11th July 1944 - On the American front in Normandy V Corps' experienced 9th Division and XIX Corps' 30th Division withstood a fierce counter-attack by the Panzer Lehr near St Jean-de-Daye (south of Isigny and west of Bayeux).
Eric Postles of 61st Recce's B Squadron was involved in action south of Bayeux: “Hottot, a few miles down the road to Villers Bocage, was captured by 1 Hampshires on 11 July. We were holding their right flank on higher ground and had a panoramic view of the action as it flowed to and fro. We were joined in 30 Corps by 43 Division and remained with them until Holland.” Hottot-les-Bagues was finally liberated by 50th Division on 19th July.
On 11th July 1944 Eric Brewer wrote in his diary “Mortared = cow killed and hope to have steak for tea, everyone okay except two injured.” On the same day in a letter to his parents he said he was"still at base, taking it easy. At the present moment I have nothing much to do except write and sleep". He did add "Every minute of the day all you can hear is the artillery putting up a barrage and the Air Force going over." (Extract from Eric Brewer’s letter and diary included by kind permission of Derek Brewer and his family.)
Eric Postles reminisced about his troop's attempts to get fresh meat: "Once when we were told we would be in harbour for a couple of days Corporal Newsome who was a butcher in civvy street and I caught, killed and dressed a sheep. We had just finished when we were ordered to move taking the carcass with us suspended above the carrier. We cooked it later in empty ammunition boxes made into an oven." (Extracts from ‘My War Years’ by John Eric Postles ISO used by kind permission of the author.)
Freshly killed cow or sheep would have been a lot more appetising than most of the meat around. Anthony Rampling explains why he became a vegetarian:
“In Normandy the Germans, as they retreated, shot all the cattle, horses and dairy cows. They were laying in the fields, blown up, covered in maggots with chickens picking the maggots off. It was very unappetising to eat your meals, and what with that, and the Falaise Gap, it rather put me off meat for the rest of my life, although I had to eat it in the war because there was nothing else to eat.” From Anthony Rampling’s account of 61st Recce (pers comm).
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