By the time they were at Briquessard 61st Recce had become used to sleepless nights.
“We received regular amounts of Benzedrine tablets to enable us to remain awake for up to 56 hours at a time. Sleep was one of the things we really missed out on,” “The days throughout June and July were very long, starting at 4.45am and dusk not falling until 11.15 pm…There was never enough sleep for anyone, and in spite of the help given by Benzedrine tablets, lack of sleep was as deadly as enemy ambush.” (See ‘Beaten Paths are Safest’ by Roy Howard, Brewin Books 2004)
Anthony Rampling remembers that before Briquessard “there was a lot of hanging about. Every time nothing was on we just fell asleep. Stand to was at dusk with your gun in hand until it was dark. Attacks were generally at dusk or dawn so we were also up at dawn with our guns in our hands.”
Sandy Handley explains how much worse it could be at Briquessard:
“One of the nights we spent here the British artillery seemed to go on for hours, no question of a little doze. Being two of us in a slit trench one of us kept watch and the other tried to have a little shut eye. We’d made a small covering with our ground sheets in one half of the trench, with the support of a few twigs, but there was no dozing this night. Also a machine gun Regiment with fixed lines kept up this continuous rattle, reminding me of a pneumatic road drill, never stopping. However, it seemed the Germans were a bit fed up with the noise as well and we heard approaching aircraft. I don’t know what type they were but they came down on us, well so it seemed, but they were dive bombing the artillery at the rear. Our artillery ceased firing while this was going on - we heard the bombs whistling down. After the enemy aircraft went away our artillery started again and the machine gun Regiment resumed their firing.” (From Ex Trooper S Handley’s ‘61 Recce - Memories of Normandy 1944 – 1945’, unpublished)
While 61st Reconnaissance Regiment was at Briquessard their Division, 50th (Northumberland), received some illustrious visitors:
Churchill and Montgomery visit troops from 50th (Northumbrian) Division near Caen on 22nd July 1944.
22nd July 1944 – the Bretton Woods conference concludes with agreement on the establishment of an International Monetary Fund and an International Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
US diplomatic observers (known as the Dixie Mission) arrive in Yan'an establishing official relations with Mao Zedong, the Communist Party of China and the People's Liberation Army.
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