D-Day and the Battle for Normandy, Part 1
Published in Windlesora 35
© WLHG 2019
On 6 June 1944, British and Canadian forces landed on three beaches, Gold, Juno, and Sword (Americans landed on Utah and Omaha), and as the fight inland towards Bayeux and Caen continued, news of the D-Day landings made its way home. So too did the casualty lists, and the names of local men who had lost their lives.
Lance Corporal Reginald John Sears was killed on 10 June 1944. He served with the Royal Army Service Corps and with them landed on Sword Beach. British and Canadian troops had dropped behind German lines to take control of the Pegasus and Horsa Bridges, and others, to prevent the advance of any German reinforcements. When the British main force landed on Sword, they were met with moderate fire, and were able to secure the beach exits. Moving inland, however, they met strong resistance. The Germans launched a counter-attack, and in one location made it back to the beach only to be forced to retreat again. It wasn’t until 12 June that all five D-Day beaches were united.
Reginald John Sears was named after his father, who was John Reginald Sears. During the First World War, John enlisted in December 1915, and served with the Royal Marines until 1919. He was already married to Margaret at the time of his enlistment, and they were living at 59 Victor Road. By 1939, in that year’s National Register, the household consisted of six people.
Margaret Bush, born 27 June 1864, was 75 years old and listed as incapacitated. Helen Bush, born 16 September 1897, was 42 years of age and a Laundry Clerk. They were Reginald’s Grandmother and Aunt.
John Sears, aged 48, born 23 April 1891, worked as a Garden Labourer, and his wife Margaret, born on 15 September 1889, is registered as undertaking Unpaid Domestic Duties, in other words, a housewife. These were Reginald’s parents.
Reginald John, born on 13 February 1917. He was 22 years old and working as a Laundry Van Driver. Finally, his sister Doris, 16 years old and working as a Shop Assistant.
In June 1940, Reginald married Violet Elizabeth Fruin and they lived at 20 Forest Road. They had a baby daughter in 1943, whom they named Pamela. Sadly, Pamela died the same year.
According to the Roll of Honour in the Windsor and Eton Express on 30 June 1944, Reginald joined the army a month after war was declared and was sent to France with the British Expeditionary Force, escaping via Boulogne in 1940.
Reginald is buried in Hermanville War Cemetery which lies on the road to Lion-sur-Mer, some 13 kilometres north of Caen. The village of Hermanville sits behind Sword beach and was taken by British Forces on 6 June. The cemetery holds 1003 burials of which 103 are unidentified. Many of the men there died on 6 June, or in the early days of the push towards Caen which was when Reginald was killed. He is one of two Windsorians to lie there, the other being Alec Cousins.
Corporal Alec John Cousins was born in 1919 to Stephen and Kathleen Cousins. Stephen John was born on 24 October 1882, Kathleen was born on 28 January 1884, and in the 1939 National Register, the family were living at 2 Rose Cottages. Stephen was a Shop Porter and Kathleen a housewife (Unpaid Domestic Duties). Alec was born at home in 24 Bexley Terrace, and attended Clewer St Stephen and Clarence Road Council schools, and was a member of the Clewer Parish Church Life Brigade. After leaving school, he became a Telegraph Boy, and progressed to Postman, a position in which he was well-known and well-liked locally. Alec joined the army in 1940, and his sister Edna joined the WAAF in 1941 at the age of 19.
Alec served with the 1st Battalion of the Suffolk Regiment which had fought in France and Belgium with the British Expeditionary Force in 1940. Hiding the battalion drum in Roubaix (it was retrieved later in the war). the battalion made it to the coast and were evacuated. In 1944, he would have taken part in Operation Smash on the south coast, in April 1944. These were live-fire beach assault exercise in preparation for D-Day. Under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Richard E. Goodwin, the 1st Battalion landed at Sword beach on 6 June, successfully attacking the stronghold called Hillman Fortress, then fighting their way inland.
Operation Mitten was launched, the objectives being the capture of two German occupied chateux, namely le Landel and la Londe, near Caen. Heavily fortified, the first assault on the evening of 27 June, was repelled. The attack the next morning was successful, taking both chateaux and destroying several German tanks, but it was brutal. Three tanks were lost, but the cost was 268 men, of which some 160 were at la Londe. One of those was Alec.
Writing about Operation Mitten in 2004, T.Copp said it was the ‘bloodiest square mile in Normandy”. (1)
Lieutenant Philip Francis de May was killed on 14 June, whilst serving with B Squadron, 8th King’s Royal Irish Hussars. He was just 20 years old.
His parents, Robert and Irma de May had been living at ‘Monkton’ on Bolton Crescent since the start of the war. Philip attended Beaumont College in Old Windsor until 1938, where he had been a member of the College Home Guard and the Officers’ Training Corps. He received his commission at the age of 19, passing out from Sandhurst in March 1943, and joined his regiment in the Middle East. He returned home in time for Christmas. The Regiment’s War Diary shows B Squadron fighting in an area south of Bayeaux and west of Caen. It reveals the movement and actions of B Squadron leading up to Philip’s death.
On 11 June, B Squadron moved through Bayeux; the next day a number of tanks were hit, resulting in 4 missing men and one rescued. On 13 June, B Squadron advanced, then had a change of direction towards Cahagnes, which was held by the Germans. The squadron was fired upon without casualties. Later the same day, German infantry supported by a Tiger tank attacked, but B Squadron held their ground, beat off the attack at the cost of three tanks, but no fatal casualties. At 05.30 hours on 14 June, B Squadron moved out and, during the course of the day, engaged the enemy knocking out two Mark VI Tiger tanks. The war diary goes on to state that:
At about 21.00hrs a heavy attack by German infantry, supported by a few tanks…was met with very heavy fire…(and) the attack was beaten off. During the attack B Sqn HQ were heavily mortared, Maj Dunne being wounded and Lt De May killed.
Philip is buried in Hottot-les-Bagues War Cemetery. The village is 14 kilometres south-east of Bayeux. The push out from Bayeux towards Caen meant there was a great deal of heavy fighting in the area between June and July. The cemetery has 1137 graves of which 132 are German. Philip’s brother, Ferdinand served with the Grenadier Guards.
Harold Lowis died in Normandy on 30 June, and his name is listed on the war memorial in Windsor Parish Church. Yet in 1939 he and his wife Elizabeth are living at 91 Ragstone Road in Slough. Harold, born on 12 August 1910, was a solicitor’s clerk, and Elizabeth, born 10 May 1909, was a housewife. Records show that by the time of his death, Elizabeth was living in Windsor.
Harold served with 23rd Hussars which, as part of 11th Armoured Division, landed on Juno beach on 13 June (D+7). On 26 June, they were sent into action as part of Operation Epsom, which was meant to outflank and seize the city of Caen, occupied by the Germans. Taking the bridges at Grainville and Colville, they moved on to Hill 112. This was a prominent feature near the village of Baron. Initially succeeding. The Germans counter-attacked with fresh SS-Panzerdivisions. It became a battle for position. Lt-Gen Sir Miles Dempsey ordered the withdrawal from Hill 112 on 30 June. This was when Harold was killed.
Harold is listed on the Bayeux Memorial which bears the names of some 1800 men who have no known grave. It stands opposite the Bayeux War Cemetery.
Research on Windsor’s World War 2 dead is ongoing.
Carol Dixon-Smith
References
- Copp. T. (2004), Fields of Fire: The Canadians in Normandy. Toronto: University of Toronto Press
Sources
Windsor and Eton Express various editions 1944
War Diary 8th King’s Royal Irish Hussars
The Drive on Caen Northern France 7 June – 9 July 1944 (Crown Copyright)
D-Day: The Battle for Normandy by Antony Beevor
Normandy 44: D-Day and the Battle for France by Tom Holland
Regimental websites 1939 National Register National Archive Find My Past
Ancestry
CWGC
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