Cricket Witness No 3 - The Daffodil Blooms

65 Triumph and tragedy again a bit. I’ve a batch of your letters here. How much I depend on them for sanity. 7 In July, Maurice and his battalion moved onto the Caen Plain where they encountered the fresh hazard of minefields, as well as greater resistance from more experienced Nazi troops, especially in the town of Caen, where the platoon were involved in several street-fights, besides avoiding sniper fire. By early August, they were just a few kilometres from the town of Montchamp – an important route-centre on the Plain. With other battalions having made less hasty progress, the Welsh Guards were solely deployed in an operation to capture the town. This time they met with stiff resistance but at first appeared to hold the upper hand as the German troops were driven out of the town. A brief respite ensued as the Guards established a base in the town. During the lull, Maurice found time to write a quick letter. Tragically, it proved to be his last: “Here is a scrawl by the wayside. My pencil [given to him by Elizabeth with his initials on] has gone the way of the rest of my things. One gets so tired, harassed and rushed one cannot but lose things at times. It has quite broken my heart. To darling daughter Sara, all my birthday good wishes, and to Simon the same. You may not get this for ages. God bless you darling.” 8 The following day, a counter-attack took place as Maurice was supervising reconnaissance in the fields and orchards to the south of the town. His observers were amongst the first to spot a column of Panzer tanks with foot soldiers either side and behind, heading towards them along one of the sunken roads leading into Montchamp. Without any decent cover or supporting anti- tank weapons, Maurice told his men to hide up against a hedge lining one of the orchards. As the tanks came closer, he attempted to send a message back to their headquarters but the wireless communication had broken down, and Maurice sent his number two to run back into town with news of the German attack. With an element of cover provided by the hedges lining the lane, Maurice realised that the advancing column of Panzers could literally be halted in their tracks if the lead vehicle was immobilised. He quickly assembled a small group armed with guns and grenades who would try and move up behind the hedge to cripple the first tank. He then crawled into position and, as he became almost level with the lead vehicle, tried to lob a grenade into its cab, just like he had thrown so many balls back into the