Herbert Danter

Originally posted by Lucy
Hi Carman,

What a woderful picture of Herb Danter, and must say what a very good looking young man to, thats those Canadians for you

Hi Lucy,

Yes, I love the photos! (Thanks for letting us show them Herb )

Yes, our handsome Canadian Soldiers ... we do produce them don't we?

I'm sure someone in here can tell you if your Dad was on that ship if they know who he was with, and when. Good luck with finding out, and I hope you get those Service Records soon. It can take many months but they do come eventually!

Carman

[Herb Danter (RIP)]

Many Thanks Carman & Lucy, your kind words have inflated my ego. Now my head's too big for my hat.
But thanks very much again, it's been a real pleasure.
Herb

Originally posted by Herb Danter
Many Thanks Carman & Lucy, your kind words have inflated my ego. Now my head's too big for my hat.
But thanks very much again, it's been a real pleasure.
Herb

Your most welcome, and deserving Herb!

By the way Herb, did you happen to notice Iif I've posted all of the info and photos you sent me? I'd like to be sure that I didn't forget something!

Regards the "Memoirs" pages, I'm still hoping someone will kindly jump in here and enlarge those images so the text is easier for MLU-ers to read. I'd actually like to go back and enlarge a photo or two as well, but I seem to be bombing in the photo adjusting lately. I wonder why some work, and some don't, when I try? I really am still computer illiterate!

Carman

[Herb Danter (RIP)]

Join The Club Carman:
I've had a computer for years and I'm still a novice, I had to get my 12 yr old Granddaughter to show me how to turn it on when I first got it. ( Mother always said that I was rather slow Child) I wish I could help you with the print, otherwise you have recorded everything that I've sent you.
And again, many thanks.
Herb

Originally posted by Herb Danter
Join The Club Carman:
I've had a computer for years and I'm still a novice, I had to get my 12 yr old Granddaughter to show me how to turn it on when I first got it. ( Mother always said that I was rather slow Child) I wish I could help you with the print, otherwise you have recorded everything that I've sent you.
And again, many thanks.
Herb

Thanks a lot for your reply Herb We'll just have to hold out for a random act of kindness from someone who can do this better than us two, unless I figure out in the interim how to do this

(I still don't know metric ... I'm still on the old math and the pounds, ounces, and farenheit stuff. I'm verra slow in many areas, but especially so in new technologies that are old by now )

Herbert Danter's Memoirs pages, very kindly typed out special for me to post to this thread, and in time before next year

Thank you so much Herb, for the trouble you've taken to do this. Its too bad we couldn't keep the original images on those pages with the graphics. But your memories and story are what's important. I thank you for sharing so much of your life with us here.


HERB DANTER’S MEMOIRS WITH THE 23RD SELF PROPELLED FIELD REGIMENT RCA FROM NORMANDIE TO GERMANY – WW II


As a Self Propelled Artillery Regiment giving close artillery support to the infantry and armoured regiments of the 4th Canadian Armoured Division we landed in Normandie in July 1944. We were to relieve a sister artillery field regiment of the 7th British Armoured Division (the Desert Rats )just south of Caen. Being a member of our Battery’s (36th Field Battery – Cobourg Ontario) recce (reconnaissance) party. - we were sent in as part of the advance party to arrange the transfer. Now this particular gun position that my Party was assigned to was overlooked by the enemy in high enemy held territory – they (the enemy) had to know we were there to take over because they gave us a tremendous welcome with a very heavy artillery barrage. Our only spot of safety (such as it was) happened to be underneath our half track recce vehicle. We must have looked a trifle foolish trying to dig a big enough hole by clawing away at the earth and my thoughts flashed back to the soothing words of our Divisional Commander, Major General George Kitching, who, when we were still in England, promised to “ease us into battle”. (George should have buttoned up his lip). Even the battle hardened Desert rats admitted that they had never encountered such a fierce barrage before. Even when receiving hostile fire for the first time one of the “wits” in our party remarked “Geez this is one time when I wished my old man had worn a French Safe ( a.k.a condom) So, when we returned to our Regiment which was still back in the concentration area we were to say the least, all shaken up and a little punchy but after a few drams of the “elixir of the Gods” we settled down and actually began to feel proud that we had been the first ones in the Regiment to have received “our baptism of fire”.

The next “flash back” of memory occurs during the breakout of Caen (Normandie) by the 21st Army Group made up of British, Canadian, Polish and other sundry units under the overall command of General Bernard Montgomery. Our 4th Armoured Division which was one of the spearheads of this exercise (Operation Totalize) was to “leap frog” with the 2nd and 3rd Canadian Infantry Divisions and the Polish Armoured Division down this Caen to Falaise Highway (Route Nationale 158) a.k.a. “the corridor of death” with the

Page 2 of 4

Herb’s memoires of WW II continued

intent of meeting up with General George Patton’s American army coming up from the south in the hope of trapping the bulk of the 14th German Army in this pocket. The enemy trying to escape down this highway was mercilessly pounded day and night by our airforce and artillery. The scene was one out of Hades – the road was choked with the decaying bodies of both men and horses which the Germans used quite extensively as transport. In those hot days of August (the hottest summer in Europe in 25 years) it didn’t take long before the stench of death became apparent. It was so bad that even the pilots in low flying planes remarked on the awful stench of putrefaction that drifted up skywards when they flew over. That and the dysentery that everyone had together with stinging and swollen eyes and burnt skin on our faces from the alkaline dust of Normandie made life almost unbearable, every unit ran out of medicine to combat dysentery so you see the comforts of home were sadly lacking. If you could still stand up even with the cramps and nausea. you had to continue with the attack.

In this operation our rear lines were bombed by heavy bombers of the U.S. Airforce on 9 August 1944 resulting in heavy casualties to our medium artillery and other Units such as headquarters groups and infantry units that were sent back for rest and refitting. This attack left 259 killed and 504 wounded and on the following 14 August 1944 this same error was duplicated by the RAF & RCAF heavy bombers when their bombs killed another 150 and wounded 250. Now this was considered an official count because things were in such a turmoil that an accurate count could not be made, we were choked with clouds of dust and we still had to continue the attack – no matter what.
Here is rather an amusing incident in this dark drama – we were issued long yellow strips of celanese which we were to place on top of our vehicles as aircraft recognition signals so when the Yanks started to bomb us we all called for these yellow markers. In the ensuing maelstrom caused by exploding bombs our poor old quartermaster was running around in this dust storm which engulfed us trying to hand out these markers when someone screamed for Gawd’s sake give me something yellow to wave and one of our group screamed back “Wave me I’m yellow” – humour hath no bounds.
But in this operation I can remember the oppressive heat, the choking dust which also blinded you and gave you sunburnt skin and especially the stench of rotting bodies of both men and horses .No one who was there and came through this horror will ever forget the Caen to Falaise Road in Normandie circa August 1944.and it is still officially known as Route Nationale 158.
The mad dash chasing the remnants of the German 14th Army ( and it turned out that they were powerful remnants) through the rest of France and into Belgium came to a halt when we reached the Leopold Canal and it became static warfare in late September 1944.
During this time and behind a smoke screen which shielded us from the enemy, plans were made for another attack across this “ditch” to start on the nights of 5 & 6 October. with a terrific artillery barrage.


Page 3 of 4

Herb’s memoirs of WW II continued

Since I was trained in plotting barrages etc I was called back to our gun position from our recce post one dark and moonless night to help plot a barrage at our Troop Command Post. So off I start on a lonely nervous journey down this gravel path. It was eerie – the only sound was made by me walking on the gravel, otherwise it was dead quiet and pitch black. I would stop every other minute to listen for any movement because I had been forewarned of heavy patrol activity on both sides – now here is where one starts to sweat albeit the night was damp and chilly ( nevertheless I was sweating). It seemed like an eternity out there by myself – I thought I heard several times rustling in the undergrowth that lined both sides of this path and here and there I heard a twig snap or I thought I did. I feel a little comfort from it being so dark out because if I couldn’t see anyone then I reasoned that they couldn’t see me although they would have heard my foot steps and let’s face it no matter if I had bumped into anyone of our patrols or an enemy patrol I don’t think I would have had time to say anything.it would have “boom” who was that? All of a sudden the lane ends with its crunchy gravel. I had come to a field so where to from here? I’m completely lost when suddenly I see a crack of light for an instant and by this time I couldn’t care less what this light was – then I came upon a huge tarp covering a mound of earth and then I heard the sound of voices, Hurrah! It was Canadian voices and I bounded into this safe haven and Praise The Lord it was my Troop Command Post although it was too dark to see any of the guns deployed out in front. I was “well received” by a casual glad you’re here because we’re going to be at this all night and by the way what the hell took you so long in getting here? Anyhow, to make a long story short they gave me a few rations (compo – ugh) and a couple of swigs from a bottle full of the “nectar of the Gods” after which I settled down enough to help out with this huge fire plan. In retrospect I was mighty thankful that I even had a crunchy path to follow on such a dark night otherwise I probably would have been going around in circles until daybreak.

The last incident that I will comment on at this time happened in Germany in early April 1945 while we were slugging it out in the mud and cold rain of early Spring and into the final stages of the European War.
Everything by this time was in a fluid state and by this I mean we were quite often ahead of the infantry with our self propelled guns and we were firing at targets anywhere from 500 yards and up. This particular event that I refer to happened on the morning of 8 April 1945 while my Battery (36th from Cobourg Ontario) was having breakfast prior to another move, of course they had to wait for us on the Recce Party to get moving and survey in another gun position. The location that I refer to was on the edge of a small forest (wald) on the outskirts of a village called Sogel (in the Hochwald area). The fog was thick and we lingered around waiting for this to dissipate before we moved off. I was in our Recce vehicle studying our route for the day and when the fog lifted all hell broke loose. Apparently a squad of Nazi paratroopers landed and hid in the woods and Village just off our gun postion during the night. As soon a the fog lifted they started their
Page 4 of 4

Herb’s memoires fo WW II continued

attack. Our S.P. guns saved the day for us – the gun detachments took on the roll of tanks and they advanced into the woods firing the 25 pdr’s point blank and at the same time raking the woods with machine gun fire My officer instructed me to stand by the vehicle and hold the “fort:, He had heard that some of the Chaps were killed and wounded so he takes off down the road to investigate and he was cut down by machine gun fire.
We held the paratroopers off until late afternoon when one of our Infantry Regiments in our Division (Lake Superior motorized Infantry) finally showed up and flushed out the remaining pockets of enemy .

Sadly we suffered many casualties and it must have been very hard for our Padre to communicate with the families of those killed in action since the ceasefire was only a few weeks away.

Finally our Recce Party got away after we grabbed another Officer to replace our slain Officer who had been with us since Normandie.

LEST WE FORGET

This is good that you have a photo of your tags to include here Herb. Thanks for sending it to me. I'll also post a link to this thread in that "Dog Tags" thread, but wanted your tags to live here with the rest of your stories and memories!

Just to round things off here are my dog tags. Not a very good pic but I hope it will suffice.

Note the string - it started out to be white but years of sweat,dust dirt etc have made it darker tha what it appears

Cheers again

Herb

Carman

[Herb Danter (RIP)]

Again, Many Thanks Carman, they came through loud & clear.
And once again Happy New Year
Herb

Originally posted by Herb Danter
Again, Many Thanks Carman, they came through loud & clear.
And once again Happy New Year
Herb

Thanks Herb, my pleasure totally. It took a couple of hours but I finally did SOMETHING right!

Enjoy your first day of this new year

Carman

[Geoff Winnington-Ball (RIP)]

I have another inquiry in email today. I will quote same.

Hi: My father was in the 23rd, Field Regiment, 83rd Battery. His name was Gnr. Len Evans. I'd like to hear from anyone in the 23rd who may have any of the books I could look at or purchase. I am very proud of my father and listened to many of his stories. I am trying to put his history during the war through pictures and stories for my son and myself. Would love to hear from you. PROUD OF YOU ALL
Pamela Daly

Her email is sympatico, so it's not someone from overseas trying to dig up dirt. Please advise me as you can and I shall forward as required.

[Geoff Winnington-Ball (RIP)]

Originally posted by Herb Danter
Many Thanks Peter:
Brian Budden made me an honorary QOR when I went to Normandy in 2004 with their Association.( 60th Anniversary of D Day) I had one of the best trips in my life. ( I'm still taking tums ). and I met a lot of nice Chaps (my kind of Comrades)
and a Merry Christmas to you Peter and all the best for the New Year
Herb

Good lord, I don't know how I missed this post... it's been 20 years since I last paraded with Mr. Budden. Hell of a good man.

[Herb Danter (RIP)]

Geoff:
Hey Geoff, I'm glad that you mentioned that you know "good ole"Brian ( CWO Retired). I'll have to let him know. He's a great Fellow and the Queen's Own are a great bunch of Chaps.
Herb

[Geoff Winnington-Ball (RIP)]

Originally posted by Herb Danter
Geoff:
Hey Geoff, I'm glad that you mentioned that you know "good ole"Brian ( CWO Retired). I'll have to let him know. He's a great Fellow and the Queen's Own are a great bunch of Chaps.
Herb

I did always try to stay on the right side of the Sergeants-Major, smart thing to do as a Junior Officer. Please pass him my regards and let him know I still have a pulse. So does SUNRAY MINOR, despite the tens of thousands of rounds he put downrange on the machinegunner's course...

[peter simundson]

For some reason I have been saving a battledress uniform with 2 trousers, puttees, and tie ( all formerly artillery) in case someone would like it as a gift. Name the time & place pal. It's yours.
Peter S

[Herb Danter (RIP)]

Hey Peter:
Many Thanks for your kind offer old buddy. Maybe I could slip around to your museum in Casa Loma and pick it up or if you get down to the Queen's Own RHQ in MPA you could drop it off there and I could make a pick up. or drop it off at the 7th Toronto Regiment RHQ and they would hold it for me.
You name the most expedient method for you,Peter and I'll be more than happy to oblige.
Thanks again
Herb