On the way to France.
On 28 July 1944, the entire 3rd Brigade received orders to move to the so-called "Marshelling Area"1 - a place to wait for embarkation.
Some units and commands had left two days earlier.
Our unit left the camp at Aldershot at 2h past midnight that day.
We found ourselves near London in the morning.
All day the troops of the Division were drawing up. On Saturday afternoon, July 29th, we were loaded onto a ship in the Port of London, in the Thames estuary.
The ship hosted CKM Squadron, the command squadron of the 24th Panzer Regiment and the 1st Company of the 9th Battalion was called "Samnesse2".
After being loaded, we stood in the roadstead for 2 days, and it was not until the evening of 31 July that we set out at 7 o'clock on our way along the English coast near Dover, opposite Calais.
Kazimierz Duda - War Chronicles - 28 July to 31 July 1944 - Page 46
1Name given to the camps along the British coastline which served as a staging area for men and equipment before their departure for Normandy.
2One of the 2 751 "Liberty ships", built by the Americans and rented to the British government to ensure the supply and the transport of troops. The different names of the ship : Euryades, ex- Glenshiel, ex- Eumaeus, ex- Samnesse, ex- Simon B.Elliott.
Translation from French version: Steven Duda
Original page 46