"Y" Troop Report

Battle Report of "Y" Troop Operation "ROAST"
1/2 Apr 45.

At 1600 hrs 1 Apr "Y" Tp moved into the Bde reserve area at "WOODFORCE" and proceeded to dig in. At 2230 hrs the Troop "Stood To".

The night was fairly quiet except for one short period at 2300 hrs when the enemy mortared the Wood area. Tanks could be heard moving up the beach area, about this time, but it is doubtful if the sound would have carried to the enemy lines. At 0215 hrs the order was received over the telephone to "Stand Down" a third of the Troop for an hour.

At 0400 hrs the 2I/C. of 43 R.M. Commando contacted O.C. "Y" Troop and passed the information that 43 R.M. Commando were pulling back into the wood.

O.C. "Y" Troop passed this information immediately to Sunray 61. At 0430 hrs 43 R.M. Commando were still pulling back. But at 0440 hrs the order to attack at 0450 was passed and 43 R.M. Commando were observed moving very rapidly into the attack.

The first 3 P.O.W. came back to R.A.P. area at about 0700 hrs followed shortly by a continuous flow. These P.O.W. were escorted to the P.O.W. cage by "Y" Troop who were keeping up a ferry service between the R.A.P. and the cage. This continued throughout the first day.

During the afternoon a signal arrived at "WOODFORCE" from BDE it was franked immediate and written in cypher this had to be return to Bde unread as no Cypher personnel were available. The Troop was ordered to withdrew at 1100 hrs 3 Apr 45.

D.T.M. Thomson
Capt, RM.
O.C. "Y" Troop.
6 Apr 45
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