Varsity: Retracing Great-Grandfather's Steps

Hello,
As a gift to my Grandfather, my cousins and I are taking him on a (surprise!) trip across Western Europe, visiting places connected to family history. Mainly focussing on two people, a distant great-uncle who died during the Somme and whose diary we are in possession off, and my Great-Grandfather, Corporal Harry Gillard.

On our trip we are stopping off in Hamminkeln, a place central to Harry's experience in NW Europe after being in India with the Royal Signals since around 1932. My Grandfather has written his father's recollections up, and I have shared this below.

If anyone has any help or details they can point me towards to make our trip a bit more specific, or any other details/photos/trivia about Varsity/Hamminkeln/Signals etc, we would be very grateful.

Before I share the story, here are some basic details:

Corporal Harry Gillard

22 October 1916 - 21 January 2006

6th Airborne Divisional Signals, 5th Parachute Brigade, "K" Section.

Here is the write up by my Grandfather Keith Gillard:

__________________________________________________________
Operation Varsity - The Rhine Crossing

Keith Gillard

Just before dawn on Saturday 24th March 1945, Corporal Harry Gillard walked across an airfield to board one of the many Dakota aircraft. It was a cold morning with not a cloud in the sky. He was one of 7,000 paratroopers from the 6th Airborne Division, who would be joined by a further 10,000 from the American 17th Airborne Division, to take part in the largest ever airborne assault - the Rhine Crossing. It was code named Operation Varsity and would be the start of the invasion of Germany.

The paratroopers would be carried in a huge armada of aircraft which included 750 Dakota transport aeroplanes and 420 gliders. They were protected by 2,000 fighter aircraft.

Different brigades were tasked with different objectives. The 5th Parachute Brigade, of which Harry was attached, had the task of capturing the town of Hamminkeln.

At the time of Operation Varsity, Harry was 28 years old, and an experienced soldier. He had joined the Royal Signals in 1933 after lying about his age. He was posted to India and the North West Frontier, where he served as a Morse code operator. In 1944 he returned to England and took up a post as a Morse code instructor. He was unhappy in his role, and after several months, applied to join the 6th airborne. Training and selection took place at Ringway, Manchester. From 18th September to 5th October.


"I was pretty fit and the physical side of it was quite easy. The intelligence tests were harder. A lot of good soldiers who walked through the physical failed the intelligence tests. We were told that these tests could tell whether or not you would hesitate when jumping out of an aircraft under pressure.

Our first jump was at 800ft from a balloon. The next six were from Dakotas. The balloon was the worst. After these seven jumps you were asked whether you wanted to continue. If not, there would be no disgrace and you would return to your unit. If you made the eighth jump, you would not be allowed to leave the airborne. Some of the men quit after that seventh jump."



Harry’s course report stated “diligent, good personal example, good performer”.

The officer in charge of Harry’s Signals team that March morning was Lieutenant Frederick Crawford. In addition to Lt. Crawford, there were two junior team members who carried large batteries for Harry’s radio set. During the flight, Lt. Crawford rearranged the seating order of the stick (a stick is a group of paratroopers in an aircraft), so that the two battery carriers would jump next to Harry. Some of the other paratroopers in the stick teased Lt. Crawford saying it was bad luck to change the stick order. Others shouted that the last officer who had jumped with them -at Arnhem- had been killed.

A few weeks earlier, the Signals team under Lt. Crawford had been training on Salisbury Plain. At the end of the exercise, Lt. Crawford had taken Harry and the other two members of the team to his house in Bournemouth. There they had a meal and met his wife Kathleen.

"It was a big house with French windows leading out to the garden. His wife asked us to look after him."

Just before 8am on Saturday morning, 24th March, Dakotas carrying the 5th Parachute Brigade, began crossing the river Rhine.



"As we crossed the Rhine, the red light went on and we stood and hooked up. Everyone checked the person next to them and a couple of minutes later the light changed to green and we jumped. There were no hesitations and the exit was excellent.

As soon as I left the aircraft the blast of air blew my helmet off, I had forgotten to clip it."

*Paratroopers normally discarded their helmets on landing to wear their red berets. After Arnhem, Hitler recognised that the red beret was having an effect on the morale of German soldiers. He issued an order that anyone captured wearing the red beret would be shot. For this reason, the sixth Airborne now gave paratroopers the choice in wearing the beret or the helmet. Harry decided on the helmet but as it was now lost, was forced to wear the red beret.

*Un-corroborated, but may have been anecdotal

"As I came down, I looked up and all I could see were hundreds of parachutes and planes. Some of the planes were on fire, the American pilots flying the Dakotas were very brave."




To give the paratroopers the best chance the Dakotas had to fly straight and level at a low speed at about 400ft. This made them easy targets for anti-aircraft guns and many Dakotas were shot down and even more badly damaged. Glider casualties were even greater.

"When I hit the ground the first thing I did was to get out of my parachute and put on my radio set. A major had landed near me. When he saw me, he shouted “Well done Signals” and then ran off blowing a hunting horn to attract his troops.

I started walking towards to RV (rendezvous). The radio set was too heavy for me to run. Anyway, I didn’t know if I was moving towards or away from the enemy. All I could think of was being shot in the face. The one thing I feared more than anything else was being shot in the face.

After a couple of minutes, I saw a large shell hole in front of me and decided to go into it for a smoke. When I jumped in there was already a paratrooper there. As I lit up a soldier ran past and as he did, we heard some shots and a scream. I looked out of the shell hole and could see the soldier, a sergeant, lying in agony about 10 yards ahead. He had been shot in the leg.

I told the soldier in the shell hole to go and get him but he refused. As I was a Corporal, he was disobeying an order under fire which is a serious offence. I told him I was carrying a radio set, but he still refused point blank. The Sergeant was screaming in agony, so I climbed out and went to him. It was impossible for me to carrying him, so I had to drag him back to the shell hole.

Luckily there were no shots. Either the sniper had been killed or moved away. We gave him morphine and I told the other soldier to stay with him until the medics arrived. I then climbed out and made my way to the RV."

Harry brought home a German sword and a British revolver from his time in Germany. Although asked many times, he refused to reveal how he had acquired them. The sword was given to my cousin Stan, and the revolver kept in my parents’ bedroom. As a young boy I often went into the bedroom when they were at work to play with the gun which was kept in a tin box along with 85 rounds of ammunition, along with two magazines. Harry must have guessed what I was doing, for when I was about 12, he gave the gun to Stan in return for the sword. A few years later during a gun amnesty, Stan handed the gun and ammunition to the police.

A few months before Harry died, I drove him to a hospital appointment. During the journey, for no apparent reason, he told me that the revolver had belonged to that Sergeant. I asked him why he had taken it, but he did not know. He never spoke about it again.

The sergeant survived Operation Varsity and wrote a letter from Hospital to the soldier left with him in the shell hole. He thanked him for saving his life.

"When I arrived at Headquarters, I started setting up my radio set. After a while I noticed some of the men digging trenches. They knew there would be a German counterattack. I stopped working on my set and started digging. Just as I finished, Lt. Crawford turned up and asked if I had seen one of the signal team. I said no and told him he should dig a trench. He said he had to find this soldier and walked off. A few minutes later the Germans attacked with mortars and Lt. Crawford was killed, along with a few others. The attack only lasted a few minutes before our boys mopped them up."



Lt. Crawford was 23 years old. There was little German opposition after this counterattack and by the early afternoon of Saturday 24th March, the airborne forces had achieved all their objectives. Later that day, the ground forces crossed the Rhine and linked up with them.


Lt. FW Crawford, Reichswald Forest War Cemetery.

"That afternoon, an officer told me to go to a particular street in Hamminkeln to tell the residents that they must move out for a couple of days as the houses would be needed for British troops. I managed to get a lift with a dispatch rider.

On the way, we passed two German SS soldiers digging two graves. I have no idea what happened to them but next day someone said they had been shot. German soldiers were respected but the boys didn’t like the SS.

When we reached Hamminkeln we were stopped at some crossroads by a group of Paratroopers. They told us it was not safe to cross the crossroads as there was a sniper in a church tower nearby. Some men had gone to flush him out. The dispatch rider felt if he drove at full speed through the crossroads the sniper would not have time to aim and shoot. This was what we did. There were no shots, but the dispatch rider lost control and we skidded across the road. Luckily, apart from a few scratches, we were both okay.

When I reached the street one of the residents was an old man who was able to speak some English. I explained that we needed the houses, but the properties and all the possessions would be respected. There would be no damage or looting. We went from house to house and all the residence agreed to move out. There was one exception, an old woman who refused to leave.

She said she had lived in the house all her life and the only way she would leave would be to be carried out dead.

I returned to Headquarters and reported back to the officer that all the houses were empty with this one exception. I explained that she was old and frightened, and suggested we leave her there. The Officer lost his temper and said he had given me an order. He told me to go back and clear the house. If she refused he told me to shoot her.

I returned to Hamminkeln and made up my mind that I would not shoot an old woman. My worry was what would happen to me. Fortunately, when I arrived back at the house she had been persuaded by neighbours to leave.

In the evening I was ordered to go back to the drop zone and look for signals equipment. We had lost a lot of radio equipment and batteries. On the way, I saw one of our men looting a German body. I just gave him a dirty look. Not many of our men looted bodies and those that did were not liked.

Next morning, a few of us went to find Lt. Crawford’s body. There was a long line of bodies, each covered with a sheet. They had tabs tied to their feet with their names. We found Lt. Crawford but were told not to remove the sheet as he had been too badly damaged."

​

Operation Varsity had been a great success by the afternoon of 24th March Hamminkeln and the other objectives had been captured. Casualties were less than expected. Even so, of the 7,200 Paratroopers of the 7th Airborne, 1,400 were either killed or wounded. American casualties were similar. In addition, many aircraft had been shot down.

The 6th Airborne was now tasked to move north to the Baltic and link up with Russian forces. This 300-mile journey was covered in 11 days. There was very little German opposition. In fact, German forces were happy to surrender, preferring to be captured by the British rather than the Russians. The end of the war was only weeks away.

On the way towards the Baltic and two other members of the Signals team were transferred to another unit. They travelled by lorry and on the way stopped for some lunch by a deserted German anti-aircraft gun. While Harry sat on the roof eating his lunch, his two colleagues tried to work the anti-aircraft gun. A few minutes later they saw a slow-moving German transport plane in the distance and started firing the anti-aircraft gun. As the plane came closer, they shouted to Harry to come down and have a go.

"I jumped down and started firing the anti-aircraft gun. It was firing tracer bullets and although it was a bright day you could clearly see the tracers as they went into the sky. I aimed the tracers in front of the aircraft and it flew into them. There was a puff of smoke and the aircraft came down. My two mates were really excited, but I felt sad. They took the lorry and went to look for the aircraft. I stayed there. When they returned, they said they had found the aircraft and there were four dead Germans sitting together in the cockpit. All I could think of was their mothers being told that their sons were dead."

For the rest of his life, Harry experienced occasional nightmares over these four young Germans. My mother told me that he would wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat after a nightmare.

A few weeks later on 8th May 1945 the war in Europe ended and the 6th Airborne asked unmarried men to volunteer to fight the Japanese. Harry and his best friend made a pact that if one of them signed up for the Japanese then the other would do the same. However, they both agreed that they had been through enough and would now leave the army (demob).

After a short leave, Harry returned to Catterick and went straight to the main office for his demob papers. On the way he met an Officer who asked him if he was signing on for the Japanese. When he said no, the officer said he was surprised as his best mate had signed up. Remembering their agreement Harry went in and signed up for another 12 months. Later that day he met his mate and asked him why he changed his mind. His mate told him he had not and that the officer had lied. Harry went straight back to the office but was told it was too late. He had signed for another year.

A few days later, Harry was on his way to the Far East and the Japanese. But that is another story.

____________________________________________________

Thank you for reading,

Regards,

Owen Howells

 

Hi,

You've pulled together a detailed personal history/timeline.

I can’t add to it so I’m just posting to push your post back up a long list of recent posts in the hope members with an interest/knowledge of airborne forces see it towards the top of the list and can chip in.

You may find something in this topic if you haven’t seen it previously -

Churchill's Varsity Battlefield Tour

Forum member Cee may be able to assist further.

Good Luck

Steve

 

Thank you very much! Cee's huge list of archive photos and detailed analysis of them has been a big help the planning of our trip to Hamminkeln. I plan on taking physical copies of some of the photos and standing where they were taken. Many thanks for your support with this, I really appreciate it. Owen.

 

Hi Owen,

Below is a sketch map showing the approximate positions for Sjt Christie's photographs (Green) with their corresponding reference number which can be searched for on the IWM site. Find an object | Imperial War Museums should link to the search for BU 2303. A few of these might be new but most are discussed in detail in Cee's PDF's.

Also included are the German trenches around the village (red) and approximate positions for known gliders (sorry but for now they are all facing north as I have not yet got around to mapping each one in detail). The trench that is dashed (top center) should also be ignored (it is probably a mistake hence it being dashed). The extent of the village 1945 is shown in Red. Brown dashed lines are tracks rather than roads. Not all buildings are shown but some are sketched onto this plan in black.

I have focused on Hamminkeln here but if you want me to send over any other areas, please let me know. It is worth mentioning though that due a to lack of mapping, photographs and, aerial coverage DZ B is lacking detail.

Background mapping is courtesy of Open Street Map and their Contributors.


Fig 1 - Overlay of Operation Varsity map and OSM.

Sjt Christie appears to have been accompanied by a Cine Camera operator so film for most of the photograph locations is also available and recently was made available to watch at this link:
AIRBORNE SOLDIERS OF THE 12TH BATTALION THE DEVONSHIRE REGIMENT AND US PARATROOPERS IN THE HAMMINKELN AREA, GERMANY [Allocated Title] | Imperial War Museums

Other film footage can also be found documented at the linked website below, the site also provides a good background on the operation(s):
1945 - The Rhine Crossings in the Wesel Area - Films

Best Regards,
SH

 

That's fantastic thank you! Brilliant point of reference with the red section showing the village in 1945. In the very top right of the map is a HQ - are you aware of what that was? I'd love to find Harry's HQ he talks about in our write up, for our visit to the town this coming summer. Thanks again, Owen.

 

I have it listed as a grid reference for the 5th Para Bgd HQ, this is not definitive and others on here will know exactly which farm it was.

Kopenhof farm (6th Airborne HQ) can also be seen on this wider plot where BU 2394 was taken.

Fig 2 - Op varsity Drop Zones overlay plan background mapping Open Street Map contributors.

Just spotted you said right lot left, if you mean the objects in the field top right these are an Anti-Air installation that can be seen on photographs of the station area.

BR
SH

 

Sorry I meant top left- It had been a long day! The detail on this map is incredible, thank you for sharing!