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21st August 1944On this day:
If you can provide any additional information, please add it here.
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Remembering those who died this day.
- Brawley William. Pte. (d.21st Aug 1944)
- Craig John. Able Sea. (d.21st Aug 1944)
- Marshall George. AB (d.21 August 1944)
- Webb Leslie Lewis. Cpl. (d.21st Aug 1944)
The names on this list have been submitted by relatives, friends, neighbours and others who wish to remember them, if you have any names to add or any recollections or photos of those listed,
please
Add a Name to this List
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Want to know more about the 21st of August 1944? There are:28 items tagged 21st of August 1944 available in our Library
These include information on officers, regimental histories, letters, diary entries, personal accounts and information about actions during the Second World War. |
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Stories from 21st August 1944
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Able Sea. Ernest Gaskell. Royal Navy , HMS Abercrombie . I joined HMS Abercrombie in June 1944 in Italy. My first view of her was a huge hole being repaired on her side. We left for Malta after being repaired and started knocking a pretty green crew, myself included, into shape. My memory of 21st of August 1944, a Sunday I think, is that sometime mid morning we were at gun stations when there was a violent explosion which shook us followed by a second explosion. I wasn't sure what had happened, torpedo came to mind. An old hand near by said "blow up your lifebelt scouse", something I had not thought of. We had stopped dead in the water and it didn't look good, an order came to get all ammunition up on deck. We were getting low in the water when a couple of mines bobbed up on the port side where I was working. A couple of 20mms opened up, I think they sank one with no explosion. One started bobbing close and an order came for a boat crew to stand by, but it cleared the bow. Sometime in the afternoon a tug appeared. It was a hard day, I cannot remember eating or resting all day. We made it back to Malta. I was back at sea a few days later aboard HMS Colombo. found myself on board a very efficient ship on route to Alexandre from where started to operate in the Aegean sea our job was to support the operation to re-occupy islands in the Eastern Mediterranean held by German troops. It was a busy time, I can't remember all the names of the island's we bombarded once to cover a commando landing. In the build up to the re-occupation of Greece we bombarded shore targets at Heraklion, Crete and Aegina Island in the Gulf of Athens. We were then transferred to the Adriatic to provide AA defence in support of military operations deployed at Zarder we accepted surrender of German forces. We set out for the UK in early May 1945 via Malta. The war in Europe finished on the way. I have been asked how we celebrated the wars end. I remember that when the news came through I was on the mess deck.There was hardly a sound. Some of my shipmates had been abroad two years and four months,I had been a year. I still remember that I walked aft, Cape Bonn was on the port side I remember that, I sat down and said Thank God. Ernest Gaskell
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Able Sea. John Craig. Royal Navy, HMS Kite. (d.21st Aug 1944) My uncle John Craig was on HMS Kite, a Corvette which was sunk during the war escorting a Russian Convoy (JW59) during 1944-1945.
Jim Fury
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Cpl. Leslie Lewis Webb. British Army, 14th Field Squadron Royal Engineers. (d.21st Aug 1944) Before the war, Leslie Webb learnt his trade as a bricklayer, a trade he continued when he joined the Royal Engineers in April 1941, becoming a Sapper. After training he joined 14 Field Squadron RE and served at various locations in the UK between 1941 and 1944.
On 19th June 1944 Leslie and his comrades embarked on the SS Standridge heading for France, landing at Le Hamel on the 25th June. 14th Field Squadron were attached to the Guards Armoured Division and supported them during operations in northern France. The Squadron's tasks were to clear minefields and repair roads and bridges. The personnel had only rudimentary mine clearance training. It was during a mine clearing task on the 21st August 1944 near Chenedelle, Lower Normandy, that a Reigel anti-tank mine exploded. Two Sappers were killed instantly, Leslie was seriously wounded and taken to a nearby dressing station where he succumbed to his wounds. Leslie is buried in the St Charles-de-Percy War Cemetery, just north of Vire, France. He is commemorated on the War Memorial in Stockton Churchyard in Shropshire and also a memorial bench outside ˜The Old School in Village Road, Norton.
Here follows an eyewitness account of the his death: 'The Germans had placed R Mines (Riegel anti-tank mines) in ditches alongside roads near Viessoix, and the French public reported this to the British Army. Cpl. Webb was driven by truck with his section (18 men) to the scene and a mine was picked up and placed across his knees. He asked his driver "Have you got a pair of pliers?" These were given to him. Most of the men continued to play cards in the truck. There was a loud explosion that left two men dead at the scene and two wounded, Cpl. Webb was found in a nearby field and conveyed to a forward dressing station. No further attempts were made to defuse these mines after this, instead, they were scooped up and transported by truck to a place of detonation. The eyewitness had been with Cpl. Webb since 1941.
Stephen Speke
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