Verrière Ridge

Heroes Remember

Verrière Ridge

Transcript

I went into action with the Royal Regiment of Canada at Etreville which was a very exposed village on top of a hill which the Germans had just been driven out of by the 15th Lowland Division the day before and nobody had been up to collect the dead from either side. When we, we went in at night and marching up, the German Air Force were flying, I guess, I'm not sure what they using but they were dropping chandelier flares that would light up the whole landscape. And one of these things would start to burn up above the column of the Royal Regiment of Canada marching along the road. They'd all hit the road. Everybody was carrying a shovel on their back and had a tin mug and their mess tents tied on their haversacks and the crash of all this metal hitting the road. It was very funny. And then in all the excitement... Then after, if they saw anything, then they would, then they would drop anti-personnel bombs, but, and those were things they called bread baskets, I think. They dropped them from a fairly good height above the flares but they spun as they went down and these little about 4 pound anti-personnel bombs would be thrown out in a wide radius and they had very quick fuses so they broke soon as they hit the ground. And until we got onto these things, when we had all our trucks parked in the Carpiquet airport, there was hardly a truck that didn't have a tire punctured or a radiator punctured. So then on, we had to dig a hole for each wheel in front of it, then roll the vehicle forward, put a few sandbags beside each tire and sandbags in front of the rad. Hell of a lot of extra work. There was a tank jammed in the gate of the shadow at Etreville. With a dead, it had burned out, and there was a dead German hanging over the, the rim. He'd got half way out through the hatch and didn't make it. So that was my, my first dead German I saw, was this guy hanging out of the tank cause I came in there about two o'clock in the morning and I was looking around with my flashlight, trying to find a place to park my carrier.

Description

Mr. Smith talks about moving up toward the Verrière Ridge. German planes were dropping flares and anti-personnel bombs.

Arthur Britton “Britt” Smith

Mr. Smith was born on May 13th, 1920 in Kingston, Ontario. His father was a lawyer, and Mr. Smith was headed to the law firm at a very young age to follow in his father's foot steps when he decided to branch over and become an army officer with the 32nd Battery at the age of 15. Mr. Smith climbed the ranks quickly, becoming a signal sergeant by his 18th birthday. Educated on what was happening throughout Europe, Mr. Smith was not surprised when he heard of the outbreak of war in 1939, and within a year of the declaration, his unit was overseas undergoing artillery training. While in Europe, Mr. Smith's unit became a vital part of the Normandy Campaign, fighting on the dangerous and unforgiving battlefields of France. After the Dieppe raid of 1942, Mr. Smith was promoted to Captain at the young age of 22, carrying the weight and responsibility for 85 men. Mr. Smith's military career was ended abruptly in 1944 when he was wounded in action on the Verriere Ridge in France. Upon arrival home Mr. Smith was awarded the military medal and was finally able to marry his childhood sweetheart Sally. Mr. Smith returned to law school and became a lawyer, creating a home for himself and his wife in Kingston, Ontario.

Meta Data

Medium:: Video
Owner:: Veterans Affairs Canada
Duration:: 02:24
Person Interviewed:: Arthur Britton “Britt” Smith
War, Conflict or Mission:: Second World War
Location/Theatre:: France
Battle/Campaign:: Normandy
Branch:: Air Force
Units/Ship:: 4th Field Regiment
Rank:: Captain
Occupation:: Gunnery Officer

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Date modified:: 2019-06-20