D-Day with the Sherwood Rangers: James Holland (1944)
James Holland author of Brothers in Arms
This Remembrance Week the bestselling historian James Holland takes us back to a crucial year in the Second World War. We travel to Gold Beach on D-Day and then into the country lanes of Normandy on the trail of the Sherwood Rangers.
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1944 began with a sense of expectation. For some time Hitler’s Nazi war machine had been faltering and throughout 1943 Britain had been filling with US soldiers in anticipation of some kind of assault on the European continent.
This trend continued during the first months of 1944. By mid-May the Sherwood Rangers were among the regiments who were massing on England’s south coast and waiting for instructions. An armoured regiment, about 700 strong, the Rangers, with their Sherman tanks, had been involved in various theatres of conflict throughout the long years of war – from Palestine to North Africa.
In his latest book, Brothers in Arms, the bestselling historian James Holland has focussed his attention on this one regiment. He has followed the Sherwood Rangers’ story from D-Day in the early summer of 1944, right through to the end of the war in Germany in May 1945. Their story is at once extraordinary and representative. Filled with hugely brave and vibrant figures like Stanley Christopherson and John Semken, the experiences of the Rangers – often very young men in their early 20s - tells us much, both about the ghastly reality of war and the indomitability of the human spirit.
In this episode of Travels Through Time Holland takes us to Gold Beach on 6 June where we watch as the Rangers attempt to land in testing weather. Asserting anything with any accuracy about the morning of D-Day is difficult, but Holland explains how he, as a determined researcher, managed to tease out the chronology of what happened during that chaotic morning.
Unloading their tanks and getting off the beach, however, was only the first of the difficulties that confronted the Rangers. During the weeks that followed the Battle of Normandy roared into life. On one eventful day, 26 June, the Rangers found themselves involved in a desperate contest to gain control of a strategically important ridge. Holland tells us about the events of that day, including the inspired actions of one tank commander called John Dring, whose astonishing feats that day have passed into legend.
Major John Semken
When interviewed about his experiences in 1944-5 in later life, another of the officers, Major John Semken stated:
[D-Day] was the easiest day of a ghastly battle when Normandy became a battle field and was converted into a charnel house for man and beast and when we left Normandy it was a horror. And of course that was only the beginning of the journey anyway, through Belgium, Holland and into Germany, a journey of a thousand miles, as the crow files, and of course marked all the way by the graves of young men.
Semken’s were bitter memories, but throughout the long post-war years, as Holland explains, he remained fond of his commanding officer, Stanley Christopherson. Christopherson was a man of great spirit and warmth, whose character animated the men who served beneath him. We catch a glimpse of this sustaining spirit in the final of our three scenes, on Christmas Day in 1944, as the Rangers arrange a festival display for the children and families in the Dutch village of Schinnen.
The stories that feature in this week’s episode come from James Holland’s latest book. Brothers in Arms: One Legendary Tank Regiment's Bloody War from D-Day to VE-Day .
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Show notes
Scene One: Tuesday, 6 June - Gold Beach, Normandy
Scene Two: Monday, 26 June - Rauray Ridge, Normandy
Scene Three: Monday, 25 December - Schinnen, Netherlands
Memento: Sgt. George Dring’s tank Akilla
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Presenter: Peter Moore
Guest: James Holland
Production: Maria Nolan
Theme music: ‘Love Token’ from the album ‘This Is Us’ By Slava and Leonard Grigoryan
Podcast partner: Ace Cultural Tours
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About James Holland
James Holland is an internationally acclaimed and award-winning historian, writer, and broadcaster. The author of a number of best-selling histories including Battle of Britain, Dam Busters, Normandy ’44 and Sicily ’43.
He has presented – and written – many television programmes and series for the BBC, Channel 4, National Geographic, History and Discovery Channels. James is also co-founder of the Chalke Valley History Festival and a fellow of the Royal Historical Society. He hosts a weekly podcast with Al Murray, We Have Ways of Making You Talk – it has had 5m downloads to date.
A Squadron Coming Ashore, Jig Red D-Day
Holland’s memento, ‘Akilla’, George Dring’s tank & crew
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