French civilians inspecting a “Moaning Minnie” trench mortar (Minenwerfer) in Fleury-sur-Orne, July 1944.
Bren Carrier in a field of long grass. Courtesy of Imperial War Museum
...we heard the Moaning Minnies coming our way and all ran and dived into our trenches. Flaherty must’ve just been casually strolling to his and he caught a load of shrapnel in his bum!
He was evacuated home to Liverpool where my parents managed to visit him in hospital. I believe he was discharged after treatment.
Still in the Bocage country we moved forward all day under a creeping barrage. The Royal Artillery had a Sgt. Observer in full radio contact with his gunners along with a driver in a Bren Carrier. All at once our gunners got the range wrong, we were plastered with high explosives and air burst shells. We had many casualties and only one medic. The RA driver had been killed, the Sgt. Observer managed to stop the shelling but one of his legs was hanging off. The medic screamed out, “Can anyone drive this carrier?!” as it was the only way to get the severely wounded out. There were no officers around at this point so I ran forward and said I had been trained (I didn’t mention it was for one day!). We moved all the radio equipment out and got the worst of the casualties on board.
Now the shock... I had trained on a carrier with a conventional steering wheel, this one had tiller bars. I managed to adapt and drove what must have been over 3 miles to Brigade HQ, by which time it was dusk. The first person I met was an RE Sapper who informed us we had just driven through a field full of mines! Then out of nowhere came my Company Commander who said “What are you doing here?” (I felt like asking him the same question!) and then rather loudly, “Get back to your position immediately!” Not even a cup of tea for my troubles!
The next day it was all clear ahead of us and we moved fast towards Falaise, this time I can remember the date
as it was my 19th Birthday: 20th of August 1944."
Bocage country in Normandy is characterised by small fields, high hedgerows and sunken lanes. All the fighting in this area was by ambush.
Obviously the attacking troops were at a disadvantage because they had to move forward. Each hedgerow across the axis of advance might conceal a nest of enemy
resistance, in which good positions for flat-trajectory weapons could be quickly organized, with short but excellent fields of fire across the nearest fields...
