Page 35 - The Wish Stream Year of 2022

From Merville we travelled to the beaches of Normandy to undertake Operation Solid Gold, meeting up with the 5 EAST YORKS on their assault of King Red Beach. Imagining ourselves as Lt Thomas Lowe MC, we had the harrowing task of thinking of ways to motivate our troops to get up out of cover and assault a lone bunker that was now key terrain. Having secured the bunker, we then moved further inland and began to work out how to assault and take the many defensive positions occupied by the Germans in the houses along the seafront.
After dinner and an early night, we skipped for- ward to 9 June 1944 and the Allied objective of securing a bridge over the Seulles River, and halt the oncoming German counterattack. We spent the morning deciding defensive positions and the placements of heavy artillery, before with- drawing back along the route de cristot to for- mulate a full defensive plan around our brigade headquarters. Following the footsteps of the sol- diers of C Company, 8 Armoured
Brigade gave us a real insight into how treacherous a withdrawal it would have been.
The final stand saw us jump- ing forward to 10 July 1944, joining forces with the Duke of
Cornwall’s Light Infantry as they advanced to contact towards the crest of Hill 112. After finalising our plans for the assault, we once again touched on how we would motivate our troops to stand up out of cover and keep moving for- ward. Then using the principles of
defence, and our experience over the Intermedi- ate Therm, we discussed as a syndicate how we would defend the high ground and learn from the mistakes of the Allied Forces on the day.
Ex NORMANDY SCHOLAR concluded with a short service at a Normandy memorial grave- yard, led by Padre Walters. This small glimpse into the magnitude of fatalities suffered in the Normandy Campaign really brought home the bravery and sacrifice showed by the young sol- diers at the time. A quote that stood out on one gravestone said, ‘to live in loving hearts is not to die’.
As the first group of OCdts to return to Normandy for 3 years, we had a great time and the sheer amount of knowledge gained from the 2 days will continue to be valuable for future intakes for years to come.
The sheer amount of knowledge gained from the
2 days will continue to be valuable for future intakes for years to come.
SANDHURST 33