WO 171/1349 - 3 Monmouthshire Regiment - June 1944

Place	Date	Hour	Summary
ALDERSHOT	1-5		Bn concentrated an awaiting orders for move. Everyone fit and anxious to go.
	6		"D" Day at last. Everybody is pleased, anxiously waiting for any scrap of news and waiting for our move.
	7		Div Comd briefed all offrs, giving the general "set up" of ops and progress.
	7	2230	Message received for Adjt to attend District HQ 1400 hrs 8 Jun. This is it at last.
	8	1400	Movement orders received by Adjt. Bn will move in two parts, one under CO by rail, and remainder with tpt under 2IC by road.
	9	0610	2IC's party moves off to BECKTON-ON-THE-THAMES Marshalling Area.
	9	0805	CO's party moves off to HAYWARDS HEATH Marshalling Area. No time wasted with 2IC's party; all vehs to be loaded by 10 Jun and personnel 11 Jun.
BECKTON-ON-THE-THAMES	10		Hold-up with our MT Ships. First convoy of vehs have reached the docks, but no ship.
	11		Issue of rations, Mae Wests and Vomit Bags. Difficult to know where to carry it all, as we are much overloaded already.
	11	1300	Remainder of vehs move to Docks, but still no news of our ship.
	11	1630	We have been given two LSTs instead of one MTS. Adjt cursing on Dockside having to amend all embarkation documents.
	11	2015	First LST with 2IC as OC Tps gets under way.
HAYWARDS HEATH	12		Party to travel in two LCIs(L). 8 Offrs and 184 ORs in R 118, 9 Offrs and 184 ORs in R 119.
BECKTON ON THE THAMES	12	0100	Second LST gets under way. What a relief, all vehs with personnel have embarked in one piece.
	12	0400	Anchor struck in Thames Estuary. Now have to wait for convoy. The LSTs are American, and the food for all ranks is superb - will have a job in getting the men off these ships.
	13	0700	Issue of Mae Wests, 24 hr Packs, Vomit Bags, etc.
	13	1100	Both parties board the same LSI at NEWHAVEN having been conveyed there by TCV.
	13	1630	Ship moves from NEWHAVEN QUAY to join convoy off coast.
Aboard LSTs USS 2 and USS 360	13	2200	Convoy has formed up and we slowly leave good old England. It is the 13th and most of us are apprehensive about passing through Dover Straits. We are warned by Capt, no lights after dark - last convoy was shelled.
	14	0300	Passing through Dover Straits without incident. The day dawns with beautiful weather, and the sea is behaving itself, no call for vomit bags yet.
	14	2130	Arrive off our beach with the hope of landing, but air raid alert has sounded and the tide has beaten us, so we lay off until morning.
Aboard LSI	14	0230	Moves away from coast of England.
	14	1030	Coast of FRANCE sighted.
	14	1400	All party disembarks in FRANCE. No casualties. Party marches into Bn conc area outside PIERREPONT, and digs in for the night.
Aboard USS 2 and USS 360	15	0930	We touch down in beautiful weather and everything is peaceful. This is the first sight of and visit to FRANCE for many of us. Unloading starts immediately - vehs off first.
	15	1000	Hell. Our first taste of war. Jerry has started bombing the beach and damned accurately too. We suffer our first casualty. Pte Butcher of "A" Coy is wounded in the chest with shrapnel, but it is not serious. We move on to our first area in FRANCE.
PIERREPONT	15	2100	All have arrived except two Carriers broken down. We quickly dig our foxholes and how pleased we are at night when Jerry only ventures out in the air. The AA barrage is so intense, spent shrapnel lands in area.
	16		We have already learnt lesson No 1 after last night. Dig deeper holes.
	16	1500	There is a Thunderbolt in trouble; it is on fire. We can see the pilot jumping out, but with bad luck, his parachute is severed by the tailplane and he comes hurtling to earth and death. He lands near "A" Coy area. Everyone's eyes are on the plane; it is diving straight at us, it seems, at terrific speed. All is well, it misses us (not by much) and hits the village. No casualties.
	17-18		All busy servicing eqpt and vehs and getting accustomed to these most trying French maps. There is occasional shelling by Jerry on an airstrip quite near us and the usual "hullaballu's" at night, but we are quite used to it now. The IO is the busiest man, he shoots off to the front line and brings back the latest news each day, and keeps us in the picture.
	19-24		Bn continues to prepare for its part in the coming battle. Weather deteriorates, but everyone in good spirits and very fit.
	25		News received that the breakout from the brhead will be made in the near future and we would be taking part.
	26		The breakout commences 0730 hrs, but we are in the rear of assaulting coln of armour and are not not called forward until 1400 hrs, on 27 Jun.
	27	1700	Arrive at a posn a few miles North of the ODON (river).
	27	2100	Inf march fwd to reserv posn on North side of ODON.
	27	2200	CO calls for track and essential wh vehs. The night is extremely bad and it is very soon found to be impossible to move the coln of vehs without a number going astray. In addition the corridor to the R. ODON is so narrow that the risk is found too great and we wait until first light to move tpt. Lt W.J. Williams "A" Coy injured - run over by gun of A.Tk.Regt.
	28	0600	Bn arrives in allotted area after difficult night march. "C" Coy were dropped outside COLLEVILLE during the night for protection. "C" Coy run into enemy and suffer badly. Three subalterns, Lt. C.E. Spooner, SWB, and Lts. J.E. Davis, C.C. Cassady of Cdn Inf Corps, and 61 ORs missing.
	28	0700	Tpt arrives. Bn has already started digging in.
	28	2100	Enemy prepares to counter-attack the two fwd bns. Terrific arty barrage disperses them and the inf holds off and onwards all local attacks.
MONDRAINVILLE	28-29		Bn suffers its first casualties through enemy shelling and mortaring.
	30		Sometimes the enemy fire is most severe, and Bn HQ suffers most. Maj H.P. Richards (MON) killed, and two ptes killed. Capt. G.W. Collins (SWB) wounded.

Disclaimer: This War Diary is based on its original, but typos might be corrected. For historical research, always check the originals.