting after the initial assault, and their expected role was as a pool of soldiers which could be deployed in working parties for the specialist units, such as wreckage clearance, removing beach defences and salvaging waterlogged vehicles. In most cases they were commanded by a colonel, who was the commanding officer of the core infantry battalion.

Whilst the Beach Groups worked across the whole stretch of beach, they were stationed in specific sectors. (Author)

Whilst most terms in the diagram above are self explanatory, it is worth explaining the use of the term ‘brick’, in this case 36 Beach Brick. The term was used for several landings after the North Africa campaign, but appears to have its origins in much earlier conflicts. Even in the 1940s this term appears to be almost an obsolete designation. The 36 Beach Brick consisted of soldiers from the newly formed 18th Battalion of the Durham Light Infantry (DLI) following their tour of the Middle East. Yet, even though involvement in the Normandy landings was pivotal to the war effort, the official records of the DLI only record the following account about this activity:

… the 18th Battalion was the second battalion to use this designation during World War II. It was raised at the infantry depot at Geneifa, North Africa in March 1943, largely from convalescents and details of the 6th, 8th and 9th Battalions in Egypt. Many officers came from other regiments. They were to become the principal unit for an amphibious Beach Group charged with relieving the assault troops and defending and maintaining the beach-head until the more permanent base installations arrived to take over. After landings at Salerno and Anzio some companies became part of the 36th Beach Group. After coming back to England in 1944 the Battalion took part in the Normandy bridge-head. Later the Battalion moved to Boulogne and Calais where it operated transit camps. The unit was disbanded at Calais in August 1945…

The commanding officer was Lieutenant Colonel Ralston (Highland Light Infantry), later succeeded in command by Major, later Lieutenant Colonel Cameron. Strictly speaking, this battalion was not a ‘pure’ DLI unit raised from within a county because of the diverse regiments from which the men originated.

A movement order shows that the following units were listed as members of the 36 Beach Brick:

503rd Field Coy

Mechanical Equipment Company

REME detachment

HQ 100th HAA Regiment, Royal Artillery

Provost detachment

305th HAA Battery, Royal Artillery

RAMC

328th Light Ack Ack Battery

DID

Ordnance detachment

FMC

15th FI RAF unit

All of these different units worked together and were welded into one homogeneous command. This battalion was never in one location for any length of time and appears to have had several moves, eventually being located at the Kabrit training centre in Egypt.

The theme of establishing mine and enemy free beaches with relevant engineers, stores, medical facilities and canteens was common to all groups. As one might imagine there were many obstacles, including the German defences, waterlogged and broken down vehicles, grounded or broken landing craft, as well as having to ensure that the sick and wounded were cared for.

Interestingly, British vehicles used petrol engines during the war years in large quantities, especially so when the troops moved further into France. Vehicle parks and marshalling yards were organised for broken or waterlogged vehicles, and field engineering workshops staffed by Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineering (REME) personnel were set up to service the vehicles. Many vehicles were offloaded from landing craft in water so deep that the waterlogged vehicles could not be driven on to the beaches, thus becoming a hazard to the next wave of landing craft. Priority was therefore given to ensure that these vehicles were towed off the shoreline as quickly as possible. Soft sand was also a problem for heavier vehicles, requiring the relevant engineers to lay a ‘carpet’ over the sand.

Medical teams attached to the Beach Groups set up field hospitals where they could deal with the seasick and soldiers wounded in battle. Of course these units needed doctors, nurses, orderlies and stretcher bearers working with good communications to allow the more serious casualties to be prioritised.

Communications were of vital importance; not only was there a need to co-ordinate the activities between the land-based units, there was also the need for the attached navy personnel to communicate with the various command ships offloading fresh troops, vehicles and supplies. These vessels also took the wounded back to England and so the communications details needed to liaise with the medical units. Some navy personnel also acted as forward observers for the ship-based gunnery officers.

Other vital tasks included mine clearance, performed by the Royal Engineers, and the control of the heavy flow of traffic and enemy prisoners by the Military Police.

There were no field canteens during the first few days after D-Day and so every soldier used his own rations. Beach Group personnel carried sufficient supplies for themselves to last a number of days. In the midst of many scenes of carnage there was one incident involving a soldier who acquired several tins of soup which he placed in his battledress tunic. Unfortunately some of the soup leaked from its container and, thinking that he was wounded, the soldier reported to the first aid post, only to be embarrassed when informed that he was not injured in any way.

Time was against the Allies as there was less than one year to set up such a diverse force, with the three different services bringing with them their own way of organisation and working. For example, the navy had a strong sense of tradition and command, the RAF had their squadron formations and the army had their regimental structure; yet they were ordered to work together with a single command structure. There would doubtless have been minor conflicts and periods of confusion.

The six Beach Groups were numbered 5–10 inclusive. The table below shows commanders, regiments and Beach Group number:

Beach Group

Regiment

Commander

5

5th King’s

Lt Col B.H.V. Broad

6

1st Buckinghamshire

Lt Col R. Sale

7

7th King’s (Irish)

Lt Col W.J. Humphrey

8

5th Royal Berkshire

Lt Col A.L. Taffs

9

2nd Hertfordshire

Lt Col J.R. Harper

10

6th Border

Lt Col Cooper

Beach Groups 5 and 6 went through joint training from the autumn of 1943 at Gailes Camp, located some 2 miles north of Troon, near Irving on the west coast of Scotland. These two groups were eventually located on two sectors of Sword Beach, through which most of the traffic passed on its way to the French interior, and for this reason the two Groups were trained together.

Initial training for Beach Group 7 followed that of Groups 5 and 6, although a short while into the training the emphasis was changed to amphibious training. Beach Group 8 was instructed in August 1943 prior to posting to Gailes Camp, and Groups 9 and 10 joined the rest of the Beach Group personnel at Gailes in September of that year. The personnel continued to be instructed well out of sight at the secret training camp, close to a beach on which to conduct manoeuvres. Meanwhile, planning personnel were arranging transportation to the embarkation ports and relevant landing craft.

The RAF involvement in the Beach Groups was no less significant than any of the other units. Some of their orders were (83 Group Administrative Instructions for Operation Overlord, Section 107, Disembarkation and Beach Organisation):

• Three RAF Beach Squadrons, Nos 1, 2 and 4 RAF Beach Squadrons, will work with the Army Beach Organisation to supervise the discharge of RAF personnel, vehicles and stores, and movement to the forward area of all units.

• The Beach Squadrons will be dressed in blue battle dress and wear red brassards on the right arm.

• Personnel and vehicles will pass across the beaches in accordance with sign-posted instructions and will proceed through the personnel and MT Transit Area to the RAF Section of the Army Assembly Area. Thence they will proceed to their overseas location on the instructions of the Beach Squadron representative. Route directions to their location will be provided by 83rd Police Unit parties at the exits [sic] of Assembly Areas.

Each Beach Group was composed of an RAF Beach Squadron and an RAF Beach Balloon Squadron in addition to those units already mentioned. The table below shows the RAF involvement in the Beach Groups:

Sword

Juno

Gold

976th RAF Beach Balloon Squadron (50th & 53rd BB Flights)

974th RAF Beach Balloon Squadron (51st & 52nd BB Flights)

980th RAF Beach Balloon Squadron (54th & 55th BB Flights)

1st RAF Beach Squadron (101st & 102nd Beach Flights)

2nd RAF Beach Squadron (103rd & 104th Beach Flights)

4th RAF Beach Squadron(107th & 108th Beach Flights)

Both the RAF Beach and Beach Balloon squadrons were composed of a headquarters and two beach flights, so that the headquarters could work with the Beach Sub Area headquarters and each beach flight could be attached to one of the two army Beach Groups. Initially under the command of No.83 Group, Second Tactical Air Force, command passed on to No.85 (Base) Group once it became established.

Preparations to integrate RAF personnel with other soldiers of the Beach Groups started on 5 July 1943, when 76th RAF Beach Unit moved from West Kirby to Gailes Camp and was attached to Beach Group 7 for training. Later, on 20 July, the headquarters, landing, equipment and explosives sections of 76th RAF Beach Unit moved to Monkton Camp, near Prestwick, Ayr. The following month, on 17 August, 76th RAF Beach Unit became 103rd RAF Beach Section and 77th RAF Beach Unit became 104th RAF Beach Section.

Canadian engineers built Fort Henry in Studland Bay in 1943, after which it was used for training exercises in preparation for D-Day, most notably in October 1943 when the whole of 2nd RAF Beach Unit took part in the ‘Pirate’ practice landings. At the end of October, 103rd Beach Section moved from Bushfield Camp to Wimborne.

Another preparation exercise for D-Day, Operation Smash, took place on 4 April 1944 on the Studland Peninsula, watched by King George VI, Winston Churchill, General Eisenhower and General Montgomery. This exercise involved rocket attacks and live ammunition, and was so realistic that sadly six men drowned when their Valentine semi-submersible tank sunk. Incidentally, Fort Henry is now owned by the National Trust and can be visited.

Number 103 RAF Beach Section went to No.1 RAF Regiment Depot at Grantham, Lincolnshire, for a battle inoculation course on 2 December 1943, returning to Wimborne on 15 December. There followed a series of operations intended to provide an experience of the expected conditions, and this also allowed the various units forming the Beach Groups to knit together.

RAF specialists were drafted into both the RAF Beach Units, part of the RAF Beach Squadron, and the Beach Balloon Units, reporting to the army’s anti-aircraft defence commander. These separate formations drew their personnel from different branches of the RAF and each performed specialist functions within the Beach Groups. Whilst there were differences in their roles, they had the common goal of ensuring safety for the incoming troops on their way into France by helping to prevent low-level air attack.

The command structure of the RAF Beach Balloon Squadrons evolved over time, as did the RAF Beach Squadrons. The RAF Beach Balloon Units attached to the Army Beach Groups were reformed: the two Beach Balloon Units associated with each Army Beach Sub Area were renamed Beach Balloon Flights and, with the addition of a squadron headquarters, formed a Beach Balloon Squadron. Soon after this reorganisation, control of the Beach Balloon Squadrons passed from RAF Balloon Command to 2nd Tactical Air Force.

The Beach Balloon Squadrons landed in Normandy were:

• 976th RAF Beach Balloon Squadron, consisting of 50th and 53rd Beach Balloon Flights and working alongside the 1st RAF Beach Squadron in 101 Beach Sub Area (Sword).

• 974th RAF Beach Balloon Squadron, consisting of 51st and 52nd Beach Balloon Flights and working alongside the 2nd RAF Beach Squadron in 102 Beach Sub Area (Juno).

• 980th RAF Beach Balloon Squadron, consisting of 54th and 55th Beach Balloon Flights and working alongside the 4th RAF Beach Squadron in 104 Beach Sub Area (Gold).

RAF personnel were also involved in an engineering company in the guise of 140th Maintenance Section. Led by Squadron Leader Ade, the unit comprised of three NCOs and nine airmen. They were brought up to full strength in August 1943 at 23 PTC Station in Hadera, Palestine and joined 8 Beach Brick.

Members of the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) were also drafted into the Beach Groups. The anticipated needs included:

• The establishment of a system of treatment and dispersal of casualties from the fighting areas, with eventual evacuation to Britain.

• The incorporation of medical services into the rearward organisation, similar to that of the communications unit, at least for the initial few weeks of Operation Overlord.

• Forward dressing stations (FDS) and field surgery units (FSU). These were allocated to each of the six Beach Groups forming an advanced surgical centre, comprising of one officer and fifteen men.

• The heavy section of the field dressing station joined with the field surgery unit to form an advanced surgical centre (ASC). This section was to be comprised of seventy to eighty personnel with approximately thirty being attached to the troops. The centre would have the personnel to keep the essential services operational without any external assistance, including:

• Several cooks, perhaps six or more from the Army Catering Corps.

• Joiners to erect cover and maintain equipment.

• A full Royal Army Medical Corps medical team.

• Nursing orderlies, stretcher bearers, hygiene men, water supply staff etc.

• Drivers for supplies and ambulance work from the Royal Army Service Corps (RASC).

• Support vehicles such as:

• Ambulances, most probably two-berth Austins

• 10cwt tracked vehicles, perhaps Weasels

• 2.5-ton 6x6 general-purpose vehicles

• Amphibious vehicles (DUKWs)

• Jeeps

Obviously the make-up of the vehicles varied with the medical units, depending on the terrain of the beach locations. The overriding concern was the flow of casualties through the dressing stations and surgical centres, and the medical services were to disembark on to the beaches just after the assault troops. Planning to this fine detail with heavy seas and the numbers of troops and support vessels would prove to be extremely difficult.

The annals of Beach Group 8 record the establishment of medical support on D-Day itself:

… within one hour of landing, the HQ was established in a concrete shelter marked by the China Dragon flag, the emblem of the Berkshire Regiment. The medical officer, Captain L’etang with ten men has set up a first aid post in the dunes. It was the first medical station to operate and soon the battalion stretcher bearers were bringing in wounded from up to a mile away…

Planning prior to D-Day was a vital part of this success. The work of this unit and indeed that of the rest of the Medical Corps has largely gone unnoticed. Arguably the best description of the preparations for medical services on the beaches appears in the book written by F.A.E. Crew, FRS:

… in order to meet the requirements of the Beach Groups it was essential that its medical component should consist of units sufficiently simple in composition and light in equipment that they could be easily landed and rapidly established within a short time of the opening assault. On the other hand, it was no less necessary that they should be capable of such a measure of first aid treatment, including life-saving surgery, as would permit immediate evacuation of the majority of casualties with a degree of safety under conditions in which the possibilities for further treatment during the voyage to the United Kingdom would be slight. An additional requirement was that these units should possess facilities for the retention of those casualties, now estimated at 5% of the total unfit for evacuation. Two Casualty Clearing Stations (CCSs) belonging to the Assault Corp were due to land on the second tide of the first day of operations but it appeared probable that they would not be in a position to receive patients until the following day at the earliest. In the meantime, Beach Groups had to be supplied with staff and capacity for emergency and the means of retaining cases after operation or in need of resuscitation…

An Austin ambulance, which could carry two wounded soldiers on stretchers. Picture taken by Colin Large. (© Colin Large. Reproduced with permission)

The Beach Group medical provision was deemed a success, so much so that Army Council Instructions set the establishment for a Beach Medical RAMC unit, based on the Beach Group experiences. For those less familiar with the term ‘establishment’, this is the number of disciplines the troops had in each unit. For example, the number of joiners needed to erect tents, or the number of stretcher bearers, medical orderlies and surgeons that were needed.

A medical unit staffed by Royal Navy medics, who were given khaki uniforms and went on to serve in the European campaign with the army. Picture supplied by R. Pakes. (© R. Pakes. Reproduced with permission)