battle near chateau la Londe+chateau le londel normandy fought in late june 1944 resulted in' the bloodiest square mile'in the attack on Caen.My interest is :that my uncle, sergeant samuel atkinson ;2nd bat.east yorks was killed on the 28th june1944' in a wood near gazelle'.From my research i presume this to have been in operation 'mitten';in the fierce fighting around the two previously mentioned chateaux.Unfortunately i have found very little about the 2nd east yorks attack on la londe from their position at le londel.There is quite alot of info abt. the suffolks +lancashires.So anyone with any info about my uncle's platoon(he was leading it in a defence against a german tank counterattack),successfully repulsed;when he was killed.(according to a letter from his co.maj.'banger'king written to his widow).
Paul Reed has the war diary for 2 East Yorks , June 1944 on his Flickr account. https://www.flickr.com/photos/battlefield_historian/sets/72157621931308728/ pages for 28th June starts here. https://www.flickr.com/photos/battlefield_historian/3784906298/in/set-72157621931308728/lightbox/
Just to get your hopes up...You'll have to wait though. I have a photo of the Warrant Officers and Sergeants Mess from the 2nd Battalion taken in May 1944 so your man will be in there. I have one of the officers too, so Major King will be in there. On the subject of Major CK King he was awarded a DSO and Bar during WW2 so they may be worth looking at. And I thank you as this is the first time I have looked at my 2 Yorks Regimental History in any detail to find the copy belonged to an officer, Major J I Baker 2 Yorks ! I'll come back when I have more time - There's some good additional info and pictures in the history.
Hi Tom, Is the letter from Major King, one of the ones held by the IWM, or do you have an original copy? Best wishes
Hi Drew, would it be possible to get a copy of your photograph of the Officers? Btw, Major Baker was a very highly respected officer. Adam
You are better off asking him over in ww2talk as he spends more time over there than here. I'll send him a link to your post.
