Operation Varsity

Discussion in 'NW Europe' started by levien, Aug 31, 2009.

  1. levien

    levien Just a member

    A friend of mine took part in Varsity (13th Bn). After his dropping he got hit by the wheel of a landing Hamilcar (his mate got killed by it). He is missing a piece of his memory after the incident. All he knows is that the Hamilcar contained a small tank (Tetrarch? Locust?). But he doesn't know what happenend to the tank and what it did after landing.

    It would be nice to be able to tell him.

    Levien.
     
  2. GPRegt

    GPRegt Senior Member

    The tank was a Locust. Eight were taken to Germany and seven arrived. Of these, one ended upside down; one ended up in a house, still running but with no working guns; one was 'brewed up' by a Panther; one supported 12th Parachute Battalion; four made it to the RV in the vicinity of Hamminkeln. I didn't see any mention of the event in which your friend was involved, so can't be certain which one of the tanks he saw.

    Steve W.
     
  3. levien

    levien Just a member

    Thanks Steve.

    The only further information I have is that the Hamilcar ended it landing in a farm along the road to Hamminkeln on the edge of DZ/LZ-B. Is it any help?

    Levien.
     
  4. GPRegt

    GPRegt Senior Member

    Yes, that helps. The only one to land in a farm was the one which got into a fight with the Panther. It was Lt Kenward's tank and the driver was Sgt Colin Peckham. The heavy landing caused the door mechanism to jam but Peckham drove through the nose! The Locust fired about six rounds at the Panther, all to no effect. The Panther fired once and scored a direct hit. Kenward was wounded in the thigh and Peckham badly burned on the left leg. They were treated by US medics and evacuated across the river.

    Steve W.
     
  5. levien

    levien Just a member

    That is indeed wonderful information, Steve.
    Do you also happen to know where that shooting took place?

    Levien.
     
  6. GPRegt

    GPRegt Senior Member

    Levien

    Not exactly. However, knowing where 13th PB RV'd - see attached - it would have been somewhere around Kesseldorf. The tanks were due to land on LZ P, the top boundary of which ran just below the Mehrhooger Strasse.

    Steve W.
     

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  7. Philip Reinders

    Philip Reinders Very Senior Member

    still have to go over there, to have a look with the metaldetector
     
  8. levien

    levien Just a member

    When? When?
     
  9. englandphil

    englandphil Very Senior Member

    A friend of mine took part in Varsity (13th Bn). After his dropping he got hit by the wheel of a landing Hamilcar (his mate got killed by it). He is missing a piece of his memory after the incident. All he knows is that the Hamilcar contained a small tank (Tetrarch? Locust?). But he doesn't know what happenend to the tank and what it did after landing.

    It would be nice to be able to tell him.

    Levien.

    Levien, I dont suppose you know the name of the killed para do you, so I can add the circumstances to by 13th Bn ROH

    P
     
  10. levien

    levien Just a member

    Actually I do (Reichswald Cemetery):
     

    Attached Files:

  11. levien

    levien Just a member

    Levien

    Not exactly. However, knowing where 13th PB RV'd - see attached - it would have been somewhere around Kesseldorf. The tanks were due to land on LZ P, the top boundary of which ran just below the Mehrhooger Strasse.

    Steve W.


    My friend won't be very pleased to hear that that damned Hamilcar landed on the wrong LZ.
    In incident happened at the farmhouse at the slight bend in the Mehrhooger Str.

    Levien.
     
  12. englandphil

    englandphil Very Senior Member

    Actually I do (Reichswald Cemetery):

    Thanks Levien, a simple but moving comment

    P
     
  13. levien

    levien Just a member

    Every two years a group of 6th AB veterans (as long as there are still enough among us) and relatives etc. make a trip to Hamminkeln. As my friend is part of that group I have the privilege of being allowed to join them. Next March there will be again a pilgrimage because of the 65th anniversary.
    My friend always visits the grave of his mate.

    Levien.
     
  14. Philip Reinders

    Philip Reinders Very Senior Member

    When? When?

    maybe we can arrange something.
     
  15. Trix

    Trix Member

    Ive just got to say im amazed at the amount of imformation you people have on the subject where on earth do you get it all and with so much detail i was never told about the war at school which still baffles me to this day im sure they were trying to cover it up or maybe they just didnt want to talk about it. Strange rearly as it was only 25 years ago i left school.
     
  16. levien

    levien Just a member

    maybe we can arrange something.


    Would love that, though I know nothing about metal detectors.

    Caution should be taken with German farmers. I have a bad experience with one of them :).

    Levien.
     
  17. levien

    levien Just a member

    Ive just got to say im amazed at the amount of imformation you people have on the subject where on earth do you get it all and with so much detail i was never told about the war at school which still baffles me to this day im sure they were trying to cover it up or maybe they just didnt want to talk about it. Strange rearly as it was only 25 years ago i left school.


    It takes years and years of minute research :).
    But seriously, having had parents that lived through the war, knowing a veteran or two, reading the right books, using good maps and visiting the places, helps a lot.

    By the way to what school did you go and where? :huh:

    Levien.
     
  18. Trix

    Trix Member

    I had two secondry schools first was Sandon (near Chelmsford) and then Maldon Plume. I think I have a lot of reading to do. Both my grandads fort in the war and im told my step grandad fort at Sword im currently waiting for some copies of letters my step farther has that he sent back he was put down from corpral to private for borrowing some stuff from the stores he was in the Royal Norfolk regiment his name Arther Jordan born in Ditchingham blown up in Einhoven by a motar taken to an american aid station and shipped home died in 1978.
    Ill try to get some more info but if anyone can tell me more
     
  19. Philip Reinders

    Philip Reinders Very Senior Member

    I do know something about them :) as I am a sucker for the Horsa, what about the part of would were you have been, if I am correct a Horsa crashed in the corner of that wood.

    We can see always can ask permission, but then your German must be better then mine.
     
  20. levien

    levien Just a member

    I do know something about them :) as I am a sucker for the Horsa, what about the part of would were you have been, if I am correct a Horsa crashed in the corner of that wood.

    We can see always can ask permission, but then your German must be better then mine.

    DZ/LZ-A is perhaps the most interesting of the British DZ's. Of the American DZ's I know virtually nothing. Haven't visited them either.

    If I remember well, about the small wood with the remains of the trenches the farmer was special cross, because that had to do with a project of the Kleve Kreis about preservation of deer. However strange to see right next to that wood a wooden tower that hunters use to sit in and shoot innocent animals.
    I think I spoke some sort of English/German to the farmer in the hope and expectation that he would respect the fact that Englishmen visit the battleground of their fathers, or something like that. Our car, with obvious Dutch number plates, was parked well out of sight.

    But, yes, it would be a good place to visit.

    Levien.
     

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