25/08/2026
'Ordinary people, extraordinary courage...'
On the 25th August 1944, 22-year-old Private Fred Greenwood crossed the River Seine with the 5th Battalion Wiltshire Regiment, as Allied forces pushed eastwards following the liberation of Normandy and sought to establish a bridgehead across the river for the advance into northern France.
Fred had trained as a signaller and landed on Juno Beach on D-Day with the 5th Battalion Royal Berkshire Regiment, helping maintain vital communications. Two months later, he was selected to reinforce the 5th Wiltshires as the Allied advance pushed across France.
On the 24th August, Fred arrived at Vernon, ready for the planned assault. He listened to the briefing and later recalled:
“God this sounds like a su***de mission. I thought they were mad.”
The following day, Fred was in the lead assault boat as the Wiltshires began their crossing. The boat immediately sank, forcing his group to turn back. They eventually crossed in a second boat.
The crossing was chaotic and deadly. The boats hit a submerged sandbank, while the wind dispersed the smoke screen protecting the assault. German machine-gunners opened fire, and only one of the original eight boats survived.
Once across, Fred began setting up his wireless set to establish communications with the troops on the opposite bank. His position then came under attack.
Despite German soldiers advancing, Fred remained at his post for several hours. Eventually, in the early hours of the morning, he ran out of ammunition and was captured.
Fred spent the rest of the war as a prisoner, held at Stalag 12A and Stalag 7A at Moosburg. He endured starvation, terrible conditions and malaria. Remarkably, he also worked at Munich Zoo, later recalling riding Arabian horses and feeding swedes to the hippopotamuses.
Liberated by American forces on the 29th April 1945, Fred returned to England and became a builder, helping to rebuild Britain after the war. He died in 2014, aged 92.
Fred's story gives us a glimpse of the courage, uncertainty and danger faced by the men who crossed the Seine that day.
