Pte. Douglas Graham Robinson
British Army 7th Btn. Black Watch Royal Highlanders
from:Wroughton
(d.8th Aug 1944)
Douglas Robinson was tragically only 21 years old at the time of his death. He had served for two years in the Army. He died on 8th of August 1944 during Operation Totalise, in Garcelles. My family always spoke of him and I was fascinated to learn more about him. Firstly in 2010, I visited Edinburgh Castle and found his name in the Roll of Honour there. I then visited the Wroughton War Memorial in Wiltshire, and his name is inscribed on there.
In 2015, I had the privilege to travel to Normandy on a staff ride with the Royal Air Force. (I am current serving RAF). We visited all of the Normandy Landing beaches, and I was able to ask them to take me to Douglas's Cemetery. I found it on find a grave.com, and details of his exact plot number. I was overwhelmed to see a family headstone in a random foreign cemetery. None of my family had ever visited his grave before, and to follow in his footsteps as current serving military myself, looking down on his grave was very emotional. My RAF Officer took a photograph of me crouching beside the headstone. I felt a sense of guilt that he had been in that cemetery for 71 years with no family visit. My grandparents couldn't get there when they were alive. I'll never forget my visit to Normandy, it was life changing. I still think about Douglas and I need to take my dad and brother across to see it for themselves to see it.
My brother found a book in Swindon Library this week called 'Reflections of Wroughton', and we were overjoyed to finally see a decent photograph of Douglas. He looks very alike to me, and four of his service number digits are identical to mine, which is a bit bizarre. This has re sparked my interest in finding out more about him. I have applied for a copy of his death certificate from the GRO, and hope to apply for his Service Records. Unfortunately, I heard his brother sold off his medals in the 1980's in the Devizes area. I would love to try and track them down somehow and get them back. The whole story is pretty strange, I believe Douglas ran away from home from Wiltshire to join the Black Watch in Scotland, for reasons unknown.
The Black Watch Museum emailed me back in 2015 and told me: "The 7th Battalion Black Watch landed on D-Day +4, ie 10th June, as part of the reinforcing wave of troops. By this point the identities of the initial landing beaches have become merged to become the Normandy beachheads, as opposed to Sword, Gold, Juno etc. Operation Totalise was the closing of the Falaise Gap. Basically the advances of the Americans and Anglo Canadian forces had created a pocket containing the remaining elements of Germany Army Group B, the 7th Army and the 5th Panzer Army. Between the 12th and 21st of August Operation totalise was launched to close this gap. The 7th Battalion Black Watch were given as their target the strategically important town of Garcelles. Suspecting little resistance the whole 51st Highland Division, of which the 7th was part, launched their operation 24 hours early and had almost complete success. Only C Company encountered any resistance with three enemy machine gun nests. Following the attack on the town the Germans shelled it heavily, and whether your great uncle was killed in the initial attack with C Company, or later when the town was bombarded, I do not know. The Falaise Gap was eventually closed, and cost the Germans over 100,000 soldiers killed, wounded and/or captured, along with most of their armies equipment."
Any extra information, photographs, records, stories etc relating to Douglas would be most appreciated. I would also love to try and track his medals down and get them back, and perhaps purchase a replica or similar SD cap to what he is wearing in the photograph.
