Anthony Rampling remembers:
“The Germans smashed up all the signposts – you had to work out where you were from maps.” From Anthony Rampling’s account of 61st Recce (pers comm).
This led his friend Sandy Handley into trouble:
“Another time we had to join the rest of our Squadron.
We were given the map reference and Dan, our Corporal, said to me “You do a piece of map reading for a change and let me know when we have got to turn off this road”.
I studied the map and could see a left hand turn, but somehow I’d mistaken the wrong turn. We went on, me still looking for this turn off. However, we heard, just up the road in front, sounds of gunfire. We came nearer and saw two tanks (ours) firing from the top of this cross-roads onto a village. I thought ‘this is our turning left’.
The Corporal told the driver to go to the brow of this road and ordered me to fire at the side of the road where it appeared the enemy was present. The two tanks stopped firing as we was now in their line of fire, I should think 40yds away. I fired away but, being a moving target, I don’t think I hit anyone. I was more scared than they was more likely.
Anyway our vehicle was a dangerous target being stationary for too long so we reversed from the cross-roads and, from the corner, the enemy started to fire at us with Spandau machine guns. The bullets rattled on the side of our car. We reversed and on seeing a slit trench at the side of the road, our Corporal Dan Polden, threw a grenade in. We didn’t stop to find out anything else. The tank commander gave us a wave and thumbs up. I’m sure these tank men thought we were some daredevil commando unit. We left them to carry on firing, their fire power was much greater than our little Bren (pea shooter) gun.
In actual fact we had overshot the left turn. Dan didn’t think much of my map reading, nor did I!
When we finally reached our squadron the Officer wanted to know why we’d been so long?
Dan said “Sorry Sir, we took the wrong turning and gave some tanks a bit of supporting fire.” I thought ‘while the rest of the squadron was in reserve, out of the line, we, that is, our lone Humber, was in the thick of it with the tanks’.
Fortunately no-one got hurt, which was good news. If anything had gone for a burton they would have blamed me for my bad map reading.
When I took my blankets out of the boot of the car they were all riddled with bullet holes. I held my blanket up to show the lads; I said “There’s proof we’ve been up front”. I wish I’d kept those blankets as souvenirs but they were quite draughty with those holes, the bullets had come within inches of making holes in me too.”
(From Ex Trooper S Handley’s ‘61 Recce - Memories of Normandy 1944 – 1945’, unpublished)
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