In the Heat of Battle: Letters from the Normandy Campaign
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Canadian Military History Volume 11 Issue 2 Article 4 2002 In the Heat of Battle: Letters from the Normandy Campaign Harold MacDonald M.A. MacDonald Follow this and additional works at: https://scholars.wlu.ca/cmh Part of the Military History Commons Recommended Citation MacDonald, Harold and MacDonald, M.A. "In the Heat of Battle: Letters from the Normandy Campaign." Canadian Military History 11, 2 (2002) This Canadian War Museum is brought to you for free and open access by Scholars Commons @ Laurier. It has been accepted for inclusion in Canadian Military History by an authorized editor of Scholars Commons @ Laurier. For more information, please contact [email protected]. MacDonald and MacDonald: In the Heat of Battle: Letters from the Normandy Campaign In the Heat of Battle Letters from the Normandy Campaign, 1944 Captain Harold MacDonald with M.A. MacDonald arold S. MacDonald was an officer At war’s end he was the North Shores ’ Hwith the North Shore (New liaison officer with the 8th Brigade, of Brunswick) Regiment from June 1942 which the regiment formed a part. until the end of the Second World War in Europe. Throughout this period he Upon his return to Canada and penned a steady stream of letters to his demobilization in 1945, MacDonald bestfriend, his wife, Marjorie, who was joined Colonel Charles Leonard in the then a newspaper reporter with the century-old Saint John firm of S a in t J o h n Evening Times-Globe. manufacturers’ agents and food These letters, totalling 463, were carefully brokers, which in due course became Leonard preserved by Marjorie and provide a continuous and MacDonald Ltd. His many activities and and absorbing account of the experiences of a interests included the New Brunswick front-line Canadian infantry officer in Northwest presidency of the Canadian Red Cross from Europe during the Second World War. They begin 1964 to 1967, and also the presidency of the in June 1942 with a description of the rowdy Canadian Food Wholesalers from 1977 to 1978. voyage on the troopship carrying him and his He was killed in an automobile accident on 11 regiment to England, and go on to provide vivid November 1984, leaving his wife, a son and a portrayals of his experiences of life in wartim e daughter Great Britain and of numerous training exercises in which he participated. For the most part, The letters presented in the following however, they are concerned with his fraught narrative cover the period from MacDonald’s and demanding responsibilities on the landing in France in late June 1944 until the battlefields of continental Europe. end of the campaign in Normandy in the third week of August. They constitute an invaluable Hal Macdonald was born in Saint John on source of information about that campaign 15 February 1917. A graduate of the Modern from the point of view of an observant and Business College in Saint John, he was working articulate front-line participant and tell us with the accounting department of T. McAvity much about such important subjects as battle and Sons, in Saint John, when the Second stess and exhaustion, the conditions under World War broke out in September 1939. He which soldiers lived and died, morale, the enlisted that year as a private, and progressed debilitating effects of friendly ’ fire and the through non-commisioned ranks to officer daily grind of attrition warfare. The letters are training at Brockville in the fall of 1941. In June presented here to stimulate interest in the 1942 he was posted to the North Shore collection as a whole, which almost certainly Regiment and remained with that unit until the merits publication in its entirety. end of the war. In action, he served successively as second-in-command of “D” Company, Cameron Pulsifer commander of the Carrier Platoon, commander Canadian War Museum of the Support Company, and then as adjutant. © Canadian Military History, Volume 11, Number 2, Spring 2002, pp.29-43. 29 Published by Scholars Commons @ Laurier, 2002 1 Canadian Military History, Vol. 11 [2002], Iss. 2, Art. 4 ie North Shore Regiment, together with the miserable buggers. We figure it was the dock the bastards. Quite a stench, but one gets and ran a thong around the edge and tied in T Queen’s Own Rifles and the Regiment de la workers who loaded the vehicles - then they used to it. Lost quite a few boys and front, so no danger of slipping off; very Chaudiere, constituted the three infantry units had the nerve to wave us Bon Voyage and everyone is a bundle of nerves. Flies, comfortable for weary feet and very good of the 8th Brigade, 3rd Canadian Division. Good Hunting! mosquitoes - and a couple of kittens playing for night patrols. Though generally English-speaking, this New Now there’s a marvellous view, the around this once-elegant but now derelict Now let’s see. You want a day at war Brunswick regiment also included many French- hundreds of little ships moving back and house. with a Rifle Company and men who have speaking Acadians. With its two companion forth along Liberation Lane. Whoops! the These people lived on wines, not bad either been in for weeks, or else are fresh units, it stormed ashore on Juno Beach in boat is doing one of its unsettling rolls. Just either - clears ones head at dawn. The from England and first day in lines. Starts in Normandy on D-Day, 6 June 1944. now, in our hold, there’s a poker game going people, those I’ve seen, have very blank, the evening. Threatened tank attack, didn’t on. Vehicles all around and one blanket per resigned expressions. The Germans - all materialize. Constant shelling and Hal MacDonald did not land with his man spread on the floor. Thought I’d be bastards, rotten, sneaking, back-shooting, mortaring. Platoon well dug in and Jerry 300 regiment that day, however. Instead, his excited going to France, but instead it’s like double-crossing devils. Only one thing good to 400 yards away. Coy HQ [company commanding officer, Lieutenant-Colonel, Donald going home to the battalion and a very for them. Chicken for supper, a very tough headquarters] in an old barn; lost most of B. Buell, placed him in charge of bringing to matter of fact affair. rooster that kept crowing all night. Am the building that night - only four casualties Normandy the North Shores’ reinforcements - reading “Esquire,” from your box, and we’re though. vehicles, equipment, and about 100 men - who In Normandy, after the successful landing under a barrage. Ev Gorman just came in. I The town behind us is a mass of rubble, would join the unit in action a few weeks later. on 6 June, the Allies had become bogged down must close and go out with him. Please a few cows, sheep, hens, etc. running Tensions mounted for this group as D-Day came, in the face of intense German resistance. Initially, forgive if letters are short - shall do better around. More animals decaying in nearby and went. They devoured every scrap of Allied commanders had expected the important soon as we get a rest break. fields. Permanent stench. The morning fairly information as they waited in camp in England. city of Caen, about 16 kilometres inland from quiet - just shelling and only one hit on the They went on long route marches of 15 to 20 the beaches, to fall to the British and Canadians After securing Carpiquet, the North Shores house. Rocket shell got four men in a trench. miles to keep in shape and endured numerous on the first day of the battle. But such hopes moved a couple of kilometres south to drive a In p.m. I started to check Company area. attacks of the new German V-l rockets, pilotless were soon dispelled as they faced heavy German rear guard from the small western Visited Ernie Garber’s platoon and found the aircraft also known as ‘doodle bugs’ or ‘buzz concentrations of German armoured, or Panzer, suburb of Caen, Bretteville-sur-Odon. With this road to them, and they themselves, under bombs’. At last, on 27 June, the order came for units and fanatical elements of the SS. Only on accomplished, on 13 July, the regiment at last heavy mortar fire. Their positions were dug them to depart for Normandy and, two days, 4 July did Canadian forces, including the North left the front lines for three days’ rest at Gambes, just back of a big wall with gaps in it for later the North Shore reinforcements boarded Shores, begin an assault on Carpiquet, the site further north. Here MacDonald had a brief time observation and fire. H.Q. in an old house. ship at the London docks. of an important airfield, to the west of Caen. to relax, refit, catch up on sleep and on letter Located enemy sniper on ridge and started Here, they were to remain locked in an intense writing. On 15 July, from the rest area he wrote back for Bren gun. Mortars hit the building Their first impressions on leaving were not struggle for the next five days, subject to enemy in response to a request from his wife for ahead, and the runner and I crouched while favourable, as related later by MacDonald when counterattack and continuous artillery and information on what life in the front lines was the building tumbled. On to Company; out in the English Channel: mortar bombardment. It was not until 9 July, like: machine-gunned while crossing open that they finished capturing the airfield while, After we sailed some lads went down farmyard.