D-Day 6th June 1944
Operation Neptune; the Normandy Landings
Material below was sourced from Wikipedia.
The Normandy landings (Operation Neptune) were the beach landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord (Battle for Normandy) during World War II.
Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as D-Day, it is the largest seaborne invasion in history. The operation began the liberation of France, and the rest of Western Europe, and laid the foundations of the Allied victory on the Western Front.
· Planning began in May 1943
· Operation Fortitude (South) was one of the deception plans and was to lead Germany to believe there was a large USA force in Kent and Sussex under General Patton planning to land in the Pas-de-Calais.
· Operation Neptune was planned for June 5th when there was a full moon and the highest tides but was delayed to the 6th due to poor weather.
· USA forces (1.5 million) were based in SW England and the British and Canadian between Southampton and Newhaven
The D in D-Day in military terms simply stands for “Day” and was the term used to describe the first day for any large operation, Overlord being the most famous.
Plan for D-Day
Ships gathered just of the Isle of Wight (Piccadilly Circus) while the mine sweepers cleared lanes on night of the 5th.
· Over 1000 Allied bombers flew attacks just before dawn.
· From midnight 1200 flights flew paratroopers and gliders (24,000 men) to France.
· From Tarrant Rushton (TR) (1943-1947) the 6th Airborne Division (UK), launched Operation Tonga and landed (00:16 hrs on 6th) the first men in France, in 6 Horsa Gliders at the Benouville (Pegasus) and Ranville (Horsa) bridges. Pilot and Co-pilot Jim Wallwork and John Ainsworth were catapulted from the glider on landing making them the first Allied troops to land on French soil.
· Later that day 20 Tetrarch Light Tanks were landed on the coast in Hamilcar gliders from Tarrant Rushton
· Naval bombardment was from 05:45 to 06:25 with landing of 132,000 men commencing at 06:30.
· USA forces landed at Utah and Omaha Beaches and Pointe du Hoc gun battery.
· UK and Canadian forces landed at Gold, June and Sword beaches in the East.
· Allies lost 4,414 men with 10,000 injured on D-Day and failed to capture Caen, a D-Day target (it only fell on 21 July 1944)
· The First Mulberry harbour units (two harbours were constructed, A & B,) arrive at Arromanches D+1, Mulberry A (US) was destroyed by storms on 19th June. Some of the units were constructed from sand from near Verwood.
Dorset's key role during D-Day: how the county was involved in the Longest Day | Bournemouth Echo
Holt Parish Council activities 1940’s
Material was sourced from the Dorset History Centre
· 29th March 1940; “A complaint was lodged regarding the use of Bothenwood Ponds for the washing of lorries and tanks by the military authorities. The Clerk was instructed to report the matter”.
· 19th April 1940; Agreed establishment of a Salvage and Waste material site proposed at Rowe Hill
o “Military authorities have given orders the practice (washing vehicles) at Bothenwood Ponds was to cease”.
· 26th February 1941; Discussion of new burial ground but Council unable to obtain an OS map “chiefly owing to enemy action”.
o Vehicles still being washed at Bothenwood Ponds, request for notices to be erected.
· 16th April 1941; Notice to be erected at Bothenwood Ponds
o “Letter from East Dorset Joint Planning Committee, requesting particulars of places of historic interest in the parish which require special protection from air raid damage etc. It was agreed that no such places existed in the parish”.
· 24th September 1941; Formation of Local Defence Committee agreed, Mr HJ Rogers (Chair) agreed to act as Local Leader.
o Committee members agreed are Mr H Lawes (Local Food Organiser), Mr J Smith (Home Guard Commander), Mr J Tracey (Head Air raid Warden) and PC Crumpler (Police Officer).
o Parish Council agree to become the local Salvage committee.
· 12th January 1943; “Requisitioning Iron Railings agreed”.
o Holt Church 30ft fencing can be dispensed with and 8 entrance gates from the parish.
o Wesleyan Chapel Holt, 80ft fencing and 3 gates.
· 9th March 1943; Problems with local water supply would not be dealt with until after the war.
o District Council asking for information on post war housing need.
· 1st February 1944; Planning and costs for new Burial Ground discussed.
· 28th March 1944; Discussion re untidiness of Salvage Dumps at Broomhill, Bowers Water (Reservoir), Rowe and Gaunts Common
o Lack of water in the Parish discussed and need for a piped system to be installed.
· 12 December 1944; Harts Lane Corner, “military traffic using this part of the road at too high a speed” that cattle have narrowly escaped serious injury and children walking to school at risk, signs to be erected.
Holt Parochial Church Hall
Material was sourced from the Dorset History Centre
· 30th September 1943; Cost of new Blackout Frames to be checked.
· 17th December 1943; Cost for 4 Black out shutters was 30/-
o Tin salvage dump by the boundary is expanding onto hut lands, to write to Parish Council requesting it is dealt with.
· 24 March 1944; Tin salvage dump now moved and closed.
· 26 July 1944; Enquiry if War Office will pay for damage not covered by insurance.
Correspondence with Kingston Lacy Estate including reference to Holt Heath
Material was sourced from the Dorset History Centre
During the war a number of letters relating to the Holt area were written from various departments and the military to Mr FO Rhodes the Banks Estate Agent, these include.
· Oct 1940; Concerns about sand being removed from Holt Heath by the Searchlight Battery stationed at Cowgrove Farm.
· Oct 1940; Agreement for the 50th (N) Division Home Forces to exercise on Banks Estate land. (Possibly this was the 50th Northumbrian Infantry Division)
· May 1942; Agreement, several letters and maps relating to “afforestation purposes of an area 50 acres on the south east boundary of Holt Heath”
Kingston Lacy American Hospital
Material was sourced from the Archaeology National Trust
·
Requisitioned 72.5 acres March 1943,
· One of three hospitals in East Dorset, the others were at St Leonards and Blandford camp.
· Occupied from March 1944 and contained 100 buildings, with wards, operating theatres, clinics, two libraries, a cinema, chapel, mortuary, Post Exchange, hall for entertainment, staff accommodation with its own water, electricity and sewage systems
· Opened 1st July 1944
· Patients arrived by train (about 300 at a time) at Wimborne or Sturminster Marshall and were then transferred by ambulance.
· By December 1944, nearly 4,000 patients admitted, 96 had amputations and only 1 died while being unloaded from a train in Wimborne.
· Over 20,000 patients were treated in Kingston Lacy
· It also had a small prisoner stockade for 75 German prisoners in March 1945.
· Closed July 1945. . Hospital Kingston Lacy
Kingston Lacy Hospital tales there is a personal account by Monica Hoare who was a Red Cross Volunteer when she was 14 years old. This can be read in the Wimborne Library in a booklet of transcriptions made for the Museum of East Dorset
USA 28th General Hospital stationed at KL Dorset Archive
Article on KL Hospital Kingston Lacy Hospital
World War 2 Memorials
· Lionel Habgood; Dec 1942 Italy
Joan Hervey Murray; Feb 1942 Far East
· Charles Lucus; Feb 1944 Italy
· Sidney Wellstead; Feb 1945 Germany
· David Hervey Murray; Oct 1945 Holt
Plaque Holt Parish Hall Plaque St James' Church Holt Charles Francis Lucas David Hervey Murray Joan Hervey Murray Joan Hervey Murray 1 Lionel Habgood 1
Lionel Habgood 2 Local War Casualties Sidney Albert Wellstead 1 Sidney Albert Wellstead 2
Bomb Map
This is a series of photographs of a map on display at The Keep Military Museum, Dorchester. The Bomb Map is a copy of the map kept by the Dorset Constabulary showing all bombs and crashed aircraft which fell in the County during the 1939-1945 war. Casualties Map Close up 1 Holt Close up 2 Holt
Info on map Map key Title label Verwood Bombing
Gaunts House
During the second World War, the house was occupied by 10th Hussars, the Middlesex Regiment, the tank regiment, and evacuees from southern counties.
Uddens House and West Moors
Material was sourced from local websites, see links below.
· Locally, land had been purchased (in 1938) from the Gundry estate (the Shaftesbury family) on what had been known since the early 19th century as ‘Gundry’s Inclosure’ to the north-east of the West Moor’s; work started to prepare it for use as a petroleum and ammunition storage depot.
· A War Department (WD)/Government railway siding was added to the layout at Uddens Crossing and brought into use during 1943. It may be, given the date, that this siding was used to relieve pressure on freight facilities at Wimborne and West Moors, though another explanation is that timber from the Uddens estate was transferred through this facility – or stores were held on the estate for issue elsewhere.
· Udden’s became a busy place again, and whereas it had been downgraded to a staffed crossing as recently as 1938 (with its signal box closed), in June 1943, a signalman once more took charge, and Uddens became a ‘block post’ again, working with West Moors to the east and Wimborne to the west.
· Whilst the Gundry’s Inclosure depot was in use by U.K. army forces [1938 to 1943], the West Moors Memorial Hall was requisitioned for War Office use to support the detachment: the 10th Hussars are one unit that occupied this billet, though this would have ceased in 1942 when they were sent overseas (to Libya/North Africa).
· When the U.S. Army arrived in 1942, they built their own accommodation & offices adjacent to the depot & presumably had no need of accommodation in the village.
· In the build-up to D-Day, Uddens House was a local management point for the construction projects hurriedly being undertaken to support that vital operation.
· The outflow apparently peaked at 1700 tons per day during the immediate run-up to the Allied invasion of France.
· In the months prior to June 6th, 1944, large convoys of road tankers trailed to and from the Depot – supplying forces with fuel, lubricants etc., and all these had to pass through the village or north towards Three Legged Cross.
· In August 1944, when the progress of allied forces across northern France was well advanced, 20 USA 2-8-0 locomotives and 75 American box cars were stored at the depot, prior to intended transfer across the Channel.
· It was not unknown for the cars of the soldiers’ based at West Moors to come off the West Moors Road at the snake bends into the bog. The bends are allocated soldiers’ names in memory of their mishaps!
· A Typhoon bomber lands in Slop Bog and drifts, cockpit open and black peat flying, coming to a halt just before the West Moors Road.
Brief details on Uddens House West Moors West Moors Miscellany
The Railway goes to War
Personal Recollections
These can be read in the Wimborne Library in a booklet of transcriptions made for the Museum of East Dorset
Personal Recollections
Local Recollections recorded 2024
Airfield Bombing Decoy Q160b
Airfield bombing decoy located at Moors Valley Country Park, Verwood (SU 100 066). It was built to deflect enemy bombing from Royal Air Force Hurn airfield and later used for Royal Air Force Ibsley airfield. This ‘Q-type’ night decoy site displayed a series of lights to simulate an active airfield. It is referenced as being in use between 18-JUN-1942 and 12-AUG-1942.
Tarrant Rushton 1944 Activities
Material was sourced from “Dorset’s War Diary” by Rodney Legg and Wikipedia
· 5 Jan 1944 Damaged B17 lands at Tarrant Rushton
· 5-11 Jan Exercise Nox, tow and glider practices
· 14 Jan Halifaxes exercise dropping paratroops
· 20 Jan Exercises with Canadian paratroop drop and towing Hamilar gliders with Tetrarch Light tanks. One overshot the land zone and discouraged its tank.
· 1 Feb Tarrant Rushton comes under command of RAF 38 Group Commanded by Air Chief Marshal Sir Trafford Leighton-Mallory
· 12 Feb Air Chief Marshal Sir Trafford Leighton-Mallory visit Tarrant Rushton
· 1 March 644 squadron formed at Tarrant Rushton, they will fly Halifax tug planes
· 3 March US Paratroops, 101 Airborne, in glider exercise
· 9 March. Antiaircraft units reinforced over the week
· 24 March. Top Brass watch synchronised take off of four Halifax’s towing Hamilcar gliders
· 17 April Halifax stalls, 2 killed but glider crew are not injured
· 22 April. General Dwight Eisenhower (Supreme Commander of allies), Air Chief Marshal Sir Trafford Leighton-Mallory and Air Vice Marshal Leslie Hollinghurst, fly into Tarrant Rushton to inspect the British 6th Air Landing Brigade. Tarrant Rushton now houses over 700 men.
· April Increase in American fatalities (7) in road traffic accidents reported.
· Throughout may there are mass take offs and landing exercises of tug planes and gliders at Tarrant Rushton
· Maps of Operations
· 5 June. Operation Tonga began at 22:56 on the night of 5 June, when six Handley Page Halifax heavy bombers took off from RAF Tarrant Rushton towing six Horsa gliders carrying the coup-de-main force; this consisted of D Company, 2nd Battalion Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry (part of the 6th Airlanding Brigade, but attached to the 5th Parachute Brigade for the initial invasion) reinforced with two extra platoons from B Company and a party of Royal Engineer sappers under the overall command of Major John Howard, who were tasked with capturing the bridges over the Caen Canal and the River Orne.
· Handley Page Halifax glider-tugs along with Horsa and Hamilcar gliders waiting RAF Tarrant Rushton to take off for Normandy
· 12 June. Viscount Trenchard, the Marshal of the RAF visits Tarrant Rushton. The airfield is involved in Operation Rob Roy which is ferrying jeeps, field guns, ammunition and fuel in Hamilcar gliders.
· 3 July twelve aircraft are involved in an SOE operation to drop men and materials to the Resistance.
· 17 Sept. Airlift for Arnhem (Operation Market Garden). Nearly a hundred Hamilcar gliders towed by Halifax tug planes leave Tarrant Rushton
· Through Sept. Halifax aircraft fly missions to drop supplies to units of the SAS behind enemy lines in France, Belgium and Holland.
· D-Day website
· D-Day Pegasus Bridge mission leader Major John Howard remembered at service
· Tarrant Rushton: Former D-Day airfield to mark 80th anniversary
· RAF Tarrant Rushton
· Friends of Tarrant Rushton
· Quiet Dorset farmland was once the base for a daring D-Day raid and the home of in-flight refuelling. Ken Ellis reflects on an airfield’s remarkable history
· Imperial War Museum Link.
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