https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Normandy_Invasion,_June_1944.jpg
On June 6, 1944, 80 years ago this year, the Western allied forces, mainly consisting of the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the Free French Forces, invaded Normandy in Northern France to open up a second front against Nazi Germany in Western Europe. Although it is not as well known, Australians, particularly from the Royal Australian Air Force, played a pivotal role in the invasion.
The Australians who supported the D-Day invasion included between 2,000 and 2,500 RAAF airmen in Australian squadrons and British Royal Air Force units, approximately 500 members of the Royal Australian Navy serving on Royal Navy vessels, as well as a small number of Australian Army officers and merchant seamen.
Australian personnel also took part in the invasion of Southern France in August 1944, and RAAF airmen continued to operate against German forces until the end of the war in May 1945. However, the relatively low casualties suffered by the Allied air forces during the fighting in Normandy and subsequent campaigns resulted in an over-supply of trained Australian aircrew in the UK, hundreds of whom were never assigned to a combat role.
Overall, 1,177 Australian military personnel were killed in western Europe and Britain during the lead-up to the invasion of France and the subsequent Normandy Campaign. These losses were higher than those suffered by Australian forces in the Pacific during this period.
Hundreds of Australian airmen were killed while supporting the Allied troops in Normandy, and "in terms of total casualties June 1944 was the worst month in the history of the Royal Australian Air Force".[i]
During Operation Overlord, when Allied forces invaded France, seven squadrons recognised as 'Australian' under Article 15 of the Empire Air Training Scheme Agreement participated in attacks on the Normandy beaches and surrounding areas. Lancaster bombers from 460 Squadron targeted two towns near the westernmost beach, Utah, while 463 and 467 Squadrons bombed gun emplacements protecting Omaha Beach. Halifax bombers from 466 Squadron attacked a German battery in the same area.
On the first day, Spitfires from 453 Squadron flew 43 sorties to support the landing forces. Mosquito night fighters from 456 and 464 Squadrons disrupted enemy rail and road communications, bridges, and troop convoys on the nights of June 5/6 and June 6/7. Additionally, three more 'Australian' squadrons—Numbers 10, 461, and 455—engaged in anti-submarine and anti-ship operations to prevent the German Navy from interfering with Allied plans.[ii]
Map of the air plan for the Allied landings in Normandy, 1944.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Air_plan_for_landings_in_Normandy_June_1944.jpg
One such story of an Australian airman who lost his life in Normandy is that of Flight Sergeant Stanley Kevin Black:
Stanley Kevin Black
Flight Sergeant Stanley Kevin Black
MISSING AFTER HAMBURG RAID (1945, April 25). The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954), p. 4. Retrieved April 1, 2018, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article206865681
Born in the Melbourne suburb of North Fitzroy on the 12th of March 1923, Stanley Kevin Black was the son of George and Lillian Eliza Black. One of four children, the young Stanley Black attended North Fitzroy Central School before attending University High School.
Following the outbreak of the Second World War, Black enlisted as a reservist before volunteering for the Royal Australian Air Force on the 19th of June 1942. He began training as a navigator, then as an air bomber.
After further training in England, Black was posted in May 1944 to No. 106 Squadron of the Royal Air Force. As part of Bomber Command, the squadron flew the four-engine Avro Lancaster heavy bomber. Black joined a crew of British airman, as an air bomber.
Flt Sgt Black (right of photograph). Taken 1944 at 1661 Conversion Unit RAF Wigsley
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/flight-sergeant-stanley-blacks-unknown-story-defend-village-tilley/
On his fifth mission with the squadron, on the night of June 7, 1944, Black and his crew were bombing targets near the city of Caen in Normandy, in support of the D-Day landings. Black’s Lancaster was shot down by heavy flak, and he managed to bail out, but four of his British crewmates were killed in the crash. Only the pilot would survive the war.
Having made it safely to ground near the village of St Jean de Daye, Black was assisted by a local Frenchman and managed to join up with a group of 180 American paratroopers from the 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the US 82nd Airborne Division who had occupied the neighbouring village of Graignes, pronounced 'Grenay'.
> U.S. Army's 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment Distinctive Unit Insignia
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:507th_Infantry_Regiment_DUI.png
Symbol of the 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division Götz von Berlichingen
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:17th_SS_Division_Logo.svg
On June 10, the German 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division launched an attack on Graignes. Outnumbered by as many as ten to one, the Americans inflicted heavy casualties on the attackers before they were overwhelmed and forced to withdraw. On entering the town, the Germans rounded up and then executed each of the American wounded. In reprisal attacks they also murdered two French priests and more than 40 local villagers accused of assisting the Allies. They also set fire to the town, razing much of Graignes to the ground.
Before the battle, Graignes was a town of more than 200 buildings.[iii]
At some point during the fighting for Graignes Flight Sergeant Black was killed. His remains were buried in the Bayeux War Cemetery. He was 21 years old.
In a letter home to his parents, the commander of No. 106 Squadron wrote that all in the squadron were greatly appreciative of the motives that had brought Flight Sergeant Black so far from home “to help us in our great fight”. His loss would never “be forgotten”.[iv][v]
Today, due to the efforts of the locals, Flight Sergeant Stanley Black is listed on the war memorial in Graignes alongside the American soldiers and French citizens who fell in the battle. The only indication that Black was different are the initials “RAAF” next to his name.
Locals call him ‘the Australian who fell from the sky’.
Graignes after the battle.
https://johnknifton.com/2016/06/29/a-few-days-after-d-day-5/
Stanley Black’s gravesite.
https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=1063312
The remains of the church at Graignes, today it is a memorial.
Author: Pahcal123
Creative Commons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Graignes_Memorial.jpg
The Memorial which lists Stanley Black along with the American Soldiers.
Photo: Nicholas Egan
[i] Grant, Lachlan (Autumn 2014). "On the Great Crusade". Wartime (66): 26–33. ISSN 1328-2727.
[ii] “D-Day”, Airforce.gov.au, https://www.airforce.gov.au/about-us/history/our-journey/d-day
[iii] Rabe, Stephen G.: The Lost Paratroopers of Normandy: A Story of Resistance, Courage, and Solidarity in a French Village, Cambridge University Press, 2022.
[iv] Dr Lachlan Grant, https://vwma.org.au/explore/people/620189
[v] Morgan M.K.A (2014, March 01) “Battle of Graignes” 22 February 2023 https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/article/battle-of-graignes-an-hq-companys-heroic-last-stand-in-normandy/