The Royal Signals
Although I'm sure that Trevor said his role in the war was as a signals operator, he did mention how his story was unique because was dotted around through out the war. None the less, I thought it would still be important to see what the signals roles, actually were.
The most important key word here is communication. The signals were responsible for communication in the battlefields which was very important. They were responsible for setting up as well as taking down communication infrastructure to provide the necessary support on the battle field.
D-Day Operation Overlord
The D-Day landings was a intricate invasion plan to break through the heavily fortified defences across the beaches of France which involved thousands upon thousands of men from across all of the allies, plus one massive Armada which consisted of every land, air and sea vehicle that you could imagine.
Here is a graphic representation of the amount of vehicles that where apart of this huge invasion force. I couldn't even imagine what It would have been like to seen this for real, never mind being part of it like Trevor would have been.
One of the most famous inventions from the D-Day landings was the man made harbours which were known as the Mulberry Harbours. The allies knew that the Germans would destroy all the harbours to prevent further reinforcements, so the to resolve this, two pre fabricated harbours were brought over and assembled on Omaha and gold beaches. This was considered one of the most amazing engineering triumphs in history!
Among these vehicles was ingenious inventions that aided the assault such as mine sweeping tanks and boats, amphibious tanks and even a man made harbour which would enable the allies to continually flood supplies into France.
Even though the amphibious tanks were tested, a lot of them sunk into the sea because of the rough seas and the fact they were easy targets for the German Defences.
Many tanks were adapted in many different ways to do a certain job such as bridge building, to mine sweeping which were all part on the meticulous planning of the D-Day landings.
One of the most famous inventions from the D-Day landings was the man made harbours which were known as the Mulberry Harbours. The allies knew that the Germans would destroy all the harbours to prevent further reinforcements, so the to resolve this, two pre fabricated harbours were brought over and assembled on Omaha and gold beaches. This was considered one of the most amazing engineering triumphs in history!
Planning
Everything was planned, right down to every last detail. A meteorological team where tasked to monitor the weather and predict the best possible opportunity for the invasion. Dress rehearsals took place using live ammunition and to confuse the Germans more, they used diversional tactics to make out the invasion was going to be in a different place, They did this by setting up an artificial army which consisted of inflatable tanks, dummy paratroopers and other means.
Among all these stories, opens up many more but I have to stay focused on one particular one which is Trevor's.
The D-day Landings
It was on June the 6th 1944 when the invasion begun. The allies where tasked to capture 4 beaches along the Normandy coast which were named as Utah and Omaha (American troops) Juno (Canadians) Gold and Sword (British) as well as other countries being part of the invasion such as French and Polish forces. Trevor was among these forces 12 days in to the invasion and was apart of the signals whose roles were centred around communications which was very important.
Although the D-day landings marked the beginning of the end of the war which were also a triumph of engineering and achieved the objectives, the price came at the cost of many lives which amounted to over 425,000 Allied and German troops that were either killed, wounded or went missing during the Battle of Normandy.
Figures sourced from: www.ddaymuseum.co.uk
Other Places
Trevor also talked about the various other areas of his WW2 history in places such as Oldenburg, Aurich, Belsen and even went on to places such as Egypt, Yemen which were stops along the way to Burma. I though it would also be a good idea to find out a little more about these places to build up a better picture of Trevor's Story.
The Battle of the Bulge
Trevor vaguely mentioned about his experience of being surrounded and cut off by the enemy in the Battle of the Bulge, so with this small piece of information I thought it would be a good idea to look in to this further to gain a better understanding.
The Battle of the Bulge took place over the winter months of 1944-1945 which was the last major Nazi offensive against the allies. Hitler's objective was to create a huge bulge in the allies lines and cut them off.
The Nazi's attack started came as a great surprise to the allies because they had received little intelligence that the attack was coming. English speaking German soldiers went undercover to cause havoc and the weather was in Hitlers favour.
Although the Nazis managed to puncture and cut off a huge amount of allies from the main task force, they couldn't capitalise because of the lack of resources such as food and fuel to keep the army going. In the end, the battle ended in another retreat because of the might of the allies overwhelmed them but as with any battle, a too higher price of casualties was paid for this last desperate attempt from the German war machine.
This ties in to Trevors story when he was explaining to me about being surrounded. I can't imagine the feelings that must have been going through his mind. Even more so because of his role in communications, I would imagine that people turned to him to communicate for help.
From Aurich to Belsen
I'm struggling to find information on certain palaces but I knew he was based in Aurich which is were he was based were he went from to a place which he experienced first hand, the true horrors of what WW2 brought upon the Jewish.
Belsen was the first concentration camp which was liberated by the British and Canadian on the 15th of April 1945. The camp acted as a means to hold and murder thousands upon thousands of innocent Jewish people.
Around 50,000 innocent victims fell to this atrocity, which also included the tragic story of Anne Frank. After burying the dead and helping the remaining victims, the allies burn the camp to the ground to mark the end of the suffering that went on inside this terrible camp.
It's a horrible to think that men, women and even children weren't spared. Ann Frank was one of thousands of innocent children who lost their lives!
It's quite emotional to think that Trevor experienced this first hand and how he must have felt during this dark time in history.
Fond Memories
Trevor spoke to me of some of his fond memories of his weekends off at the Beaver club and a Mardi Gras in Holland. Believe me when I say, I have tried to find these places but I just can't pin point the real place.
As a visual for this, I feel I will have to use both my journal notes and my imagination to visualise these places.
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