WWII: Glider mission on a wing and a prayer

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Brian Marshall shares the story of his Willington-born father-in-law, John Dakin, who saw action in Sicily and at Arnhem.

Allied troops wade ashore from landing craft onto the beaches of Sicily in July 1943. The seaborne invasion was a success unlike the airborne invasion that John Dakin was involved in

A map showing the Allied airborne and seaborne landings on Sicily in July 1943

John and Ann Dakin, who were married at a London register office in 1941

John Dakin (left, middle row) with the Army boxing team in India

A glider that was part of the airborne invasion of Sicily in July 1943. Many gliders ditched too early into the sea killing many soliders on board

IN the 20 years I knew my late father-in-law, John William Dakin, I always found him a quiet and unassuming kind of man; sometimes a little sensitive but the kind of person I could always get along with.

He was a man who lived for the present and didn’t dwell too much on the past and, like many ex-servicemen from the Second World War who had lived though unpleasant experiences, he preferred to forget them and get on with his life.

Consequently, he only told us snippets of his Army career which had started when, at the age of 18, he joined up as a regular soldier in 1933.

We knew he had served in India and his son, David, knew he had been wounded in Sicily during the war.

I remember taking him to see the famous post-war film A Bridge Too Far when he told me that it was at Arnhem that he had been taken prisoner of war, but he didn’t elaborate further, only to say that many of his friends had died there.

I think he found the whole episode too painful to talk about. We knew, of course, that he had been landed there by glider.

Because of the sketchy details that we had, we decided to get in touch with the Ministry of Defence to see if we could obtain John’s Army records.

Earlier this year, we received copies of his records.

These disclosures, and our own research, have given us a much fuller picture of his Army service.

In April 1933, John Dakin left his family home in the village of Willington to join the Army.

He made his way to Derby where he enlisted in his local regiment, the South Staffordshire’s, joining the 2nd Battalion.

For the next two years we believe he remained at his depot, training to be an infantryman.

In 1935 his battalion was posted to India where he remained for the next five years. His son, David, tells us that, while in India, he took a keen interest in sports and, in particular, boxing and athletics and his photo album confirms this.

There are also photos of scenes at Lucknow, Cawnpore, Delhi, and the North-West Frontier; a reminder of Britain’s days of Empire.

Then, in 1940, his battalion who at that time were based at Peshawar (now in Pakistan) close to the North-West Frontier, were recalled to Britain along with many thousands of British troops who were stationed in all parts of India.

They were all ordered to proceed to Bombay and, because of being some 2,000 miles away, it took the battalion almost six days to arrive there.

Upon its return to England, the South Staffs were based in Kent, part of a force with three other regiments assigned the task of defending the area from possible invasion forces.

But, in the October of 1941, the War Office set up the 1st Airlanding Brigade with the view to having glider-borne troops trained to support parachutists with additional infantry and equipment.

The whole concept of the brigade was enthusiastically backed by Winston Churchill, Britain’s Prime Minister, who all through his life had liked visionary ideas.

Incorporated into the brigade was the 1st Airborne Division who were to supply the glider-borne troops.

John volunteered to be an airborne infantryman having already passed physical training proficiency tests.

The division consisted of four infantry battalions, including the South Staffs.

In the spring of 1942, the brigade, now billeted in the mountainous regions of the Brecon Beacons in South Wales, were involved in months of intensive training.

The training included the use of packhorses and mules to enable them to reach the required standards for fighting in rough terrains; the South Staffs were used to these conditions from their time in India.

In May of that year John was promoted to corporal and was awarded his glider badge in the November.

He now had a wife, Ann, from London whom he had married the previous year.

In May 1943, the 1st Airborne Division were sent to North Africa to prepare for the invasion of Sicily which was to take place that summer.

Based at Sousse, in Tunisia, they were joined by two parachute brigades and they spent the next few weeks in intensive training for the forthcoming invasion.

The invasion, Operation Ladbroke, planned for July 9, involving the drop of parachutists and glider-borne troops was a prelude to the sea-borne invasion by the allied fleets two days later.

Their mission was to capture the Ponte Grande bridge at Syracuse to facilitate access for the invasion force that was to follow.

As planned, the tug planes and gliders took off from Sousse for the eight-hour journey to Sicily with landing scheduled for the hours of darkness.

The operation turned out to be a disaster. Of the 147 gliders released, 73 of them landed in the sea drowning many of the men inside. Casualties were extremely heavy, totalling 605 men of all ranks, 326 of whom were presumed drowned.

One of the reasons given for the failure of Ladbroke was the use of mainly American tug pilots unaccustomed to night flying and the considerable flak they encountered; this resulted in the gliders being released 3,000 yards short of the coast.

Another reason given was that the tugs had to fly through unforeseen winds of 45mph which proved to be a hazard in the timing of the operation.

John’s records show that he was wounded on July 9 but give no indication how.

Could it have been on his glider landing in the darkness which accounts show caused many casualties, or was it in the subsequent battle for the Ponte Grande bridge?

It is on record that nine officers and 69 other ranks of the South Staffordshire Regiment captured the bridge and held it for 15 hours before having to withdraw because their ammunition was running out.

The bridge was retaken by Montgomery’s invasion force shortly afterwards. Although wounded, John lived to fight another day, and that came the following year.

John’s story concludes next month with his capture at Arnhem.

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