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.
It was under a louring sky in May 2014 that my friend and I paid a visit to the Divisional Cemetery at Fontenay-le-Pesnel. Located 16 kilometers to the west of Caen, the cemetery is the final resting place of 460 Commonwealth soldiers of which 452 are identified.
Entrance to Fontenay-le-Pesnel War Cemetery 10th
10th May 2014
Immediately striking in the grounds of the cemetery is the profusion of headstones bearing the knot of the South Staffordshire Regiment. Of these, the majority carry the dates of the fighting during Operation Pomegranate, many of these men would have fallen in the repeated attempts to capture Noyers.
In addition, many men of the East Lancashire and the Royal Warwickshire Regiments as well as the Durham Light Infantry are commemorated in Fontenay-le-Pesnel War Cemetery.
It is near impossible to take in the details of each headstone, but one struck me as particularly sad. The headstone gave the details of a Private K.P. Mitton of the South Staffordshire Regiment who was killed on the 16th July 1944 at the age of 18. Towards the bottom of the headstone and you can see that his brother Flight Sergeant Harold Bertram of the R.A.F., killed in action on 11th February 1941, also lies here.
The cemetery also contains 59 German military graves.
The positions of Allied and German formations at the outset of Operation Pomegranate
(map used with the kind permission of http://59div.morssweb.com)
On 14th July, the 59th concentrated in the area surrounding the villages of Loucelles, Christot and Fontenay-le-Pesnel in the centre of the Pomegranate offensive line. The 49th (West Riding) or ‘Polar Bear’ Division was positioned on the 59th’s right flank whilst the 53rd (Welsh) Division formed up on the left flank.
The battle opened up at 0530 hours on the morning of 16th July, so called 'H’ hour. Passing over the start lines, the 5th East Lancashires of 197 Brigade reached their first objective east of the village of Vendes and by 0800 had captured part of the village despite a determined defence encountered from the outset of the attack. Here the 5th East Lancashires were pinned down and prevented from further advance when by 2.30 in the afternoon an effective infantry counter-attack with tank support overran one company on the right and forced the withdrawal of the remaining forces of the occupying battalion back to their start line.
To the east, the 1/6th and the 5th South Staffords moved on their allotted objectives. The 1/6th captured Brettevillette little over an hour after starting out and by 0845 hours troops of the Battalion had advanced as far as Quediville. In likewise manner, the 5th South Staffords captured the orchards to the west of Granville sur Odon and by noon Les Nouillons was in their hands. Thus it was that by this time, all of the 177 Brigade's objectives had been achieved, but at a high price. Resistance was heavy and effective, the objective village remains were thickly mined with both anti-tank and anti-personnel mines. Furthermore, two thirds of the tanks in support of the 1/6th assault ‘brewed up’, to use the parlance of the tank men of at the time, in a British minefield that remained in place, despite assurances that clearance would have been completed in advance of the attack. The confusion of the fighting was compounded when many troops became disorientated and misdirected in the heavy morning mist . By 1330 hours tanks equipped with mine clearing flails began to enter the minefields at Quediville. This marked the close of Phase I of the attack.
Phase II was launched in the early evening with a 2/6th Battalion advance of the village of Noyers Bocage (Hereafter referred to as Noyers) and three quarters of an hour later the 6th North Staffords (under the command of 177 Brigade for this action) assaulted Haul des Forges. The 6th succeeded in taking their objective, but in the face of heavy opposition, after initially penetrating some way into the village, were forced to withdraw to the area around Noyers railway satation. On this day 177 Brigade took a total of 369 German prisoners, all soldiers of the 277 Infanterie Division.
During the remainder of the 16th July, on the hard pressed right, another assault on the Phase I objective was launched, this time by the 2/5th Lancashire Fusiliers, but their efforts were thwarted by the heavy and accurate mortar fire laid down by the defenders and little was achieved.
The following two days were focused on the concerted efforts of the 177 Infantry Brigade to take Noyers. A dawn attack on the village by the 1/6th and the 5th South Staffords fell someway short of reaching the station and the men were pinned down until 13.30 hours when the order came through to withdraw and reorganise. A further attack by the 5th was launched from the north east of the village but was repelled just inside the outskirts. A 1/6th South Staffords advance from Bretteville in the direction of Bordel failed under heavy defensive fire. After dark all troops were withdrawn in order to ‘soften up’ the village defences with shell and mortar fire.
The 17th also saw the 1/7th Royal Warwicks of the 197 Brigade with support from the 1st Norfolk Yeomanry achieve success in assaulting the phase I objectives. To drive home this success and to strengthen the 197 Brigade front, 176 Brigade moved on Bordel , but without great success. At this time H.Q. 1/7th Royal Warwickshire was hit by two large bombs which resulted in high casualty numbers.
Attempts to subdue Noyers were renewed at 10 am on the morning of 18th once again with the 1/6th and 5th South Staffords advancing on the fortified village. Despite strong, albeit depleted, armoured support, this action as well as another assault in the afternoon was unsuccessful and the forces of the 59th Division once again withdrew by evening to allow shells and mortar to resume their attempts to subdue the resilient defenders of Noyers.
Once again on the right, by nightfall, the 1/7th Royal Warwicks had occupied Ferme de Guiberon and reports came in from the 49th Infantry Division of German withdrawals across the front. The 7th South Staffords of 176 Brigade attacked, captured and held the area from Bordel up to la Seneviére.
After three days of heavy fighting the process of relieving the exhausted, battle weary troops in the line began. During the night of 18th July, 176 Infantry Brigade relieved 197 Brigade, thus allowing it to move into reserve positions. Elsewhere on the right, the 7th Royal Norfolks relieved the 1/7th Royal Warwicks.
On the 19th, the 49th Division occupied Vendes, after the enemy had withdrawn from the village. Plans for a renewed assault on Noyers, after 177 Brigade dawn patrols confirmed that the village was still held by the Germans, came to nothing.
At 1250 hours on the 19th July, the Corps Commander passed down orders to cease any further attempts to take Noyers and subsequent activities in the following days were restricted to aggressive patrolling across the front.
British footage of Operation Pomegranate (17th July 1944)
More detailed information on the fighting in which the soldiers of the South Staffordshire regiments were engaged is given a later post.
Detail of the German front line a week after 'Operation Pomegranate'
The 49 (West Riding) Division was committed into action at an early stage of the war when two brigades of the Division participated in an attempt of the 15th to 17th April 1940 to take the Norwegian ports of Trondheim and Narvik back from the control of the occupying German Army. The landings were a disaster and the units were withdrawn in May.
After the Norwegian landings, the 146 and 147 Brigades were transferred and stationed in Iceland, and it was from here that the famous Polar bear on an ice floe insignia originated. The third Divisional brigade, the 148th was reassigned as a training battalion outside of the 49th Division.
1942 saw the Division transferred back to the UK with the incorporation of 70th Brigade (reallocated from the disbanded 23 (Northumbrian) Division) into her ranks.
In the immediate aftermath of D Day, the 49 (West Riding) Division moved to Normandy as part of XXX Corps. After engaging the enemy, it was the traitorous British broadcaster William Joyce, better known as 'Lord Haw Haw' who referred to the Division as 'the Polar Bear Butchers', as a consequence of their reputation for tenacity and aggression in the field. Soldiers of the 49 Division took a grim pride in this epithet as evidenced by a Christmas card produced in 1944.
After the Normandy campaign, the 49th saw further action, most notably in the Arnhem region, as part of the First Canadian Army fighting in support of 'Operation Market Garden'.
The 49 (West Riding) Division is also a fundamental part of this narrative as after the disbandment of the 59 (Staffordshire) Division in August 1944, my Grandfather was transferred to the 11th Battalion Royal Scots Fusiliers (R.S.F.) which formed one infantry Division of 147 Brigade within the 49 (West Riding) Division.
59 (Staffordshire) Division
Positioned in the centre of the line of the Pomegranate front.
A follow-up formation described at length on this site.
53 (Welsh) Division
In many aspects, the World War II history of the 53 (Welsh) Division runs parallel to that of the 59 (Staffordshire) Division. Part of the Territorial Army from 1921 it was mobilised at the outbreak of the war in 1936 and detailed initially to protect the ports of South Wales. However, in October 1939 the 53rd transferred to Northern Ireland where it trained and also maintained a keen eye on the activities south of the border. In November 1941 it was replaced by the 59 (Staffordshire) Division who you may recall were dismayed to surrender their new transport and armour in the North East of England only to take on the tired equipment of 53rd (Welsh) in Ulster!
As with 59th, training continued apace with the Division spending a further period of time in the Welsh borders before being moved down into Kent to defend the south coast during the 1942-1943 period. Reorganisation occurred in October 1943, with the 71st Infantry Brigade taking the place of the 159th Infantry Brigade who became part of 11th Armoured Division. The Division then concentrated those aspects of training that would serve them best when the time came to take the fight to France.
The 53 (Welsh) Division landed in Normandy as a follow-up formation under the command of VII Corps on 28th June 1944, just a few days after the arrival of the 59th (Staffordshire) Division. After the Battle of Caen, the 53rd was taken under the command of VIII Corps at the tail end of Operation Epsom. Here the 53rd relieved units of the 15th (Scottish) Infantry Division in the salient. Operation Greenline followed which held up German forces that would otherwise have threatened the Goodwood assault to the east of Caen.
Throughout the remainder of July, the 53rd Welsh were involved in bitter fighting in the Odon salient and suffered very heavy losses. Moving east the Division further advanced in early August in the direction of Falaise, crossing the Orne river at Grimbosq on 16th August. It was in an action on that day that Captain Tasker Watkins of the 1/5 Welsh Regiment earned the VC by leading his men in an infantry charge against superior numbers of the enemy as well as putting a German machine gun position out of action.
Captain Tasker Watkins VC
1/5 Welsh Regiment
53 (Welsh) Division
After the destruction of the 7th German Army in the Falaise Pocket on 21st August, the Division moved up to the River Seine to continue the rapid advance through France and Belgium. After the fall of Antwerp, the 53rd guarded the port and its surroundings before advancing into Holland on the commencement of Operation Market Garden, thereafter continuing to fight hard in the 'Island' area between Nijmegen and Arnhem. Of these places there will be much to say later as these were the battlefields also trodden by my Grandfather after August 1944 with the 11th Battalion Royal Scots Fusiliers.
53 (Welsh) Division continued to see action in the Ardennes (Battle of the Bulge (16th December 1944 to 25th January 1945)). It saw some of its fiercest engagements in the closing months of the war as it took on the last desperate, but determined, stand by German paratroops in the Reichswald forest.
The Division reached Hamburg on 4th of May and the war came to an end. Soldiers of the Division were retained and formed part of the British Army of the Rhine.
In their 10 months of active service in North West Europe, the Division suffered 9,846 casualties, killed, wounded or missing.
Map indicating the operational area of 'Pomegranate' 16th-17th July 1944
(with thanks to http://59div.morssweb.com/)
The second engagement in Normandy in which soldiers of the 59th Division were to play a role was known as ‘Operation Pomegranate’. Coupled with ‘Operation Greenline’ of the 15th to the 17th July, ‘Pomegranate’ was part of an action that history recalls as ‘The Second Battle Of The Odon’.
As the D-Day objective of Caen eluded the British and Canadian forces on 6th June, Allied efforts shifted to the south west of the city, commencing on 7th June with ‘Operation Perch’ a combined pincer action of encirclement of the Norman capital from east to west by I Corps and XXX Corps respectively. The attack by I Corps was halted by the 21st Panzer Division, whilst the XXX Corps assault faltered at Tilly-sur-Seulles in the face of the Panzer-Lehr Division.
In the week of the 7th to 14th June XXX Corps attempted to manoeuvre around the defences of the Panzer-Lehr Division and in doing so captured Villers-Bocage to the west of Caen. Later in the action, on 17th June, Tilly-sur-Seulles was taken as the Panzer-Lehr Division was again pushed back.
Further offensive action was delayed by poor weather, when a severe storm blew up on 19th June and hampered any further operations for several days.
On 25th June ‘Operation Martlet’ opened up which intended to secure the left flank of VIII Corps who had received orders to advance southwards on the left flank of XXX Corps on 26th June. The action of the 26th to the 29th June was later designated as ‘The First Battle Of The Odon’, but is perhaps better known to historians as ‘Operation Epsom’ which had the intended outcome of a breakout of the Orne bridgehead to the west of Caen by crossing the Odon and Orne rivers and securing the objective of the high ground around Bretteville-sur-Laize.
The planned breakout failed as a result of determined German resistance and the offensive operation was halted around the high ground of Hill 112. However, ‘Epsom’ was a partial success in that the German Army was forced to commit reserve forces, newly arrived in Normandy, to the fighting. These reserve units were intended to engage Allied positions away from Caen in the vicinity of Bayeux. Whilst held up to the west of Caen, well away from the advancing US forces, much damage was inflicted upon German heavy armour by intensive RAF sorties over the battlefield.
Footage of 'Operation Pomegranate' 17th July 1944
The Second Battle Of The Odon commenced at 9.30 on the evening of 15th July when, under the illumination of the so-called ‘Monty’s Moonlight’ (searchlight beams reflected from the underside of low lying cloud cover in order to light up the battlefield), Operation Greenline was launched.
In this action, a reinforced 15th (Scottish) Division, the 43rd (Wessex) Infantry Division and two brigades of the 53rd (Welsh) Infantry Division were to secure the high ground of Hill 112 and to force the advance on Auray-sur-Odon to the south of Villers-Bocage or better still, Thury Harcourt to the south east, should the action result in a German withdrawal.
Starting on 16th July Operation Pomegranate to the west of the Greenline plan, XXX Corps shaped up with an attack of the 49th (West Riding) Infantry Division on the right flank, the 59th Division again in the centre with the 53rd (Welsh) Division on the left.
In the ensuing battle, the plan was for the 49th to take Vendes and its surrounding area, the 59th to capture Noyers-Bocage , Haut des Forges and Landelle. The role for the 53rd (Welsh) was to exploit any opportunities to move on Villers-Bocage to the south.
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