From Normandy to Holland by Bren Carrier (Part 1)

FORWARD

Many times as I sit back and relax in my armchair, I think of my old Regiment, the 1st/4th Battalion K.O.Y.L.I., landing on the beaches of Normandy, fully fit and ready for action. We lost many good Officers and men. They all put up an excellent performance. I cannot speak highly enough regarding our Commanding Officers, Company Commanders and other Officers and men of all other ranks. I have the highest respect for all of them.
I had been attached to practically all the Companys in our Regiment, and my Section never once let them down. My prayers go out to all those killed in action, and those still alive, and I thank God that I got through. Memories will stay with me until I die, I shall never forget the comradeship, dangers and experiences that I saw with the Regiment.
Looking back on the landings at Normandy, the experiences of our campaign have made me realise how men with only T.A. experience can be trained to become exceptional soldiers. The training I encountered was first class. The Commanding Officers and all other Officers were excellent in all duties performed.
The few pages here consist of many escapades, most of which are still clear in my mind. How I would love to contact any of the men from my Section. I would love to have a good chat with any of the senior Officers who were on that Campaign. After all these years, many places and names have been forgotton / merged, but I trust this is a reasonably true record.
I wish to give my congratulations to Captain Armitage and Sergeant Kelly, Platoon Commander and Platoon Sergeant, who had the difficult job of keeping the Platoon active, especially with all the losses we suffered.

I was called up for duty with my brother Herbert (Bert), and I was very proud when he received his gallantry medal, and he certainly gained my respect the way he rose to the rank of Major. I also congratulate him on gaining the award of M.B.E.

RECORDING OF ACTIONS APPERTAINING TO THE CARRIER SECTION OF Sgt. CHADWICK

The Invasion (D+4 10th June 1944 Gold Beach)
On leaving the beaches the section met up against enemy artillery. The crews dismounted and ran for cover, shrapnel was bursting all about us. We were split up, running in all directions and diving for cover. I dived in the low ground following Sgt. Hudson who got shrapnel in the lower arm and a serious wound in the hand; he received treatment from the following first aid men.
As we settled down and returned to our carriers we climbed aboard and moved on. As we moved an artillery air burst was exploding about our heads. Lucky for us slight damage on our section caused us to go for cover in the undergrowth. Our naval guns gave good support and the ack-ack guns kept the planes well above. I took command of the Carrier Section and we travelled on by the left of Bronay, being harassed by German machine gun fire hitting our carrier. Fortunately the armour took most of the hits and we carried on and joined up with 'C' company. After a short time in the line, we were given the next objective, which was the taking of Cristot (16th June 44). My section was allocated to ‘B’ Company, and positions of defence were taken whilst we awaited further orders. The company was under heavy fire from the Germans, whilst Colonel Walker our battalion commander was viewing the enemy area. He gave all the leaders information on how it was going to be dealt with. 'B’ company was positioned in line, well concealed waiting for instructions. Col. Walker positioned himself forward in the centre of the forward line. My carrier section was to the left of him.
Our supporting artillery started firing and Col. Walker gave the signal to move forward. As we moved forward with the Colonel German artillery started firing at us, all hell was let loose. The Colonel was great giving orders as we moved, shouting at people to keep moving. I was moving on foot to direct my carrier by the routes with cover. We had heavy losses whilst moving despite good support from our own artillery. It was a miracle to get through, due in no small measure to the encouragement given the men by the way Col. Walker led us, without him we would have been wiped out. I passed several who had been hit by shrapnel, we couldn't stop to help them, quite a few of them died as the firing settled down. I got my carriers into safer areas and left the drivers to camouflage them.

Tessle Wood (25th June 44)
I positioned my men on the corner of Tessle Wood facing the North East side. As we positioned I noticed two light tanks on my left who were supporting us, then looking forward I saw a Tiger tank positioned behind cover. A German machine gun opened fire on us missing by a few feet. The Tiger tank opened fire at the two light tanks, two shots only hitting each tank and putting them out of action. Just one man got out of a tank and was badly shaken. I ran towards him and guided him to safe cover. He was shell shocked so we passed him on for medical attention. The Germans withdrew giving us time to settle down. We dug in (digging two men slit trenches). The Germans
quietened down but bombarded us with shells and there were airbursts. We stayed in our positions all night, then early morning I moved my section towards 'C' company. The company was having a rough time, so I placed my carriers in good supporting positions. A couple of hours went by and a platoon commander came to me and asked me to go to B Echelon and bring two large containers of tea. I decided to go with my driver, my other two carriers were well supported, so we set off toward 'B' Echelon taking a zigzag route. German machine gun bullets were rapidly hitting the rear of my carrier, we came under fire for a good twenty minutes before finally getting clear and carrying on for about a mile to 'B' Echelon. We quickly loaded the large tea containers and set off back for what we knew would be a difficult journey but despite German machine gun fire and artillery fire made it to a place to stop within a dip. I made my way toward a platoon in position, where an officer came towards me with about six men. He thanked me and they unloaded the containers, to distribute the tea that the men in positions enjoyed greatly. I took my carriers back towards the right of 'C' company. Things got quiet for a while and it gave us time to get organised, but the Germans didn't give us much time to rest, they were continually firing air burst at us, and machine-gunned us regularly.
The rest of our carriers were attached to other companies, and we heard they were having a rough time, in-fact they lost a few men. The carrier platoon training had done us a lot of good, we were expert at camouflaging and making our dug-outs quite safe, we checked our weapons and received supplies of ammunition and daily food packs.
A few days passed and nighttime came. A Pioneer Platoon came to our positions equipped with mines and explosives. They went to our left to a likely area where they could do some damage. About two hours passed when we heard a very loud explosion. We were informed that a German shell had exploded near them and they had dived for cover. Some of the mines had been ignited ready for laying and the word was that ten of the Pioneers had been killed by their own mines, as that by diving for cover one of them had fallen onto a mine. It was terrible, we went to the area it happened and saw the grizzly remains (29th June 44).
My sections duties were to dig in on the left of ‘D’ Company, which was South West of the wood. An officer (Lieutenant) ordered us to dig in, in front of the trees, whilst it was dark. I protested, stating that there was some high ground in front of us. The officer replied that we would be out before day-break came. My section, about seven or eight yards apart, got what we had expected as did a platoon of ‘D’ Company. “Gerry” opened up with quite a number of mortar attacks, and a creeping barrage. As the barrage came closer we hoped it wouldn’t reach us, then we had a downpour of shells right amongst us. My trench was almost a direct hit. My gunner fell with shrapnel wounds to the stomach. I was also hit, with a blast to the head, and stretcher-bearers carried us away. I never got to know what happened to my other men, as I ended up in the casualty department off the line. I was lucky I suppose, that it was only a slight injury, and after recuperating I returned to my unit. I had practically a new section.

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