August 9, 2024
(Pictured above: An LCM unloads first assault troops on D-Day wading in hundreds of yards to the beach under fire)
As we begin our last invasion installment of John G. Roberts’ time aboard LST-325 I just wanted to reference the source materials once again. They are: Defense Technical Information Center.mil, Britanica.com, navsource.org/archives, uslst.org/history and navytimes.com, National WWII Museum.org and The Naval History and Heritage Command/history.navy.mil. This posting, as with the others, will have a primary source of Mosier’s Raiders the Story of LST-325 1942-1946, by David Bronson, ©2004 iUniverse, Inc. Gracious permission to quote from Mosier’s Raiders was received from the current copyright holder The USS LST Ship Memorial, Inc., Evansville, IN.
Now that the crew of LST-325 had received orders to head from the action in Italy to friendly territory once again it’s likely their spirits were raising just a bit. They actually could begin putting some distance between them and the continuing battles taking place on mainland Italy. Unfortunately, such feelings during these ebbing days of the war in Europe would be fleeting at best.
On October 23. 1943, LST-325 left Bizerte in a convoy with 11 LSTs and five escort ships. Most all of the LSTs were each towing an LCT (Landing Craft, Tank). These were a much smaller version of their ship with only a three tank capacity, but still critically needed for future activities. When they arrived in Oran, modifications were made to the main deck that would allow the LCT to be hoisted up and secured onboard. Then literally inside of each one of those, an LCM (Landing Craft, Mechanized) was loaded and secured for travel. The LCM is a craft that anyone who has seen footage of World War II beach invasions would be familiar with as they were used to carry up to 100 men each for transport to the beach when the front panel on the boat would lower into the water and become a platform for the troops to exit over.
Then on November 11, LST-325 boarded 96 men of the 2nd Naval Beach Battalion which would eventually become the first wave of troops to hit Utah beach at Normandy. By the next day they were fully loaded and ready for their next mission. John Roberts remembered it this way: “When we left Oran we were loaded again with all the equipment we carried over, LCT, LCM and several other LCVP’s etc. We went out through the Straits of Gibraltar, and we were headed WEST! We watched the compass for a couple of days…Great! Going Back! We all knew better though; we turned north and of course we were going to England.”
LST-325 sailed from Oran harbor in a convoy designated as SL-139 and soon joined up with a merchant ship convoy MKS30 which increased their convoy numbers to 17 cargo and tanker vessels, 12 LSTs and five escorts. Shortly after clearing the Straits of Gibraltar the convoy grew further to 47 merchantmen and no less than eight escorts. Even though they could now consider themselves fortunate to be heading for friendly waters, they were going to be needing all of the cover and assistance they could get as they slowly traveled north to England. Their return to England would soon prove to be nothing even close to a relaxing cruise to safety.
Following their pass through the Straits on the 13th, just as John had stated, all of the crewman knew of course that their heading was due west for five days and their hopes began to build that maybe, just maybe they might be headed home. But on November 18th, the convoy altered their course to north, and as luck would have it, by noon of that day their escorts had detected a submarine in the area and gave chase. They stalked the U-boat right through the center of the convoy and began dropping depth charges. Unfortunately, they were unsuccessful in their attempts to take it out and continued on course after losing contact. But then later that evening either the same or a new submarine contact was detected. This time a British medium bomber that knew of the convoy’s location spotted and sank U-211 with depth charges, but not without the help of the Star-shell flares being fired to light up the area from the convoy ships.
Lest the crew of LST-325 become complacent, in just another day or so at 0100 on the 20th the convoy escorts began responding to yet another U-Boat, by firing flares and depth charges. This time, without the aid of air support they were successful and the HMS Nene, along with Canadian escorts HMCS Snowberry and HCMS Calgary, were credited with the sinking U-536.
However, it was just one day later on the 21st that the entire convoy would be taken completely unaware by a totally new method of warfare recently developed by the Germans, radio-controlled glider bombs. It was in the afternoon hours of that day that spotters in the convoy were able to make out a large group of German twin-engine bombers flying past and remaining well out of artillery range. This was a real head scratcher when their typical style was to fly in fast and attack immediately with surprise on their side by hitting targets before the ship guns could even be manned. “Then the officers on the bridge of the LST-325 noticed what looked like a light glowing on the bottom of one of the aircraft. Suddenly this light detached from the aircraft and began to glide down towards the convoy.” All anyone could do at this point was to continue to observe the rather strange occurrence as it unfolded before them. Their curiosity was soon satisfied when “Suddenly, it plunged straight down towards the destroyer and exploded just off its port side, sending a tremendous geyser of water into the air.” This was an unbelievable advance in air attacks since it allowed the German aircraft to remain just out of defense firing range and they could safely fire their joystick controlled bombs from a completely safe distance.
“The attack continued for the next two hours and it would be one of the most unnerving experiences of the entire war for the crew of the LST-325, since there was almost no defense against this weapon.” Apparently, the German military’s ability to guide the bombs with distinct accuracy was not yet as perfected as they would have liked. Although one merchant ship was lost and other ships in the convoy sustained damage, they could move on from the attack relatively unscathed in view of their numbers. By the same token, during this time the HMS Foley and HMS Crane had been successful in destroying the German submarine U-538 thereby reversing an attack that had clearly gone far worse for the enemy than the intended targets. Unfortunately, one of the men from the 2nd Beach Battalion onboard LST-325 received a rather severe chest wound from being hit by shrapnel from a nearby exploding shell. His wounds were immediately treated, but he would have to hang on until the ship reached England for more extensive treatment.
With apparently no rest for the weary, the very next morning bombers were again spotted heading straight for the convoy. Almost before they knew it “there was a tremendous explosion off the starboard side of the LST-325 and immediately the Captain ordered General Quarters.” Fortunately, the attack was brief. The bombers turned to head back to base and they could all continue on course. They had the blessing of continuing without further incident until late in the afternoon of the 22nd when the LSTs were able to peel off from the convoy and change their course heading to the direction of the English Channel. Then on the 24th “Just before sunset the flotilla of LSTs received a very welcome sight when a flight of friendly aircraft did a fly-by, assuring them that the convoy was now within range of allied air cover from England.”
It was 0930 on the 25th when with great relief a precious sight for sore eyes, the coast of England came into view for the crew of LST-325 and others in the flotilla. From here, half of the flotilla of LSTs were to head to the port of Falmouth harbor while the remainder, led by LST-325, were to head for the harbor of Plymouth. As the crew of LST-325 entered Plymouth harbor it was not lost on a single one of them that this, November 25, 1943 just happened to be Thanksgiving Day. There was no doubt they knew indeed they had a very great deal to be thankful for. But first they would anchor in the harbor where a British Hospital boat could pull alongside and pick up the wounded sailor from the 2nd Beach Battalion. Now, finally in safe harbor, the crew could allow the relief to flow over them for a time. It’s likely their evening meal of that day would be thoroughly enjoyed. Although it may not have been anything like one that Grandma would have prepared, it is certain that it was just as comforting and one that might last a lifetime in the minds of the crewman of LST-325. From here on out all preparations would begin for their invasion of the beaches of Normandy.
The next day on the 26th, LST-325 took its turn in the dockyard so the LCTs and LCMs could be taken off the main decks of each LST. At the same time the various crews for the vehicles departed the ships to begin their duties at the new location. After that the LSTs could again return to their respective moorings in the harbor. Life aboard for now returned to what one could hope would be a normal routine with standard watch rotations as well as some well-deserved liberty in the port town. In the words of John Roberts, “Plymouth was a very beautiful city, at least what we saw of it. There was a great park, called the Hoe, I think. It overlooked the harbor and channel and we could sit on a beautiful sunny afternoon and watch the Sunderland bombers, large seaplanes, land and take off on their missions. But the U.S. sailors had better not go through this park alone at night. Some came to very much trouble and worse. The British sailors were not too happy at all with all the U.S. sailors being around.”
On December 3, 1943, LST-325 along with LST-356 were towed to one of the dry docks in Falmouth. Both ships were positioned in the same extensive dry dock one behind the other. For LST-325, the plans there were to clean, scrape and paint while also replacing the ships propellers and begin a complete overhaul of the main engines. The water was slowly removed from the work area until the main decks were high and dry over 40 feet in the air as dock workers began their tasks. Regrettably, in this setting an unfortunate accident occurred that would have an impact on the entire crew.
While in the dry dock area a gangway was extended for the crews from the ships to walk over to take their liberty and leave. However, while various fundamental equipment functions were out of operation during the overhaul crewmen had to go ashore even for restroom breaks at times. It was in the dark just before dawn on the 4th that one of John’s buddies, David George fell off the gangway to his death in the dry dock below while walking off the ship. This is John’s sad memory of the incident: “One of the worst things that happened to our crew was the loss of a buddy, Gunners Mate David Lloyd George, who walked into the dry dock and went to the bottom on a dark, rainy morning. We all had to go to the dock facilities for our morning chores bathroom-wise. There were no railings at all as I remember. Imagine what that would be today with all the lawsuits, OSHA and safety precautions, etc.”
LST-325 remained in dry dock until December 9, but further work was still needed on the main engine overhaul so it was towed to the Falmouth outer harbor where the rest of the efforts on the engines could be completed. The last of the work was accomplished by the 13th when LST-325 was considered to be fit for sea trials. In order to make sea fitness certifications the crew spent four days traveling a route between Falmouth and Salcombe, England a small community whose harbor was an estuary approximately 80 miles east of Falmouth.
The months of December and January afforded most of the crew of LST-325 the opportunity to be on a pleasant rotating leave and liberty schedule. For the most part, and considering circumstances, periods of leave were mostly taken within the region and many in the crew took the opportunity to see the city of London. That was in spite of the fact that London was still considered a target of occasional German bombing raids. John Roberts, as with many others took advantage of this chance and was reminded just how small the world could be considering how far from home they were. He stated: “I came out of the Regent Hotel one day, it’s right on Piccadilly Circus, and saw a GI standing in front I thought I recognized. I said, “Are you Clyde Grant from Faribault, Minnesota?” Yes, he was. We had a good visit and it seemed a little like that the world was not that big.”
Late in January things for the LST-325 crew began to coalesce into what was going to begin looking like a rather herculean effort to bring the Navy and Army together in joint exercises in sincere preparation for the still secret invasion of France. They had already taken part in an exercise known as DUCK I in early January in an area known as Slapton Sands, on the beaches of Start Bay. This was a perfect landing beachfront just east around the point approximately 15 miles from Salcombe. Here the Army units would begin to perfect their assault training and the exercise would be the grounds for further refinements as planning continued. Follow up exercises called DUCK II and DUCK III were going to be doing just that. They, along with several small-scale exercises would give individual assault units a better opportunity to hone in on specific elements that would be their responsibility in the various phases of the overall operation.
Although the Germans had a pretty certain belief that some kind of invasion was going to be happening along the coast, they still had no idea of when or where it would occur. From their perspective it appeared the best defense was to beef up fortifications all along the northern coast of Europe for a distance of 3,100 miles stretching from southern France all the way up to Norway. It became known as the “Atlantic Wall.” Unfortunately, such an expansive area could serve only to dilute troop strengths away from where they might ultimately be needed. So, they doubled their intelligence efforts to see if they could ascertain where the most likely location for an invasion might occur. With such precious information they would quickly be able to mobilize troops to be ready for anything.
The German primary means of safe and secure military communications was the use of an electromechanical rotor mechanism for encryption of all messages. This system was known as Enigma, invented shortly after World War I by the Dutch. What they did not realize was that the encryption code was in the process of being broken by mathematicians in Poland as early as 1932. When Poland was overrun in 1939, they decided to share what they had learned of their Enigma decryption techniques with military intelligence representatives from France and Britain. As a result, the Allies had a distinct advantage at this point in the war and they decided to press their advantage by sending easily decrypted messages of their own in an effort to deceive the German military. This became known as Operation FORTITUDE set up specifically to assist and support the invasion of Normandy.
The deception planners, working under the direction of General Eisenhower, over time successfully deceived even the highest ranking of German intelligence. FORTITUDE-North had the purpose of persuading Hitler’s finest that the Allied invasion would be coming from Norway and Sweden. At the same time, FORTITUDE-South misled that the highest probability invasion site was actually going to take place at Pas de Calais, a beachhead in the Straits of Dover and closest point to England from France. Pas de Calais was also roughly 200 miles north of the Normandy beaches. This deception would successfully concentrate German forces well away from the true landing area and would allow time for the Allies to land over 150,000 troops before more effective defensive actions could be put in place.
On February 8, 1944, Commander F. H. Newton Jr, the commander of LST Flotilla 12 Group 35 came aboard LST-325 to hold a meeting with all LST commanding officers. Commander Newton had been calling the shots on the landing exercises jointly working with the Army and LST Flotilla since mid-January. He and his men coordinated all activities associated with the role of the LSTs in the assault plans. The discussions in this meeting were regarding the next two exercises, DUCK II and DUCK III. These would continue to be conducted in Start Bay and would be followed in turn by Operations FABIUS and TIGER both of which were intended to duplicate any and all conditions of battle. They were regarded to be as close to a dress rehearsal as the military could get.
In late March LST-325 would travel to Londonderry, Ireland to receive a complete weapons modification and upgrade. The workers removed the 3 in. gun from the stern tub and finished up by adding 6-40 mm along with 6-20 mm guns to maximize the crew’s ability to stave off air attacks just ahead of taking part in Operation TIGER scheduled for late April. The weeks moved on with seemingly countless efforts of loading and unloading, beachings and rehearsals after rehearsals. No stone was to be left unturned regarding the predictability of the assault swiftly approaching.
Unexpectedly, in the pre-dawn hours of April 28, several LSTs taking part in exercise TIGER were attacked off the coast of Devon by no less than nine German torpedo boats. “German boats evaded Allied patrols that night and attacked the group of LSTs without warning. The LST-107 was torpedoed and the crew abandoned ship. The LST-531 was torpedoed and sank within minutes. The LST-289 was able to open fire on the attackers but was also torpedoed, though they were able to get their crippled ship back to port. Casualties from the attack were high; a total of 198 sailors and 551 soldiers were killed or missing. The reports of this attack and the losses suffered were kept under wraps by the Allied high command, and even though members of the LST-325’s crew heard rumors about the attack the details of the losses that night were not made public for many years.” Suddenly, the High Command was becoming considerably more concerned for the success of the overall operation with the loss of LSTs clearly pivotal to the outcome of the invasion. Even British Prime Minister Winston Churchill revealed his angst stating, “The destinies of two great empires seem to be tied up in some damn things called LSTs!”
As the fateful day was approaching John’s memory of the tense conditions were, “We practiced loading and unloading troops and equipment, vehicles, small tanks, gun tracks, etc. all winter….we had to make sure that the bow doors and the ramp and elevator would all work, if not we were in trouble. We were able to keep them going, thankfully with a lot of luck and the Lord’s help.” It was of course the responsibility of John’s group in the auxiliary engine room to keep the doors and ramp functional from a power usage source perspective.
The crew of LST-325 knew that things were about to take a turn when on May 29, they were ordered to find and remove all registered government publications onboard to keep them from falling into enemy hands. Later that night Falmouth harbor came under attack from German bombers and although the LSTs went to general quarters, however, they were under strict orders to not fire on the planes. Only the guns ashore were allowed to return fire on the raiders. This was to keep the ships from lighting up the sky over the mooring area with gunfire which could have given their numbers away.
On June 4th the ships were given the order to hoist anchor and they slowly began to move out of the harbor and into the English Channel as they began Operation OVERLORD the invasion of Normandy in earnest. But as fate would have it, the weather began to become unbearable and conditions deteriorated to the point where General Eisenhower, the commander of the Normandy Invasion called a 24 hour postponement. Eisenhower’s final decision came later to carry out the invasion on June 6, 1944.
LST-325 along with the others began sailing for Normandy in a convoy of no less than 34 LSTs. The convoy ECL-1 in Task Force 126 was “Force B, the floating reserve for the assault force going ashore at Omaha Beach.” Their orders were to advance to the holding area approximately 13 miles southeast of the Isle of Wight designated as Point Z. However, it was also referred to as “Piccadilly Circus” because it was a five mile circular zone that had been cleared of all mines where they would hold position slowly rotating around the circle until given orders to join the assault. Once LST-325 arrived at its position approximately 15 miles from the beachhead they along with others raised what was referred to as a barrage balloon. The balloon appeared to be a small blimp and was let out to a height of 800 ft, held to the ship by a steel cable. The purpose of these balloons “was to keep enemy aircraft from making low level attacks on the ships, if they did, they risked flying into the cable and damaging their aircraft.” Moving on ahead of them through the darkness were Forces “O” and “U” who were transporting the initial assault forces to the beaches of Omaha and Utah.
Just before dawn on June 6, the men of LST-325, in spite of their distance from the beachhead could hear the rumbling of the Naval bombardment of the German beach positions. D-Day had begun.
Once dawn arrived what the crew of LST-325 was able to view from the distance was a sight that almost defied imagination. “Hundreds of ships of all types and sized were in every direction as far as the eye could see. Hundreds of bombers, fighters and troop transports flew overhead in steady streams to and from the coast, giving the men on the ships below a much needed boost to their confidence and morale.” Force B would have to remain patient, listening to the constant bombardment throughout the long tension building day, not receiving orders to begin moving in until dusk.
Slowly, LST-325 with other Force B LSTs inched into the beach through the night in specially designated channels that had been cleared of all enemy mines. They watched the skies light up with explosions and tracer rounds as their slow and methodical advancement continued. After what may have felt like an eternity, they arrived in full view of the French coastline. At 0735 the middle line of approaching LSTs including 325 in the second position, changed course to move away from the main body of the convoy. At 0943 LST-325 dropped anchor in the Red Sector of Omaha Beach. They immediately opened their front outer doors and lowered the ramp. The DUKWs all fired up and ready to go began offloading into the water ahead of them. They were all under fire from the concrete bunkers on shore as they attempted to make toward the beach. The first three DUKWs off however ran into trouble from the intensity of the waves, feeling like sitting ducks as they struggled to move forward. LST-325 responded by moving in closer to shore while taking fire with continued concern over the German artillery targeting the approaching ships. They settled once again and reopened their outer doors letting 13 more DUKWs off the tank deck and into the water to join in the battle.
Beyond the LSTs a number of other ships including cruisers, destroyers and battleships kept hammering the gun emplacements on the beach. There was still far too much artillery and gunfire for the LSTs to get close enough to shore to physically beach but the DUKWs which were created for this kind of incursion could manage their way in. Unfortunately, one of the DUKWs offloaded filled with soldiers encountered a mine on the way to the beach and exploded.
Almost as soon as all of the DUKWs were offloaded, LCMs from the battle theater began pulling up to 325’s ramp and started transferring wounded onboard where the shipboard doctors, pharmacist mates and hospital corpsmen could tend to their needs. John’s memory of their first beach encounter went as follows. “We were not real early in the movement. We were on the way in the dark, and when it was getting light, we went up to see what it looked like. It was a sight I will never forget! There were ships in every direction as far as you could see. A lot of them were ahead of us, which was not bad. The air was full of planes, looked like hundreds of them. They had all been painted with white stripes on the bottom of the wing. They were all headed in the same way we were, and we hoped it was going to help with the landing of the GI’s. We took on some wounded as we were unloading. Some of the same GI’s that left our ship on “Ducks” earlier.”
Offloading of the LSTs was halted by nightfall but the fighting continued into the darkness as did the receiving of wounded onboard. Eventually LST-325’s crew quarters had to be turned into a medical and surgical ward.
On the morning of June 8th more unloading had to be done. Barrels of fuel, water and oil were sent to the beach and then a rhino ferry docked to the bow and removed five 2½ ton trucks, eight Jeeps and an ambulance. Along with the equipment, one of the soldiers who could not be saved, corporal J. McMurry of the 37th Engineers was taken to the beach for burial.
At 1223 the last of the troops onboard, a detachment of Navy “Seabees” (Construction Battalion) left for the beach. The main engines were started up and LST-325 retracted from the battle zone and headed to a rendezvous point for the return trip to England. Thus ended LST-325’s first encounter with the fighting at Normandy, France.
The LST-325 along with others arrived back in England on June 9, 1944 and it was able to dock in Portland where the casualties could be taken off for further treatment at a base hospital. Unfortunately, one other soldier, Private Thomas Legacy of the 299th Combat Engineers Battalion died during the passing through the Channel. Between the 9th and the 11th, LST-325 was loaded up completely once again and began its second trip, this time to Utah Beach. On their way in preparing for their beaching and unloading process, LST-499 exploded nearby when it hit a mine, sinking at the stern into the shallow water. While escort ships tended to the rescue of the crew of 499, LST-325 continued into the Sugar Red sector of Utah beach where it waited for the tide to recede. Once settled in “high and dry” fashion on the sand the forward doors were opened, the ramp was lowered at 0700 and the tank and main decks were entirely offloaded. Following their offloading completion and prior to the return of the tide, 68 German prisoners were brought onboard and placed in a holding area located on the tank deck.
As the tide returned and LST-325 once again was water-borne she could retract from the beach and head back to England as the battle and skirmishes along the beachhead began to calm down. This was after six excruciatingly brutal days of fighting. On D-Day alone, more than 4,000 Allied troops were killed, with over 2,500 of those being Americans. It is reported that somewhere between 4,000 and 9,000 German soldiers were wounded or died during the invasion. However, the Allied forces had succeeded in landing more than 150,000 troops on D-Day which might indicate their propaganda activities may have worked better than expected in concentrating German forces to fictitious invasion locations. Over the term of the invasion, it is reported that Allied forces took more than 200,000 Germans as prisoners of war, a great many of which LST-325 transported back to England.
And so it continued for the brave crew of LST-325, with pass after pass to England and Normandy, load after load of equipment and supplies and batch after batch of German prisoners. By June 27, American troops were able to capture Cherbourg, France, 50 miles northwest of Omaha Beach. The British forces on the other hand secured Caen, France, 31 miles to the southeast and on July 24th and 25th Americans launched Operation COBRA. This operation would successfully break through German lines at Saint-Lô, a little more than 20 miles south thereby completely enveloping the original landing beach area. That marked the end of the Normandy campaign and the beginning of the Allied push to liberate northern France and Paris itself.
The LST-325 continued to supply and resupply the allied forces in their efforts to bring the war in Europe to a conclusion. They remained on mission for months and then on April 10, 1945, just a month before declared victory in Europe, V-E Day, they made their forty-fourth and last trip to France offloading equipment and supplies at Le Havre in support of the troops. Even then, after unloading and in their final return over the English Channel to England they were stalked by German submarines. This kept their escort ships busy as they ran off the U-boats before they could fire a torpedo so they could safely make their way back to port.
Here we will end our battle time with Electricians Mate John G. Roberts III as a member of the intrepid crew of the LST-325. However, this will be followed by a short summarization of John’s advancements and final days onboard. That will include one of his most terrifying incidents yet in the next and final posting documenting the return home of his ship to the United States following the end of World War II.
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