The intentions to document this information are long standing in that they go back some two decades to the early/mid 1990’s, just a few years before the subject of this site, James Kitchener Heath passed away.
As is the case in so many families in which a generation experienced war and all its traumas, certain aspects of service are known, but all too often the details are sketchy and disjointed. Add into this mix the passage of time and the result is invariably a collection of stories and fragments of memories accompanied by a handful of fragile and faded documents (if you are lucky) that represent the sum of information relating to the most extraordinary period in a soldier’s life. This was certainly the case in our family..... and it’s not much to go on.
In February 1995, my Father and I struggled to put together a potted service history to be read by the cleric presiding over my Grandfather’s funeral. At this point I decided to take steps to fill in some of the gaps as best I could.... sadly now without the benefit of first hand testimony.
A well known turn of phrase, ‘written on the back of a fag packet’ is defined by the Collins on-Line dictionary as something ‘composed or formed quickly and without detailed analysis or research’. As far as first hand source material for this history is concerned, no better a description could be made. The details gleaned from my Grandfather in brief (and often emotional) discussions in the 1990’s are summarised as a list of place names written in an old man’s shaky handwriting on the back of a standard envelope! (this will feature later). On the upside, a standard envelope is approximately twice the size of a cigarette packet, which immediately doubles the amount of information to work with!
By my own admission, this site is a little self-indulgent, being of primary interest to myself, my mother, my children and a handful of relatives still living in Staffordshire. In addition, it may be that the information presented here will be read by others outside of the family who have a passing interest in military or family history.
I would welcome any comments/suggestions or dare I say it relevant information to contact me.
Ahead of the 70th Anniversary of the D-Day landings I took the opportunity to travel to Normandy for the first time to see for myself at least some of the places where Jim Heath had fought during the summer of 1944.
The trip was planned to take my fiend Owen and I across to the Normandy beaches via the battlefields of The Somme (this of course also being quite a significant anniversary year in the history of The Great War too). There was no particular significance in the selection of our dates of travel other than to avoid the rush and the exorbitant hotel prices that would surely be a feature of staying in this corner of France in early June!
In the two days that we spent travelling through the key parts of Normandy, we took in as much as possible from Pegasus Bridge, on to Sword Beach at Ouistreham then heading west to take in Juno, Gold and Omaha Beach in turn. Just as an aside, it is only when you take this journey across the length of the landing beaches that the immensity of the front hits you and we didn't even take it as far as Utah!
As the events that took place at locations such as Pegasus Bridge occurred some two weeks before my Grandfather landed himself, I propose to post this information on separate pages so as not to disrupt the current narrative.
On 17th June, the long anticipated orders came through for the 59th to proceed to the marshalling areas ahead of embarkation. The advance parties of the Division departed on the same day, with the man body of men moving of on the following day, 18th June, destination Newhaven in East Sussex. The exception to this transit to the Sussex coast was the 2/6th South Staffords who accompanied the divisional transport to Tilbury Docks on the Essex stretch of the Thames.
Further frustration was felt within the Division when poor weather conditions resulted in the troops kicking their heels in the marshalling areas for another full week.
Immediately ahead of embarkation, the morale of the Division was lifted by receipt of the following stirring words in a message from their colonel, Major-General Comings.
Speech delivered to units of 59 (Staffordshire) Division on the eve of departure to the Normandy beaches.
Click on the image to enlarge.
Eventually, the Division sailed on 25th June, meaning that, as mentioned in an earlier post, ‘D-Day’ for my Grandfather and his brothers-in-arms was in fact 26th June 1944.
Such was the compression of the transport timetable as a consequence of the bad conditions that the advance parties, intended to receive the Division in Normandy, only arrived 24 hours ahead of the main body of troops and transport.
On 26th the weather was still poor, but it proved to be an uneventful crossing for my Grandfather who was with ‘A’ Company of the 5th South Staffords. The same cannot be said for his battalion comrades of ‘C’ and ‘D’ companies whose landing craft developed a fault and consequently drifted into a minefield. A helpful destroyer of the Royal Navy came to their aid and gave them safe-passage through a clear channel to the beach.
The 2/6th Battalion transport (including Battalion H.Q.) likewise did not have such an easy time of it as bad weather kept them off the beaches for several days before they were able to land. A rough ordeal for these Midland men with limited experience of the high seas!
Some sources state that the 59th Division landed on the British/Canadian ‘Juno’ beach, however, another detailed account of the South Staffordshire Regiment’s active service* clearly describes a landing on the eastern extreme of the British ‘Gold’ beach with the ‘tiny seaside villages of Arromanches and Tracy-sur-Mer on the right'.
View over 'Gold' Beach (looking East)
10th May 2014
A landing at Arromanches seems most likely, at least for the 5th Battalion and is consistent with my Grandfather’s envelope ‘chronology’ that states Arromanches as the first location after D-Day.
The village of Arramanches (looking West from the headland over 'Gold' Beach)
10th May 2014
Marker on the Arromanches observation platform
The fact that the Mulberry harbour at Arromanches was up and running by 26th June (or at least Mulberry B was, Mulberry A having been badly damaged in a storm on 19th June) would also suggest to me that this would have been the logical landing location for a follow up formation such as the 59th.
Remaining fragments of the Mulberry artificial harbour
10th May 2014
Panorama of the Mulberry artificial harbour from the radar station (now observation platform above Arromanches
However, again from the ‘Your Men In Battle’ record, reference is made to the fact that as a consequence of minimal opposition by the enemy, water-proofed tanks (presumably DD or Duplex-drive tanks) were able to wait for low tide in order to drive up onto the beach in very shallow water rather than in the anticipated deep water of a high tide. This suggests that some, if not all, of the transport landed directly from boat to beach rather than via the pontoon roadways that connected floating quays with the beach at Arromanches (centre of the photograph above).
DD Sherman tank (with canvas curtain now raised) takes to the water.
Any clarification as to exactly how the Division landed in Normandy would be gratefully received!
As indicated above, in stark contrast to the hellish reception of sand, steel and blood endured by the troops who landed on 6th, all was quiet and the Germans were no longer in evidence. The indicators of war were limited to ‘a broken-backed landing craft’ on the beach and the roar of Allied aircraft overhead.
Inland the situation was very different indeed, a fact well understood by the South Staffords as the Division concentrated in the area between Bayeux and Cruelly. Given the delays, this concentration was achieved very rapidly and by 1st July, the Division was in one place, less elements of the Royal Army Service Corps (R.A.S.C.).
Before sharing some of my recent experiences in Normandy, it
goes without saying that I paid keen interest in the events of last week that
marked the 70th anniversary of the execution of ‘Operation Overlord’.
Much of the footage I have to admit, I had to watch on my own, on account of
welling up with each new tale that was told.
But one special mention needs to be given to Mr Bernard Jordan who absconded from his care home in Hove, East Sussex when he realised that he
was too late to get there via an organised trip in order to be with comrades
for possible the last time.
It’s a great story and one which in a rather unusual way
captures something of the spirit of the men who first made that same perilous
journey in 1944. Mr Jordan has vowed to be there next year too, I trust that a limo
will be laid on for him this time around!
British trrops landing on Gold Beach 6th June 1944
Last month in an attempt to avoid the June rush, a friend
and I made the trip over to the Normandy beaches, to generally explore the
landing sites, monuments and bunkers in the area of Caen. More specifically, I
went to see first hand (and for the first time) the places where my Grandfather
first experienced the war at the sharp end.
I do not intend to post information specific to L/Cpl Heath
until 25th June which coincides with his own D-Day when he landed
with the 59th (Staffordshire) Division. Nevertheless, it is wholly
appropriate that I post other D-Day material here, much of which predates his
arrival in France. Whilst he missed the slaughter of the first assault, the SS
Panzer Divisions, which the 59th came up against one month later,
were kind enough to hold back plenty of ordinance in reserve to make their
reception very lively indeed…… but more of that later.
