Nazi-style out of the wreckage - to be helped into captivity by a push from the rifle butt of an RUR
infantryman. Men reacted in various ways to their first experience of war, George recalled. `Some
took to it like ducks to water, others couldn't stand it.'
The first four days around the bridges saw desperately intense action, with F Troop firing 5,000
rounds of 40mm at German raiders and shooting down 17 - but it paid off. Enemy aircraft continued
their attacks over the next two days, but at higher level, having found their treetop tactics too costly.
As Len Harvey recalled one Airborne corporal remarking to the weary F Troop men: 'It looks like
your guns have won Round One.' Captain Reid was later awarded the MC for leading the defence
of the bridges.
Thwarted by day, the Germans instead launched night sorties, mainly dropping the hated anti-
personnel bombs, capable of tearing a man apart.
On June 9, the marching party of 60 men from 318 Battery - which had landed in the Canadian
sector, east of Sword Beach, having travelled separately from the Sambut contingent - reached
Benouville, bringing some respite to their hard-pressed comrades at the bridges. A REME
workshop detachment also arrived. But there was still no sign of the battery's remaining guns. Next
day, the F Troop men finally heard news of the Channel tragedy from the CO, Colonel Bazeley,
who made his way into the bridgehead. The Sambut had sailed from Southend in convoy early on
D-Day, with the remainder of 318 and RHQ -120 officers and men - aboard.
In all, the liberty ship was carrying a total of more than 500 troops from 28 different units, plus
vehicles, weapons and large quantities of ammunition and high explosives. Just after midday on June
6, disaster struck. Three miles off Dover, the ship was hit by two 16-inch shells fired from German
gun batteries in Calais - the most terrible misfortune, for the salvoes could not have been aimed.
Fierce fires broke out and could not be tackled because the pumping gear was put out of action.
After about 45 minutes, the master had to order abandon ship. `The troops went over the side in a
very orderly manner,' wrote Captain W D Almond of 92nd LAA.
`The wounded were also taken off the ship and by 1400 hours she had been completely
abandoned and the survivors had been picked up by a variety of small craft. One officer and 73
other ranks swam to a corvette and were not disembarked in the UK until three days later, after
enjoying a ringside view of the landing beaches, whither the corvette was steaming at the time.'
Of the 92nd contingent on the Sambut, three men were killed, four were missing presumed dead,
one died of wounds and 14 were wounded. All equipment and records were lost. The burning hulk
of the ship, rocked by explosions, was finally sunk by a Royal Navy torpedo at location 51 08 N,
01 33 E.
Those who died were Sergeant Frederick Blaker, Sergeant Percy Ring, Bombardier John Wolfe,
Gunner Wilfred Lever and Gunner Walter Hartley - all of 318 Battery - Bombardier Sidney Crane
and Gunner Herbert Davies - both of RHQ - and Corporal George Challinor, of the Royal Corps of
Signals, attached RHQ.
For the F Troop men dug in at Benouville, it was a tragic loss, both in comrades and much-needed
reinforcements. But gradually, Luftwaffe raids against the bridges became sporadic and the gunners
were able to lend more support to infantry operations with ground shoots.
On June 12 came a potentially more formidable task. A German counter-attack from the east by
Tiger tanks was thought to be imminent, and all the Bofors Guns were driven back to the bridges
and loaded with armour-piercing shot ready to meet the panzer assault. Fortunately - especially
since tank armour was unlikely to be penetrated by the relatively light 40mm Bofors fire - the ground
assault never materialised.
On June 15, F Troop was finally relieved by corps LAA and sent to defend the airstrip at
Plumetot.
June to August 1944
`All ranks enjoyed these night barrages, which were fired along likely bomber
run-ins. At first sight, they appeared a trifle chancy, as early warning consisted
largely of the whistle of the first bomb. But they worked very well '
ON the night of June 13, headquarters and A Troop of 317, now camped at Rowland's Castle
outside Portsmouth, boarded a US tank landing ship. After anchoring for 36 hours in the Solent,
they sailed for Normandy on the morning of June 15, arriving off Jig Beach opposite Le Hamel near
Arromanches the same evening.
Next day, as German aircraft attacked the beachhead, the battery disembarked and linked up
with its B and C Troops, which had sailed earlier in tank landing craft. The newcomers were
immediately deployed on the high ground at Periers-sur-le-Dan, west of the Orne, in defence of 3rd
Division field guns. HQ was established at Hermanville. Ironically, a marching party of
reinforcements for C Troop under the command of Jack Prior had arrived in advance of the whole
battery, landing on Juno Beach at La Valette in the Canadian sector on June 11.
After helping out with traffic duty in the severely congested beachhead, Jack made his way to
Benouville, where F Troop was still valiantly holding the line against repeated German attempts to
destroy the bridges. On June 14, he temporarily joined F Troop as a replacement for Lieutenant A J
Hands of 318, who was wounded during shelling.
Two days later, three enemy aircraft - two JU 88s and a DO 217 - were shot down as they
targeted the bridges, but Gunner Golbourne was wounded. On the 18th, there was a concerted
attack by ME 109s, coming in waves of three and two.
Jack Prior finally linked up with C Troop at Periers-sur-le-Dan on June 20, the same day that the
troop scored its first Category One in Normandy by shooting down an FW 190, capturing its pilot
after he baled out. Over the following fortnight, shelling intensified, inflicting casualties throughout the regiment.