News-clippings from the papers of Pte. Cliff N. Douglas, C Coy 1 Cdn Para Bn.
The Brigadier referred to would likely be the much respected Brigadier James Hill who
commanded the 3rd Parachute Brigade of which 1 Cdn Para Bn was a part. Remember that these
stories were written during the war and no punches were pulled. This web-site Editor has
chosen to blank out the name of one soldier in case he prefers anonymity. Web-site
editor's comments are in square brackets [ ].
Paratroops Fight As If Inspired
By Ross Munro [Date about 1944 June 17]
[Website editor's comments in square brackets.]
WITH THE CANADIAN PARACHUTISTS IN FRANCE --(CP) -- For 11 wild days and nights the
Canadian parachute unit in the British Sixth Airborne Division fought German infantry and
snipers on this incredible battleground east of the River Orne and north-east of Caen.
It was savage, chaotic fighting in closely wooded country, which the Canadians call
"squirt-gun territory". After dropping by parachute before dawn on D-Day, this
unit took up positions right on the outside of the perimeter of the beach-head gained by
the airborne division east of the river, and there the Canadians stood and battled the
enemy. They didn't yield a yard for 11 days holding vital crossroads and the little hamlet
of Le Mesnil on the main Cherbourg-Caen highway.
They fought like men inspired, and their stand at Le Mesnil ranks with the most
courageous acts performed in the early phase of the Normandy invasion.
This is the story of this gallant band. The youthful Saskatoon lieutenant-colonel
{Lieutenant Colonel G.F.P. Bradbrooke] commanding the unit said the unit went to its
airdrome in England the evening of June 5 and got into Douglas [C-47 "Dakota"]
transports before midnight and took off for France. As they crossed the Normandy coast at
the mouth of the River Orne heavy flak concentrations burst around the planes.
The colonel and the men in his plane jumped, and from scores of other aircraft,
airborne troopers leaped into the night and floated to the ground. They came down all over
the place -- in the woods, on the roads, in the towns, and in muddy bogs dotted with
ponds.
The companies were scattered and it took hours for the groups to collect and order to
be brought out of this inevitable confusion in the darkness. The colonel himself came down
in a bog and plunged into 3-1/2 feet of water. Then he met his intelligence officer [
Lieutenant R.D.J. Weathersbee] and they hustled off to a rendezvous point near Varaville.
From there they went four miles down the highway in a south-east direction toward Le
Mesnil.
This point they had been told to hold at all costs, and there they dug in and got
strong positions in a brick factory. The company [C Coy ] which dropped before the main
party [as a protective party for the pathfinders] was scattered in bogs around Varaville.
Eventually 40 or 50 of them linked up and attacked a German garrison in the town. There
was a fight in the streets and the houses right in the centre of the town where the
Germans' headquarters were located, and the place was captured.
A bridge was blown up by engineers, and the parachutists went down to Le Mesnil for a
stand there.
Another company [ B Coy ] landed near Robehomme, four miles east of Le Mesnil, but it
was scattered about too. Small batches collected, however, and they too, carried out the
company's task of destroying an important bridge, holding an important position on a hill
for days way out in this No-Man's-Land before withdrawing as planned.
Another company [ A Coy ] was to protect the flank of a British parachute battalion [ 9
Para Bn] in an attack on a coastal battery at Merville, just east of the mouth of the Orne
River. The company did get together and supported 130 British paratroopers as they stormed
and cleaned out the Merville position. These Canadians too eventually linked up with the
main force at Le Mesnil.
In Le Mesnil the Canadians were sniped at from buildings when they established
themselves, and the colonel posted an anti-tank gun on the cross-roads. It had only a
dozen rounds of ammunition, but with eight shells the snipers were driven from the
buildings.
During the first day more men from the scattered Canadian unit drifted into Le Mesnil,
and for three or four days after they kept coming. By the evening of D-Day, there were 200
parachutists in Le Mesnil ready for the enemy.
The Germans came at them the next day and were beaten off by machine-guns and rifles.
On the second day the Canadians received artillery support. The Germans put in a bang up
attack on this second day, and the colonel said: "It was a dilly." The Canadians
hurled it back too, killing dozens of Germans in the woods and on the roads.
