Cornelius Ryan WWII papers, box 021, folder 18: Stanley Elton Hollis

Holy fortune here we go" there was smoke + fog covering beach They knew there was a marsh that was mined back of the beach beyond the high water mark and beyond that a coastal road running parallel with the beach They could see their objective as they made their run in It lay at the top of a road running from the coastal road There was a house to the left the battery was on the right "It was the biggest damn thing I've ever seen" sd Hollis later Each emplacement had walls 6 feet thick and each separate gun emplacement was 30 or 40 yards square with four pillboxes in front of the 3 guns and communications trenches linking them all The guns were heavy naval 11 inchers The whole lot was camouflaged with black and green netting with sacking in a variety of colors" Several landing craft hit mines on the way in There were shouts from A Co men in the water only about 40 yards for help But couldn't stop the guns didn't hit the boats of D Company There was two marines on each landing craft one -- looking after engine the other

steering There was a stripped Lewis gun propped up against the side the front of the assault craft and Hollis wondered why it wasn't being used as they were getting heavy machine gun fire from a bathing chalet which had been turned into a strongpoint near the high water mark He grabbed the Lewis gun climbed up on the top of the ramp + began firing It was loaded with tracers and he happily -- watched the stream of red traces spatter about the chalet He fired the whole pan in one burst Forgetting the red hot barrel he grabbed with his hand when he'd expended all the ammo and in that moment got --- his " most painful wound" of the war- a badly palm He dropped the Lewis gun with a yell Just then the LCA ground to a halt The ramp went down and Hollis leading the way with a sten gun in his hand yelled "Forward the Yanks and for Christ sake get of the beach" As he raced up the 200 yards of beach with Mullally on one side ---- machine gun bullets flickeing the sand

all around he said to Mullaly "I've been in better places Paddy So have I Sarge" sd Mullally A DD tank- Hollis thinksto their right suddenly blew up and the hatch bowled across the beach at incredible speed A;; he remembers of that moment was "oh if that gets among the company it will do more damage than the Germans" but he couldn't take time to find out He raced on up to the high water marker he + Mullally flopped down on their bellies Ahead of them was the mine field surrounded by concertina barbed wire As they waited for the remainder of the company to come up - and many never would because many were lying wounded or dead behind- Mullally pointed to two birds sitting calmly on the wire "no wonder they're not flying sarge" he said "there's no room in the air for them" when the company came up + assembled their two engineers set out through the marshy minefield with mine detectors Quickly the got through with the company in single files following the tape which the engineers had laid

Everyone knew what he had to do after they got through the marsh. Nobody oddly enough at this stage got hit. On the coastal road in single file on either side of the road they began the advance on the battery. No the casualties were felt- machine guns & mortar fire fell around them. In the next few minutes on this quarter of a mile approach 11 men were hit.

Now 16 platoon turned left to attack the house while 17 and 18 platoon went for the battery. The company commander Major Ronald Lofthouse & Hollis were behind 17 and 18 and when they got near the perimeter pillboxes, they noticed that one pillbox had been bypassed. Hollis spotted two machine guns moving in the slits. He didn't say anything he sprinted across towards the pillboxes & as he started to run they opened fire. Somehow, even though they were firing at 750 rounds a minute they didnt hit him. He flattened against the wall of the pillbox, poked his sten gun into the gun slit and pressing the trigger wound the gun around inside like a hose with his right hand. With his left he yanked a granade from his belt pulled the pin with his

teeth and tossed it in. Next he jumped on the roof, put another chip on his sten and walking across the top of the pillbox dropped down behind it and yelled "come out you bastards" (There was screams & yells inside the pillbox at his firing) Now the Germans came out through the door at the back of the pillbox. He doesn't know why he didn't shoot them then & then- instead he [crossed out] march [end crossed out] handed them over to other members of the company who had come up.

Just then he spotted a half a dozen more of the enemy running towards him along the communicating trench. He just stood there pointing the stun gun. They too surrendered. In a matter of minutes he had captured 20 and killed two.

By this time, the guns had fallen. Next the company regrouped & continued the advance towards the village of Crepon. They advanced quickly line ahead on either side of the road -- very quickly, no talking. As they approached the village along a narrow lane Hollis saw two dogs about 100 yards ahead fasking about. Hollis was ahead of the company. He quickly held up.