Page 46 - WishStream Year of 2023
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Part of the story was the very real fear the offic- ers felt. For example, Lt Col Otway flapped when he realised he possessed only 1⁄4 of his origi- nal strength and had to step off to meet H-Hour. Despite his documented internal feelings at the time, on the outside his sole concession to emotion was to raise an eyebrow half a centimetre before pushing on with the mission.
While we were in Normandy, front page news in Britain was anger over Gary Lineker tweeting about the Government’s immigration policy. Now-
adays, as the world moves away from heroes and heroines towards a focus on life’s more trivial mat- ters, we happy few that choose the military path need reminding that the steps we follow in were carved by those that have earned the greatest share of honour.
Agincourt, Blenheim, Waterloo, Rorke’s Drift, Nor- mandy - this trip was a reminder that the Army is the continuation of a certain spirit. A spirit upheld on the beaches and fields of North-West France some 80 years ago.
Exercise NORMANDY SCHOLAR
OCdt Royle
Ex NORMANDY SCHOLAR is an exercise designed to give the OCdts at the Royal Mili- tary Academy Sandhurst the opportunity to
learn the actions of the British Army throughout the Normandy campaign during the Second World War and the chance to practice the combat esti- mate using the real situations our predecessors found themselves in when freeing Europe from Nazi tyranny. The Intermediate Term deployed on Ex NORMANDY SCHOLAR, excited for these opportunities. There was an early start and a long relaxed ferry crossing, quite different to the cold
miserable trenches of Ex SLIM’S STAND just a week before. They found themselves in France and bedded down in Caen for what was to be an informative and enjoyable week.
The first action of the visit was to go and visit the Merville Battery and to learn of the actions of 9 Para (now 3 Para) and their attack on 4 June 1944, on the morning of the D-Day Landings. The OCdts learnt the history surrounding the site, then took their TAMs out to delve into the com- bat estimate and decide how they would assault
44 SANDHURST
