Affadavit of Maj HS Roberts
Sworn Statement of Maj. HS Roberts, Royal Regina Rifles
1. On 7 June 1944 I was Platoon Comd of 16 Pl, D Coy, Royal Regina Rifles.
2. About 1200 hours 'D' Coy took up a position just south of the Caen-Bayeux highway. My platoon was deployed on the North side of the railway line protecting the southern approach to La Villeneuve.
3. We had a 6 pdr A/Tk gun sited covering the railway viaduct which was the only possible approach for vehicles from the south.
4. We had had several officer casualties during the landing and subsequent fighting and the only officers left in the Company were Major Jones the Acting Coy Comd, and myself. Late in the afternoon Major Jones went to an 'O' Group at Bn HQ and I took over the Coy during his absence. I turned the platoon over to my Pl. Sgt. EC Sten.
5. About 1800 hours I heard the A.Tk gun fire and a lot of small arms fire. I went immediately to the railway embankment which was less than 200 yards away and joined Sgt Sten, to find out what was happening. We could see a German vehicle burning on the road about 50 to 100 yards south of the railway track and nearby was an abandoned German motorcycle with sidecar. There were no German troops anywhere in sight and firing in the immediate vicinty had ceased.
6. I returned to our 3 in. mortar position to bring down fire along the road to discourage any enemy who might be following up along the road. The incident was reported to Bn HQ by R/T.
7. Later on Sgt Sten reported to me he had taken a section out to investigate the vehicles and that the Germans from those vehicles had either escaped or had been killed in a fire fight.
8. As the area South of the railway was exposed to enemy view and fire, I gave orders that no one would go across the railway tracks again.
9. Our position was heavily mortared a short time later and Sgt Sten was seriously wounded and evacuated and I have never seen him since. Major Jones was also wounded and I took over command of the Coy.
10. During the night our Coy suffered heavy casualties from this mortaring and the following morning about 1000 hours we were withdrawn to a point southwest of Bretteville L'Orgueilleuse.
11. During the whole time that 'D' Coy was in this position I know that no German prisoners were captured and I am satisfied that any German soldiers that were killed on our front were killed in the course of combat.
Sworn at Aurich, Germany 22 Dec 1945
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