Reg Little on the roles of county people and places in the Normandy Landings

They will gather on Saturday by the block of granite known as the Harwell Stone, as they always do in early June.

The simple service will be preceded by a village festival at Chilton, opened by the local MP, Ed Vaizey, with the day ending with live music.

With so many minds tomorrow focusing on the beaches of Normandy as nations across the world mark the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings, a small village in southern Oxfordshire might appear unconnected to events in June 1944, when the Allies unleashed the biggest cross-Channel invasion in history.

But the village is proud to remember that it was from the former RAF base near Chilton that the first British forces to land on D-Day departed.

The paratroopers who spearheaded the assault on Normandy took off took off from RAF Harwell, the former airbase which now forms part of the Harwell Oxford science and business campus, on June 5, 1944.

The Harwell Stone marks the end of the runway at the former Second World War airfield from which six RAF Albemarle transport planes took off, carrying 60 paratroopers from the 6th Airborne Division.

Their mission was to mark drop zones behind enemy lines on the Normandy coast.

Later, aircraft left Harwell towing Horsa gliders packed with troops. They were the first British forces to land on D-Day.

The combination of a solemn service and a festival with stalls and music to celebrate what was achieved should perfectly capture the differing emotions stirred by this poignant Second World War anniversary.

It will also serve as a reminder of the important role that the landlocked county of Oxfordshire played in the story of the landings, and of the heroism of men such as Major John Howard.

The bravery of the major, who led the daring raid to capture Pegasus Bridge on D-Day, will be recalled at a wreath laying ceremony tomorrow at his grave, organised by the Oxford branch of The Royal Green Jackets Association.

One of Britain’s greatest war heroes, Major Howard died aged 86 in 1999. He retired to Burcot, near Abingdon, with his wife Joy, and is buried at St Michael and All Angels Church in Clifton Hampden.

Major Howard made history when he and his men took the bridge from the Germans in a daring glider raid in the early hours of June 6, 1944.

The 180 members of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, from the 6th Airborne Division, seized the vital link for the invasion in the airborne raid.

The team took the Germans by surprise, then held the bridge until they were relieved later that day by troops making their way inland from the Normandy beaches.

Mike Marr, treasurer of the Oxford branch of the Royal Green Jackets Association, said: “Taking Pegusus Bridge was crucial for the D-Day Landings, and had they not done so it would have been an avenue for the German army to come across.

“What sticks in people’s minds is the fact the gliders parked nose to tail up to the perimeter fence of Pegasus Bridge, and by the time the Germans noticed, our troops were on the bridge.

“Major Howard will be remembered for his charismatic leadership. He served as a policeman in Oxford before the war and was very well known, but I think he would have been shy of being described as a hero.”

As a good luck charm, Major Howard had tucked in his breast pocket of his jacket the tiny red shoe of his two-year-old, Terry, when he led his airborne troops.

Twelve days after D-Day his wife received a telegram saying: “Your husband has suffered a mortal wound and is in hospital.” It should have read ‘mortar wound’. But he survived to be awarded the DSO and the Croix de Guerre avec Palme.

His story was immortalised in the film The Longest Day, in which he was played by Richard Todd.

Oxford Mail:
Major Howard in later years

The wreath will be laid at Major Howard’s grave by his cousin, Derek Chivers, with a wreath also laid at the war memorial inside the church, in memory of those who died in the two world wars.

Long before Major Howard and his comrades took off, Oxfordshire had been serving as a major centre in intelligence gathering in the build-up to D-Day.

Every day, tin boxes would arrive from RAF Benson, whose pilots risked their lives taking sea-level pictures of the enemy coastline from Norway to the Bay of Biscay.

The public also played their part, responding to an appeal early in the war to send in foreign holiday snapshots — anything that might yield valuable information.

The 10 million holiday pictures that poured in were kept on the ground floor of the New Bodleian Library.

With this wealth of information, 700 staff at Manchester College produced panoramic pictures, highlighting vital landmarks that would enable crew to get their bearings as they approached the invasion beaches.

Secret codework was also carried out at Mansfield College, while at the Wilberforce Hotel in Queen Street, 10 rooms were set aside every day to receive refugees from Hitler’s regime. They would be taken by taxi to Manchester College, where they would be encouraged to give information about the enemy.

One key figure was Oxford don John Austin, who was in charge of what was known as the Theatre Intelligence Section.

The intelligence gatherers who worked for him ranged from humble villagers in Europe, who risked their lives to gather small but vital pieces of information, to the legendary code-breakers at Bletchley Park.

Other vital cogs in the intelligence operation were Blenheim Palace, where MI5, the secret service organisation, had its headquarters, and Oxford University Press, which received huge orders for maps, reports, handbooks and other material which had to be produced with the utmost secrecy.

Military bases in Oxfordshire were involved in the secret, meticulous planning of the Allied invasion of France.

RAF Mount Farm, on the site of what is now Berinsfield, had a crucial intelligence role. It started life in 1942 as a satellite station of RAF Benson, but soon became the headquarters of the RAF’s Photo Reconnaissance Squadron and the United States Air Force Photo Reconnaissance and Mapping Squadron.

Much of the equipment used by the D-Day forces came from the Central Ordnance Depot at Bicester and No 3 Maintenance Unit, on the site of what is now Milton Park, the business and science centre near Didcot.

In the build-up to D-Day, 11,500 aircraft and 3,500 gliders had assembled at military airfields all over Southern England after months of training in the air and on the ground.

Among them were Dakota bombers and Horsa gliders at RAF Broadwell, near Burford, Albemarle bombers and Horsa gliders at RAF Brize Norton, and Albemarles and Horsas at RAF Harwell.