A young man whose death came at a time
when the Allies were making their first break back into France, Reg had been part of the D-Day landings on June 6th
1944. His battalion, the 5th Coldstream Guards had landed on the beaches along with tens
of thousands of other Allied troops on that June morning and since then had
been attempting to push the Axis forces back towards Germany and secure
Northern France again for the British, American and Dominion forces.
Every square foot of land had to be
fought for and British losses were quite high, with the German forces leaving a
trail of destruction in their wake. This
was whilst they sought to consolidate their positions in more secure locations
like the city of Caen, a small port just up the coast
from the initial Allied landings. Caen
was to be an essential location to capture if the Allies were to continue their
advance across the continent, as the ability to replenish supplies was vital if
they were to win.
However, in order for this to happen
the small town of Douvres-la-Delivrande
had to be captured from the Nazis and this attack went forward on the second to
last weekend of July 1944. The 5th
Coldstreams were sent in along with several other
battalions but they met with strong resistance from the occupying forces who
were determined not to let the town fall without a fight. As the town was heavily fortified and well
defended, the Allied forces suffered relatively heavy casualties for such a
small skirmish in comparison to many of the other battles raging at the time; Reg was amongst these and he fell on the first Sunday of
the assault. He was laid to rest in the
nearby la Delivrande cemetery. It took many more casualties and much longer
than had been originally anticipated before the German troops eventually
capitulated and abandoned Douvres-la-Delivrande.
Reg was married to Mary and the
couple lived not far from Reg’s parents, George and Everelda Crane in Filey
