CRICH TRAMWAY MUSEUM - August 9th/12th

By Staff Sgt Wright

Thursday 9th August

A small detachment of A.I.M deployed to the town of Crich in Derby on Thursday 9th August taking a 40mm Bofors gun.  The Bofors was quickly deployed to protect a Bridge that ran between the US and British areas of the site from the Luftwaffe.  Confident that the weapon was secure the small detachment left the area to return shortly.

Friday 10th August

The following day more of the troops arrived onsite and set up the pyramid and officers tents ready for the 80th AAA to arrive that day.  After setting up the field kit the unit took the rest of the evening off in the town of Crich seeing the wonderful trams and nightlife including the typical British pub, it had been a while since they had seen one so they were keen.  Sgt Costin and Cpl Harrison were onsite to keep the men in line and make sure that they did not go and get too drunk before the rest of the unit arrived.

Saturday 11th August

Staff Sgt Wright arrived in the area at 8am meeting up with Private Barrel and Sgt Brocklehurst, upon parking their vehicles they met with Pvt Harrison.  The four men then moved to the area where the Bofors and rest of the unit were.  The men were in good spirit and were happy to see that the strength of the unit was now almost at maximum (12).  Breakfast was soon prepared for the men and all seemed in great spirits, the local town apparently was bustling with life and there seemed to be a heavy presence of British troops around, this made everyone feel much more comfortable.  Several GMC’s and jeep loads of paratroopers arrived and the area seemed to be a hive of activity.  The general civilian population were very curious and within hours there were steady flows of people milling around with the troops keen to see what all the activity was about.  They seemed very grateful that the area was now in allied hands once again.

During the early afternoon some of the men went down to the village to buy supplies and check out the area – there were several British ‘Bobby’s’ about – two of which approached the party.  Asked if we were on duty the Police were keen to see that we kept in an orderly fashion as we stopped for a beer in a local pub.  The beer was not as  good as back in the States but there was plenty of life in the locals, laughter and relief seemed high on the agenda. The police caught a ‘Spiv’ trying to sell watches to us and disappeared after reminding us not to make a nuisance of ourselves.  Keen to please the men walked back to the CP.  The afternoon was spent fraternising with the locals and cleaning kit, more fraternising and more kit cleaning, there were no enemy aircraft sightings.

That evening the Staff Sgt decided that the men needed some enjoyment and told them that would all go into the town together for a few beers and a dance!  Sgt Brocklehurst was not feeling too good so he stayed with the kit on guard duty.  Upon arriving in the town we met up with two replacements Pfc Woods and Pvt Hall, keen to grab a beer the men quickly joined in the fun.  Sgt Borcklhurst joined us later that evening when he felt better - the men rotated around for guard duty.

We had a great time with the locals and the British troops, they were keen to talk to us as the Staff Sgt knew several of them from previous campaigns in Africa and Tunisia, and Normandy.  A singer called ‘Lola’ grabbed the eye of Sgt Costin who felt compelled to listen to her until the last song – then he approached her for a photo with the boys!  It made his night!  Meeting up an hour or so later with a couple of civilians that Pvt Rizla knew we decide to head to another local pub that had beer on draft rather than in bottles – this pub was heaving with activity and we met many old friends and some new ones.  RSM was there keeping an eye on everyone, though enjoying himself in the process and soon Staff Sgt Wright and the RSM were in conversation and buying each other drinks.

Pvt Rizla seemed a little worse for wear and as the troops finally dispersed for their camp it was noted that he may need a little help. 

Sunday 12th August

The following morning just after breakfast the unit was preparing the kit and then we heard it, the sirens went off and we went into action.  Traversing the Bofors gun we quickly spotted the enemy plane sweeping down on our position ready to blow the bridge up.  Round after round was fired until the barrel of the gun was almost glowing the pilot was good, he knew how to out manoeuvre us but not enough to feel entirely comfortable or giving him the ability to bomb the bridge.  A shot clipped his wing and he dispersed the area smoke pouring from his craft.  Our job was done the bridge still intact.

That afternoon we received orders to move out, the Bofors was hooked back up and the tents were taken down.  The men were told they were to go on leave for a short while, they had seen much action over the last few months and this was more than a welcomed break.   Staff Sgt Wright told us to make the most of the leave as he knew we were about to be deployed to Holland within the month, we were going in with the 82nd to a place called Nijmegen.