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Part III-A

THE BATTLE

"B" Squadron's Attack

'B' Squadron's right hand lead troop, 2nd, continued to follow the main road toward Le Mesnil-Patry, while the others swung left into a large wheat field, estimated to encompass five acres, with the grain standing about three feet high. Unencumbered with infantry passengers, the two lead troops were able to employ speculative fire on likely enemy positions.

Sergeant Gariepy later described his progress through the wheat field, scanning the ground ahead of the tank for signs of mines, only to find himself looking into the youthful faces of panzergrenadiers. The first contact report came at 14:52 hours and the struggle in the wheat field was joined. The action had lasted for 15 long minutes when the Hussars reported to 2 CAB that they were being held up midway between Norrey and Le Mesnil-Patry. At that point 'B' Squadron surged forward in a lunge for the village.

The fact that the 'B' squadron vehicles ended up in two distinct locations, may mean that the Hussar plan called for half of the squadron, 2nd and 4th Troops under Battle Captain Dick Wildgoose, to enter the village, while the remainder, under Harrison, outflanked the village to the south.

The German plan was a basic one which had served them well in North Africa. Separate the tanks from the infantry, then destroy each element separately. The panzergrenadiers were dug into the centre of the field where they would be safe from Allied artillery. They would hold their fire until the armour had passed them, then take on the following Canadian infantry. Finding the Canadian infanteers on the tanks came as a surprise. After some slight hesitation they engaged the infantry and armour together. The tanks stayed to fight it out and the panzergrenadiers took a terrible beating as a result. The German anti-tank guns, held in depth behind Le Mesnil-Patry, stayed put waiting for the Canadian armour to come forward.

Sergeant Gariepy described the scene:

We proceeded about 1,500 yards from town [Norrey-en- Bessin] and deployed as arranged, covering infantry. Small arms resistance was tremendous, enemy infantry in great numbers were lying in fields on centre of advance. We were doing good work of annihilation when the order to hurry on came over set.

(94)
Sergeant Leo Gariepy's DD Sherman photographed by Lt. Ken Bell in Courseulles on 06 June1944. Gariepy's Sherman was the first tank of "B" Sqn 1st Hussars, to land on D-Day.

Meanwhile in Trooper Dodds' tank:

... Capt Harrison gave orders to speed up the attack. I could hear Jerry machine guns going, from the wireless messages no one could locate it. Our own tank fired H[igh] E[xplosive] and co-ax [a machine-gun aligned with the main gun] at some haystacks and other points - hedges etc.

With the order to hurry up the attack, some 'B' Squadron tanks left the infantry behind and drove for the village. Not having been given more than the most elemental information they had no idea of the plan of attack. As they approached the village they topped a small rise in the ground, presenting easy targets for the waiting German anti-tank guns. Many Shermans were hit, but several tanks and some QOR entered the eastern end of the village. Smoke was now fired by the Hussars in an effort to screen their movements from the German artillery and mortar observers. Then, at 15:55 hours, the Hussars announced the village was taken. Within minutes Captain Wildgoose spotted a German armoured counter-attack coming in, Sturmbannführer Prinz's 2nd Panzer Battalion. Number 6 Company roared through Le Mesnil-Patry while 5 Company went around its northern side to take 'B' Squadron in the right flank.

While the Canadian tanks and infantry were together, firing into the wheat in an effort to locate well concealed enemy positions, the officer commanding 'D' Company, Major Neil Gordon, attempted to coordinate tank supporting fire for the infantry in order to advance but was frustrated by poor radio communications. Gordon was then shot through the face. In spite of his wound he persisted in his attempts to coordinate with the armour. Corporal Jim Simpson, of 2nd Troop 'B' Squadron, watched as Gordon tried to communicate with Simpson's troop leader, Lieutenant Martin, the 7/11th Hussar who had joined the night before. When Martin leaned out of the commanders hatch to speak he was shot in the head, his body falling back inside the turret. Martin's crew became upset and the tank left, retracing its route back to Norrey. Major Gordon was felled with a bullet in his left leg. As he lay in the field, his brother-in-law, Lieutenant Bob Fleming of 18 Platoon, came over to offer first aid. Gordon told him to take command of the company, but unknown to Gordon, as Fleming left to carry out his orders, he was killed. The company now had no leader. Harrison's order to speed up the attack led to some tanks surging ahead in an effort to reach the village, leaving the infantry on their own in the field. In spite of this one QOR officer did reach Le Mesnil-Patry, Lieutenant George Bean of 17 Platoon, accompanied by Sergeant Sammy Scrutton and seven riflemen.

Those tanks on 'B' Squadron's left flank which had surged ahead, including Harrisons, found themselves in a large orchard which was part of a farm on the south-eastern corner of Le Mesnil-Patry. Occupying the orchard was 3 Company of the pioneer battalion, backed up by the battalion's reconnaissance platoon. One soldier in this depth position was Pioneer Horst Lütgens. Lütgens who would win the Iron Cross 2nd class this day, was sitting in his trench writing a letter home when 'B' Squadron suddenly arrived.

Pioneer Lütgens:

"...the Canadians were on top of us. All of a sudden I became quite calm and I worked myself into a fury. I wondered what my comrades up in front were up to: had they been killed or had they allowed themselves to be rolled over? I crawled on my belly back to my foxhole and grabbed the first Panzerfaust [a shoulder fired anti-tank weapon] - I had three of them in my foxhole. I got it ready and looked for my first victim. There it was, a Sherman, large and powerful. Its turret was pointed at the battalion command post. Its gun was firing round after round."

(95)
Unterscharführer Horst Lütgens
Pionier Aufklärungszug,
SS-Pionier-Bataillon 12
12. SS Panzer-Division "Hitlerjugend"

Trooper Dodds:

" ...we moved into an orchard. The enemy inf[antry] were apparently quite thick here. ...We fired HE into dugouts at times having to back the tank up to get sufficient depression for the 75 gun. We ran out of HE in the turret twice and the Capt ordered us to 'let him have an A[rmour] P[iercing round] down dugouts."

Pioneer Lütgens:

"Now there were more tanks: one, two, three, four, five Shermans could be seen in the blue haze of cordite - laden air....I aimed the weapon again, and the bomb roared out. I did not see the impact because a covering tank had spotted me and taken me under fire. I heard the detonation and then ran furiously in a zig-zag pattern and jumped into my foxhole."

Trooper Dodds:

"We moved ahead a few hundred feet as near as I could tell, I was kneeling on the flooring re-arranging the ammo when the tank was struck. The driver's hatch was knocked off and the 75 knocked out, the breech etc, shook violently and went skyward, Sgt Johnstone [the gunner] said 'bail out' the Capt gave one hesitant look skywards and then both were gone."

There were soon six destroyed Canadian tanks in the orchard including those of Harrison and his 2i/c, Captain John Smuck. Three Mark IVs from 8 Company 2nd Battalion 12th SS Panzer Regiment had counter-attacked. The commander of 8 Company, Obersturmführer [Lieutenant] Hans Siegel, had been proceeding to an awards ceremony when he encountered Prinz south-west of the village. Prinz told him that the commander of 26th SS Panzergrenadier Regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel Mohnke, had requested tank support to counter an armour/infantry attack against Le Mesnil-Patry. Siegel was directed to clarify the situation and clear it up if necessary. He departed, taking with him only three of his company's Mark IVs. The three German tanks approached the southern edge of the orchard and here Siegel encountered Harrison.

(96)
SS-Hauptsturmführer Hans Siegel
who as an Obersturmführer, commanded 8 Kompanie,
II. Abteilung, SS-Panzerregiment 12,
12. SS Panzer-Division "Hitlerjugend" at Le Mesnil-Patry.

Awards

Untersturmführer [Second Lieutenant] Jeran of 8 Company:

The enemy was still obscured by a hedge. When the hedge ended abruptly and the lead panzer fortuitously found himself among our infantry, several Shermans could be seen in dangerous proximity...Enemy tanks on the left at 9 o'clock - 200 - engage!....Within a good minute four or five Shermans were on fire. Only the one farthest to the left, which had worked itself in to a range of 100 metres, caused the Commander to break into a sweat. It had just been noticed as it was training its turret on us. 'Enemy tank on the far left at 10 o'clock - 100! And now barrel trained on barrel, muzzle on muzzle, until they had each other in their cross- hairs for a further instant. -- then an explosion, a flame from the breech of the gun, the cartridge falls into the bag, the opponent blows up!

After destroying six tanks in the orchard, Siegel continued on to the edge of the orchard followed by counter-attacking pioneers. He engaged two more Shermans at a range of 1,200 metres stopping both. Siegel now gave orders to the other two tanks to adopt an echelon left formation and accompany him forward into the wheatfield. The far edge of the field was 1,600 metres away as 8 Company drove north. They had, however, presented themselves as perfect side-on targets to the 'C' Squadron tanks positioned north of Norrey. After a few rounds from 'C' Squadron, Siegel ordered a right turn and halt. A duel began which was won with a shot from a 17 pounder Sherman commanded by Sergeant Arthur Boyle of 'C' Squadron. One of Boyle's rounds went through the right front of the Mark IV, killing the radio operator and setting fire to the tank. Siegel and the remainder of his crew bailed out. The other two tanks of 8 Company, commanded by Jeran and Private Konnte, were also destroyed. Siegel, came out of the field escorting a Canadian corporal he had captured.

At the eastern end of the village Lieutenant Bean, QOR, was wounded in the leg. Still under fire, his party reached the edge of the built up area. Here Bean turned to his men and said, "Let's go in and take it ourselves". He then led them up a sunken road into the village. Coming out of the cover of the sunken road, the men occupied a large crater while Bean went forward to contact two Canadian tanks. While advancing he was hit again, this time in the back. Then, while returning to his men he was hit a third time and knocked to the ground about 50 yards from the crater. Bean motioned to Sergeant Scrutton to take command. Scrutton decided it was time to withdraw as they appeared to be the only infantry in the enemy position. Corporal A. Jackson commandeered one of the tanks, placing Bean on board. The group then turned toward Norrey. They incurred more casualties on the way from the intense close range fire of enemy machine-guns and grenades. Of the initial group of nine, two were killed, two were wounded, and one was missing. The remainder were unharmed. The citation for Scrutton's Distinguished Conduct Medal notes that he "showed no regard whatsoever for his personal safety and accounted for and killed 12 to 15 Germans." Bean's initiative and courage would result in the award of a Military Cross.

Sergeant Gariepy:

When reaching town my brownings [machine-guns] went out of action and the only small arm I could bring on [the] enemy was [a]Sten gun. When in town my power traverse and wireless and remote firing control failed so I ordered my driver through the Loader-Op[erator] to reverse and rally... I noticed the back of my tank on fire. I ordered my [driver] to speed up but it got so I had to abandon it.

As Gariepy and his crew walked back, they were passed by Corporal Simpson. Out of ammunition, except for some AP, and with the power traverse unserviceable, Simpson had decided to turn back. His would be one of only two 'B' Squadron tanks to return with an intact crew. Before leaving the field he stopped to pick up a load of QOR wounded whom he delivered to Norrey.

The next German counter-attack, this one led by Prinz, came at 16:15 hours. For 15 minutes the battle steadily went in the Germans favour. The QOR in the wheat field, left without tank support, could not overcome their dug-in foe. The tanks in Le Mesnil-Patry, without the close-in protection of infantry, were easy prey for the anti-tank guns. The lack of time to prepare and the failure to brief those involved had led to the most basic rules of operations being ignored. The price for this neglect was being paid in blood.

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© Chris Johnson, 1997