Quite A Mess

Heroes Remember

Quite A Mess

Transcript

It, it, everything looked so different than Canada. Like the towns, you know, were, were different. They were... 'corse, there, and the farmers, like, the farmers there had made their own little towns, like. I guess they had fairly big families, but when all their property... They fenced all their property... That's what made it a lot harder too to fight in there, because they had cement fences all around their properties, and they had to build a big house, of course, like in the thing. And then when the daughter or son got married, they built houses and they had their own little town in behind these, these cement fences, and the cement fences were about, about four feet high, like, three to four feet, something like that. And it made it tough, like, you know, to take these places because you had, pretty well had to use big guns to knock off the fences, like, 'cause... and so they wouldn't hide behind them. But everything was fun, was like odd, like, you know. The streets were narrow, like, in the towns. 'Course, we weren't allowed to stay in any towns 'til, 'til we got up to Dieppe, was the first time we were allowed to stay there. They said if we behaved ourselves, they'd let us stay in other towns, you know, after that. But before that, when, if you took a town, that you took it, and then they'd pull you out and the British troops went in there and then, and, like held it. I was in the, like, in the Calgaries, and I was in the 5th Brigade. And 5th Brigade was the Calgaries, the Blackwatch and the Maisonneuves, and they had a... I guess, their target was, there was three little towns. There was, one place we used to call the, the crossroads. It wasn't even a crossroads, but that's what they called it, "The Devil's Crossroad." And there was three towns and each regiment was supposed to take one, like, to go through each other. Well, our outfit was the only one, I guess, apparently, that took the, like the third town, but then they had to retreat, everybody else retreated. And apparently, they said, the guys were saying after, like, you know, it was a straight road and flat, like flat country, and at night, it was night. And the Germans set up a bunch of machine guns on the road at their, at the other end, and just kept firing down the road. And the guys, 'course, jumped into the ditches, and the ditches apparently were, they were dug real deep like about five feet deep. And then the Germans put 88's on each end of the ditches on each side, and as soon as they'd run into the, you know, the guys would all run in the ditch, they'd shoot with 88's down the thing and then they, well, I guess they got with... There was 200 of us went, you know, right after that, and we still weren't up to strength, so they must have lost, lost, you know, that many because I know, like, I was there afterwards, and as far as you could see on the right-hand side was Canadian bodies. And they couldn't, when I was there was about two weeks later, they couldn't, they were still, they couldn't get to them to bury them because they kept shelling them, like. And as far as you could see on the left-hand side was German bodies. And, so, there must have been a couple of thousand all together, like. There, there was, quite a mess.

Description

Mr. Loranger discusses how difficult it was to advance in the French countryside. He also discusses a tactic the Germans used to kill hundreds of Canadian soldiers.

Paul Loranger

Mr. Loranger was born in Seseninika, Ontario in 1927. His family later moved to Englehart, Ontario, where his father was employed with the Canadian National Railway, and they were able to ride out the depression in relative comfort. Mr. Loranger joined the army at age 16, became disillusioned when denied entry into the paratroopers, quit, and then re-enlisted. Once in England, however, he joined the Calgary Highlanders, and was quickly sent to France. There, he was involved in driving out remnants of the German Army. He was recalled to England when his age was discovered, and eventually sent home to Canada. He worked for the CNR until his retirement. Mr. Loranger now resides in Harriston, Ontario.

Meta Data

Medium:: Video
Owner:: Veterans Affairs Canada
Duration:: 3:52
Person Interviewed:: Paul Loranger
War, Conflict or Mission:: Second World War
Location/Theatre:: France
Battle/Campaign:: Normandy
Branch:: Army
Units/Ship:: Calgary Highlanders, 5th Brigade
Rank:: Private
Occupation:: Infantry

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Quite A Mess

Heroes Remember

Quite A Mess

Paul Loranger

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Quite A Mess

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Quite A Mess

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