'A Very Fine Commander' by John Donovan

Author:John Donovan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: HISTORY / Modern / General
Publisher: Pen & Sword Books
Published: 2011-02-23T00:00:00+00:00

[Editor’s Note: An example of this resistance took place a week after the Landings when the 1st Black Watch was ambushed advancing towards Breville and its leading company was decimated in a defensive ambush some 2 miles from the Landings and where some captured Jocks were shot in cold blood by the Germans. It was not until June 18th that the village of St Honorine, only 3 miles south-east of Breville was finally recaptured after being retaken by the Germans in continuous close-quarter fighting. It is worth recalling here that the timetable for the 21st Army Group was to have captured Caen, 25 miles south-east of the beaches, on D-Day.*]

‘Nap’ wrote later (from ‘Reflections’):

‘Thereafter in the later weeks of June and all of July 1944, the 51st Highland Division fought at a great disadvantage. First, we could not properly deploy the Division because the bridgehead over the River Orne was contained in a small area (the “Triangle”) to allow for the Divisional Artillery to move into it. Divisional supporting fire therefore had to be directed from an angle west of the river, limiting its effectiveness whilst we ourselves were exposed to fire from three sides and our casualties from artillery and mortar fire were very high indeed.’

A view endorsed by Dr Yellowlees, then MO of the 5th Camerons, who still recalls the horror of the Nebelwerfer attacks in the ‘Triangle’ when the 51st Highland Division were in orchard country, close to St Honorine and subjected to this mortar/rocket fire, which was designed to create maximum effect by having the warhead halfway down the rocket so as to detonate on impact, but above ground. Its distinctive whining noise and very loud explosion distinguished it from the conventional artillery attacks, and with a range of over 4 miles and probably being directed from the German observation post set in the Colombelles factory chimneys a few miles away, it was horribly effective.

At that time all three Brigades of the Division were enclosed in a salient on the east side on the River Orne known as the ‘Triangle’ measuring 300 yards at the base by 800 yards on the sides, attacked on two sides by strong German forces, lacking artillery support and being subjected to constant enemy artillery and mortar fire from German multi-barrelled mortars whilst fighting in wooded country ideally suited for surprise attack. Such a surprise attack took place in late June 1944 when ‘Nap’ lost half his Brigade HQ in a sudden ‘stonk’ of mortar/artillery fire from an unexpected direction lasting only a matter of minutes at an ‘O’ group in an orchard at Benouville close to the Pegasus bridge a few miles south of ‘Sword’ beaches. An event vividly described by Colonel Sir Martin Lindsay, second-in-command of 1st Gordon Highlanders:

‘The Brigade HQ consisting of a few caravans, tents and slit trenches was in an orchard near Benouville. The Brigadier, “Nap” Murray, a Cameron Highlander, had just begun to talk to me when there was a sudden swish and a bang and a shell landed right in the middle of the orchard, causing nine casualties.

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