Pages That Need Review
Cornelius Ryan WWII papers, box 021, folder 18: Stanley Elton Hollis
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teeth and tossed it in. Next he jumped on the roof, put another chip on his sten and walking across the top of the pillbox dropped down behind it and yelled "come out you bastards" (There was screams & yells inside the pillbox at his firing) Now the Germans came out through the door at the back of the pillbox. He doesn't know why he didn't shoot them then & then- instead he [crossed out] march [end crossed out] handed them over to other members of the company who had come up.
Just then he spotted a half a dozen more of the enemy running towards him along the communicating trench. He just stood there pointing the stun gun. They too surrendered. In a matter of minutes he had captured 20 and killed two.
By this time, the guns had fallen. Next the company regrouped & continued the advance towards the village of Crepon. They advanced quickly line ahead on either side of the road -- very quickly, no talking. As they approached the village along a narrow lane Hollis saw two dogs about 100 yards ahead fasking about. Hollis was ahead of the company. He quickly held up.
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his hand to halt company behind him and hurried back to the company commander "There's something in the hedge" he told him. Then he crept forward. Behind the hedgerow he saw a field gun with a crew of 4 with two supporting machine guns. He returned & informed his commander. Lofthouse told him to take a piat, (Projectile Infantry Anti-Tank) & two Bren gunners to divert their attention while the rest of the company attacked the position. Hollis with the piat and two Bren gunners went through the hedge into the kitchen garden of a cottage which was not more than 15-20 yards from the gun(you have to get that close with a PIAT to have any effect otherwise it's suicide) They found themselves lying in tall rhubarb. Hollis moved the stalks of rhubard in front of him to get the Piat into position hoping to put the the "bomb" on the breech block with his first shot. He knew he'd have only one shot - it's trajectory is slow and it can be seen as it sails through the air. As he movd the Rhubarb he was spotted The field gun almost
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instantly opened fire on themeven before the Bren gunners could -- up The first shell hit the cottage wall behind them and litterly brought the house down about them. Apparently under the impression that they had hit [crossed out] Hollis they stopped firing. Hollis sd "Let's get out of here." Believing that they were following he crawled out of the rhubarb and back onto the road There he saw his company commander who told him that the CO of the Batt had been up & had ordered the gun bypassed They were to push on. So they did After they had gone about 200 yards somebody said to Hollis "where are the two Bren gunners?" Hollis looked around but couldn't see them. He hurried back to his CO and told him that they must be still back in the kitchen garden "I took them, he said "and I'm going back to get them out." He could hear machine guns chattering behind him & he figured that his two men were pinned down He took a Bren gun & returned. He crept up on the German position and poking the gun through the hedge fired a blast at
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(They answered fire but again miraculously Hollis escaped and by this time his estimation of the German army had reached a new low) the machine gunners. He got both.. The gun crew had disappeared He kept up firing from various parts of the hedges dodging back + forth along the hedge until the two bren gunners reappeared on the road He was glad to see them but he gave them a tongue lashing just the same "next timeI tell you to follow me do it + quick- that's how you get other people killed" Hollis was quite sore at the whole incident - it was definitely unsoldierly in his book ==== Timing: Land 7:30; Battery taken by 9:00; approach on Crepon by 12:00; attack on field gun by about 13:00; marched toward Crepon again by 14:00; return for Bren gunners 14:10; attack on position 14:15; Bren gunners 14:30; continue advance without any opposition into Crepon = On way over Hollis had said to his old friend Lt Kirkpatrick as he admired the new army issue watch he gotten "When you've stopped quivering if you get Lt I'll have that watch" "If that happens Stan" he said , "its yours" At 2 minutes past 5 that evening
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the Lt and his batman Younds were killed by mortar fire Hollis knew the exact time because the watch on the Lt's wrist was smashed and it ^had stopped at 5:02 He took off his identity bracelet his rings + his hat badge Hollis hadn't the heart to take the watch Youngs died in his arms Hollis felt bad about Youngs "Wrtie my mother Sarge" he said (Kirkpatrick was a platoon (16) in D company) Kirkpatrick had walked about all day with a broken arm which he received he received during attack on the gun battery
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2 H Co was moving far over on the night but D Co never saw them again after the landing === Let through Crepon Everything was shuttered + closed up Dead cows lying in fuelas, smell of cordite everywhere Saw no civilians and continue down to town of Crevely Hollis figures that his Co bypassed Crevely === When Kirkpatrick was killed Co D had advanced across a grass field inopen order with some Bren gun carriers which had caught up with you and as road was reached they encountered their first real counter attack by === shell + mortar fire These were more seasoned troops- the harder core Kirkpatrick , Yongs killed + Lt Fitzwilliam of a bren gun carrier platoon was wounded + sent back Two or three men lifted him up on B Gun carrier unconscious Counter attack lasted about half an hour (5:45 over) Advanced again in open formation in this manner until + it was getting that night when you reached a point about 8 miles form Bayeux they sent out vecee patrols into town that night At the end of D-Day D Co had
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been joined by C + B companies with A abreast to pesert Batt front that night they dug in- in an orchard ^Pvt Ian Headley (one of the Bren gunners who had been left behind) shared the dug out with Hollis He was the runner Hollis thought back over the day he told Headley about the mistake the 17 + 18 platoon had made in by passing the pillbox on landing "It could have been fatal, "he told Headley " might have caught B + C companies when they landed in the next wave" That night as he made rounds of his company he discovered for the first time that his friend Pat Mullally had been killed on the way up to the battery It never dawned on him that he might have been killed that day But he did wonder why he hadn't killed the germans in the battery truth was that he couldn't have done so even if he'd wanted to Hollis didn't go asleep that night For the first time that day he remembered he was lunging He has a can of selheating soup and sitting on the step of the dug-out he waited for the counter-attack which he was sure would come ====
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Beside him was a loudpspeaker from the "listening posts" ahead with the patols "We can hear some voices ahead" "Sounds like tanks ahead" Finally came a voice "It's all quiet." But Hollis knew that they would attack The first D-Day had gone well, he felt satisfied, he felt proud of his regiment, [in margin]"They had done as well as anybody," [end in margin] but just the same he knew they'd attack. "They'll come," he told Healey, "They're sure to come." Advance to furtherest point on Gold Beach.
Healey wanted to be in Durban. Little inoffensive chap full of guts. Kidded us about D. wouldn't have some this or that"
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Holllis Extract from THE STORY OF THE GREEN HOWARDS 1939-1945 by Capt. W.A.T. Synge 6 Bn - 6 Jun 44 Tho next morning reveille was sounded at 3:15 a.m., but few had slept that night, and many were up on deck watching the flashes from the coast, where the bombers were engaging the enemy's coastal batteries. The morning was misty and dull, and features on shore could not be picked out with any distinction. As a result, the beach defences were not demolished or neutralised by the bombing to the extent that had been anticipated. The "Empire Lance" reached her lowering position for the assault craft at about 5 a.m., being than approximately seven miles from the coast. The Companies then transhipped and, as there was a heavy swell running-- the aftermath of the storm-- they spent two very uncomfortable hours in their assault craft, getting wet and being sick. Battalion Headquarters embarded in a L.C.M.(Landing Craft Mechanised), which was attached to a derrick by a large hook weighing about half a ton. When the craft hit the water,the motion was such that the crew wewre unable to throw off the hook, which for a considerable time bounced up and down on the top of the command carrier. As this vehicle contained at one end a box of grenades, there were many sighs of relief when the hook was eventually released without damage. When the beach was reached, the door of the ramp would not open, and it seemed likely that Lt.—Col*.Hastings and his tactical headquarters would have to sit on the beach being mortared, while his battalion fought the battle without him. However, the ramp yielded eventually to military and unprofessional pressure. The experiences of Major C.M. Hull, M.C., who was second in command of the Battalion, were interesting. He, with two signallers and a runner, was aboard the main signal ship. This was a small craft carrying nothuing but highly powered wireless sets. On this craft Major Hull was in direct communication with the higher military and naval commanders, both afloat and in England, with the Royal Air Foree overhead, and with the Battalion on the assuault beaches. The first task of the signal ship was to navigate the infantry assault craft to within six hundered yards of the shore, or, if