A TRIBUTE TO JOHN CRAWFORD ATTY.
John Crawford Atty took part in the Normandy landings 80 years ago aged 19 and was killed in action on the 17th June 1944.
John was the son of Richard and Gertrude Atty and lived in Wilmslow Road, Newton near to Jackson’s garage.
He attended the Kings School Macclesfield.
He enlisted into the 73rd Anti Tank regiment of the Royal Artillery as a gunner, army number 14583625 and trained in Scarborough.
The following is an extract written by Sergeant Neville Howard of the 73rd Anti Tank Regiment.
“On the evening of Saturday 3rd June 1944 the whole battery was on the move. It was a cold dull evening, with a touch of light drizzle, as they made their way to the Southampton Docks. During the night they loaded their M10 tanks on to the tank landing craft.
Later they moved away from the quayside, and joined the multitude of other craft at anchor off the Isle of Wight. The weather was still bad, cold with a heavy overcast sky, and now with the craft in more open water.
On the evening of the 5th June they moved off in convoy, surrounded by columns of other craft. They knew that they were in for an uncomfortable night, as there were no sleeping quarters on board. As it grew light the still distant shore came into view. Away to their right there was a lot of activity with battleships and special rocket craft blasting away.
The area was being shelled intermittently and a few bits were splashing into the water.
It was approximately 7.30 am when they headed for Gold beach. Once the ramp was lowered they drove their tanks onto the beach. Once ashore they moved off and headed inland to liberate the city of Caen.
After the first few days the enemy resistance increased and they found themselves taking part in attacks, coming under fire from shells, mortars, rockets and small arms, day after day. Those days were long and tiring, from before first light to late evening. They considered themselves lucky if by 10 pm they had pulled back behind the front line.
They were often called upon to support any of the divisions and units in the corps as and when required sometimes at short notice as often as three times a day. Sometimes they were rushed to block part of the line where no other troops were available. Maintaining these nightly lookouts in dodgy situations meant two out of the five man crew keeping watch, plus the nights when there was no sleep for anyone.”
It would have been during these events that John Crawford Atty was killed in action on the 17th June 1944 aged 19.
He is buried in the Hottot – les – Bagues War Cemetery in Normandy 14 km south east of Bayeux.
He is commemorated on our village war memorial and also at Prestbury Church and at Kings School Macclesfield.
His last letter home was sent from France on the 12th June 1944 five days before his death.