| I have enjoyed the discussion. There is not much left to say. In my research into my Uncle Lorne Marr of the A&SH of Canada, I was attempting to find out what other men, that were at the Gap, said of the experience. I ran across a short ecerpt from the diary of Major Wladyslaw Zgorzelski of the First Polish Armoured Div. The Poles had just helped take Chambois and had been ordered to hold at all cost.
" The weather created particular dufficulties on that battlefield. Battledress proved very uncomfortable in the days heat under the blazing sun. Clouds and dust raised by hundreds of tracked and wheeled vehicles from dry soil, covered the countryside and penetrated into the eyes and parched throats , while drinking water was in short supply. (The) most pitiful sight was that of the dispatch riders covered in dust, with black faces, swollen eyelids and reddened eyes. There was no water, so locally found cider was tried but found to be a poor subsitute. The most budensome thing one had to endure was the stench of the swollen German corpses decomposing quickly under the blazing sun. their bodies were scattered everywhere on the fields--- in the hedges and amongst the buildings. Continuous fighting left no time to bury the dead."
I want to thank those who help us of a younger generation understand a little of what it was like. |