Map showing British Artillery deployment on D Day - comments please

Many thanks to L Archer for these photos!

The first and third photos ("A view of the LST we have just landed from showing the bow doors open" and "Another view of the LST we landed from with another along side") show LST Serial 3752. With higher resolution scans of both I am confident that we can confirm the Hull number.

The second photo "A VLC high and dry on the beach .This one was loaded with german prisoners" shows LCT(3) 7074 of 17 LCT Flotilla, "H" LCT Squadron, Assault Group L2.

Next photo (fourth = "LST going in fully loaded") is too small for recognition. Again, a better scan would reveal the Hull number of this LST.

Same goes for the fifth photo ("LST showing the bow doors open and ramp down"), which on a higher resolution should show the Hull number and possibly also the Serial.

The sixth photo "VLC with coast of France in background" looks like LCT(3) 7080, but could be 7090 or even 7050...

Seventh and last, "VLS's going to the beach loaded and returning empty", is again too small for reading the Hull number.

Despite the soft focus on several of these photos, higher resolution scans will certainly yield much more valuable information and would be most welcome!

Michel

 

Thank you. Fascinating photos

 

Zooming in, photo 5 shows LCT 7080, which my father took across to Le Hamel (just east of Arromanches) on 6 June. They got a cable caught round their prop just south of Piccadilly Circus and had to put a diver over to clear it, which delayed their arrival by several hours. I think he said he took tanks of the London Division across?

 

Hello Patrick,

Welcome to the forum! I believe you mean the 6th photo. On these versions it's hard to tell for sure whether it actually shows LCT 7080 or 7090 or even 7050, which were all there at the time. Do you maybe have a sharper version?

LCT 7080 was planned to carry Serial 3511. From Trux' thread on Naval Force 'L', her load for D Day was planned to be:

Serial 3511 is an LCTIII carrying
9 Cromwell tanks with 35 crew from 4 City of London Yeomanry.
20 men from 583 Field Company RE.

This ill-fated Cromwell appears to have been part of LTIN 3511 (see the very faint marking on the mudguard on the left, which is most probably the loading code ending with what looks like LCT 3511):



Michel

 

City of London Yeomanry certainly ties in with what my father told me. And of course she was an LST not an LCT. I'm pretty convinced this is 7080: the camouflage matches the short snatch of video of 7080 on the IWM site, at 1:25. FIRST BLOCKSHIP IS SUNK OFF ARROMANCHES [Allocated Title]