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We walked gaily up the road and had not gone far before a burst
of machine gun fire kicked up the dust in front of us. We dived
into the nearest ditch and laid there a while. We then got up
and tried again with the same result except that a mortar had
started up as well. We dived in the ditch again and although we
tried to proceed several times, it was always with the same result.
So we decided to keep our heads down for a while but imagine our
surprise a little later on to see our OC riding up the road on an
auto cycle. He got to us and asked us what was the matter.
We told him and he said he would send a Scout car (Half Track) to
fetch us up. He went on his way up the road past the wood and
not one round was fired at him. I would not attempt to explain
why he was allowed to proceed without the accompaning fusilade.
But we got our armoured half track.

The half track took us up to what I later found out to be
the St Leger road. Armour piercing 88 shells were whipping
through the hedges. We stooged around for a few hours but did
not do anything in the way of an RE task. We went back to a
field just outside Crepon and after a meal of sorts, we made our
beds beneath the trees and hedges and watched the Bofor shells
go up over the beach where the German planes were attacking.