The No. 6 Beach Group was a unit of the

British Army during the Second World War At the start of 1939, the British Army was, as it traditionally always had been, a small volunteer professional army. At the beginning of the World War II, Second World War on 1 September 1939, the British Army was small in comparison with tho ...

. It was responsible for organising the units landing on

Sword A sword is an edged, bladed weapon intended for manual cutting or thrusting. Its blade, longer than a knife or dagger, is attached to a hilt and can be straight or curved. A thrusting sword tends to have a straighter blade with a pointed ti ...

in the

Normandy landings The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...

D-Day The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as D ...

, 6 June 1944. The Beach Group was tasked with establishing dumps of equipment and supplies including ammunition, petrol and vehicles. The Group controlled all policing and unloading in the eastern flank of the

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

invasion area. The 1st Buckinghamshire Battalion (1st Bucks) was a Territorial Army battalion of the

Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry The Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry was a light infantry regiment of the British Army that existed from 1881 until 1958, serving in the Second Boer War, World War I and World War II. The regiment was formed as a consequence of th ...

and provided the infantry support for the group which was commanded by Lieutenant Colonel R. D. R. Sale. The 1st Bucks were deployed to defend the beachhead area from German counter-attacks after troops from the 3rd British Infantry Division had started to move inland to link up with the

6th Airborne Division The 6th Airborne Division was an airborne infantry division of the British Army during the Second World War. Despite its name, the 6th was actually the second of two airborne divisions raised by the British Army during the war, the other being t ...

. No. 6 Beach Group also included units of the

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is heade ...

Royal Army Service Corps The Royal Army Service Corps (RASC) was a corps of the British Army responsible for land, coastal and lake transport, air despatch, barracks administration, the Army Fire Service, staffing headquarters' units, supply of food, water, fuel and dom ...

Royal Army Ordnance Corps The Royal Army Ordnance Corps (RAOC) was a corps of the British Army. At its renaming as a Royal Corps in 1918 it was both a supply and repair corps. In the supply area it had responsibility for weapons, armoured vehicles and other military equip ...

Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers The Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME ) is a corps of the British Army that maintains the equipment that the Army uses. The corps is described as the "British Army's Professional Engineers". History Prior to REME's for ...

Royal Army Medical Corps The Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) is a specialist corps in the British Army which provides medical services to all Army personnel and their families, in war and in peace. The RAMC, the Royal Army Veterinary Corps, the Royal Army Dental Corps a ...

Military Police Military police (MP) are law enforcement agencies connected with, or part of, the military of a state. In wartime operations, the military police may support the main fighting force with force protection, convoy security, screening, rear recon ...

and the Pioneer Corps. The HQ of the beach group moved to

Lion-sur-Mer Lion-sur-Mer (, literally ''Lion on Sea'') is a commune in the Calvados department in the Normandy region in northwestern France. Geography Lion-sur-Mer is located on the edge of the English Channel, more precisely on the '' Côte de Nacre'' ...

on 12 June 1944. An advance party of No. 6 Beach Group, which included an anti-tank platoon of the 1st Bucks, landed on the first tide of the invasion on D-Day, 6 June 1944. The remainder of No. 6 Beach Group landed on the second tide of the invasion on D-Day. The commander of No. 5 Beach Group, Lieutenant-Colonel D. H. V. Board, was killed soon after landing by a German sniper, and Lieutenant Colonel Sale assumed command of both beach groups, totalling approximately 7,000 men. On 8 June Lt-Col. Sale was wounded by shrapnel, and his second-in-command Major E. A. Carse was appointed in his place with the acting rank of lieutenant colonel. On 10 July 1944, No. 6 Beach Group was officially disbanded. As from 12 July 1944, all remaining landing craft were directed to

Juno Beach Juno or Juno Beach was one of five beaches of the Allied invasion of German-occupied France in the Normandy landings on 6 June 1944 during the Second World War. The beach spanned from Courseulles, a village just east of the British beach Gold ...

and

Gold Beach Gold, commonly known as Gold Beach, was the code name for one of the five areas of the Allied invasion of German-occupied France in the Normandy landings on 6 June 1944, during the Second World War. Gold, the central of the five areas, was lo ...

. 1st Bucks was transferred to other battalions fighting in the battle for

including to the 2nd Battalion,

(the 52nd) in the

and to the

Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) The Black Watch, 3rd Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland (3 SCOTS) is an infantry battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland. The regiment was created as part of the Childers Reforms in 1881, when the 42nd Regiment of Foot, 42nd (Roy ...

and other units in the

51st (Highland) Infantry Division The 51st (Highland) Division was an infantry division of the British Army that fought on the Western Front in France during the First World War from 1915 to 1918. The division was raised in 1908, upon the creation of the Territorial Force, as ...

Order of battle

On D-Day, 6 June 1944, No. 6 Beach Group comprised the following units: * The 1st Buckinghamshire Battalion,

* 245th HQ Provost Company, Corps of Military Police * Military Landing Officer's Party * No. 85 Company, Pioneer Corps * No. 149 Company, Pioneer Corps * No. 102 RAF Beach Flight * No. 18 Beach Signal Section, Royal Navy * Detachment, 2nd Field Hygiene Section, Royal Army Medical Corps * 9th Field Dressing Station, Royal Army Medical Corps * 12th Field Dressing Station, Royal Army Medical Corps * 37th Field Surgical Unit, Royal Army Medical Corps * 38th Field Surgical Unit, Royal Army Medical Corps * No. 12 Ordnance Beach Detachment, Royal Army Ordnance Corps * 138th Detail Issue Depot, Royal Army Service Corps * 238th Petrol Depot, Royal Army Service Corps * No. 21 Beach Recovery Section, Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers * 91st Field Company, Royal Engineers * Detachment, No. 50 Mechanical Equipment Platoon, Royal Engineers * 1028th Port Operating Company, Royal Engineers * "R" Commando,

Royal Naval Commandos The Royal Naval Commandos, also known as RN Beachhead Commandos, were a commando formation of the Royal Navy which served during the Second World War. The first units were raised in 1942 and by the end of the war, 22 company-sized units had been ...

The following units joined No. 6 Beach Group after D-Day: * No. 22 Field Transfusion Unit, Royal Army Medical Corps * No. 53 Beach Balloon Flight, No.976 Beach Balloon Squadron, Royal Air Force * No. 9 Stores Section, Royal Engineers

References

;Notes ;Bibliography * * *

External links

* * * {{cite web , url=http://www.mod.uk/aboutus/dday60/beach_organisation.htm , archive-url=http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20060130223253/http:/www.mod.uk/aboutus/dday60/beach_organisation.htm , title=Combined Operations Pilotage and the Beach Organisation , work=webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk , archive-date=30 January 2006 Beach Group 006