PIKEFORCE (JUNO):
4th June – PIKEFORCE (1) under Capt. Pike embarks on S.S. Monowai and PIKEFORCE (2), Major Evans, on an LCI(L) 298.
5th June – PIKEFORCE spend the day on board awaiting orders to depart following delay to invasion.
6th June:
0300 – Both detachments head across the Channel
PIKEFORCE (1)Capt Pike RM:
0600 – Enter LCA No.197 and are lowered into the sea
0620 – Cast off and head for the beach
0815 – Arrive off NAN RED Sector of JUNO Beach
0835 – Ramps down and land between 48 Commando and 41 Commando
Take shelter behind the sea wall
0945 - Move off the beach and head to rendezvous
PIKEFORCE (2) Major Evans, RM:
0530 – “Call to Hands” aboard the LCI(L) and rum issued
0855 - Ramps down and land on beach alongside North Shore Regiment
Lt.Cmdr Harling describes the scene,
‘The narrow foreshore was a ghastly mess with dozens of vehicles wrecked and forsaken. Many men were also wrecked but not forsaken: medics were already at work. So, too, were the enemy machine guns. The sea was a mess too.’
1000 - Both elements of PIKEFORCE rendezvous at the church in St. Aubyn
1015 - Set off towards main objective, the radar station at Douvres-la-Deliverande.
1200 – Reach Tailleville. Unit comes under fire from mortars and machine guns around the Chateau. North Shore Regiment, accompanied by PIKEFORCE assault the Chateau.
1730 – Tailleville Chateau finally taken and searched.
1900 – Search completed. 70 prisoners taken, including 7 Italians.
2100 – PIKEFORCE spend the night in German trenches just outside Tailleville alongside the Canadian. Defences are strengthened using captured German machine guns.
D+1 – PIKEFORCE transports arrive under command of Capt. Hargreaves-Heap, RM
On June 6, 1944, the Tailleville area and WN23 was one of the objectives of the North Shore Regiment (8th Infantry Brigade). The soldiers of Company C of Major Daughney reach the outskirts of Tailleville in the early afternoon and were met by violent fire.
The North Shore Regiment was supported by thirteen tanks of the 10th Cavalry Regiment Fort Garry Horse (2nd Armored Brigade). The fighting continued until nightfall before the German position finally fell into the hands of the Allies: 34 Canadian soldiers were killed and 90 wounded during the liberation of Tailleville.
References/ Further reading
30 AU Website https://www.30au.co.uk/
My dad was X Troop