Landing plans developed by the Allied forces called for the 3rd British Division to lead the attack on the beach between Ouistreham and Hermanville, code-named Sword.
On the morning of 6 June 1944, having consumed the last of the rum rations saved for this moment, Lieutenant Charles Mundy and his men approached Sword Beach. A mile offshore, their landing craft was struck by a shell from the beach; the troops were ordered into their tanks and to close down the hatches.
H-Hour for Sword had been set for 0725 hours. Landing precisely on schedule, Mundy and his men began their attack on the beach. Thirty-four of forty amphibious tanks successfully cleared the beach, followed by the 1st South Lancashires and the 2nd East Yorkshires. Commander Angus Mackenzie, of the East Yorkshire regiment, played the bagpipes from the bridge as his craft was swept to shore.
William Millin took up the piping as he staggered toward the shore, hailing his comrades with "Highland Laddie," and "The Road to the Isles." But such scenes of abandon were countered by more sobering sights. Corporal Charles Baldwin witnessed the landing and later recalled that the machine gun fire flung the soldiers about like rag dolls. Even those who survived the hail of bullets were dragged under water by their heavy equipment. He doubted any survived.
Next, followed wave after wave of DD (Duplex Drive) tanks, LCTs (Landing Craft, Tanks), assault landing craft, bulldozers, and other specialized armor. Denis Glover, commanding a landing craft at Ouistreham, pitched through the surf into the face of heavy artillery fire. In his account of the assault, he noted:
"Whang--here it comes--those whizzing ones will be mortars--and the stuff is falling all round us. Can't avoid them, but the mines and collisions I can avoid.
"Speed, more speed. Put them off by speed, weave in and out of those bloody spikes, avoid the mines, avoid our friends, avoid wrecked craft and vehicles in the rising water and GET THOSE TROOPS ASHORE . . . . Good luck, Commandos, go like hell! Next meeting--Brighton!" (1)
The assault on the beach lasted three hours through heavy German mortar and artillery fire. The South Lancashires, moving toward Ouistreham, lost eleven officers and ninety-six enlisted men on D-Day. The East Yorkshires, heading inland to Hermanville, suffered similar losses.
In spite of heavy casualties during the approach, Allied tanks reached the shore and overtook the enemy strongholds. The operation was enabled by heavy smokescreens that prevented the Germans from accurately ranging their weapons, and indecision on the part of the German High Command that immobilized German troops.
General Edgar Feuchtinger, Commander of the 21st Panzer Division, did not receive his first instructions until 1000 hours. In those critical early hours, British troops were able to clear the bodies and debris that had accumulated on the beach and build momentum. With tank support, the British stormed and secured the casino, a major German strong point. By midday, German resistance was crushed and Ouistreham was liberated.
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1. Warren Tute, "D-Day," (New York: MacMillan Publishing Company, 1974), p. 216.
