Douglas Forsyth Alexander: D-Day casualty
Douglas was born at 8pm on 19th
November1920 at a house then called St Omer, Bearsden (now 6 Roman Road):
Prosaically, as you exit the Post Office at Bearsden Cross, number 6 is across the road and slightly to your left. The above photo shows the Cross from Hillfoot in 1928, so making allowance for the grainy picture in exchange for it showing the property around the time the Alexanders lived there. The road running from bottom left is Roman Road and the large lighter coloured building centre left is the school. Number 6 is ringed in red and stands on the corner of Horseshoe Road.
Douglas's father was James, a chartered accountant. His mother, Mary, gave Doulas her maiden surname as his middle name.
War had already touched the family as Douglas's uncle, Walter, had a distinguished career in the First World War (from Milngavie and Bearsden Herald 3rd March 1916):
However, he was also wounded:
Walter survived his injuries, and in the 1921 Census he is recorded at 148 Hyndland Road (a few doors north of the junction with Clarence Drive) with his wife, Minnie.
Number 41 is one of the houses on the right.
Around this time the family moved into Dunmyat, 9 Ralston Road, Bearsden. The house had belonged to Douglas's paternal grandfather, William; he is the owner in the 1895 valuation roll and the house was not built at the time of the 1885 roll, so it is likely the Alexanders were the first occupants. William died in 1924 and Lucy (Douglas's paternal grandmother) in 1929.
Douglas attended Glasgow High School. He was an excellent athlete and The Scotsman carried a report of his achievements in June 1939:
He was made a 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal Armoured Corps on 21st March 1942.
He served in the North African campaign and was in the Staffordshire Yeomanry for at least some of the time.
This photo was taken in Tripoli, Libya, in 1943. Douglas is in the middle row, second from the right.
In late 1943 the regiment returned to England to rest but mainly to retrain for the coming invasion of Europe; some men felt they had 'done their bit' and it was the turn of those who had not fought to date to bear the brunt. The generals in charge saw it differently: the Staffordshires were a 'veteran' regiment and their experience of combat was thought to be vital to the chances of success.
Douglas was a lieutenant in B Squadron at the time of the Normandy Landings. While his regiment was not in the first wave ashore they landed from 10.30am on Sword Beach, which in reality was around five miles and was further sub-divided into sectors and individual beaches. I believe the landing was on Queen White (maps from this website):
The beach was somewhat chaotic with ships rushing to get troops ashore, only a limited number of exits having been cleared through minefields behand the beach and the tide coming in to reduce the space available. Fortunately by this stage there was little direct fire from the Germans or planes to bomb the waiting queues, but the tanks were required to help the infantry drive inland with hopes that the city of Caen would be captured by the evening.
Starting from Hermanville probably around midday, the first objective for the regiment was the higher ground just south of Periers-sur-le-Dan.
This is the Google Earth view of the beach looking south, Hermanville in the foreground, and Periers-sur-le-Dan at the top of the photo (south).
This map is orientated the other way around, north at the top:
The Imperial War Museum website has this photo of Sherman tanks heading south out of Hermanville on D-Day:
I'm indebted to Stephen Fisher, author of the book "Sword Beach" (link), for directing me to this photo and for sharing his work to identify the location.
Again using Google Earth, this is the area in the map above where B Squadron deployed:
We are still looking south but the edge of modern Hermanville (approximately where the IWM photo of the tanks was taken) is at the bottom of the photo, corresponding to the area marked "B" SDN on the top-left of the map.
While military reports refer to 'high ground' I have referred to 'higher ground' because, as the following photo shows, it is referring to a low ridge:
This view is just north of Periers-sur-le-Dan with the village just visible ahead and the higher ground behind.
The regimental history (here) says that this higher ground "was reached after a fast advance and found to be clear of the enemy. German guns and transport were engaged from this ridge, but shortly afterwards accurate shelling forced the tanks into cover. “B” Squadron, commanded by Major G. J. W. Turner, M.C., proceeding out on the right flank of “C” Squadron [i.e. to the right of the photo above] to give support and cover, suffered some casualties when they were engaged by a well-concealed German 88-mm. gun, five tanks being destroyed, in addition to the Medical Officer’s half-track, before the gun was silenced. It was during this incident that Lieutenant D. F. Alexander was killed while attempting to extricate one of the crew of his troop corporal’s tank, one of the five hit."
Stephen Fisher supplied me with this aerial reconnaissance photo taken that afternoon. It is not perfectly aligned north-south but is close to it. Stephen has also marked vehicles (mainly tanks) in red. He has marked in blue a vehicle that seems to be burning, on the left of the photo. Of course, several tanks and a half-track were hit so we cannot say with certainty this was the tank Douglas was trying to rescue men from but it is consistent with all the other evidence.
Using Google Earth, the position of the tank marked in blue is roughly here, in the foreground:
Douglas's death was marked by only the briefest of mentions in the Milngavie and Bearsden Herald (R.A.C. denotes Royal Armoured Corps, the overall unit for all tank regiments):
According to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission database, six other men from the Staffordshire Yeomanry were killed on D-Day. Four are buried in a common grave: William John Rowse, Edwin Bradbury, Osmer Furnival, Thomas William Issott.
CWGC records that William Rowse was in the same squadron as Douglas so on the assumption they were all in the same tank my guess is that they probably died in the same incident as him. They may even have been the crew of the tank he was trying to save.
This CWGC record confirms Douglas was originally buried alongside these men by Hermanville.
The other two casualties were:
Richard Alfred
Roberts, age 20, from Wallasey
Arthur Donald
Winterhalder, age 21, Forest Gate, Essex
From the original locations of the graves (the last column but one), Winterhalder was buried with the mean above, but Roberts was buried at another location.
Edwin Bradbury was born on 5th November 1910 in Fenton, Stoke-on-Trent; he had two older brothers and one older sister. Wherever I have found a census record, every male above the age of 14 was employed in pottery in one job or another, including his father, George. In 1915 his father was killed in France while serving with the 1st/4th Royal Fusiliers. His mother remarried (Ernest Unitt) and in the 1920 Census they are living, working and breathing the potteries. At some point Edwin married Gladys and they had a daughter, Margaret. In the 1939 Register Gladys and an unnamed child (presumably Margaret) are living in Fenton; Gladys is married but there is no sign of Edwin - it's possible he was a territorial soldier and had been called up. On his grave is the inscription "My dear husband Edwin, worthy of everlasting love". The following appeared in the Evening Sentinel, the local paper on the 3rd anniversary of his death:
Osmer Furnival was born on 10th May 1913 in Brentford, 2nd of five children to a schoolmaster and his wife. We have the briefest of glimpses of young Oscar (and his father) in this newspaper cutting dated 8th January 1926:
In the 1939 Register he lived in Bath Road, Colnbrook. His mother is listed as a widow, his father having died only a few days before. Osmer was a cable clerk, two younger sisters were nurses and a younger brother was a soldier. On his grave is the inscription "Life is not holding all the good cards, it's playing a bad hand well."
Thomas William Issott was born on 24th January 1907 in Dewsbury, son of a coal miner. In the 1911 Census father, mother, three children and a boarder (an adult woman) all lived in a three-room house. By 1921 Thomas was an apprentice house painter, aged 14. In 1933 he married Ida, a domestic servant, on 23rd September. In 1939 they are listed as living in Scarborough terrace, Dewsbury (now 9-17 Scarborough Street, I think). Thomas's occupation was painter & decorator.
William John Rowse was born in 1909 but by the time of the 1921 Census his mother was dead and he was living with his maternal grandmother, Harriet, aged 82. In 1928 he enlisted in the army, joining the Royal Tank Corps and serving with the 7th Hussars (to 1931) and subsequently thw 13th/18th Hussars. In 1936 he married Ursula Mary Hill:
In the 1939 Register Ursula was living with her parents as William would have been with his regiment.
Arthur Winterhalder has been the most difficult to find. He came from a large family in east London; I think I have identified ten siblings, one of whom died as a baby. His oldest brother had been a soldier before the war. One of his older sisters, Gladys Winterhalder won a prize as a nursing student at Whipps Cross Hospital and was the senior nursing officer in Newcastle-upon-Tyne after the war.
Comments
Post a Comment