Commandos in Littlehampton in 1944

Commandos in Littlehampton in 1944

(Pictures will be added over the next few days! The numbers in brackets [x] are where the pictures will be added).

What was the 30 Assault Unit?

The 30 Commando Unit was formed in September 1942 and was the brain-child of Ian Fleming who was a Naval Commander.  The Unit’s composition was unusual in that it was an inter-service unit. It had three sections: 33 was formed by the Royal Marines, 34 was from the Army and 36 was from the Navy. (35 was meant to be from the RAF but that did not really materialise.)

The 30 Commando members were engaged in top secret activities collecting technical intelligence from enemy headquarters and installations. They were hand-picked as highly motivated and exceptionally brave and were rigorously trained in key commando skills: hand-to-hand combat; setting booby traps and explosives; breaking and entering; cracking safes. Many learned to parachute, handle small boats or dive as frogmen. They were expected to recognise enemy uniforms and equipment and to photograph enemy installations and documents.

Fleming later used his experience of the 30 Commandos to create the James Bond novels.

The Commandos worked in small groups moving ahead of advancing Allied forces to prepare the way for a successful invasion.  During 1942-1943 the unit served in North Africa, the Greek Islands, Norway, Sicily, Italy, and Corsica,

By the end of 1943 the war was going well for the Allies and preparations began for the invasion of German-held territory in France in what was to become known as Operation Overlord.  (This commenced on 6 June 1944 with the Normandy landings, known as D Day).

In order to prepare for Operation Overlord the men from No.33 and 36 Sections were brought home to Britain from the Mediterranean leaving No.34 Section on Corsica. The group in Britain was renamed the 30 Assault Unit (30 AU) in December 1943. “Assault Unit” was a cover- it was still top secret.

The Unit's Commanding Officer was Lt. Colonel Arthur Rupert Woolley, who had been the former commander of No. 47 Royal Marines. His background was in the Rhodesian police. . His father was a Rear Admiral.

Some of the 30AU members were headquarters staff and were based in Littlehampton.

Extra men were recruited as commandos to go out in the field and they were divided into three Troops known as A, B and X each consisting of two officers and 40 other ranks.

A Troop led by Captain Peter Huntington-Whiteley (known as Red)
B Troop led by Captain Jeff Douglas
X Troop led by Captain Geoffrey Pike
The names A, B, and X were a reference to naval gun turrets.

http://30au.co.uk/The_Units_files/Media/Officers/Officers.jpg?disposition=download

The move to Littlehampton.

At first the headquarters of the 30AU was in Amersham but soon they transferred to Littlehampton because of its proximity to the French coast. Sussex was to be the base for the launch of Operation Overlord. A considerable amount of the Duke of Norfolk’s land, covering Angmering, Burpham, Clapham and Patching, was taken by the War Office for training, and the South Downs became a mass army camp.

The headquarters of the 30 AU was in a house on the corner of South Terrace and St. Augustine’s Road, Littlehampton. This building was constructed by the builder Robert Bushby in the 1860s and was originally a private house. It is now divided into flats. It is a grade II listed building because of its architectural features.[7]

http://www.beautifulenglandphotos.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/st-augustine-road-hq-of-world-war-ii-30-assault-unit-commanded-by-ian-fleming-littlehampton-2.jpg[8]

The building in September 2015.

The HQ was more or less opposite the Beach Hotel on Littlehampton Green, which was used by the unit for storage, particularly of vehicles.

http://gallery.commandoveterans.org/cdoGallery/d/35624-2/30_AU_Stores.jpg

[9]





http://30au.co.uk/Clippings_files/Media/Beach_Hotel_LH/Beach_Hotel_LH.jpg?disposition=download[10]

https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc3/v/t1.0-9/10698451_10152900434118523_2688896834542614576_n.jpg?oh=a1ae198f7783a018980d13c2cab6d91f&oe=56D20D77

30 AU X Troop



The Unit had a large quantity of equipment including Staghound and Humber armoured cars and armoured troop carriers and jeeps.

34 Section at 30 Au HQ, Littlehampton

30 AU in Littlehampton unknown date and location.[11]

The Beach Hotel was demolished in 1993 and replaced by a block of flats called Beach Crescent.

Other Commando Units in Littlehampton.

As well as the 30 AU there were 12 Army Commando Units and 10 Royal Marine Commando units and many of these were stationed in Littlehampton in 1944 ready for Operation Overlord.

[12]

One of the most interesting and unusual unit was the Number 10 Inter-allied Commando Unit which was multi-national. Number 3 troop of 10 Commandos was composed of refugees from Axis countries, the majority of whom were Jewish and German speaking. They had fake English names and identities and pretended to be members of traditional British regiments. . On their green berets they wore the badges of the Queen's Own Royal West Kents, East Kents (Buffs), Royal Sussex, Hampshire Regiments or the General Service badge. They were commanded by a Welshman - Capt. Bryan Hilton Jones, who had a degree in German from Cambridge University.

This troop, 3 Troop 10 Commandos, had the nickname X Troop; “Because they all will be unknown warriors, “Churchill pointed out, “they must perforce be considered an unknown quantity. Since the algebraic symbol for the unknown is X, let us call them X Troop.”[13]

 but it was not the same set of men  as X troop of 30 AU. Both X troops had members stationed in Littlehampton.

[14]

Billets

The Commandos were required to lodge in private houses rather than an army camp in order to provide members with increased security.

[15]

Here are some accounts of the billeting arrangements:

Major Freddie Townsend of the 30AU remembered:

Littlehampton was an ideal location for 30 Assault Unit. With wartime restrictions, there were few visitors to the town and landladies were happy to take on long-term lodgers, especially as they saw it as playing a vital part in the war. A number of hotels, too, were not without their quota of Commandos, the Dolphin and the Terminus among others. Our billet was one of the big houses in Queen Street, now no longer standing. It was the home of two dear old ladies, sisters, both in their seventies. The elder, Mrs Beauchamp, used to fuss over us like a mother hen. The younger one took her cue from her sister. Never were we allowed to leave the house without a full breakfast. Often, we would require a packed lunch and those were always too substantial. On returning to the house, at the end of the afternoon, we would be given a steaming hot belly-filling meal…..

The landladies of Littlehampton had much to put up with. Equipment had to be kept at home and with perhaps two or three hefty marines in a house it needed a lot of organising… We were their boys and they were proud to have us. [16]



Dennis Solly was also with the 30AU:

Although I joined the Royal Marines October 1941 I did not pick up a draft to 30/AU until early 1944, to the superb comfort of civilian billets in Littlehampton, a great contrast to living under canvas, military barracks or Nissen huts. I shared my room with two other chaps and we then had someone to make our beds and keep the place tidy. All our washing was done for us obviating the rotten feeling after doing heavy washing. Littlehampton was quite a little seaside town with varied amusements to meet one’s taste.
We were paid 6/8 a day over and above our standard pay which was paid to our landlady, some of the lads being charged only 30/- they of course making an additional 16/- a week for their own pockets. I had heard such a lot about private billets, but little realised how very wonderful they were. We had lovely homely treatment form landladies and Littlehampton became our second home, so much so that thirty years later when surviving members of the unit came together again our veterans met in Littlehampton for their annual reunion. [17]

This is the recollection of John Fox:

We were all billeted in private houses in Littlehampton, my own billet was cared for and owned by two ladies who bore a very positive resemblance to the recently famous Hinge and Bracket. After a very arduous day either on the Canadian constructed assault course or a prolonged cross-country activity, it was always delightful to return home to manicured, triangular cucumber sandwiches and weak tea in delicate China ware.[18]

Manfred Gans, pretending to be Freddy Gray, was with the 3 troop of 10 Commandos

In the middle of September 1943, 3 troop was assigned to Littlehampton, a coastal town about 40 miles west of Eastbourne. There were a number of bed and breakfast hostels near the seafront, and Andrew Kershaw and I were assigned to one of them together with Maurice Latimer (Moritz Levy) Peter Masters (Peter Arany) and Tony Firth (Hans Georg Fuert)… Our bed-and-breakfast hostel was run by a middle-aged looking woman, Miss Thompson, who was also looking after her aged parents. The family lived in the first and second floors, while we had our bedrooms on the third and fourth floor, but we also used the dining room and living room on the first floor. As we moved in, Miss Thompson told us in no uncertain terms that anyone coming home drunk would have to leave, and of course no girls in the house!

….. In time, we persuaded our landlady, Miss Thompson, to allow our fiancés/girlfriends, who visited us from out of town for a weekend, to stay in a second floor bedroom, provided there were at least two girls “to keep an eye on each other”[19]



Rest and Relaxation and Security Risks.

The Commandos in their leisure time were free to enjoy the delights of Littlehampton and the surrounding area.

Major Townsend remembered:

By about 7 pm, if we had no night exercise scheduled, we would be out visiting our favourite pub, or the pub where we knew there would be beer available. Pubs often ran dry and it was good training for an intelligence unit to discover their different delivery days; The Six Bells, The Crown Hotel, The Locomotive, The Spotted Cow, The Marine and many more. … Then there was the weekly hop at the Badminton Club which sometimes ended in a minor scrap with our American Allies who had dared to venture into our territory from their castled seclusion in Arundel.[20]



Manfred Gans reported:

The diversions for our off-duty life in Littlehampton were numerous. London, with its rich life of concerts, theatres, good restaurants and teatime dances to meet more sophisticated girls, was only one hour away by electric train, making it worthwhile going for even just an evening. Then there was a dance hall open almost every evening to meet local girls. But there was the complication of the American soldiers, whose numbers seemed to increase by the week. They were not used to these “open” dances. When they asked a girl for a dance, they regarded that girl as their “date” and they got very upset when the girl refused that arrangement and continued to dance with other men. Noisy scenes ensued. Eventually, the dance hall had to call the American Military Police.

At one of these dances, I met a group of local girls who belonged to a squash club, and they invited me to learn that very fast game.

The town also had a small cinema, which occasionally showed worthwhile movies. One time, a film entitled “No Margin For Error” was being shown. It was based on the incident in New York, before the USA got into the war, when after a noisy demonstration by Jewish organisations in front of the German Consulate, the Germans reminded the Mayor that he was responsible for their safety…. We knew what it was all about. We also recognized the characters of the German staff, all very funny to us, but the rest of the audience didn’t understand it. We laughed so much that Peter Moody (Kurt Meyer) said, “We are blowing our security”[21]







Scenes from No Margin For Error (Otto Preminger) 1943





The office staff of the 30 AU used to frequent The Marine public house in Selborne Road just round the corner from their HQ. They referred to this as ’their spiritual home’.

http://www.aaa-camra.org.uk/guide/pubpics/marine-little.jpg[22]



It was about midday, they were drinking in The Marine pub, right opposite the civilian digs where they were billeted. It was crowded with American GIs from two US battalions that had moved into the area. A ‘friendly’ rivalry had built up between the 30AU and the newly arrived US troops, as the officers of each tried to show what their men were capable of with various runs and even some abseiling down the side of some large factory buildings,. After all their commando and special operations training the men of the 30AU were putting the poorly prepared conscripted US GIs to shame. The word went round the pub at speed. “There’s been an arrest, Woolley’s on the war path!”

…. Colonel Woolley was becoming red in the face. “We’ve expressed time and time again the need for absolute secrecy, this is not just acceptable! This marine is now going to spend a considerable amount of time locked up, and all because of loose talk in the bloody pub! We can’t afford to spend the time training you lot, only to go and lock you up for the rest of the bloody war!” They were now all aware that their conversations in pubs and tea rooms in Littlehampton must be being monitored, probably by civilians, and if their own people could have heard loose talk, so could the enemy. [23]








[1] http://30au.co.uk/History.html
[2] HW8/104
[3] HW8/104
[4] HW8/104
[5] Farrin, The History of the 30 AU
[6]  Greig, Leslie, Readman, D Day West Sussex
[7] http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk
[8] http://www.beautifulenglandphotos.uk/
[9] http://gallery.commandoveterans.org/cdoGallery/v/WW2/buildings/30_AU_Stores.jpg.html
[10] 30au.co.uk/Clippings.html
[11] http://gallery.commandoveterans.org/ cdoGallery /v/units/30AU/
[12] WO218/56
[13] Leasor, The Unknown Warrior
[14] Dear 10 Commando
[15] HW8/104
[16] Littlehampton Museum Jottings

[17] http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/50/a7152950.shtml
[18] Letter in Littlehampton Museum
[19] Gans Life Gave Me A Chance
[20] Littlehampton Museum jottings
[21] Gans Life Gave Me A Chance
[22] www. aaa-.camra.org.uk
[23] Farrin Beau Bete

Part 2

Training

Here are the government instructions for the 30 Assault Unit.:


[1]


The men of the 30 AU were well drilled:

[2]

From Littlehampton everyone was sent on different specialised courses: at Holmrook Hall in West Cumberland men were trained in bomb disposal, mine clearance, disarming booby traps and handling the fuses detonators and different explosives they would need when opening safes and blowing hatches…. Four men were sent to the HQ of the Army Film and Photographic Unit at Pinewood Studios to be taught how to take good shots with the compact, rugged Zeiss Contax II camera… Two men were sent off to Manchester College, Oxford, home of Naval Intelligence where they learned to make accurate, three-dimensional, scale models of their targets built up from strips of wood stuck on to reinforced blow-ups of aerial reconnaissance photographs.[3]



Major Townsend remembered

Black and Tan was the drink consumed in readiness for a cold night exercise cutting your way through seemingly endless rolls of Dannert  wire around the Beach Hotel or being dropped off a truck in the middle of nowhere late at night with orders to find a parked handcart parked at the back of the Lamb Inn at Angmering. A drink too much and the wire did become endless or the Lamb Inn mysteriously turned up in Goring and you had a lot further to walk home.[4]

http://pillboxes-suffolk.webeden.co.uk/communities/2/004/007/332/742/images/4531475028_396x197.jpg

Dannert wire.







Bryan Hilton- Jones, captain of the 10 Commandos 3 troop, described hat his men had to go through:

The training at this period was exemplified by load-carrying when parachuting, dory and dinghy landings, the use of silenced weapons, shooting at night, lying up and concealed bivouacking, abseiling (roping down)  on cliffs, practice parachute jumps, the use of homing pigeons, the use of the S-phone, etc, etc. Amongst the occasions which may be mentioned are: abseiling down the ‘Seven Sisters’ between Cuckmere Haven and Birling Gap near Seaford ( an exhilarating experience) a night reconnaissance of Arundel Castle with a reward for anyone who brought back the Duchess of Norfolk’s nightcap (no one did!). Black Rabbit Cliff near Arundel to Littlehampton in 39 minutes, a week of night work in the country around Petworth, Midhurst, Arundel and Steyning, and guest voyages on MGBs patrolling the Channel and the French coast from Newhaven.[5]



Manfred Gans had to participate in all these exercises:

Sometime in the early months of 1944, the Troop was assembled outside the British Legion Hall in Littlehampton[6] for an inspection by Major General Sir Robert G Sturges, the highest ranking commando we ever met. After the formal parade and inspection we assembled in the second floor meeting room of the Legion Hall. The Major General informed us that we had been chosen to get some very special information from an area in Europe that was some distance from the coast……During the following weeks our training became still more intensive as we tried to learn additional skills….. We were issued newly developed Tommy guns, which were shorter and could be held firmly on the body between the belt and a shoulder strap. Thus the gun could be carried under the parachute jacket and would not interfere with the harness of the parachute….. The target of our raid was to be photographed with an infra-red camera, and the film would then be attached to a carrier pigeon to transport it back to England. That meant that at least one man in each ‘stick’ would have to jump with a pigeon cage tied to his chest…. After completing our reconnaissance mission we were supposed to return to a stretch of coast which consisted of steep limestone cliffs…. We would then rappel down the cliff on ropes that had been with us since we parachuted from the bomber. We had learned rappelling as part of the mountaineering course, but it was unthinkable that we could parachute and then schlep those heavy ropes for three days. A hemp rope about half the diameter was found, and we proceeded to try it out for rappelling in the Black Rabbit stone quarry near Littlehampton……..

By April 1944 there were massive actions almost every night. We set out from Littlehampton harbour, it was more of an inlet than a harbour, one dark late evening. The regular crew of the boat consisted of two officers and a crew of three sailors. We spent most of our time on the bridge with the Navigator, which allowed us to follow our course on the naval maps. The extent of the German minefields off the coast of France and Belgium, all shown on these maps, rally surprised us.

Unexpectedly, the weather turned rally nasty: howling winds and heavy rain. The sea also became very lively, and our ship was thrown around like a rubber ball. We, the non-sailors became incredibly seasick…. By dawn, we were heading back to the coast of England. The Captain announced that it was not safe to go back to Littlehampton, with its narrow inlet, and we would try to go to Seaford, which had a harbour behind a seawall.. We were totally exhausted and soaking wet. We wondered how, after a night passage like this, we could possibly have the strength to engage an enemy on the beaches at dawn. We walked to the railway station and took the train back to Littlehampton….

In the following two or three weeks we went through a lot of exercises with hand grenades and live ammunition, mainly to rehearse street fighting tactics… In one incident my left hand was sprayed with liquid phosphorous. We were on the other side of the river from Littlehampton. I ran to the river and kept my hand under water until a row boat came along whose crew agreed to take me across the river. I had wrapped my hand in a ‘fatigue’ hat which I had soaked in the river water. Once across, I ran a mile or two to the Medical Post for treatment. [7]



Launch of Operation Overlord

Operation Overlord, the invasion of north-west Europe was an enormous military operation. It began with landings on the beaches of Normandy over a three week period beginning on D Day- June 6th 1944.

Major Freddie Townsend described Littlehampton just before the troops set off:

The sea-front of Littlehampton was inaccessible. Coil upon coil of barbed Dannett wire stretched from one end of the sea road to the other. Among the small craft in the harbour could be seen fast launches of the RAF Rescue Service, always on stand-by to go to the help of aircrew who might of necessity have to ditch in the sea. There were also half a dozen grey motorised dories which would dart in and out of the harbour, sometimes full of commandos exercising landing on a rocky shore, sometimes playing follow the leader, just another part of 30 Assault Unit training.

From the beach westwards, the seaward side of the road was cluttered with an odd assortment of vehicles, the transport section of 30 Assault Unit. There were Jeeps, 15 cwt Bedford MWs, three ton Bedford CYs, small Ferret and Daimler scout cars, White’s half-tracks, Staghound armoured cars with a turret and 2 pdr gun. A couple of Signal trucks occupied the open space at the side of the Beach Hotel, dealing with the unit’s signal traffic.

At any time during the day, and sometimes at night, a visitor might have seen squads of men in green berets and camouflage clothing doubling along the front, returning from a run march, or perhaps exercising their way quietly through the barbed wire using wire cutters or other means to effect their purpose….

Most mornings the streets of Littlehampton would resemble a pit village, with the workers leaving their homes and joining up as they headed for the pit. Here all roads led to the seafront and Troop HQ….

Lieutenant Colonel Wooley’s office was on the first floor of the Headquarters. Shortly before D Day security was stepped up with an armed guard posted on the CO’s office both inside and out; Thompson Machine Guns at the ready. The reason for this extra shw of strength was the delivery of a large wooden crate, taken in to the office and securely fastened to the floor. It was all very mysterious. The mystery was lifted the day we received our briefing on the unit’s first major target in France. The box contained a sand-tray model of Cherbourg.[8]

Corporal Bon Royle remembered the preparations:

Some days before we finally left Littlehampton and went to our pre-D Day transit camps we were taken to Ford aerodrome. Here we had our photos taken in civilian clothes, the idea being that if we got into trouble in France we should have a photo ready for the Resistance to put into a forged identity document and hence enter the escape piprline that much more quickly. We took it in turns to put on the same shirt, tie and jacket for the pictures.[9]



For the invasion 30 AU were split into three forces. Captain Pike’s X Troop now known as Pikeforce landed on Juno Beach, the first contingent to arrive. Their aim was to capture a radar station at Douvres. Second came Curtforce led by Duncan Curtis with a few of A troop who landed on Gold Beach and were tasked with taking the local lighthouses. Finally Woolforce led by Col Woolley landed on Utah Beach. Woolforce was by far the largest of the three groups and included A Troop led by Captain Peter Huntington-Whiteley and B Troop led by Captain Douglas. Their aim was to take Cherbourg.



http://media.web.britannica.com/eb-media/38/110738-004-46400CD3.gif[10]

Overlord was a success but it was not without many causalities.

Col. Woolley was wounded in the head when trying to take Octeville-Sur- Mer. He was standing next to a Sherman tank which exploded after it was shot at from a German plane.[11]

Captain Douglas of B Troop was badly wounded in the legs at the same time and had to give up his command.[12]

Captain Herbert Oliver Peter Huntington-Whiteley (known as Red because of the colour of his hair) of A Troop died aged 24 on the 12 September 1944 while taking the surrender of Germans at           Le Havre. He is buried in Sanvic Communal Cemetery. He was the grandson of Stanley Baldwin, Prime Minister.



Captain H. O. Huntington-Whiteley, Royal Marines







Portrait by W. C. Mason Collection: National Museum of the Royal Navy



http://www.inmemories.com/Cemeteries/Sanvic1.jpg
[13]

R. Leah - G. Shaw - H. O. Huntington-Whiteley
B Troop in Littlehampton May 1944 just before departing for France.




W = Wounded K=Killed in France[14]

Back row: Holms, Booth (w), Davies, Williamson, Perry, Bentley(k), Coxwell, Smith,
Chamberlain (w) Brough, Dovey (w)
Second row: Howath(w),Hyde, Billing, Wheeler(w), Andrews, Walkerdin, Brooks, Wright,
Porter(w) O’Callahan(k),Bonney, Gates
Front row chairs: Cpl.  Wright (k), L.Cpl. Swan, Cpl McGrath, Sgt. Wyman (w) Capt. Douglas (w)
Sgt. Ellington (w), Cpl. Smith (w), L. Cpl. Smedley (w), L.Cpl Godsall (w)
Floor : Heys, Wilds, Gorden                                                       Thomas(w), Atherton( w), Guy





[1] HW8/104
[2] HW8/104
[3] Rankin Ian Fleming’s Commandos.
[4] Littlehampton Museum Jottings
[5] DEFE 2/977
[6] In Maltravers Road
[7] Gans Life Gave Me A Chance
[8] Littlehampton Museum Jottings
[9] Nutting Attain by Surprise
[10] kids.britannica.com
[11] Farrin Beau Bete
[12] ibid
[13] http://www.inmemories.com
[14] Littlehampton Museum

Part 3

Return to Littlehampton

A Littlehampton resident, Peter Watson, remembers the Commandos return a week after the Normandy landings:

When we entered the Nelson Hotel, there was a Royal Marine Commando at the bar. He was an office minder, who had returned to Britain with his officer, who had come to make a report to his superiors. He had a small automatic pistol with its holster, belt and ammunition pouch which had belonged to a German officer, and many German cap and uniform badges…. This man had come back from the long awaited Second Front, the first man to return that we had seen, and he had tangible evidence that we were, at last, over there, and, what is more, we were on the move inland starting to push the Germans back. It was a great landmark in the war for us.[1]

When the men of the 30 AU returned they donated to the Marine public house a Nazi flag they had confiscated from the Germans.

http://ichef-1.bbci.co.uk/news/660/media/images/66214000/jpg/_66214436_naziflag624.jpg

30AU posing with a captured German flag


Corporal Bon Royle remembered the appreciation shown to the men of 30AU:

There was a general issue of gongs. Woolley fell us in one morning on the Littlehampton bowling green that did as our parade ground, Happy Day called out ‘left incline’ so we faced one corner of it, Woolley marched to the corner and stood on a chair so we could all see him. He held up the ribbon and gong of the DSO and told us that we had won this. There were dark mutterings of ‘yes and you’re the bugger who’s wearing it’, but on the whole we were pleased for him. Maj Evans got a DSC for leading us in the assault on Cherbourg, Bert Morgan and Harry Lund DSMs for their work in Paris, Paul MacGrath a DSM for persuading a whole battalion of Jerries to call it a day, Lofty Whyman a Mention in Dispatches, and various other wards were made for incidents I forget.[2]



The Commandos leave Littlehampton

In January 1945 the men of the 30AU left Littlehampton for a new base in Guildford.

The reason for the move is the subject of rumour:

One of the veterans told me why you were all moved from Littlehampton. He’d heard a rumour that it was the Colonel’s fault! Supposedly he’d got his landlady’s daughter pregnant and he was billeted with the vicar and his wife and that’s why you all had to move to Guildford. That was the story that went round.[3]

At this late date there is no means of either substantiating or disproving this tale. However, it is true that in 1953 Colonel Wooley aged 43 married for the second time to Yeoma Flood aged 27, who was the daughter of the Rev JC Flood of 69 Beach Road Littlehampton.

From the beaches the commandos moved into France.



[4]

The Veterans

The 30AU veterans used to hold an annual reunion at the Marine public house in Selborne Road. It was decorated inside with their memorabilia and many of the men wrote their names on a board behind the bar.

http://30au.co.uk/Spiritual_HQ_files/Media/TheMarine_plaquecollection/TheMarine_plaquecollection.jpg?disposition=download[5]

http://30au.co.uk/Spiritual_HQ_files/Media/TheMarine_Door/TheMarine_Door.jpg?disposition=download

The sign outside the pub was painted by WC Mason. On one side was a portrait of C.Sgt Paul McGrath DSM and on the other was a replica of the 30AU plaque at the Commando training centre in Lympstone, Devon.



http://30au.co.uk/Spiritual_HQ_files/Media/TheMarine_Sign1/TheMarine_Sign1.jpg?disposition=download
http://30au.co.uk/Spiritual_HQ_files/Media/TheMarine_Sign2/TheMarine_Sign2.jpg?disposition=download




In February 2008 artist Ted Poole from Arundel was commissioned to paint a new sign for the pub, and ex-30 AU members from across the country came back to their old haunt for the unveiling.[6] This sign is now stored in Littlehampton Museum. It was used in the museum’s exhibition “On His Majesty’s Secret Service” staged in 2009.

[7]



http://30au.co.uk/Littlehampton_Museum_files/Media/30AU-007-Preview-%2810%29/30AU-007-Preview-%2810%29.jpg?disposition=download[8]

The exhibition at Littlehampton Museum 2009 with curator Juliet Nye (now Thomas) second left.

The Marine pub shut down in 2009 and the building has since been converted into flats. It was a condition of planning consent that a commemorative blue plaque be installed on the wall.[9] The whereabouts of the memorabilia is unknown.








In 1997 a book entitled Attain by Surprise was published giving personal accounts of their time in service by 30 AU members. The book was published with the help of a grant from Littlehampton Town Council and it has a foreword by the then mayor. It is now out of print.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/5185WWBNV3L._SX322_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg






Also in 1997 a plaque was placed by a sundial in Beach Crescent, site of the old Beach Hotel.

Text Box: 30 AU.co.uk/memorials
30AU.co. uk/Memorials
http://30au.co.uk/Memorials_files/Media/beach_hotel/beach_hotel.jpg?disposition=download

The sundial and the plaque remain in that location - at the back of the garden.

The sundial October 2015

In 2000 Littlehampton Town Council installed another plaque in honour of the 30AU in front of the Littlehampton War memorial. Veterans donated money to the council so that a wreath can be laid there every year.


Photo taken September 2015.


The veterans association was wound up in 2003.

Freedom of the Town

In 2010 a Devon-based Royal Marine Unit was renamed after the 30AU in order to continue the former Unit’s legacy.

 On 5th October 2013 this modern unit was granted the Freedom of the Town of Littlehampton in a grand public ceremony.

The Lord Lieutenant of West Sussex Susan Pyper and the Town Mayor Cllr. Joyce Bowyer inspected the troops, after which the soldiers and members of the Royal Marines Band marched through the town to a reception at The Littlehampton Academy. The council provided hand flags for the spectators and large union jacks for windows along the route.

Unfortunately though, just before the ceremony four of the off-duty marines were assaulted in Church Street by some local youths and had to be treated in Worthing hospital for their injuries.[10]



http://www.littlehampton-tc.gov.uk/mediaFiles/images/img94joktmu72308.jpg[11]



http://217.199.187.63/rmabrightonandhove.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/P1030568.jpg
Guests at the parade.[12]

The ceremony was recorded by a Littlehampton artist Emma Storey and her picture of Caffyn’s field (below) was presented to the Royal Marines Barracks Plymouth for the Unit Officers’ Mess. [13]

Picture

30 Assault Unit – died in service



Captain Thomas Eaton BELCHER
Captain Herbert Oliver HUNTINGTON-WHITELEY
Lieutenant Theodore Alexander Maurice IONIDES
Lieutenant Anthony Denzil ROBINSON
Corporal Leo Arthur Philip WRIGHT
Bombardier John BANCROFT
Marine Leonard   BENTLEY
Marine Geoffrey SHAW
Marine Henry Raymond JEFFCOTT
Marine Frank O’CALLAHAN
Marine Herbert William SANDERSON
Fusilier Colin William ASHTON
Trooper Francis McDAID





10 Commando 3 troop (X troop) died in service.



Lt. Kurt Joachim GLASER (served as Keith James Griffith)
WO1 RSM Eric William NATHAN (served as Eric William Howarth)
Officer Cadet George Alexander BARTH (served as George Bryan Streets)
Sgt. Eugen KAGERER-STEIN (served as Eugene Fuller)
Sgt. Otto HESS (served as Peter Giles)
Sgt. Egon VOGEL (served as Ernest Robert Villiers)
Cpl. Gunther Max FRANK (served as George Mack Franklyn)
Cpl. Salo WEICH (served as Robert Geoffrey Hamilton)
L/Cpl. Hans ARENSTEIN (served as Harry Andrews)
L/Cpl. Werner AUERHAHN (served as Peter Vernon Allen Wells)
LCpl. Kurt Wilhelm GUMPERTZ (served as Kenneth Wakefield Graham)
L/Cpl. Ernst Richard LENEL (served as Ernest Richard Lawrence)
L/Cpl. Kurt MEYER (served as Peter Moody)
Pte. Richard George ABRAHAMOWICZ (served as Richard George Arlen)
Pte. Robert DUFFY
Pte. Max LEWINSKY (served as Max Laddy)
Pte. Ernst NATHAN (served as Ernest Norton)
Pte. Herbert SACHS (served as Herbert Seymour)
Pte. Ernst George WEINBERGER (served as Ernest George Webster)[14]





Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Woolley (30AU). In December 1944 he was awarded the DSO for gallantry, skill determination and undaunted devotion to duty during the Normandy Landings. [15]  He became chairman of United Rum Merchants and of Booker Merchants and a director of Booker McConnell and Co.  In 1970 he was awarded an OBE for services to the Royal Commonwealth Society for the blind[16] of which he was deputy chairman. This charity set up Eye Camp villages in India. He died in 1987.

Captain Geoffrey Pike (30AU). Before the War Pike had worked for London County Council and he returned there when the War was over. He trained as a solicitor and then set up a legal practice in Canterbury, specialising in Ecclesiastical law. He died in 1997.

http://30au.co.uk/Obituaries_files/Media/Geoffrey-Pike/Geoffrey-Pike.jpg?disposition=download

Captain Jeff Douglas (30 AU). After being shot in Normandy he returned to England and joined the SAS. He later left the marines for the diplomatic service. When he retired he became a saddler and yachtsman.[17]

Captain Bryan Hilton Jones (10 Commando 3 Troop). In 1944 he was awarded the Military Cross for gallant and distinguished service in the field. After the war he worked as a manager for ICI in Switzerland and then became their General Manager in Spain. He was an enthusiastic skier and climber. He was killed in a car crash on December 31st 1969 outside Barcelona. Two of his daughters died with him.[18]

[19]



Manfred Goss (10 Commandos 3 Troop). After the war he went to live in USA and he gained a master's of science degree at MIT. He joined the chemical engineering firm, Scientific Design specializing in design and start-ups. His career took him all over the world and was part of the first wave of professionals to conduct business in China and East Germany in 1973. In 1976 he started consulting for the UN and went on many assignments that included Cuba, Turkey, Vietnam, and Pakistan. During his professional career, he was awarded patents and authored technical papers. He was a Fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers and was the winner of the 1993 "Chemical Engineering Practice Award." He died in 2010. [20]



http://images3.aystatic.com/events/133983/192417_home_hero.jpg?1423703271







Bibliography

National Archive:

HW8/104 History of 30 Commando (latterly called 30 Assault Unit and 30 Advanced Unit) including   History of Sigint Operations undertaken by 30 Commando/30 A.U.
DEFE 2/977- Activities of No 10 (Inter-Allied) Commando
WO 218/56- 10 Commando War Diaries
WO 373/95 Award to Bryan Hilton-Jones

Littlehampton Museum:

Miscellaneous photographs
Major Freddie Townsend RM OBE Jottings
Letter dated 4/1/2000 from John Fox
Minutes of 30AU Veterans Association

Newspapers:

Daily Telegraph 15th November 1997
Littlehampton Gazette September 24th 1999
London Gazette 26th December 1944
London Gazette 1st January 1970
New York Times 13th September 2010.
Plymouth Herald October 11, 2013

Books:

Cabell, Craig. The History of 30 Assault Unit Pen and Sword 2009
Dear, Ian. 10 Commando Pen & Sword 2010
Farrin, Guy Allan. The History of 30 AU www.30au.co.uk 2011
Farrin, Guy Allan. Beau Bete www.30au.co.uk 2011
Gans, Manfred. Life Gave Me A Chance Lulu.com 2009
Greig Ian, Kim Leslie, Alan Readman W-Day West Sussex  West Sussex Record Office 2004
Jones, Iris. Wartime Littlehampton 1939-1945 Littlehampton Local History Society 2009
Leasor, James. The Unknown Warrior House of Stratus 2001
Nutting, David. ed, Attain By Surprise  David Colver 2003
Rankin, Nicholas. Ian Fleming’s Commandos Faber & Faber 2011


Websites:

30au.co.uk
www.alpinejournal.org.uk 1972
www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar
www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21629270
www.beautifulenglandphotos.uk/
www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk
www.commandoveterans.org
www.inmemories.com/Cemeteries/sanvic.htm
www.littlehampton-tc.gov.uk
http://storeyimage.weebly.com/




[1] Jones Wartime Littlehampton
[2] Nutting Attain By Surprise
[3] Farrin Beau Bete
[4] Farrin History of the AU.

[5] 30au.co.uk/Spiritual_HQ.html
[6] Littlehampton Gazette 24th September 2009.
[7] Cabell The History of the 30 assault Unit
[8] 30 AU.co.uk
[9] LU/325/09/DOC


[10] Plymouth Herald October 11, 2013
[11] www.littlehampton-tc.gov.uk
[12] http://www.rmabrightonandhove.org.uk
[13] http://storeyimage.weebly.com/

[14] www.commandoveterans.org
[15] London Gazette 26th December 1944
[16] London Gazette 1st January 1970
[17] Littlehampton museum archive – minutes of the veterans association.
[18] http://www.alpinejournal.org.uk 1972
[19] WO 373/95
[20] Obituary New York Times September 13th 2010.