France

My Family during the War in France

At the end of June we all went to live in Pontorson for the four years of the German Occupation, Papa still...

Bill Williams's War 1

I joined the 4/7th Royal Dragoon Guards at the cavalry barracks in Colinton, Edinburgh and in September...

Beginner's Luck

One torpedo hit the officers’ wardroom, killing 35 army officers, one of which was our officer,...

Captured at Calais: A Kings Royal Rifleman

Zabreh, then known by its German name of Hohenstadt, is in northern Moravia, the eastern province of what...

From Ironmongers to Europe

By getting these certificates you could get supplies from the wholesalers; there was one occasion when the...

D-Day With the 1st Northants Yeomanry

I was in the First Northants Yeomanry but initially I was trained as a Royal Army Corp. and when I finally...

Sid Hayden,France,Belgium

Sid Hayden in France and Belgium. Just before 10th April 1945 the German soldiers, who with Sid and the...

My War: With No 4 Commando

All the guns and tractors were shipped from Cardiff while the main body of the Regiment travelled by train...

Dad's Journey,Mum's Loss: A Lifetime of Missing

Mum and Dad had only enjoyed eighteen months of marriage when war was declared, their son John only eleven...

Escape from Dunkirk: With 700 Artisan Works Royal Engineers

We started off from Leicester station, remember waving to my mum and dad and Mama as the train pulled out....

Two Jewish Heroines of the SOE Part 2

Denise returned to work in France on the night of 2-3 March 1944 with Captain Robert Benoist, landed by an...

Escape and Evasion-1944

I was told that should the Germans come I would have to move into their room over the caf'e, as...

A Polish Battlefield

We have just received battle orders - before dawn tomorrow we will move to close the gap at Chambois, the...

Stan Baines World War II

After a few months we found ourselves in France landing at Cherbourg and in convoy through the towns of...

From Latchford to Normandy

I travelled a lot, even before the Army I worked at Risley, where they were building the munitions factory,...

Captain Victor Gough

Helfen's arrival at “the Block” was a blessing to the British paratroopers, for with his...

Brother-in-Law's Letter from the French Battlefields

We finally landed on French soil about 6am... When we first left England we were living on compo rations,...

Reg's War: One Man and the War

In July 1942 we went by train to Glasgow and boarded an American banana boat at Gourock, we were seven...

The Lighter Side of War - CHAPTER 21: Bayeux. A minefield. German helmets. A Bailey Bridge. Bottles of Guinness.

133 tailed and served the 7th Armoured Division in those hectic days and Butch, proud co-owner with Ritchie...

My War Storys from North Africa to Normandy

Then we pushed them right the way back across Libya and then the Germans landed and their tanks were in...

That First Battle

On June 26th 1944 'C' Squadron commanded by Major D.G. Bevan went into action at La Taille North of...

Into Battle Behind the Bagpipes

This went on for sometime then as infantry was short of men so a new battalion was formed in 1943 -...

D-Day Minus One - Frank Barnes

The other five were most unfortunate and landed miles away at a place called Graves that was some 15...

What's in a Name Part 2

Very early in the morning we were told that an allied bomber had crashed on the 'Taillis Brunet'....

D-day. Letter home from a hole in the ground

As we got on the beach the driver & I ran like mad to the top, avoiding casualties littering the sand....

Dunkirk

In that capacity I joined the Army on Ist January 1940 and was thereafter destined to work at the War...