Author: Richard Davies, Curator

As many will now be aware, this year marks the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings. It is appropriate then that this article focuses on the contribution made to that world-changing day by a member of REME, Leonard Joseph Buckby MC. Fortunately for posterity, Captain Buckby’s career is well documented in the official record, but also supplemented by the recollections he provided to his family before he passed away in April 2002.

As we shall see, Len’s military story is characterised by a series of ironies, but it begins with probably the largest one of all: he thought he had joined the Royal Air Force (RAF).

Like many others, Buckby volunteered for service just before the Second World War began. He had seen a newspaper advertisement for the Royal Air Force Marine Branch, and as someone with a lifelong passion for boats and sailing, this posting carried great appeal. Upon arrival at Aldershot however, he discovered that he was to become a driver with the Royal Engineers’ 15th Field Park Company. Buckby’s many and vociferous complaints were all in vain and mere days after this unwanted revelation, he and his fellow Engineers were in France supporting the British Expeditionary Force (BEF).

A further irony quickly followed: no one told Len that the War had actually begun. He finally discovered the truth when a heavily damaged German Dornier bomber flew over his position on 10 May 1940.

Despite having made it as far as Leuven in central Belgium, Buckby’s company eventually had to turn around and join the rest of the BEF as it made its way toward Dunkirk. Here, Len’s expertise as a sailor proved invaluable as he helped crew a Thames sailing barge named the Tollesbury back across the Channel, saving about two hundred men in the process. Despite being struck en route by a bomb dropped from a German Stuka, this boat survived the War and is now in private ownership.

He was promoted to temporary Captain on 1 May 1943 and took over the workshops servicing 102 Royal Marines Brigade on 26 June of the same year.

This brings us to the third irony of Len’s military service: despite personally disliking aircraft and parachutes, he and the men under his command became the nucleus of 6 Airborne Divisional Workshops.

Buckby’s unit took their role very seriously, as they followed the same training and fitness regime as the Marines; they were even granted permission to wear the Marines’ green berets, albeit very reluctantly. Eventually 102 Brigade were deployed overseas but Len’s unit was not allowed to go with them. They were given two choices: have each individual Craftsman deployed elsewhere, or remain together as the newly-created 6th Airborne Divisional workshops (the creation of the 6th was authorised by the War Office in April 1943). The men would not take the second option without Len continuing to lead them, so he volunteered too.

This image was taken in 1943 shows the men who formed the nucleus of 6th Airborne Divisional Workshops. Len sits in the centre of the front row. E:10.0721.

Buckby’s next major posting took him to Ayr Racecourse where he commanded a group of about 200 men as they trained to become a beach recovery unit. This was vital work. By late 1943, everyone knew that the next stage of the War would be landings in northern France, and also that getting sufficient men and armour onto the beaches would be key to gaining a foothold as rapidly as possible. REME’s beach recovery units were clearly to have a significant role, as they would need to keep the beaches free of obstacles by rescuing any incapacitated or drowned vehicles lest they hamper the Allies’ all-important advance.

It is easy to imagine the complexity of the plans for the largest amphibious assault in human history, and it was the meticulous nature of these preparations that led to Len finding himself on Gold Beach in the early hours of the morning six weeks before D-Day. He was the only REME man in a group who travelled over with the Marines in a Navy motor launch so they could see the German defences for themselves. They stayed for a few hours learning all they could, and left when it began to get light enough for them to see the German sentries in the distance.

Prior to D-Day, Buckby’s unit was moved to a location near Southampton. They were put in an area surrounded by barbed wire; the extreme levels of secrecy meant no-one was allowed in or out under any circumstances. Len’s unit left Britain at 13:30 on 5 June, and arrived off the French coast at 08:00 on 6 June, exactly ten minutes ahead of the proscribed schedule. He later described his experience of his journey across the Channel as “a most wonderful day crossing there to Normandy and to see the fleet, British and American, thousands of vessels, oh it was an incredible sight!” He also said:

“I will never as long as I live forget the sight of that great armada of war vessels travelling across the Channel.”

Gold Beach was divided into four sectors: How, Item, Jig and King. Len’s unit focused on Jig, near the towns of Le Hamel and Asnelles. Their first job after coming ashore was the removal of all the German defences Len had seen on his nocturnal visit six weeks earlier. This was achieved pretty quickly simply because he knew what to expect and had given some thought to getting rid of the barricades. It was fortunate the Germans put up little resistance in this section of Gold, as the Naval bombardment before the landing was very effective. Len had a number of vehicles under his command, including two Sherman Beach Armoured Recovery Vehicles (BARVs), like the example in the Museum’s permanent collection.

By the end of the landings, Len’s unit had not lost a single man nor any vehicles.

The next job for Buckby and his men was to support the Allies’ advance eastward. His unit, 25 Beach Recovery Section, was transformed into 835 Heavy Recovery Section, one that worked to recover stricken tanks (often American Shermans), from the many tank battles fought against the Nazis. Len’s Section would usually dig in about a day in advance of the British front line and then wait until the artillery of both sides stopped shelling their respective positions and the tanks attacked. The unit would then recover any damaged tanks and try and get any surviving crew into one of the spare vehicles they brought with them. Once the battle was over, 835 would classify the tanks that required repair. Those that could be repaired were sent to workshops designed to deal with the amount of damage they had sustained; some of these were not far behind the British lines, while others were back in the UK. The main reason for a tank being considered irreparable was that it had been burnt out as a result of enemy fire.

Buckby would sometimes be called upon to use his Section’s experience as a beach recovery team to aid with crossing the many rivers between Normandy and Germany. The amphibious vehicles under his command would cross the river first and prepare to winch out any tanks that struggled to do the same, as the river’s far bank was often muddy and the vehicle would struggle to get purchase for the climb.

Photograph taken in an area where damaged German vehicles were stored as the Allies advanced eastwards. Len stands closest to the camera. The divisional sign for the British Second Army can clearly be seen on his upper arm. 2007.4895.13.

This approach changed when the British arrived at the Rhine in March 1945. The commander, Field Marshal Montgomery, initially decided that 835 were in need of a rest. This was welcome: the Section had been in constant action since D-Day and were very fatigued. In the event however, Monty changed his mind and decided 835 should take the lead in assisting with the crossing. There was one caveat however, and it came from Montgomery himself. Initially, Len was not allowed to cross the Rhine. Montgomery appears to have been personally aware of Len and thought his considerable expertise too valuable to risk.

This order led to a lot of problems. Buckby commanded his unit from a tank and not, as he and his men had become accustomed to, from the front. This resulted in communication problems, particularly after the tank was hit by enemy fire and had to be abandoned. More importantly, some men under Len’s command lost their lives or were badly wounded, something he always attributed to the impact of Montgomery’s instruction. He bitterly regretted these events for the rest of his life.

Len was based in Plön, near the German north coast, at the end of the War, and eventually sailed back to Britain, probably around September 1945, to be demobbed. His final duty was to accompany a large amount of captured German equipment on that trip, including a 72-ton Tiger tank. Fittingly, he made sure that every single crate was stencilled “Captured by 835 Heavy Recovery Section REME”.

Len initially settled in Africa after the War, having sailed there from Southampton in June 1947. He and his family eventually travelled to New Zealand in March 1952. They lived in quite a few places, but finally decided to base themselves in Parua Bay on the North Island. Len returned to the UK and visited the REME Museum at our former home in Arborfield in the year 2000 when he donated his medal group, including the Military Cross (MC), to the permanent collection.

Len with his daughter and her husband when he visited the Museum in August 2000 to donate his medals. E:06.0113.

The MC was Gazetted on 11 October 1945, with the citation reading:

“During the crossing of the R. RHINE he showed the greatest zeal and determination. During the first five days of the operation he was in charge of recovery on both sides of the river, and most of his work was carried out under heavy shell, mortar and machine gun fire. At all times he showed conspicuous devotion to duty, with a flair for being where difficulties were greatest. His leadership and example inspired his men and resulted in an unobstructed flow of tanks, guns and vehicles across the RHINE.”

His medals form part of the Museum’s permanent collection, and we are proud to display them in our Remembrance Gallery.

An extract of the citation for Buckby’s MC as it appears on the Remembrance Gallery’s wall.

Published in The Craftsman, August 2024.

With thanks to Lucy Brown, Social Media and Digital Marketing Officer, and Brian Baxter, former Curator of the Museum, for the initial suggestion of the subject of this article. Zoe Tolman, Assistant Archivist, provided assistance in her customary calm manner and also checked the technical aspects of the article, while Fiona Redmond, one of the Museum’s excellent Front of House Team, patiently provided her proof-reading skills.

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Find out more

Find out more about REME units and their movements during the North-West Europe campaign of 1944-45 in our D-Day to VE Day Campaign. Follow along on Facebook or Twitter.

Readers may find the following related sources interesting:

• Drawing, ‘From the Landing Craft Assault’, Imperial War Museum (IWM) – Although ostensibly a simple sketch, this drawing allows us to understand what the approach to the beaches was like for the men in the landing craft on D-day. The explosions and rough sea are very well rendered.
• D-Day Map, The Rifles Museum – This map shows the designated sections of Gold Beach and the units that landed on each.
• D-Day Maps, Britannica – Maps on this webpage depict Gold, Juno and Sword beaches, the towns in the area (including Le Hamel), and the location of paratrooper drop zones.
• Drawing, ‘Jig Beach’, Royal Museums Greenwich – This coloured drawing by Anthony Gross was made on Jig Beach during 7 June 1944 (D+1), where Buckby came ashore. It effectively conveys both the scale of the landings and also the enormous activity that was still taking place in the area.
• Drawing, ‘Liberation and Battle of France’, IWM – This drawing is by the same artist as the previous work (Anthony Gross). It was sketched and coloured very quickly, a characteristic that serves to emphasise the dynamism and urgency of the landings.
• Photograph, ‘D-Day – British Forces During the Invasion of Normandy 6 June 1944’, IWM  – An aerial view of a section of Gold Beach taken on D-Day.