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Full Description
Commanded by the controversial Major-General Ivo Thomas, the 43rd (Wessex) Division was branded the Fighting Yellow Devils' out of respect by its Wehrmacht and Waffen SS opponents. The 43rd's distinctive divisional badge of a golden Wyvern - half-serpent half-dragon - was to be seen in all the ferocious battles in Normandy, the Low Countries and Germany between June 1944 and May 1945. They suffered 12,500 casualties including 3,000 killed in action. The 43rd had its roots firmly in the West of England, drawing its infantry battalions from the county regiments of Cornwall, Dorset, Hampshire, Somerset, Wiltshire and Worcester, with occasional reinforcements during the Normandy campaign by 'foreign' regiments from Berkshire, Essex and other counties. This book tells the story of the division's campaign in Northwest Europe, from Normandy to Bremerhaven, in the words of the soldiers who actually fought with it: privates, sergeants and young company commanders, all have their individual tales to tell.
Here are first-hand accounts of the landings on the shores of Normandy; the battles for the River Odon, Hill 112, Maltot and Mont Pincon; the break-out to the River Seine and the forcing of the vital bridgehead at Vernon; the only infantry division to make a single-handed attempt to relieve Arnhem - a gallant and costly failure; the clearance of the Roer triangle (Operation Blackcock) and the Reichswald (Operation Veritable); the crossing of the River Rhine and the advance northwards to take the port of Bremen; and the final triumphant advance to the Cuxhaven peninsula northwest of Hamburg.
Contents
1 The General 2 Forming up 3 Disaster at Sea 4 Normandy Landings - 'The Debris of War' 5 Action and First Smell of Death 6 Cheux - A Terrifying Cat and Mouse Game 7 Worcesters take Mouen - 'One of the Slickest Attacks of the War' 8 The Odon 'Death Valley' - Wiltshires and Somersets in Action 9 Odon Bridgehead, 30 June to 7 July 10 Operation Jupiter - The Killing Grounds 11 The 5th Wiltshires - 'Sitting Ducks' 12 The 4th Somersets - 'The Battalion Which Had Landed No Longer Existed' 13 The 4th Wiltshires - 'Like a Combine Harvester' 14 The 5th Dorsets - 'Our First Full-scale Battle' 15 The 4th Dorsets - 'Trapped Rabbits at Harvest Time' 16 The 7th Royal Hampshires - 'A Game of Cat and Mouse in Maltot' 17 The 7th Somersets - 'A Colony of Rabbits' 18 The 1st Worcesters - 'A Hole To Go To?' 19 Cornwall Hill - 'Hold Your Fire until You See the Buggers' Eyes' 20 'That's One From Us' - The Support Arms 21 Operation Jupiter - 'Utmost Ferocity and Without Mercy' 22 Operation Express - 'Bloody Maltot Again' 23 The Worcesters' Night Attack 24 A Short Interlude - 'Carefree Days of Rest' 25 Operation Bluecoat 26 Cahagnes and St Pierre-du-Fresne 27 Advance on Mt Pincon 28 Le Plessis Grimault 29 Operation Blackwater 30 Operation Neptune - The Seine Crossing 31 D-Day, 25 August - The 5th Wiltshires' Attack 32 D+1, 26 August - The Worcesters' Attack 33 D+2, 27 August 34 D+3, 28 August 35 Rest in Rural France 36 Market Garden 37 On the Island 38 Opposite the Reichswald - Early Winter 39 Operation Clipper 40 Winter Campaign - December 41 Winter Campaign - January 42 Winter Campaign - February - Cleve and Goch 43 Winter Campaign - Clearing the West Bank of the Rhine 44 Operation Plunder 45 'Forrard On' 46 The Last Lap - Bremen and Cuxhaven
