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Cornelius Ryan WWII papers, box 021, folder 18: Stanley Elton Hollis
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fire from somewhere and damned near - hit him The bullet hit a tree he was leaning "The only time "he said, "I go to church during the war I damn near got killed"
He killed 102 men throughout his entire war career One he beheaded with a machete (he came across a machine gun post by accident; the German raised his Schmeisser pistol Hollis swung the knife + was surprised to see the man's head roll off) in his first bayonet charge in Italy he bayonetted a German directly through the stomach with such force that his bayonett purchased the circulars belt buckle (with the words "Gott Mit Huns") around the edge) went in + came out the man's back He pulled out the bayonet The German stood there looking at him without saying a word Then he turned and walking steadily away Hollis watched him amazed He raised his rifle when the German was more than 100 yards away from Then he fell dead Hollis couldn't understand what made the German walk that far He had often laid for 2 days at a time watching a machine
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gun post before attacking it He cold but not brutal in his ay of fighting He appeared to take chances but actually it was all finely calculated carefully worked out It was in a sense the perfect example of the hunter + the hunted Hollis was a supert hunter He was fighting "to prevent somebody stepping on his front + back lawn" when he landed back in Englad from Dunkirk (minus his pants-somebody had stolen them + he was wearing a blanket) and when he saw the roadblocks and hastily erected strongpoints along the coastal roads he was dumbfounded He had no idea of the size of the debacle He had thought that only his division had suffered It wasn't until much later that he realized the full scope of the defeat He had been at sea from ^1929-1933; + a torry driver from^ 1933 to 1939 He had two girl friends nurses who had attended him in a Denmark hospital and after the war began he wondered what had happened to them- Oreida Eingebourg Christiansen and Ylva Neilsen He was so worried about the that even resolved that if England was
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could have cheerfully killed a member of his company for running away Although tough as a csar had to be he also was the type to look after the less experienced the young soldiers One of them as Pvt Youngs batman to Lt Kirkpatrick a platoon commander of D Company Somehow he knew Youngs was going to get it (no ex) Sergeant "Ruffy" Hill killed the moment the ramps went down "Ruffy" lived about 8 miles away He was frightened of nothing They had been through was together "when the war is over," Ruffy said "I'm going to come over and live in France" ---------------------------- -------- They tell me the French girls are really smashin" "I just want to come back home" Hollis told him Rufty always carried more ammo than anybody else "where did you get all the ammo" Hollis asked "Thats my business Stan- no questions us pack drill" Rufty answered "But I'll sort old Fritz when I get there Anyway they can afford the ammo- its a big from Stan You're not burying it so why worry" It was the ammo that killed
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invaded he "might do away with his wife + daughter" He had never told them of this and he knew in his heart that he would never do such a thing but he kept saying to himself that he "might have to do it" He remembered in Lille during the retreat back to the French coast (he had been a despatch rider at the time) he had run into a cul de sack and suddenly horrified he saw hundreds of men women + children who had been machine gunned in a body "There were hundreds + hundreds of spent machine gun bullets all around" he said "They been headed into the cul-de-dack and brutally murdered that it was a clean war" It was this sight more than anything other single experience that made Hollis from that moment on a killer- a ruthless, calculating one at that From that moment on "I had no mercy no compassion " and "if I took a prisoner it was by coincidence" He knew he could never be a regular army peacetime sergeant because "I could never put a man on charge for not claiming his boots" Pn the other hand during the war he
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him when they landed Rufty went into a shell hole The ammo pulled him down + before he could swim to the surface the landing craft --------------------- drifted over him Hit beach at 7:30 in first wave D Co + A Co were the two assaulting CO's for 50 Div There was about 108 in each company and they were LCA- about 16 in each craft About 10 craft in all In Hollis's craft was the company Co Major Ronald Lofthouse (got MC for D Day) His company's objective was the battery at Mont Fleury Their assault area was bout 200 yds on their left ---------- was 2 assaulting companies of the 5 East Yorkshire Regt and -- Hollis's right 2 CO's of the Dorsets + 2 CO's of the Hampshire Regts plus the 47 Commando Going in with Hollis's is two of his pals Pvt Paddy Mullally and Pvt Charlish a Bven Gunner Charlish sd: "There's no need to worry about- when its time you'll get it and you can't do wont about it" Rufty sd "Ah well lets get at them now + sort them out" Mullally: "By the
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Holy fortune here we go" there was smoke + fog covering beach They knew there was a marsh that was mined back of the beach beyond the high water mark and beyond that a coastal road running parallel with the beach They could see their objective as they made their run in It lay at the top of a road running from the coastal road There was a house to the left the battery was on the right "It was the biggest damn thing I've ever seen" sd Hollis later Each emplacement had walls 6 feet thick and each separate gun emplacement was 30 or 40 yards square with four pillboxes in front of the 3 guns and communications trenches linking them all The guns were heavy naval 11 inchers The whole lot was camouflaged with black and green netting with sacking in a variety of colors" Several landing craft hit mines on the way in There were shouts from A Co men in the water only about 40 yards for help But couldn't stop the guns didn't hit the boats of D Company There was two marines on each landing craft one -- looking after engine the other
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steering There was a stripped Lewis gun propped up against the side the front of the assault craft and Hollis wondered why it wasn't being used as they were getting heavy machine gun fire from a bathing chalet which had been turned into a strongpoint near the high water mark He grabbed the Lewis gun climbed up on the top of the ramp + began firing It was loaded with tracers and he happily -- watched the stream of red traces spatter about the chalet He fired the whole pan in one burst Forgetting the red hot barrel he grabbed with his hand when he'd expended all the ammo and in that moment got --- his " most painful wound" of the war- a badly palm He dropped the Lewis gun with a yell Just then the LCA ground to a halt The ramp went down and Hollis leading the way with a sten gun in his hand yelled "Forward the Yanks and for Christ sake get of the beach" As he raced up the 200 yards of beach with Mullally on one side ---- machine gun bullets flickeing the sand
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all around he said to Mullaly "I've been in better places Paddy So have I Sarge" sd Mullally A DD tank- Hollis thinksto their right suddenly blew up and the hatch bowled across the beach at incredible speed A;; he remembers of that moment was "oh if that gets among the company it will do more damage than the Germans" but he couldn't take time to find out He raced on up to the high water marker he + Mullally flopped down on their bellies Ahead of them was the mine field surrounded by concertina barbed wire As they waited for the remainder of the company to come up - and many never would because many were lying wounded or dead behind- Mullally pointed to two birds sitting calmly on the wire "no wonder they're not flying sarge" he said "there's no room in the air for them" when the company came up + assembled their two engineers set out through the marshy minefield with mine detectors Quickly the got through with the company in single files following the tape which the engineers had laid
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Everyone knew what he had to do after they got through the marsh. Nobody oddly enough at this stage got hit. On the coastal road in single file on either side of the road they began the advance on the battery. No the casualties were felt- machine guns & mortar fire fell around them. In the next few minutes on this quarter of a mile approach 11 men were hit.
Now 16 platoon turned left to attack the house while 17 and 18 platoon went for the battery. The company commander Major Ronald Lofthouse & Hollis were behind 17 and 18 and when they got near the perimeter pillboxes, they noticed that one pillbox had been bypassed. Hollis spotted two machine guns moving in the slits. He didn't say anything he sprinted across towards the pillboxes & as he started to run they opened fire. Somehow, even though they were firing at 750 rounds a minute they didnt hit him. He flattened against the wall of the pillbox, poked his sten gun into the gun slit and pressing the trigger wound the gun around inside like a hose with his right hand. With his left he yanked a granade from his belt pulled the pin with his