Exercise Red Crown 2011 The No.3 Welsh Wing Normandy Battlefield Tour August 2011

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1 Exercise Red Crown 2011 The No.3 Welsh Wing Normandy Battlefield Tour August 2011 The 3WW party tame the fearsome German Tiger tank at Vimoutiers one of only five left in the world. Seventeen cadets and staff from five squadrons took part in Exercise Red Crown 2011 ; the No.3 Welsh Wing tour of the D-Day landing beaches and battlefields of Normandy. This was the fifth such tour conducted by the No.3 Welsh Wing Battlefield Tour Team and as in previous years, was hugely successful and enjoyable for cadets and staff alike. Prior to departing on Exercise Red Crown, the party met for a training day at the former RAF Station at Carew-Cheriton in Pembrokeshire. This day was to brief and train the cadets on certain aspects of the camp (such as tent-erection, health & hygiene and the tour itinerary), as well as to teach them something about the history of the Normandy Campaign. As part of this, they had the chance to meet a Normandy veteran. Mr Ted Owens of Pembroke Dock fought in Normandy as an eighteen year-old Royal Marine Commando. Ted landed on Sword Beach during the first few hours of the D-Day landings on 6th June 1944, but within a few minutes was wounded by splinters from a German shell that hit a British tank, behind which he was taking cover. Lying paralysed with shock, he was lucky enough to be found by a medic and was sent back to a UK hospital to recover. He returned to Normandy after two months and fought on across Europe, being wounded again (by a German land-mine) in November 1944 and again by a German shell in January 1945 all before his nineteenth birthday. Many of Ted s friends and comrades lie in the cemeteries of Normandy and part of the cadets mission on Exercise Red Crown, was to find and photograph the graves of Ted s friends, as well as those of many other Welshmen who made the ultimate sacrifice in the fields of Normandy. Ted s stories help to turn the dry history of the Normandy Campaign into the living, breathing experiences of someone the cadets know and as always, the cadets were keen to see exactly where Ted had fought and been wounded.

2 During the ten-day tour, the 3WW party, led by Flt Lt Mark Davies, Fg Off Chris Jones and CI Graham Harvey, explored very many aspects of the Normandy Campaign of 1944: from the airborne and seaborne landings in the early hours of 6th June, to the concrete bunkers and trenches that once held the German defenders, to the hedgerows, fields, hills, woods, orchards and villages in the countryside beyond, where the German armies in Normandy were finally defeated. In addition to learning about the history, the cadets were also able to visit the towns, go shopping, sit in the cafés, eat the food, sit on the beaches, swim in the sea, meet the people and totally immerse themselves in the culture of Normandy and France. For many, this was their first time in another country and the first time they had attempted to communicate with people whose first language was not English or Welsh! There was also a ceremonial aspect to the tour, with wreaths and poppy-crosses being laid by the cadets at graves, cemeteries and memorials. However, diplomatic clearance to wear uniform this time had not been received, so ceremonial activities were conducted in civvies (although the tour polo-shirt gave some semblance of uniformity). The camp was based at the beautiful Château de Martragny campsite, just to the east of the city of Bayeux. During the Normandy Campaign, the Château de Martragny served as the Headquarters and Officers Mess for RAF Air Landing Ground B7. Squadrons of RAF Typhoon and Mustang fighter-bombers operated from the field immediately beyond the present-day campsite. In present times the château has everything you need in a five-star campsite, including a swimming pool and a café-bar; both of which were very welcome relief at the end of hot and dusty days of exploration. For once the sun shone on the righteous and after a damp start, the group enjoyed bright sunshine, hot days and a fantastic day off, swimming and sunbathing on Omaha Beach (the exact scene of the opening sequence of the film Saving Private Ryan now somewhat more peaceful than in 1944). The exercise name Red Crown commemorates the badge worn by members of the 53rd (Welsh) Infantry Division, which fought its way from Normandy to Germany The division included a great many men from the communities of No.3 Welsh Wing, a great many of whom lost their lives in Normandy. Wherever the 3WW tour party went in Normandy, French people would recognise the badge embroidered on our shirts. Some of the more elderly French people even still remember being liberated by our countrymen wearing that badge in The primary objective of Ex Red Crown is therefore to commemorate and remember the sacrifice of those men and their comrades in all the other Allied formations in the liberation of Nazi-occupied Europe. The Red Crown : badge of the 53rd (Welsh) Division Once again, we had very positive feedback from the cadets and those repeat offenders who had attended previous tours agreed that this was the best ever! As usual, the tour ended with the traditional four-course slap-up meal and awards ceremony in the wonderful Le Drakkar Restaurant in the beautiful city of Bayeux. As usual, the cadets vied in their attempts to order the most revolting things from the menu Oysters, Escargot, Tripes à la mode de Caen, or worst of all, Coca-Cola mixed with pineapple juice (give me an oyster any day!). The superb dinner was also accompanied by the annual entertainment of Fg Off Chris Jones explaining the concept of Veggie Options to French people. Exercise Red Crown will take a break in 2012, to avoid competition with the Wing Camp to Gibraltar. However, Red Crown will be back in 2013, with a tour of the battlefields of the

3 Netherlands and again in 2014, for the 70th Anniversary of the D-Day Landings and the Normandy Campaign, so watch WROs and the Wing website for details. Mr Ted Owens shows his Commando Fighting Knife to Cdt Archie John of 1574 (Pembroke) Sqn at the former RAF Carew-Cheriton. We later discovered that Ted was good friends with Archie s grandfather, who fought in Normandy with Royal Artillery. On Sword Beach (Hermanville-sur-Mer), Flt Lt Mark Davies takes the group to the spot where Ted was wounded on D-Day. Ted (the sniper of his Commando Troop) had taken cover behind a knocked out Sherman tank and was shooting at a German machine-gunner he d seen firing from one of the fortified villas at the top of the beach. He recalls that the noise was incredible the naval artillery shells flying overhead, the German mortar bombs landing around them, the German machine guns, the tanks revving their engines and firing back at the Germans, the Commandos shouting their battle-cries, the wounded screaming Then he was hit by shell-splinters.

4 This famous photo shows the Commando Brigadier Lord Lovat and his bagpiper, Bill Millin, landing on Sword Beach during D-Day. Ted is also in the photo among the group of men clustering behind the tank on the beach. He rank to the (knocked out) tank on the left and fired shots at the building in the distance before being wounded - all within a few minutes of landing. The same photographer took this photo at the same spot only minutes later. Ted may well be among the wounded soldiers seen in the background.

5 The first place to be visited on the tour is always Pegasus Bridge, on the Orne Canal, at the village of Benouville. This was the first place to be liberated, just after midnight in the early hours of D-Day, when five gliders, carrying over 100 men of the British 6th Airborne Division, landed with pinpoint accuracy in pitch darkness, to successfully capture their objective. Here Fg Off Chris Jones tells the stories of the pilot of No.1 Glider, Staff Sergeant Jim Wallwork of the Glider Pilot Regiment, and the commander of this incredible mission, Major John Howard of D Company, 2nd Battalion, The Oxford & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry (whose statue can be seen). Two of the Horsa gliders at Pegasus Bridge, photographed just after the D-Day landings. The memorial stone and statue seen in the photo above, are placed are placed on the exact spot of where the No.1 Glider (in the centre of this photo), came to rest. Having seen the replica Horsa glider in the museum at Pegasus Bridge, the cadets are of the firm opinion that they would MUCH rather fly, two at a time, in a modern Viking or Vigilant glider, than have to ride with thirty of their mates, at night, under fire, with no night-vision goggles, in the back of one of these plywood death-traps!

6 During the week s brief wet spell on the first morning, the group explored the Merville Battery, which was stormed by British Paratroops on the morning of D-Day and includes a number of very interesting exhibits, including this preserved C-47 Dakota transport aircraft, which dropped US Paratroops on D-Day. Cpl Brennan Balmer, of 1574 (Pembroke) Sqn surveys his first Commonwealth War Cemetery, at Ranville, near Pegasus Bridge just one of many such cemeteries in Normandy.

7 The world s worst WW2 re-enactment group re-create the moment where Tom Hanks Rangers storm ashore on Omaha Beach! This American LCVP landing craft was actually used in action on D-Day and was also used in the filming of Saving Private Ryan. Having seen the film, the group explore where it actually happened Omaha Beach.

8 Omaha Beach on D-Day, 6th June Cpl Jack Stanton of 334 (Neath) Sqn stands in the trench where just two 19 year-old German conscripts, equipped with a single machine gun and 20,000 rounds of ammunition, single-handedly caused an estimated 2,000 American casualties on this sector of Omaha Beach alone. Despite the appalling casualties suffered on Omaha (as bad as the casualties suffered on the other four invasion beaches put together), the brave American soldiers still managed to break out of the killing zones on the beach to defeat the German defenders.

9 On the afternoon of D-Day, American reinforcements were photographed landing near the same spot. Cpl Lisa Bradshaw of 1429 (Cardigan & Aberporth) Sqn and Cdt Chris Jones of 1092 (Bridgend) Sqn explore a German observation bunker in the same strongpoint. This bunker had been heavily damaged by American tank fire.

10 CWO Rebecca Hardman and Cpl Lisa Bradshaw of 1429 (Cardigan & Aberporth) Squadron found the scale of the American Cemetery at Omaha Beach almost too much to bear. Cdt Menna Morgan and Cpl Jack Stanton of 334 (Neath) Sqn pause to read the name on a grave at the American Cemetery.

11 The group explore the cliff-top observation bunker at the Pointe du Hoc Battery. On the morning of D-Day, elite US Rangers scaled these massive cliffs, under intense enemy fire, to assault the German bunkers and heavy guns at this site. The Pointe du Hoc Battery on the morning of D-Day, just after the Rangers had successfully taken the position. The Rangers had just suffered the loss of three-quarters of their men. Note the same headland visible in the background and the German PoWs being brought in. The US flag was placed on the cliff to show the Allied Navy out at sea that the Rangers had taken the position.

12 With a bit of battlefield detective work in the area of Utah Beach, the group discovered the scene of another famous D-Day battle; this field near the Manoir du Brécourt, held a battery of four 105mm guns that were shelling the US troops landing at Utah. A small group of US Paratroops, led by Lieutenant Dick Winters of the 101st Airborne Division, succeeding in attacking superior numbers of the enemy and successfully destroyed all four guns. This action is now taught to all US Army officers as a perfect example of a small-unit attack and was depicted in the remarkable BBC TV series Band of Brothers, as well as in the painting below.

13 The German defences in the Utah Beach area are remarkably preserved compared to the other invasion beaches. The little lump of concrete on the right once had an old French armoured tank turret, with a small 37mm gun mounted on top of it, while the big bunker in the distance would have held a much larger 75mm or 88mm gun. All of these bunkers were interconnected by trenches and telephones and surrounded by barbed wire, obstacles, deep ditches and mine-fields. However, they were still all taken by Allied troops and many of the bunkers still show bad damage caused by Allied guns. As the group gets closer to the large bunker, the cadets can see that it has been hit by fire from US infantry rifles and machine guns, as well as larger hits from Sherman tanks, who must have been attacking along the dunes. Inside the bunker is graffiti left by the German gunners who manned it.

14 The same bunker seen in On the seaward side of the bunker, the cadets find MUCH bigger hits, caused by the big guns of Allied warships.

15 In the fields beyond the D-Day Beaches, the group discovered that after D-Day, the Allies still had to fight for three months of the most bitter fighting suffered by the Western Allies since World War 1 as the German defenders, backed up by elite SS Panzer Divisions, fought for every hedgerow, and turned villages into fortresses. The scars of war are still very easy to find if you know where to look. The Chateau here at Brettevillette was the scene of bitter fighting between British infantry and fanatical SS panzer-troops. The chateau and all the villages nearby were completely destroyed by British artillery and were rebuilt after the war, but a few buildings show the scars of bullets, shells and shrapnel. The present owner of the chateau told the cadets how his grandmother, the old Baroness de Bretteville, had stayed in the cellars throughout the battle, while the British and SS destroyed her beautiful chateau above her head! Nevertheless, she and her family were grateful to be liberated, despite the death and destruction brought by the Allies to her family and neighbours.

16 This old Roman road, passing through rolling cornfields and copses, looks beautiful on a hot and peaceful summer s day. Yet on 10th July 1944, a day very much like this, these fields (identified on British Army maps simply as Hill 112 ) were the scene of one of the most costly battles fought by the British Army since the end of World War I, as the 43rd (Wessex) Division launched a frontal attack on the 10th SS Panzer Division, which was dug in on the high ground. After 24 hours of fighting, the Wessex men were forced to withdraw, having suffered terrible casualties. Everywhere the cadets looked, they could find shell splinters and fragments of metal, while the orchards still contained shattered trees. Hill 112 in July 1944.

17 Cdt Callum Cook of 1574 (Pembroke) Sqn, lays a poppy-cross at the Churchill tank monument on Hill 112 a memorial to the Royal Tank Regiment and the 31st & 34th Tank Brigades, who trained in South Wales (particularly at Castlemartin, near Pembroke) before suffering on the slopes of this hill. A week after the 43rd Division s failed assault, men wearing the Red Crown; the 53rd (Welsh) Division, were moved up to Hill 112, to fight their very first battle. In this photo, men of the 4th (Llanelli) Battalion of the Welch Regiment (who wore the red Sospan Fach badge on their sleeves) watch Churchill tanks moving up to spearhead their attack on the village of Evrécy. In the initial phases of Operation Greenline, which commenced on 16th July 1944, three battalions of the Royal Welch Fusiliers suffered terrible casualties in the first 24 hours of the attack. It is most notable that on a large number of war memorials within No.3 Welsh Wing, there are men who fell in this, the first major Welsh battle of World War Two. Nevertheless, the 53rd (Welsh) Division steadily ground down the German defenders and within days was pursuing a defeated enemy.

18 Cdt David Folder of 1284 (Tenby) Sqn plays the Last Post at the Royal Welch Fusiliers/Operation Greenline Memorial at Evrécy. Cdt Menna Morgan of 334 (Neath) Squadron, lays a poppy-cross to the memory of the men of the 3rd Battalion, The Monmouthshire Regiment at La Pavée. The 3rd Monmouths had once been part of 53rd (Welsh) Division, but in Normandy served with the 11th Armoured Division. Many of the men were recruited from No.3 Welsh Wing s area and sadly, a lot of them fell in the fields of Normandy and particularly in the fields surrounding this memorial, where they fought a desperate battle against the 10th SS Panzer Division. Fighting alongside them were men of the Royal Norfolk Regiment and one of them, Cpl Sidney Bates, won the Victoria Cross on this spot.

19 Cdt Callum Cook (1574 (Pembroke) Sqn), Cdt Jacob Williams (1574 Sqn), Cpl Perry Manwaring (1574 Sqn), Cdt Holly Stanton (334 (Neath) Sqn, Cdt David Folder (1284 (Tenby) Sqn, Cpl Shannon Honeysett (1574 Sqn) and Cpl Lisa Bradshaw (1429 (Cardigan & Aberporth) Sqn soak up the sunshine on a very hot day at Mont Ormel. In August 1944 this spot was occupied by soldiers of the 1st Polish Armoured Division, who were fighting desperately to stop the German armies escaping from Normandy. The fields in the near-distance became known as the Corridor of Death, as over 100,000 German soldiers became trapped by Polish, Canadian, British, American and French divisions. The same hillside at Mont Ormel, seen in August 1944.

20 Sir, what does Ne toucher pas! mean? The party at the grave of Wg Cdr Reggie Baker RAF DSO, DFC & Bar at the Canadian cemetery near Bény-sur-Mer. One of the RAF s greatest heroes of WW2, Wg Cdr Baker had started his wartime career flying Sunderland flying-boats out of RAF Pembroke Dock. Credited with the destruction of four German U-Boats, an Italian submarine, several surface vessels and a Ju-88 bomber, Wg Cdr Baker was transferred to command a squadron of Whirlwind fighter-bombers, where he wrought havoc around the German-occupied French coast, including a legendary low-level attack on the heavily-defended Cherbourg harbour. He then went on to command a wing of Typhoon fighter-bombers and commanded them in Normandy, where he lost his life attacking German ground positions in support of Canadian troops.

21 Cdt Chris Jones of 1092 (Bridgend) Sqn lays a wreath on behalf of No.3 Welsh Wing, at the Commonwealth War Cemetery, Bayeux. The party visited six Commonwealth War Cemeteries during the week. At most of these, the cadets took photographs of graves for the Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire War Memorial websites and individual families, as well as leaving poppy-crosses at the graves of men who came from No.3 Welsh Wing s area. Here, Cdt Archie John of 1574 (Pembroke) Sqn lays a cross at the grave of Serjeant Eric Butler Davies from Pembroke Dock. Sjt Davies served with the King s Shropshire Light Infantry in 3rd Infantry Division and landed on Sword Beach on D-Day, only to be killed on the following day, aged 31.

22 The base for the week as always, was the beautiful Chateau de Martragny campsite. This building was once a German HQ, a British Army field hospital and the SHQ and Officers Mess for RAF Advanced Landing Ground B7. RAF Typhoon fighter-bombers pictured at ALG B7 Martragny, in July 1944.

23 The cadets had plenty of relaxation time at Martragy. As well as a swimming pool, the cadets also engaged in uniquely Air Cadet games such as Dodgeball and Death by Frisbee. As always, cadets arrived at camp not knowing each other, but soon became very close. But there are always some who carry things too far

24 3 Welsh Wing hit the bright lights of Bayeux! At a glittering awards-dinner, Cpl Lisa Bradshaw of 1429 (Cardigan & Aberporth) Sqn wins the prize for the camp s Top Cadet.

25 Suitably stuffed with snails, tripe, oysters and pineapple n Coke, 3 Welsh Wing says goodbye once again to Bayeux and Normandy for another year. Never work with children or animals