The Fighting Wessex Wyverns

Commanded by the controversial Major-General Ivo Thomas, the 43rd (Wessex) Division was branded the 'Fighting Yellow Devils' out of respect by its German opponents. The 43rd's distinctive divisional badge of a golden Wyvern - half-serpent, half-dragon - was in evidence in all the ferocious battles in Normandy, the Low Countries and Germany between June 1944 and May 1945. They suffered 12,500 casualties including 3,000 killed in action. The 43rd was firmly rooted in the West of England, drawing its infantry battalions from the county regiments of Cornwall, Dorset, Hampshire, Somerset, Wiltshire and Worcester, with occasional reinforcements during the Normandy campaign by 'foreign' regiments from Berkshire, Essex and other counties. The division's campaign in North West Europe is related in the words of its soldiers: privates, sergeants and young company commanders all have their individual tales to tell. Here are firsthand accounts of the Normandy landings; the battles for River Odon, Hill 112, Maltot and Mont Pincon; the break-out to the River Seine and the forcing of the vital bridgehead at Vernon; the only infantry division to attempt to relieve Arnhem - a gallant and costly failure; the clearance of the Roer triangle (Operation 'Blackcock') and the Reichswald (Operation 'Veritable'); the Rhine crossing and the thrust northwards to take the port of Bremen; and the final triumphant advance to the Cuxhaven peninsula north-west of Hamburg.