Major General Francis de Guingand
Chief of staff, 21st Army Group, shortly before D–Day, in a conversation with General Montgomery.
‘I’d feel a lot happier if the Australian 9th Division was going ashore with us.’
The Australian government had withdrawn the last of its divisions, the 9th, from the Mediterranean early in 1943 in order to reinforce their armies in the Pacific.
Jan Caesar, 15
an English schoolgirl.
‘We lived in a rented house in Derby Road, Southampton, a very neighbourly area. I was one of five sisters who had moved back to Southampton from Bournemouth with our mother after being evacuated in 1939. US convoys were parked all along the streets, waiting for the “off”. One was composed of black men – they didn’t mix races. My 14-year-old sister and I were besotted with one of them. He was charming. But after a couple of days they moved on. They were replaced by a convoy of white soldiers who included Julius Kupke, a German who had become a naturalized American and hated what the Germans were doing. He was short and squat – no oil painting, but my, could he sing. Whenever I hear “Rose Marie” my mind goes back to D-Day.
‘My mother took pity on the men who were desperately tired and had been forced to sleep in their lorries. She invited several into our home where they crashed out on beds and chairs. My mother didn’t have much to offer because of rationing but she made gallons of tea and cut up piles of bread for cucumber sandwiches, which they thought so English. In return, they gave us their rations. They made our eyes pop out – tins of meat, fruit, sweets and chocolate.
‘When the convoy moved off we said fare-well with promises to write. My mother was upset, knowing where they were heading. Julius returned early the following morning to say thank you again with another parcel of goodies. They had been held up at the docks, waiting for a boat. My mother kept her promise and wrote to him and his fiancée in America for quite a while but we lost touch when we moved around after my father was de-mobbed.’
Bill Goodwin
Bricklayer on the maintenance staff sealed into the US Camps D2 and D4 in Dorset two weeks before D – Day.
‘I queued with the Americans for breakfasts, which included a pint of tomato or fruit juice, a large plate of sweet pancakes with eggs and bacon and a pint of coffee with sugar and carnation milk. We also had the US’ Women’s Voluntary Service calling at the camp. They’d walk around with trays loaded with free cigarettes, glucose tablets, chewing gum, and ring doughnuts, chewing and pipe tobacco. In the Big Tent there were also live shows with US artistes.’
Private Ken McFarlane
Anti-Tank Platoon, 1st Battalion Dorset Regiment, 50th Northumbrian Division.
‘After a few weeks on Bren Gun Carrier driving at Bowness on Windermere, mechanics at Fords of Dagenham and range firing at Harlech in Wales, I finally arrived at a wooded camp just outside Fawley, Southampton, posted to 1st Battalion Dorsetshire Regiment. Time was spent studying maps and a sand tray model of our next exercise, Overlord. We were issued with waterproofing kit (side extensions, gunge for dill and brakes, breathers, etc.). During the week American MPs were posted outside the camp to prevent us from leaving but vehicles and drivers were sent on to the road outside to line up on painted white squares. We outsiders had heard that the lads inside had been paid 200 francs apiece, so thought the next manoeuvre must be the real thing.’
US LSTs 499, 284 and 380 of ‘Force U’ at Brixham, Devon being loaded for the voyage to Utah Beach.
National Archives
Frank Scott
Because it was thought the retreating Germans would destroy large quantities of French currency, French francs were printed in America. Of these, 2,899,500,000 francs were allotted to the 21st Army Group. On 21 June the Base Cashier landed in France with five and a half tins of notes which were held in the specially reinforced cellars of the Chateau de Courseulles. The sterling equivalent of £21.7 million was sent to France.
Countdown
17 January 1944
Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force established in London.
21 January 1944
Generals Eisenhower and Montgomery agree changes to General Morgan’s COSSAC plans which set the invasion date as 31 May, extending the landing area west across the Cotentin Peninsula towards Cherbourg and increase the initial seaborne force from 3 Divisions to 5 Divisions.
1 February 1944
Revised Overlord plan, Neptune, the sea transportation and landing phase of Overlord issued.
5 March 1944
Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) moves from Grosvenor Gardens to former US 8th Air Force HQ at Bushey Park, near Hampton Court, code name Widewing. Eisenhower lives nearby in Telegraph Cottage, Warren Road, Kingston upon Thames.
Lance Bombardier Frank Scott, 24
165 HAA Regimental HQ Royal Artillery.
‘Inevitably all good things come to an end and we received our “Marching Orders” to proceed in convoy to the London Docks. The weather was worsening, putting all the best-laid plans “on hold”. Although restrictions as regards personnel movements were pretty tight some local leave was allowed. It would have been possible for me to see my folks just once more before heading into the unknown but having said my farewells earlier felt I just couldn’t go through that again.
‘With the enormous numbers of vehicles and military equipment arriving in the marshalling area and a continuous downpour of rain it wasn’t long before we were living in a sea of mud and getting a foretaste of things to come. To idle away the hours whilst awaiting to hear the shout “WE GO”, time was spent playing cards (for the last remaining bits of English currency), much idle gossip and I would suspect thinking about those we were leaving behind. God knows when, or if, we would be seeing them again. By now this island we were about to leave, with its incessant Luftwaffe bombing raids and the arrival of the “Flying Bomb”, had by now become a front line and it was good to be thinking that we were now going to do something about it!
‘All preparations were made for the off. Pay Parade and an issue of 200 French francs (invasion style), and then to “Fall In” again for an issue of the 24-hour ration pack (army style), bags for vomit and a Mae West (American style). Time to write a quick farewell letter home before boarding a troopship. Very soon it was anchors away. I must have dozed off for I awoke to find we were hugging the English coast and were about to change course off the Isle of Wight where we joined the great armada of ships of all shapes and sizes. It wasn’t too long before the coastline of the French coast became visible, although I did keep looking over my shoulder for the last glimpse of my homeland. The whole seascape by now was filled with an endless