From manufacturing the gliders used in the invasion to training the troops ahead of D-Day, West Berkshire played a key role in the Allied invasion of Normandy in 1944, writes Michael Park.
The commander of Allied forces even visited Greenham the night before to rally his troops ahead of Operation Overlord.
And although there are many examples of the local area playing a key part in the planning and operation of D-Day, RAF Greenham Common’s part is perhaps the best-known.
The United States Army’s 101st Airborne Division landed at the Greenham airbase in September 1943 and was largely based around there in the months preceding the invasion.
In addition, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, commander of the Allied forces in Europe and future president of the United States, paid a visit to the airbase on the eve of D-Day to speak with paratroopers from the 101st.
Michael Burne, leader of the convoy which re-enacted Eisenhower’s trip to Greenham Common airfield for the 75th D-Day anniversary commemorations, said the general had wanted to “talk to some of the airborne troops that were going to be the spearhead of the landing because he knew it would be a fairly difficult time for them.”
“Many wouldn’t survive” he said.
A local manufacturing company also played a vital role in producing gliders for the D-Day landings.
Elliotts of Newbury built one third of the Horsa gliders and a high proportion of large troop carrying gliders that were used during D-Day. The company had a predominantly female wartime workforce of around 600.
Inkpen also played host to a huge strategic training exercise that would prove vital in thwarting German defences against the seaborne invasion.
The Merville Gun Battery in Normandy posed a major threat to the success of the Allied landings, and was one of the first targets attacked during Operation Neptune, the codename for D-Day.
In preparation for this, commanding officer of the 9th Battalion of the Parachute Regiment lieutenant colonel Terence BH Otway ordered his troops to construct a full-scale replica of the Merville Battery and the route from the drop zone.
Colonel Otway stated “The brigade major, Bill Collingwood and I, flew over the [Berkshire] area, and we found this place near Newbury called Walbury Hill. It’s a long ridge, about 800 feet high, very narrow at the top, so it was ideal for live ammunition.”
The real operation took place just after midnight on June 6, although only 150 of the intended 700 paratroopers made it to the correct location, and around half of that group were killed.
Nevertheless, the work of Otway and his team saved the lives of many Allied troops that landed at Sword Beach.
Another top-secret D-Day training exercise took place between Boxford and Welford on March 23, 1944.
Known as ‘The Big Drop’, nearly 3,000 troops and equipment of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment and 377th Parachute Field Artillery Battalion parachuted from Dakota-C47s onto farmland between RAF Welford and Boxford.
Both General Eisenhower and the then UK Prime Minister Winston Churchill were in attendance to observe operations and boost morale. They also gave speeches and inspected troops of the elite 101st Airborne Division.
The small Wiltshire village of Aldbourne also has enduring links to the US Army’s Easy Company of the 101st Airborne Division – the legendary ‘Band of Brothers’.
The iconic regiment was stationed in Wiltshire - and throughout the Thames Valley - from 1943, ahead of D-Day and other daring operations which would decide the outcome of the Second World War.
Since the war members of Easy Company – whose characters were included in the TV series Band of Brothers – have returned to West Berkshire to trace their footsteps before the June invasion.
In 2006 the Newbury Weekly News joined Edward ‘Babe’ Heffron and William ‘Wild Bill’ Guarnere from Easy Company at Littlecote House, where they were based during the war.
Over the following pages we look at the events taking place today (Thursday) and over the weekend to commemorate the 80th anniversary of D-Day, as well as bringing you some of the stories of those who took part in the historic event.
