A young man's war - 9
30 AU breaks out of Normandy with the heavy tide of US armoured forces and the war of Royal Marine Commando R. Collins draws to a close.
08 July 2020
July and August 1944 saw 30 AU race towards Rennes and Brest alongside, and sometimes in front of, the rapidly moving US 9th Armoured Division.
moving west towards the submarine pens at Brest with the US troops, Collins discovers and shares the delights of American rations with a French family.
13th August, 1944, 30 AU moved to Roscoff peninsula.
At a large radar installation at Pabu the unit bluffed the defenders into surrender and 282 prisoners were taken. However little of value was found as most intelligence material had been destroyed.
At Carantec in the Roscoff peninsula R.M. R. Collins is billetted with a local family and shares some of his US rations with a local professor and his family.
Almost a year after her son's short stay in Carantec, Ralph Collins' mother receives a letter.
Carantec, August the 24th 1945
Monsieur Francis le Roux, professor, “les Ajonis”
Carantec
(Finistere)
France
Dear Madam,
One year ago or very nearly so, just a few days after the liberation of Carantec, I chanced to meet your son Ralph Collins and we did our best to welcome one of England’s best boys at home.
Ralph will surely remember us: myself, my wife and the two “kiddies” Marie-Elisabeth and Patrick whom a third one joined on past early November. I won’t forget grandma either.
We felt mostly glad to have Ralph with us for a few days. Unfortunately, Ralph was a soldier – and he is probably still under the colours – so he had to leave Carantec after a short stay here. Before leaving, Ralph kindly provided us with some food and delicacies for the babies. Not only because of these, but for his good heart and gallantry and above all, for the good time we had together, we all actually like him.
This letter will remind him of our joy and happiness, of our expressive and grateful feelings, of the kiddies’ enjoyment over the lovely crackers and all “the other good things”, as Marie-Elisabeth says. We talked about Scotland, and Bonnie Doon and the braes, for hours and hours, and about the sense of freedom and liberty and Ralph’s brother – your gallant son who died in action during the most horrible battle of Normandie.
Ralph had written me down his address I had mislaid it. I was really angry with myself and would have been forever. This very afternoon I was so glad as to find it again. Here it is before my eyes with Ralph’s own handwriting and his invitation “to go and look him up”.
Alas, I have no opportunity to go to Scotland – but what I want to do is to tell you that “we will never forget!”. What has become of Ralph, where he is now, whether he is still a soldier or not: that is what we are interested in now.
Please, tell us about him, about Scotland and you all. Scotland is such a lovely country and the people are so nice there, just like us: Britons!
Kindly tell Ralph of our best and dearest feelings. God bless you!
Yours truly
Francis de Roux
May God give your beloved, deceased son, rest and peace. He was a brave man.
According to his regimental record, Collins returned to the UK on 26th August, 1944.
All Collins had as a souvenir was a Kriegsmarine flag and a periscope from a sub and, as he said "Some thieving bugger stole the periscope I stole."
He was transferred from 30 AU on 11th November, 1944 and returned to HMS Cochrane at Rosyth to be finally de-mobilised from active duty on 26th June, 1946.
This young man's war was over.
He did bring back some pictures of his brothers-in-arms though.
Sources -
I don't expect I've told my dad's war story with 100% historical accuracy but it's as close I can get.
For the completists, I've listed other histories and sources sure to be more comprehensive and properly fact-checked than my version.
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/re...
We hired a researcher to search the National Archive at Kew for the 30AU War Diaries and photographs for the summer of 1944 - https://www.nationalarchives.g...
The books -
Ian Fleming's Commandos. The story of 30 Assault Unit in WWII by Nicholas Rankin.
The history of 30AU by Guy Allan Farrin
Arctic Snow to Dust of Normandy:The extraordinary wartime exploits of a naval special agent by Patrick Dalzel-Job (https://books.google.ca/books?...)
The web sites -
https://www.forces-war-records...
https://www.combinedops.com/Co...
http://www.commandoveterans.or...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
The astonishingly useful - http://normandy.whitebeamimage...
https://www.47commando.org.uk/...
http://www.30au.co.uk/The_Unit...
http://www.combatreels.com/9th...
