Thread: D day- 80 years ago!

A salute to my types of people

The first men ashore are clearance divers from the Royal Navy, these men are selected from the naval service and the Royal Marines, the official name of these Frogmen Landing Craft was Obstacle Clearance Units (LCOCUs). Pronounced ‘lock-yews’. These men would clear obstacles and mines before the assault forces hit the beach.

In the case of the American Beaches, the equivalent of the LCOCUs was the US Naval Combat Demolition Units (NCDUs). However, these were not equipped to swim or dive as they assumed that most obstacles would be above water at low tide anyway.

Selection and training for this incredible dangerous job began in January 1944, men with previous experience with bomb disposal and minefield clearance were preferred but they also needed the ability to be able to cope doing this task under water wearing diving gear. Training was held at HMS APPLEDORE in North Devon.

On D-Day, four Royal Navy and six Royal Marine LCOCUs, each consisting of one officer and eleven men, were deployed from their LCAs (Landing Craft Assault) at H-Hour.

LCOCUs 3, 4, 9 and 10 were assigned to Gold Beach, 7 and 8 to Sword Beach, and 1, 5, 11 and 12 to Juno Beach. Using inflatable boats, the Forgmen had to clear obstacles between 1.4 and 3 metres deep while the Royal Engineers had to clear the road in the shallow parts and on the beach itself.

Despite coming under constant fire from artillery and mortars, the LCOCUs managed to clear wide passages through the various obstacles before assisting the Royals Engineers with their tasks.

By the end of the day, they had cleared approximately 2500 obstacles. Allister Austin (LCOCU 3) was killed and some of the divers were badly injured.

For their skill, perseverance, dedication and courage during the D-Day landings:

Distinguished Service Cross

Lt Robert Billington
Lt Harold Hargreaves
Lt John Taylor RNR.

Military Cross

Lt David Cogger.

Distinguished Service Medal

Sgt Keith Briggs
Sgt Peter Jones
PO Sydney Eagles
PO George Lock
LH Frank Livingstone
Mne Eric Deans

Lieutenant Commander Ken Hudspeth (Royal Australian Naval Volunteer Reserve) A Tasmanian schoolteacher before the war, Ken Hudspeth was a much-decorated commander of midget submarines – and was one of the 500 members of the Royal Australian Navy serving on attachment to the Royal Navy at D-Day

Hudspeth had the notable mission of commanding submarine X20; mooring it off Juno Beach as a navigational beacon to guide landing craft to the beach

For this daring mission, he was awarded a second Bar to his Distinguished Service Cross (DSC)

His DSC had been awarded for the famed submarine raid on German battleship the Tirpitz in 1943, and the first Bar to his DSC had been awarded for commanding X20 on a survey mission to the Normandy beaches in the build-up to Overlord