Churchill AVREs on Juno Beach

[RichTO90]

Originally posted by Noel Burgess
Interesting list of Landing Craft & loads, a couple of points though
1. I understood that "log carpets" were not developed untill some time after the Normandy landings
2. Also believe that "Rolly Polly" was not an AVRE attachment - it was a roll of matting that seems to have been man-handled off the craft.

Would be interested to know where your information came from

1. may be "understood" by many people - including myself until my last trip to the PRO. Unfortunately it is obviously incorrect since it is controverted by the orginal action reports of the units involved, of which my list is a condensation.

2. may also be what most "believe" but again I am only repeating what is contained in the original documentation.

For reference the documents are:

WO171/1797 Operations of 81 and 82 Assault Squadron RE
WO171/1800 War Diary No. 5 Assault Regiment June-december 1944
WO205/1120 Report of Brig. Watkinson on Work of Assault RE in the Invasion
WO205/1159 79 Armoured Division Final Report
WO205/1160 1st Assault Brigade RE
WO205/1170 Chief Engineer 21 Army Group RE Report on the Battle of Normandy

Hope that helped.