Daniel.

I never knew Daniel.

If anyone had an idyllic growing up it was me. Many Friday nights I would sleep down at Nana and Da's because they lived down the harbour so it was less far to go on Saturday morning but Saturday evenings was bathtime, and bed unless I slept in Nana and Granda's at "Elhanan" 9a Bowling Green Terrace, in which case I was bathed at home, dressed in Sunday Best and with pyjamas wrapped in a dressing gown I walked down the road to their house.

Usually it was being allowed to beat Nana at checkers or dummies before being told that it was bedtime and asked, "what did I want for supper?"that I liked. I think it was the suppers that I most looked forward to.

One night a year was always different. She tended to look sideways at the TV in the corner as she glanced at it over her knitting rather than looked at it properly. But each November for "The Royal British Legion's Service of Remembrance live from The Royal Albert Hall" as the ever so formal BBC announcer began to intone she was right there in front of it.

I'd be sat next to her in a big brown high back chair with wooden flat arms that cut into you so I needed the shiny dark red cushions. I liked the Royal Navy Gun Carriage Teams racing about throwing tons of equipment around with such precision and control but the marching bands and stertorous voices were a bit of a bore, really. It didn't matter as I'd fall asleep and wake up in uncle John's bed even though he'd left home years before it was always his bed.

Later on, I guess by the time I was 6 or 7 the suppers had taken their toll so I'd wake up where I went to sleep but with the matching brown chair placed under my feet so making a bed between two chairs.

Only once that I can remember did I ask her what it was all about but I've never forgotten her reply. "This is for Daniel," she said nodding at the telly.

All I knew of Daniel was that he was killed in the war and little else. Nana said that he was "a breaa handsome boy" which was a bit odd because everyone who ever lived was " a breaa handsome cheeld" but I don't remember her mentioning "boy", a "maid" occasionally. Like "Maid Dorcas" who was Daniel's sister and lived up the road. Dorcas has always been in St.Ives. Jane, his other sister, lived in London and we visited once or twice but eventually she and Ted came back and now live down Gulval, I think. The last time I saw them was at uncle John and aunt Joan's 50th anniversary.

Nana's sister, Dorcas was Daniel's mum and lived down Carnglaze Place and from her front window you could see right down the quay.  Later she moved in with Maid Dorcas and her husband, Jimmy.

Mum said Daniel was quiet and really gentle, a lovely chap, others have said he was a fine mason so he had a trade. I also heard that he was killed by mortar fire in Caen.

Between Nana's fireplace and the telly in the corner was a large wood glass fronted bookcase cabinet. It  was huge, it was taller than me but that meant that it was really only about 4' tall and about the same wide. It had sliding glass doors and four shelves, three full of Granda's books and the top shelf full of trinkets, Granda's cufflinks, arm bands and hearing aids. And photos. One was of a smart uniformed young man, about a two-and-a-quarter square photo sandwiched between two bits of glass and held in a wooden base. That was Daniel. The other photo was of uncle John stood next to a headstone, I think with his left hand on it. That was Daniel, too.

I never knew what happened to Daniel, either.

Today I went to where uncle John stood and we've unravelled a bit more about Daniel. When I say "we" I really mean my research assistant who sits behind me waiting for me to stop tapping away but beside me is a sheaf of papers, official documents, photocopies and all sorts. Her methodical and intense way of going about finding stuff is amazing but, hey, I've done googling. And we went to the Turisme Information Centre yesterday, here in Caen. Maps. They have maps and I love maps.

So, this is what we have found out.

Daniel was part of 3 Brigade who landed on Sword beach. He was in 2nd. Batt. Kings Shropshire Light Infantry and would have landed at Queen Beach at 1000 . This beach is the western most end of Sword Beach. The Eastern extremity of Sword was the Port of Ouistreham, the western end was at or before the start of St.Aubin-sur-Mer.

They met fierce resistance as they fought to move inland but eventually Douvres, Hermanville and Colleville were taken but the rate of advance was slow. Most of the information comes from the armoured division personnel, they had 3 squadrons of Sherman Tanks and were the spearhead but progress was slow as they were up against SS troops and Hitler Youth Brigades.

Montgomery wanted Caen taken and decided to launch Operation Charnwood. This would last from 7th - 9th July. Over the night of 7th-8th heavy bombers struck in force at the northern edge of Caen, a strip about 2 1/2 miles long and a mile or so wide. So great was the destruction that it hampered the eventual march into the town . Today, on the tourist office map it notes the "unbecoming architecture" that now is found there.

 The armoured division and KSLI were tasked with taking "Libesey Wood"which was the last defended high ground between them and Caen. After the bombing at 0420 the ground assault began with a bombardment of the units 25lb guns and the tanks.

Tanks can not batter a way through established woodland so their strategy was to bombard the position with artillery and then the tanks would encircle it. If the bombardment didn't kill all the defenders or scare then off it was utterly imperative that once ground troops went in there was no possibility of further troops moving up from Caen to reinforce the position.

At 1000 the tank commander signalled that it was encircled and the KSLI went in to mop up the wood. This they did, emerging on the southern side of the wood at 1500. Now they were to advance on "Ring Contour 60". They were fighting the recently arrived infantry of the 21st Panzer Division.

At some time after that an 88mm field gun, deadly accurate and efficient opened up. The Shermans couldn't engage with the 88mm from their current position so they had to withdraw, which they did, but not before losing five tanks and their crews. It was at this point that the most senior KSLI officer was badly wounded. He was found beside a wrecked tank and was taken to the Forward Casualty Post at Bieville-Beuville. He is quoted as saying that he was unaware of how tired he was having been active for at least 48hours.

The enemy kept the infantry pinned down using observers from the chimneys on the outskirts of Caen. The infantry dug in"with the utmost rapidity."A tank gunner, Sid Moore in a Sherman of 144th Regt.Royal Armoured Corps and the rest of his squadron were advanced from 2 miles north of Libesey wood to give cover to the dug in infantry. Which they did. One tank commander said that the infantry had no where to go and just had to take it.

A member of The Royal Ulster Rifles reported that as night fell we heard the first mortars open up.
A short time later the enemy was "liquidated" and the mortars fell silent.

On one website there is a footnote to the effect that one Hugh Patrick Maguire single handedly took out the 88mm killing two of it's four man crew and capturing the others but no time for this action is given.

There are conflicting numbers of casualties given, one document says 80, one 107 and one 118. Daniel was dead when he arrived at the Casualty Post at Bieville-Beuville. Where he was buried. I know this because Dad knewThomas Berriman another St.Ives man, who was there as a medic, who told Dad that he was praying that Daniel would be brought in wounded. But he wasn't.

Daniel was later reburied in the cemetery at Douvres-la-Deliverande. 

Daniel died at the end of a hot and sunny Saturday, the 8th of July 1944 somewhere south of Libesey Wood during Operation Charnwood at the age of 22.

As near to the centre of Queen Beach as I could work it out to be

Believed to be the approach to Libesey Wood from the north. It was obviously much bigger and not full of houses in 1944.

A clue that we're in the right area

This is believed to be all that's left of Libesey Wood, the large trees, the small ones are obviously recent. None are likely to be there in a week or two.

Looking south towards Caen from Libesey Wood. There are concrete and steel units all the way in from here and the land rises gently before gently falling away right down into Caen itself. Contour Ring 60 may be the highpoint of the rise. It's just about where the trees are in the background. It's much easier to see on the road.

Poppies in Libesey Wood today, Sunday October 4th 2015

Poppy moved from Libesey Wood.

 I never knew Daniel but had he survived the war and lived his threescore years and ten I would have

 As Nana said, "this is for Daniel."

Notes:
The KSLI enbarked and disembarked in Newhaven on 3rd June. They embarked finally on the afternoon of 5th.

The KSLI entered Caen on 9th July but the town was not completely taken until 18th.

To give a sense of scale as we were driving back this afternoon it occured to me that it's like he landed at Marazion and Caen was home, there was a battle at Crowlas, he died up The Steeple and is buried down St,Erth. It really is that sort of geographic scale.

In the Museum of The Battle of Normandy in Bayeux the painfully slow advance on Caen is forcibly and dramatically displayed through maps of the first weeks of the invasion. These maps also show just how much importance Rommel placed on defending Caen. Of 9 divisions brough from the  Pas-de-Calais 7 were sent to Caen. Initally at least 4 divisions of SS Panzer Infantry were in place in a short time, the rest followed. The armour was sent by train and greatly delayed by the efforts of the RAF.

There is one map which pinpoints troop movements at Libesey but does not name any other settlements around it thus making a wholly reliable position of the engagement impossible but the general vicinity is where we thought.

There is a book called "Sword" written by a Frenchman. I wish I'd got a copy but it's in French. However, in it there is a photo of a hand annotated map of the beachhead in which Queen beach is far more extensive than the  official map we saw in Caen and Queen beach is shown in three sectors, white, green and red. The photo above is still in the right area, maybe not exactly but not far away.

This book also mentions that the enemy in this sector was very determined being mainly brigades of Hitler Youth and SS Infantry.

In there, too, there is an incident recorded when Eisenhower told a gathering of the press corps that "the blood it cost for every foot of ground at Caen would have got ten miles anywhere else."

Dorcas Benny, eldest sister of Daniel. d.12th October 2015 St.Ives
Jane Allen, youngest sister of Daniel. d.                      2019 Gulval