Area Seven

GOLD Beach Walk: 50th Division on D-Day

HISTORICAL SECTION

The 50th (Northumbrian) Division that was destined to land on GOLD Beach on 6 June 1944 was unlike the other British and Canadian formations involved in the landings that day. A pre-war Territorial formation, it had fought in France in 1940 like the 3rd Division, but instead of remaining in the UK the division had gone to North Africa and taken part in the campaign there, and later in Tunisia. In 1943 it fought in Sicily, and by this time it was considered a ‘veteran’ division. As winter approached in Italy, the 8th Army Commander, Bernard Montgomery,was appointed to command the newly formed 21st Army Group and given orders to prepare for the invasion of France. He was given a free hand to select units in Italy to take back to the UK with him, and one of those was the 50th Division. They began arriving back home in November 1943, as the majority of men had been away fighting for two or more years. Widespread leave was granted and then the division knuckled down to invasion training for the next six months in preparation for D-Day.

The landings at Gold Beach on D-Day.

Major General Douglas Alexander Graham, 50th (Northumbrian) Division.

The division at this time was commanded by Major General Douglas Alexander Graham. Graham was a regular officer whose service went back to before the First World War. He had been wounded in October 1914 while serving with the 1st Scottish Rifles and was rescued by one of his men, Private Henry May, who was later awarded a Victoria Cross for his bravery. He ended the war a decorated brigade major, and by the outbreak of the next war was commanding a battalion of his old regiment. By 1943 he was a divisional commander, and led the 56th (London) Division in the landings at Salerno, before returning to the United Kingdom to take command of 50th Division for Normandy. He was the only British divisional commander on D-Day who had previously taken part in an amphibious operation, and no doubt this was one of the reasons his formation was chosen to lead the assault on GOLD Beach. On the eve of the operation he sent a message to all his men, part of which read,

much has been asked of you in the past and great have been your achievements, but this will be the greatest adventure of all. It will add yet another fine chapter to your already long and distinguished record – the grandest chapter of all.¹

Major General D.A. Graham, commanding 50th Division on D-Day, talking to Montgomery.

The area the division was to assault was the widest British and Commonwealth beachhead on D-Day, and second only to OMAHA Beach in terms of the distance between the flanks of the landing. It was subdivided into two smaller beaches: Jig Beach at Asnelles and King Beach at Ver-sur-Mer. Each of these was divided in two with sectors known as Green and Red. The division’s overall objective was to land in the GOLD Beach area, secure a bridgehead then push inland to Bayeux and cut the Bayeux – Caen road at the village of St Léger. On its left flank it would link up with the 3rd Canadian Division landing on JUNO Beach, and on the right, some of its units would push on and take the coastal town of Arromanches, where it was planned to built an artificial harbour.

The defences on King Sector, GOLD Beach.

The western sector at Asnelles, was known as Jig Beach. The initial landing was planned here for 0725 on 6 June with the 1st Bn Hampshire Regiment coming in on Jig Green and 1st Bn Dorsetshire Regiment on Jig Red; both units being from Brigadier Sir Alexander Stanier’s 231 Brigade of 50th Division. The final unit in the Brigade – 2nd Bn Devonshire Regiment – was in reserve. Supporting them, aside from the overall pre-D-Day bombardment, were the 90th (City of London) and 147th (Essex Yeomanry) Field Regiments Royal Artillery. These units was equipped with Sextons, self-propelled 25-pounder field guns. As with many D-Day sectors, this unit was detailed to fire a ‘run-in shoot’ firing their guns from the Landing Craft as they made the final approach to the beach. In the first wave was engineer support from AVREs of 82nd Assault Regiment Royal Engineers and mine clearance would be done by B Squadron Westminster Dragoons, equipped with Sherman Flail tanks. Tank support was from the Sherman DD tanks of the Sherwood Rangers with B Squadron accompanying the 1st Hampshires and C the 1st Dorsets.

The Churchill AVREs in the first wave on Jig Green were from 82nd Assault Regiment Royal Engineers. They had three teams, numbered one to three, each of them comprising varying types of Churchill AVREs from the Assault Squadron and Flails from the Westminster Dragoons. No. 1 Team landed close to a large and untouched German bunker, inside of which was an 88mm firing down the beach. It immediately opened up on the Churchills on the beach, and among the casualties was Major Harold Elphinstone, a 34-year-old Cambridge graduate whose father was Canon Emeritus of Wakefield Cathedral. Commanding the Assault Squadron he was leading by example, and was fully exposed in the turret of his tank. He died in one of the early bursts of fire from the beach defences. Elsewhere, tanks fell to shell fire and also mines on the beaches but as the infantry landed, as the minefields were cleared, gradually the surviving vehicles of each team got off the beach.

The defences on Jig Green Sector, GOLD Beach.

‘B’ Squadron of the Westminster Dragoons approached Jig Green in six LCTs containing the teams of Sherman Flail tanks. The sea, being rough off the beach, caused one LCT to falter and then it came under fire putting it out of action and unable to discharge the tanks. The other five beached and the Sherman’s touched down at half-tide, and, again because of the rough seas, not always in exactly the place planned. Dropping into nearly 5ft of water, they found that despite the pre-D-Day bombardment they were confronted with intact belts of wire, minefields and beach obstacles, and more importantly all the defence bunkers seemed to be in operation and already opening fire. The beach was, however, flat here and they began their task of flailing through the minefields and into Le Hamel itself. With the battle for the beach still going on, much of the German support had yet to be neutralised and one Sherman Flail was knocked out by an anti-tank gun as soon as it got into the village. At this point it was just a matter of waiting until the defences had been overrun and then continuing with the next phase of the advance.

Officers of the 1st Hampshires.

Behind the 82nd Assault Squadron the 1st Hampshires came in on their LCAs. As the AVREs had found, the beach defences were very much active and the battalion was about to pay the price for the failure of the pre-D-Day bombardment.

During the last half-mile enemy mortar and artillery fire, as well as small-arms fire, came down on the sea, but fortunately without much effect. Some of the landing craft were lost through striking the underwater obstacles which had been dug deep into the beach. These were stout wooden posts and pieces of steel rail about four feet high, with mines or explosive charges fixed to the top. The beach was thickly sown with these . . . The landing craft beached some thirty yards from the edge of the sea and the men leapt into the water; some were up to their armpits in the sea, others up to their thighs, and at once they came under concentrated small-arms fire, so that many were killed. There were casualties, too, as the craft, lightened as the men jumped out, became water borne again and were swept inshore by the sea, overrunning some of the wading soldiers. It was apparent that the assault of the beach was going to be more difficult than had been expected.²

The battalion landed with two companies in the first wave, and two in the second. The initial companies were landed slightly off target and had come under the heavy fire described in the regimental history. The first men ashore were from A Company,

landing in the thick of very heavy fire slighty east of their intended position, so that they could not get forward to deal with the enemy at Le Hamel East, nor could they get up the beach to make their own gaps through the mines and wire, which were very thoroughly covered by enemy fire. The left platoon got inland and dealt effectively with two pillboxes at the edge of Les Roquettes, while the other two tried to work their way towards Le Hamel, but they ran into such violent machine-gun and mortar fire from the village that they were pinned down.³

The Asylum at Asnelles.

High tide at Asnelles showing the beach defences and why there was no direct landing here.

C Company was on the right, closest to the large German 88mm bunker with its field of fire right down the beach. They lost all their officers in the first few minutes, along with many of the men, ‘C Company ... were caught on the beach ... and tried in vain to get up the beach to get into Le Hamel’.⁴ By this time the battalion’s commander, Lieutenant Colonel Nelson Smith, had been wounded for the third time. This final wound was so serious that he had to be evacuated. Normally, the Second in Command would have taken over, but as Major A.C.W. Martin DSO was still at sea, the commander of C Company, Major Warren, took over. It was a role he would resume for the rest of D-Day as Martin was killed by a sniper as soon as he disembarked from a landing craft later that morning. Major Warren reorganised the survivors and by lunchtime they were fighting their way along the lateral road just off the beach into Le Hamel. One of the key defence points was the so-called ‘Asylum’ on the front at Le Hamel, a hospital building which was proving a tough position to crack.

A knocked out Churchill AVRE on GOLD Beach.

‘B’ Company then advanced grimly on Le Hamel, but they were held up about fifty yards from the hospital by a torrent of fire. By good fortune an AVRE came down the road from Asnelles at this critical moment. This drove close to the hospital and fired a petard bomb which exploded with its typical violence. The enemy machine-gun fire was only checked for a second or so, however, and it was not until five rounds had been fired by the AVRE’s petard that ‘B’ Company was able to close with the hospital and silence this very obstinate and costly enemy position.⁵

As the fight for the Asylum was reaching its climax, the 88mm pillbox was silenced when 86th Field Regiment fired shells through the front aperture and another AVRE fired a Petard charge into the rear of the bunker, causing much damage and forcing the crew to surrender. By this time tank support had arrived from the Sherwood Rangers. The sea had been too rough to launch the DD tanks and the Shermans arrived late, but with the combination of small parties of infantry infiltrating inland, AVREs finally taking out the defences and the DDs giving tank support, the position at Jig Green was won and the advance inland could begin. But it had been costly. The battalion had lost its commander along with five other officers dead, and including the Colonel, eleven wound. Casualties in the ranks amounted to six sergeants, twelve corporals and 148 privates. These were the greatest casualties suffered to any single unit on any British and Commonwealth beach on D-Day.

On Jig Red the 1st Dorsets were destined to land in very different terrain to Jig Green. Here, at a location known as Les Roquettes, instead of a close lateral road and seaside villas, there were open fields and boggy ground beyond the beach, there was a track close to the coast but the main road was nearly a thousand yards away and aerial photographs showed it to be still under construction. Beyond the road was rising ground, with known gun positions that could potentially fire down onto the beach. On the beach itself were the usual Atlantic Wall defences and a variety of bunkers. On the right flank the defences relied heavily on minefields and barbed wire and due to the ‘wild’ nature of the ground the Germans had never built anything here, probably never expecting a landing at this point. In the first wave Nos 4, 5 and 6 Teams of 82nd Assault Squadron were the first to beach with Churchill AVREs and Flail tanks from the Westminster Dragoons. The initial response was not as intense as on Jig Green and the Flails quickly cleared the lanes to the road. Here bomb craters were filled by AVREs dropping fascines into them, but one tank was knocked out in the process. Close to No. 4, No. 5 Team lost two tanks on the beach due to the conditions and one Churchill equipped with a Bobin road-mat-laying fixture created a good route off the beach and through the boggy ground. A similar mat was laid on the left by No. 6 Team, and with the mine clearance done, the Sherman Flails engaged German machine guns beyond the beach.

German bunker that protected the beach where 1st Dorsets landed.

Between 0725 and 0730 the first troops from ‘A’ and ‘B’ Companies of the 1st Dorsets touched down on Jig Red. For this battalion it was the third time in eleven months they had made an amphibious landing under the eyes of the enemy.

By virtue of consideration of the tide, the Hampshires and ourselves claimed to be the first British troops to land on Normandy . . . The Battalion was actually put ashore slightly to the east of the appointed place . . . On the left ‘B’ Company had to swing right for some distance before reaching Les Roquettes, and on their way they suffered considerably from shell and mortar fire, machine-gun fire, and from mines. But the Company was ably led by Major Chilton across the minefields – he saw the need for advancing rapidly inland and away from the beaches . . . The enemy opposition so far had been mainly from shelling and mortaring, with some machine-gun fire and mines. Unfortunately the bombardment, naval and air, had done less damage than had been hoped for.⁶

Casualties getting off the beach and into the marshland had been heavy. In both assault companies the Company Sergeant Majors had been wounded and one of the most highly decorated men in the battalion, Sergeant W.J. Evans MM and Bar, had been killed. But despite this, things were going better for the Dorsets than their neighbours on Jig Green, where the battle was still audibly in full swing.

A view across the beach where 1st Dorsets landed on D-Day.

On the left flank landings were taking place on King Beach. Here units from 69 Brigade were detailed to land with the 5th Bn East Yorkshire Regiment on the left at La Rivière and 6th Bn Green Howards on the right in front of Ver-sur-Mer, with 7th Green Howards in the follow-up wave. The latter’s task was to push through Ver-sur-Mer and neutralise a German gun battery, WN-32, beyond. All units were then to continue to Crépon and push on beyond towards the Bayeux – Caen road. On this sector the final pre-H Hour bombardment consisted of not just aerial bombing but a huge amount of naval gunfire from the flotillas offshore, perhaps more intensive on one strip of defences than almost any other British beach on D-Day. Fire from nineteen Royal Navy ships, including 6in guns from HMS Belfast, dropped shells onto the bunkers and trenches and Brigadier F.Y.C. Knox, commanding 69 Brigade, watched from HMS Kingsmill as,

the landmarks on the coast soon became obliterated by vast clouds of dust and smoke rising from the coastal belt. The terrific pounding from cruisers, destroyers and small supporting craft as well as from aircraft rose to a crescendo immediately before H Hour, and very little enemy battery fire was directed at the larger ships now lying off shore.⁷

The 5th East Yorks, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel G.W. White, landed at 0725 and the LCAs put them down in the correct sector of the beach. On their left they immediately came under heavy fire and ‘D’ Company got pinned down by machine-gun fire and 88mm guns in the bunkers. Here the pre-H Hour bombardment had missed a small strip of defences which were now punishing the East Yorks closing up on the sea wall at La Rivière. The 88s also accounted for the AVREs from the Assault Regiment and several exploded on the beach, causing more casualties to the East Yorks infantry moving past them, among them the company commander of D Company, his second in command along with three of his platoon commanders. This meant that the men on the beach were now virtually leaderless and sought cover against the sea wall they were assaulting. Coming behind them was C Company which was then picked off in the water by the same German defences. One platoon sped forward, supported by a Sherman DD tank and a surviving AVRE, and overran the defences, forcing the remaining garrison to surrender; forty-five Germans were taken prisoner here, but the battle on this part of the beach had cost six officers and eighty-five men.

On the right A Company had hit the beach, meeting only spasmodic opposition. Pushing through the defences cleared by the Assault Engineers, they pressed on to their objective, the German gun battery on the high ground above King Beach, the Mont Fleury Battery. This was a system of concrete bunkers protecting German field guns. The position was taken at the point of the bayonet, as the 6th Green Howards passed through it, and 5th East Yorks took thirty prisoners here, at the loss of only eight men. As the battery was finally overrun the German commander took his own life in front of his captors. They then sent one platoon to assault La Rivière from the rear, which helped the units pinned down on the beach trying to get through the defences.

Meanwhile, Lieutenant Colonel Robin Hastings’s 6th Green Howards had landed several hundred yards west of where they should have touched down on the beach.

We swung about broadside on to the shore, missing by a few feet the shells on poles on either side of us . . . mortar shells kept landing quite near us on either side. We came to rest . . . quite a long way from the beach . . . I ordered the ramp to do be lowered. Nothing happened at all; the mechanism was broken. This was the worst place to delay . . . A huge-ex Guardsman . . . put his shoulder to it. It opened.... The beach looked a long way off; the water looked deep. I walked reluctantly to the edge of the ramp, sat down and dangled my feet like a Brighton paddler over the edge – not a very dashing or inspiring performance. The water was only up to my knees. Without the slightest difficulty we waded forward and scrambled up the beach.⁸

Lieutenant Colonel Robin Hastings.

A strongpoint on the beach was overcome by Hasting’s men, and the battalion had suffered a few casualties as they moved up from the shore; one of Hasting’s company commanders had walked straight into the first shell he had encountered in action and been killed outright. Ahead of them was an access road which the battalion moved up, with the familiar site of Lavatory Pan Villa ahead of them on the slopes. Sherman Flail tanks moved up and cleared the minefields, and elements of the unit then moved through the Mont Fleury Battery. One of those who assisted in the fight here was Company Sergeant Major Stan Hollis. Robin Hastings recalled what happened,

As they were going uphill, Major Lofthouse, the company commander, and CSM [Company Sergeant Major] Hollis noticed a pillbox which had been bypassed and walked over to it. At twenty yards range fire was opened on the CSM who immediately charged the pillbox and killed the inmates – one of the outstanding actions on D Day which earned him the VC.⁹

Indeed, Stan Hollis became the only man to be awarded a Victoria Cross on D-Day. Born in Loftus, Yorkshire, he had worked in a fish and chip shop, had gone to sea as a young man until Blackwater fever ended his naval career and on the outbreak of war was a lorry driver in Middlesborough. He was a pre-war Territorial in the Green Howards and had fought with them at Dunkirk, in North Africa and Sicily before Normandy, having been wounded at Primosole Bridge in July 1943. His Victoria Cross was in fact awarded for a series of brave acts on 6 June 1944.

In Normandy on 6th June, 1944, during the assault on the beaches and the Mont Fleury Battery, CSM Hollis’s Company Commander noticed that two of the pillboxes had been by-passed, and went with CSM Hollis to see that they were clear. When they were twenty yards from the pillbox, a machine gun opened fire from the slit and CSM Hollis instantly rushed straight at the pillbox, firing his Sten gun. He jumped on top of the pillbox, re-charged his magazine, threw a grenade in through the door and fired his Sten gun into it, killing two Germans and making the remainder prisoner. He then cleared several Germans from a neighbouring trench. By his action, he undoubtedly saved his Company from being fired on heavily from the rear and enabled them to open the main beach exit. Later the same day, in the village of Crépon, the Company encountered a field gun and crew armed with Spandaus at 100 yards range. CSM Hollis was put in command of a party to cover an attack-on the gun, but the movement was held up. Seeing this, CSM Hollis pushed right forward to engage the gun with a PIAT from a house at fifty yards range. He was observed by a sniper who fired and grazed his right cheek, and at the same moment the gun swung round and fired at point-blank range into the house. To avoid the fallen masonry CSM Hollis moved his party to an alternative position. Two of the enemy gun crew had by this time been killed, and the gun was destroyed shortly afterwards. He later found that two of his men had stayed behind in the house and immediately volunteered to get them out. In full view of the enemy who were continually firing at him, he went forward alone using a Bren gun to distract their attention from the other men. Under cover of his diversion, the two men were able to get back. Wherever fighting was heaviest, CSM Hollis appeared and in the course of a magnificent day’s work, he displayed the utmost gallantry and on two separate occasions his courage and initiative prevented the enemy from holding up the advance at critical stages. It was largely through his heroism and resource that the Company’s objectives were gained and casualties were not heavier, and by his own bravery he saved the lives of many of his men.¹⁰

Mont Fleury bunker, 1944.

Aerial view of the Mont Fleury defences.

Follow-up waves coming ashore from Jig Beach.

Hollis fought throughout the Normandy campaign, was later wounded in Holland in September 1944 and commissioned as an officer before the end of the war. Back in Yorkshire he ran a pub and died in 1972.

From Mont Fleury the advance continued, but it did not quite go as planned and the hope of advancing on the Bayeux – Caen road was soon dashed. Hastings noted,

from now on it became a battle like any other. C Company and one squadron of tanks took our next objective, which turned out to be a German HQ containing a Colonel.... The first village, Crépon, contained some determined Germans with a 75mm gun, who took a good deal of removing. It was clear that each farm and village would have to be fought for.¹¹

While Hastings and his men were pushing through Crépon, across to their left their sister battalion, 7th Green Howards, was moving into Ver-sur-Mer en route to the gun battery WN-32. Commanded by Lieutenant Colonel P.H. Richardson, they had landed ¾ of an hour after H Hour and after some problems had made their way through the narrow streets of the village, encountering only limited opposition. Beyond the houses they had formed up north of WN-32 and waited until tank support from 141st Royal Armoured Corps arrived. This unit was part of 79th Armoured Division and was equipped with Churchill Crocodile tanks. A troop of them arrived and before an infantry assault, Richardson directed them to open fire on the casements of the bunkers with their 75mms. The Germans responded with machine-gun fire, so the troop let rip with some jets of flame, way off mark and out of range. This resulted in the raising of a white flag and the capture of the position with no casualties. Conflicting reports exit, but it appears the pre-H Hour bombardment had put the gun battery out of action. Some fifty prisoners were taken here, and 5th East Yorks arrived shortly afterwards. The advance then continued into Crépon, just as the 6th Green Howards were clearing it.

With Crépon cleared, the 5th East Yorks took the lead and made an assault on the high ground near Villers-le-Sec. Here,

there was some opposition, including self-propelled guns, and two of the tanks supporting the leading battalion were knocked out and ‘brewed up’ in the valley before these guns were dealt with. The enemy was found to be dug in in the cornfields on the reverse slope of the ground south of Villers, and the battalion moved in extended order through the cornfields, beating out the Germans. Enemy mortar fire was heavy, and Lieutenant Colonel White was seriously wounded by a mortar bomb early in the action. The 5th East Yorkshire Regiment smashed this enemy position and went on without pause towards St Gabriel. Files of captive Germans began to move down the dusty roads towards the beaches.¹²

Knocked out Sherman Flail inland from GOLD Beach.

The cost of GOLD Beach; men from the Green Howards are laid to rest in a battlefield cemetery a few days after 6 June.

The 7th Green Howards had meanwhile taken the road bridge across the River Seulles north of Creuilly and together with 4/7th Dragoon Guards Shermans had taken the village. By 1800 on D-Day both they and 5th East Yorks were holding a line from St Gabriel to south of Creuilly. A final attack went in at 2130 when all three battalions in 69 Brigade, supported by Sextons from 86th Field Regiment and support fire from 2nd Cheshires, cleared the hamlet of Brecy and across to Columbs. Here their D-Day came to an end having advanced 7 miles inland, but Hastings’ prediction about it being a battle for each individual farm and village was already proving true.

TWO WALKS IN THE GOLD BEACH SECTOR

As GOLD Beach covers a large area, this sector has been divided into two walks which could be completed over the course of a day or joined together to make one long, full-day walk.

Walk 7a: Jig Beach

STARTING POINT: Seafront car park, Rue Royal Hampshire, Asnelles

GPS: 49°20′35.4″N, 0°34′21.2″W

DURATION: 3.85km/2.4 miles

Park your vehicle in the car park on the seafront close to this section of Jig Beach; it is located on the far eastern side of the built-up area that overlooks the beach. Walk down onto the beach. This is the area where the 1st Dorsets landed on D-Day. The unusual hexagonal shaped gun position they encountered is now lying in the sand and the bunker here has collapsed and is gradually being reclaimed by the sea. The dominance of the high ground beyond is visible from here and the fields of fire up and down the beach clearly seen.

From here proceed along the beach; at high tide you can take a small path that runs along the edge of the houses. Follow this to the area of the dunes further up the beach on the left. Stop. This area overlooks where the 1st Hampshires landed and suffered such heavy casualties from the 88mm bunker ahead of you and the machine-gun positions in the dunes. This small stretch of beach became one of the deadliest strips of sand on any British D-Day landing ground.

Continue along the beach and then go up the ramp to the bunker. Stop. The bunker here – WN-37 – was well sited with a good field of fire straight down the beach and overlapped with the other bunkers’ guns at the far end of the beach where you started. There are memorials on the beach, including one that assigns the final victory over the position but makes no mention of the role of the Assault Engineers’ AVRE in attacking the bunker from the rear. The number of near misses on the bunker are evident as the concrete is pockmarked from shrapnel. There are also two Tobruk pits visible here; one back towards the dunes and another to the rear of the bunker.

The 50mm bunker that covered the beach where 1st Dorsets landed now being reclaimed by the sea.

The German 88mm bunker overlooking Gold Beach where the 1st Hampshires landed.

Now walk along the seafront, passing on the left some of the buildings that were here on D-Day, all showing signs of battle damage. The Asylum was later demolished and never rebuilt, but the layout here is the same as in 1944 and it can be seen why no landing was made directly in front of this section – Item Beach – of the seafront. At the end of this boulevard are the bunkers of WN-38. The main casemate held a 50mm gun which could only fire away from Jig Beach rather than onto it, but behind there are Tobruk pits which housed mortars that could fire on both beaches. These bunkers, and others down the road beyond the seafront position, are on private land but can be viewed from the boundary fence.

Return along the seafront back to the main bunker and then walk across the car park to Rue du Debarquement and then take the first left, Rue The Dorset Regiment, and follow it as it becomes Rue Royal Hampshire Regiment and continue back to the car park and your vehicle.

Walk 7b: King Beach

STARTING POINT: Car park, Place de l’Amiral Byrd, Ver-sur-Mer

GPS: 49°20′11.8″N, 0°31′33.8″W

DURATION: 8.55km/5.3 miles

Park your vehicle outside the Musée America-GOLD Beach in the centre of Ver-sur-Mer. The name of this museum causes some confusion as there is no connection with the American landings on D-Day and actually relates to the first USA – France transatlantic flight which touched down here in 1927. The museum in fact has extensive displays relating to the landings on Jig and King Beaches, with many objects and photographs donated by veterans. It is open every day in July and August, and every day except Tuesday in May, June, September and October.

From the museum go across to Avenue Paul Poret and turn right. Take the first left onto Rue des Roquettes. Follow this until bunkers are visible to your right; here go right and follow a track to the bunkers. These are the remaining bunkers of the Mont Fleury Battery. They show the varied state of completion of the bunker complex by D-Day, with some casemates not finished. Direct hits from the naval gunfire are also visible. This site was captured by the 5th East Yorks, and was where CSM Hollis carried out the first of his brave actions which resulted in the award of the Victoria Cross. One of the bunkers is currently (2011) being turned into a house, the first time this has happened in Normandy. Another large bunker is visible in Rue Hector Berlioz. In this street take the first left into Rue Claude Debussy. This new estate was not here in 1944 and the only building was the distinctive ‘Lavatory Pan Villa’, which is seen at the end of the street where it joins the main road. Here go onto Avenue Franklin Roosevelt and turn left. Cross over the D514 and follow a minor road downhill towards the beach. At the crossroads of tracks stop.

One of the completed bunkers at Mont Fleury.

Many bunkers like this at Mont Fleury were not finished by D-Day.

The small building on the right-hand corner of this junction is the old railway halt in what was known as Le Paistry Vert. This structure was here on D-Day right in the middle of the minefields and on the pre-D-Day aerial photographs it looked like it was a bunker. When CSM Stan Hollis landed here he fired at it with a Lewis gun from his landing craft and was surprised to discover later that it was ‘only a Bloody tram stop’. Now known as the ‘Hollis Hut’, it was restored by the Green Howards Association and there is an information panel on the walls of it.

Walk down onto the beach to see the area where the 6th and 7th Green Howards landed, and beyond where 5th East Yorks came ashore. You can either walk along the beach or return to the Hollis Hut and go left onto Voie du Debarquement. From either route, join Rue du Corps du Garde and follow to the seafront and the large bunker that was part of WN-33. This contained an 88mm and was capable of firing in both directions. Continue along the seafront to a small square; a lifeguard station ahead on the sea wall is in fact another part of WN-33, a hexagonal bunker that housed a 50mm anti-tank gun on D-Day.

From the square go south on Avenue Colonel Harper to the D514. This is the area is known as ‘Hertford Corner’ as it has two memorials to Hertfordshire-related units. The Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment were beach masters here and guarded this section of GOLD Beach for the rest of the Normandy campaign. Across the road is a Sexton self-propelled gun painted in the colours of the 86th Field Regiment Royal Artillery, formed from the Hertfordshire Yeomanry. Directly opposite is a third memorial to all the Royal Artillery units of the 50th (Northumbrian) Division who served in Normandy.

From the rear of the Sexton memorial take Avenue 6 Juin and then first left into Rue de la Rivière. Further up take the second right onto Chemin de Voie and follow this uphill to the first crossroads, here going left and then first right up a track to where it joins a minor road, Rue des Stins. Turn right and follow this along the high ground into Ver-sur-Mer. Turn left in the village onto Chemin de la Venelle aux Lievres. Continue past the civil cemetery on your left and join a track going south out of the village. Follow the battle-damaged wall on your right until it ends and then stop.

The Sexton that forms the memorial to 86th Field Regiment Royal Artillery.

This is where the 7th Green Howards formed up with the Churchill Crocodile troop from 141st Royal Armoured Corps as they began their assault on WN-32. The bunkers are visible ahead across the fields where a small tree-lined area is seen. Thankfully, this proved a bloodless battle, but the potential for killing in these open fields, if the garrison at WN-32 had been determined, are evident. Continue along the track to the bunkers.

The WN-32 site is one of the forgotten bunker positions in Normandy. The four casemates held 150mm guns facing towards the join between GOLD Beach and JUNO Beach, but could be taken out of their bunkers to fire in any direction. They were linked by telephone and radio to a number of observation posts and the position was ringed with wire and mines. The size of its garrison was unknown before D-Day and why the battery was out of action when the Green Howards took it is still not clear, but it could have been a bloody fight if the Germans had not given in after the Crocodiles demonstrated their flame ability. The bunkers are in very good condition, but are on private property and this should be respected. An information panel showing an aerial view of the site is along the edge of the three enclosed bunkers.

The bunkers at WN-32.

The bunkers at WN-32 are today among the most intact gun positions in Normandy.

Go past the bunkers, keeping them on your right, and at the next crossroads turn right onto Rue Marefontaine. Follow this back into the village, and where it meets the D112 there is a large building on your left. Stop. This farm complex was here in 1944 and its walls once clearly painted with road signs post-D-Day. The remains of those signs are still visible, but are quite faded. They directed traffic to the main assembly areas and dumps around Crépon and there are 50th Division Tactical Signs also visible on the walls.

Continue through the village on Rue de la Liberation towards the church and follow the D112 back to the northern part of Ver-sur-Mer and the car park in front of the Musée America-GOLD Beach.