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July 1943 to June 1944
July 1943 to June 1944 continued
The D - Day Landings
D-Day Landings continued
D-Day to VJ Day and beyond
Background information & the last months
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D-Day to VJ Day and beyond
Location: Hampshire
On the night of the 5th. of June 1944 Winston Churchill confided to his wife, Clementine, "Do you realise that by the time that you wake up in the morning twenty thousand men may have been killed?" In fact the total number of allied servicemen who died on D-Day amounted to about 3000 and during the remainder of the month the losses did not exceed 8000.
In the aftermath of D-Day the flotillas that had trained at Cricket and participated in Operation Neptune returned to the Hamble - but not all at once. Those associated with the removal of enemy beach defences came back within a few days but others were retained in Normandy for a period of several months to assist with the transportation of troops and materials from ship to shore. However, other flotillas which had departed from bases all along the south coast were sent back to Cricket to re-group so there were to be many new faces in the camp.
H.M.S. CRICKET (Cricket Camp) - MANOR FARM COUNTRY PARK
PART 3: D-Day to VJ Day and beyond
After D-Day - the Reckoning
Immediately after the invasion the survivors of the LCA Hedgerow flotillas returned to HMS Cricket and under the command of Capt. De Spon, RM, were again encamped in tents situated in the fields each side of the A27, between the Swan public house and Camp D at Bursledon Bridge. A memorial service was held in Bursledon Church for the thirteen men of their group who had lost their lives.
606 Flotilla came back to Cricket without their landing craft, many of these having been damaged or wrecked in the Channel storms that occurred soon after D-Day. Lt. Searle had taken command after the sad loss of their C.O. on the beaches and they. too, now held a memorial service for their dead at Bursledon Church.
Meanwhile eighty Royal Marines, forming part of the reserve landing craft crews, had left HMS Cricket for Tilbury Docks where they embarked on the transports Cap Touraine (French) and Thyoville (Belgian.) As they sailed for Normandy through the Dover Straits they were fired on by the German heavy gun batteries at Cap Gris Nez. Fortunately both vessels reached the invasion area without loss where they were used as support ships for the landing craft which were still working off the beaches.
Bob Hare of 513 LCA Flotilla returned to the Hamble in the middle of July, 1944. He remained at Cricket camp with his unit while the men who had not returned from Normandy were replaced and the flotilla was re-equipped with new or repaired landing craft. Happily they did not then know what lay ahead of them - a few months later they were to suffer heavy losses in the battle for the Scheldt Islands.
A Story from the Beachhead
With the new mix of personnel at Cricket there were tales to be exchanged with men from landing craft flotillas which had left from other bases along the south coast. One notable incident involved 263p Flotilla which had trained at Hayling Island. Their C Squadron, under the command of Cpt. Robin Taylor R.M., took part in the assault on June 6th., with four LCV(p)s on board an LST and twelve travelling under their own steam. The units landed troops on Sword Beach at 7.30 a.m. and then anchored offshore to await further activity. During the night, in worsening weather, one damaged craft broke away from its kedge anchor and drifted towards enemy held beaches at the mouth of the river Orne, where it eventually grounded. Under intense fire from enemy machine guns the coxswain, with two unarmed marines, leapt ashore and by pretending to be a raiding party they managed to convince the Germans at the gun post that they were facing superior forces. The enemy surrendered - after a brisk fist fight - and were marched off to the nearest beachmaster!
The next phase
As the allied forces made further headway into France and the returning flotillas were settled in things gradually became quieter at Cricket. However, at the end of July the base experienced its first and only enemy attack when a V1 Flying Bomb landed in a field near the Hamble. There was a large store of defused mortar bombs nearby but fortunately no explosion of the ordnance occurred. However, very sadly, three ratings who were on guard in an adjacent hut were killed. The names of these sailors, Rae, Aubin and Goodier, are still remembered by the Stores Petty Officer, Alcon Steer, who was responsible for dealing with their personal effects.
HMS Cricket now assumed a role as a re-grouping base for combined operations personnel and a training centre for operations in the Far East. However, the camp still retained an active operational capability and in September, 1944 606 Flotilla, under the command of Cpt. Robinson, RM, was equipped and despatched to be transported in LSD Northway via Ostend to the Rhine. The intention was that they should attempt to relieve the airborne forces trapped at Arnhem but this operation was eventually cancelled as it would probably have been suicidal.
The capture of Walcheren and the Scheldt Islands, together with the final European landing craft operations
In October 1944 the vital Belgian port of Antwerp was captured by the British. The city fell with little resistance and the port passed into allied hands with all its cargo handling facilities intact. However, the Germans remained in control of the islands at the mouth of the Scheldt, thus preventing the use of the port to supply the advancing British Army. To remedy this, on November 1st., units from the Commandos and the 51st. Division were landed on the islands of Walcheren and South Beveland. Unfortunately, such was the strength of the opposition that troops had to be transported by minor landing craft into the centre of Middleberg in order to secure the surrender of the garrison. The last coastal battery was captured after some bitter fighting lasting about ten days and this enabled the docks at Antwerp to become operational again on November 28th. thus allowing allied forces to liberate Holland and sweep on into north east Germany.
126 Flotilla, originally based at HMS Cricket, was one of the participating units in this action. Crossing to Ostend by LSD they were then transported by rail to Ghent from where they sailed through the canal system and attacked the islands from the rear. Another Cricket Flotilla, no. 513, equipped with LCAs, was sent to Belgium in HMS Northway and using similar means as 126 made their way to attack Breskers. This was a grim undertaking and of the 36 boats which took part in the assault 30 were lost. Subsequently other units based at the camp took part in operations on the Rhine, their craft having been carried overland by army tank transporters. In a totally different operation 813 Flotilla assisted in the relief of the Channel Islands.
The life of the camp then turned to a period of training in which the flotillas were prepared for further action in Europe and also for planned landings in the Far East, including a proposed attack on mainland Japan; an attack which, very fortunately, never had to take place. In its final phase Cricket was used as a transit camp for servicemen returning home from the war and vocational training was also provided to equip the newly demobbed for life in civvy street. This period in the camp's life will be dealt with in Part 4.
Background information & the last months >>
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