"AA men fight their way off the invasion beaches 6 Jun 44" Topic

Thought some like to read this and find it interesting. Not something you really think about on D-day.

June 6th,1944
Antiaircraft Artillerymen fight their way off the invasion
beaches

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and there was me expecting to see some roadside car recovery experts in yellow vans working their way through the bocage!

I'm surprised there were non-teeth arms landed on the beaches before they were secured.
Having said that, I recall the story of an airfield construction unit, maybe a company, that ended up on on one of the US beaches after being volunteered for combat by their company CO. One of the guys remembers looking back at the ship from the landing craft and seeing his CO standing there, waving them off. Probably a tall tale but in the confusion I suppose it's possible.

What a disappointment! I too was hoping for men in brown uniforms and yellow motorbikes with sidecars, revving up Sword Beach, stopping to help a Sherman DD with a flooded engine… :o(

(For non-British viewers, the Automobile Association (AA) is a long-established part of Brtish life and as British as red phone-boxes and unarmed policemen. When Americans first talked about 'AA Meetings' in TV drama (it was probably Cagney & Lacey), we thought it was something to do with car-trouble)

Used as a brilliant VBCW force by another TMPer:

But seriously… Yes, an RAF airfield construction engineer squadron did have to fight its way up Omaha Beach when they were ordered ashore in response to a request for engineers on the beach… (absolutely true) They suffered surprisingly few casualties, but lost most of their trucks and heavy equipment in the sea.

I recall another story of a support unit on Omaha Beach who's job it was to remove the snorkles and other equipment that had been put on tanks and trucks to help them deal with high water when coming ashore. They were the 6389th Dewaterproofing Company or some such. The image of them getting off the landing craft with their little toolkits and slowly realizing that the only vehicles on Omaha Beach were blazing wrecks is kind of heartwrenching. What a nightmare.

But this was one of the serious flaws with the whole Overlord plan. The timetables for landing troops and equipment was almost totally inflexible. They got what was on the schedule whether they needed it or not. So by late morning on the 6th they were landing dewaterproofing companies when they really needed more tanks and assault infantry.

That's good to know Mark. Thanks for confirming.

Many thanks for share Robert!!

Amicalement
Armand

Thanks. I could have used AAA. But then you might have confused it with the American Automobile Association LOL. Robert

The picture in my mind of Alcoholics Anonymous types armed with broken bottles and screw-caps might be a use for surplus figures!

There is of course, also the confusion between the Royal Armoured Corps and the Royal Automobile Club… ;o)

I never thought of Alcoholics Anonymous LOL. Robert

Osprey's "D-Day Fortifications In Normandy" – Zaloga has a story and pics on p. 46 & 47 of 50mm gun bunker at WN65 that was knocked out by a pair of M15A1 halftracks of the 467th AAA Battalion. One pic is from the inside of the bunker showing the 50mm gun's shield that took a 37mm round through the top. I imagine that ruined their day.

WN65
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American soldiers relax on WN 65 after knocking it out.

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Wn 65 with her 5cm KWK still in it's H667 casemat.
In front are German POW at work to clean up the mess
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Today

Bofors guns could have been quite handy against bunkers, high ROF, flat trajectory & HE shells might have made the embrasures quite deadly if the guns could be bought to bear.

That AA VBCW force is just magnificent. Ranks alongside Hello Kitty Space Marines for sheer genius.

Whaaaat deephorse?? Robert

Here you go Robert!

and my favourite

Those guys might object to being called non-teeth. They were armed and expect to fight, at least against the LW. Non-teeth usually refers to medical, supply and repair.

My Uncles was in an AA unit later in the war and was once given a bazooka to go slow down some Tigers. (of course to GI's they were all Tigers). He got to see the German tanks, but fortunately a TD unit showed up and asked him where the Germans were. So he went back to his AA gun and didn't wait to see what happen.

With the twin .50 cal. and the 37mm guns I could see how much damage 2 could do besides scaring the hell out the German in the bunker. Robert

Service of the Piece Multiple Gun Motor Carriages M15 and M15A1.
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Many thanks again for the good data Robert!.

Amicalement
Armand