Royal Hampshire Regiment D-Day casualties honoured in Normandy

Asnelles overlooks one of five Normandy beaches that provided the launch pad for the Allied invasion of Europe, which changed the course of the Second World War.

Almost 70 members of Royal Hampshire Regiment were killed during a ferocious counter-attack by the Nazis.

Members of the Royal Hampshire Regiment at the Nazi stronghold captured by British soldiers during the D-Day landings (Image: Royal Hampshire Regiment Comrades' Association)

Now the Royal Hampshire Regiment Comrades' Association has presented a granite bench to the people of Asnelles to thank them for their actions after the invasion began on June 6 1944.

The bench is near the remains of a German stronghold that took the Hampshires all day to capture.

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The 66 members of the regiment who were killed in the fighting all died within 400 metres of the spot where the bench has been unveiled.

They included several soldiers from Southampton, Eastleigh and Romsey, plus one from Lymington.

A memorial to Allied soldiers killed as Asnelles during the D-Day landings in 1944 (Image: Martini archive)

Those involved in the unveiling ceremony included a retired major, Peter Emery, 65, who lives in Kent but grew up in Fareham.

In a speech to villagers, Mr Emery recalled a visit he and the association's chairman, Michael Mulligan, made to Asnelles in 2019 to commemorate the 75th anniversary of D-Day.

He said: "We were humbled by the welcome we received.

"Afterwards Michael felt it important that the sacrifice of our comrades be commemorated and our gratitude to the citizens of Asnelles, who cared for our dead and dying comrades at a medical post in your church, be acknowledged."

Gold Beach, near Asnelles in France, is one of the areas where Allied troops stormed ashore in 1944 (Image: AP Photo/David Vincent)

Mr Emery said it was agreed that a bench would complement an existing D-Day memorial in the village.

READ MORE: Planning chiefs approve proposal to build D-Day memorial at Stokes Bay, Gosport

Referring to plans to upgrade the village centre he added: "We understand the final phase will be a memorial wall naming all the men who gave their lives in Asnelles on D-Day.

"Most are buried at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery in Bayeux and their names are also recorded at the new British Normandy Memorial at Ver Sur Mer.

"Hopefully, the recording of their names here in the future will be the final piece in the jigsaw.

"They were brave young men who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country and the freedom of France. I like to think they were the embodiment of the principles of your great republic."

Mr Emery praised Brittany Ferries for shipping the bench to France free of charge.