September, west of Nijmegen
“At this stage, we were running low on ammunition and I decided that we would have to use a crate of bombs which had been accidentally dropped in the sea during the Normandy landing. We had avoided using them until now as the effect of immersion would render uncertain their ability to fly and explode satisfactorily. The bombs had had two months to dry out so they would probably be OK, but there was only one way to find out. I ordered one ranging shot to test the first one.
On our side of the river, between my mortars and the enemy on the far side, the Company had been established its HQ in an abandoned air-raid shelter. The first bomb was launched and, to my horror, it scored a direct hit on my own Company HQ. I sprinted as fast as I could to the shelter and arrived to find all the occupants were unharmed. The officers were, however, completely covered in white dust that had been dislodged from the concrete ceiling onto them, their map and all of their kit. I reported that I had seen the direct hit and had come to offer any assistance that I could. An officer blinked at me through the white dust covering his face and assured me that no one was harmed and that no assistance was required. I offered my assurance that I would do my best to return the enemy’s fire and retreated back to my mortars to get rid of the faulty bombs and inform the Section that no real harm had been done.”