Twenty Aberystwyth branch members and supporters of the Royal Welch Fusiliers Comrades Association of the Royal Welsh joined 200 other Association members and supporters on a memorial visit to the Normandy Battlefields in what is the 75th anniversary of when those brave men invaded the beaches of Normandy on 6 June 1944 to rid Europe of a tyranny most vile.

This visit saw men who had served with the Royal Welch Fusiliers (RWF), South Wales Borderers (SWB) and the Welch Regiment, who are all now part of the Royal Welsh, commemorate the daring feats that were the catalyst that freed the European mainland from Nazi tyranny.

The visit concentrated on three areas within the first few months of the Normandy campaign.

On 6 June 1944 the SWB hit ‘Gold Beach’ at the village of Asnelles to secure a foothold in the Nazi-occupied French mainland and steadily fight through to reach the objectives they were tasked to capture.

The next really difficult objective was to see the Welsh Division circumvent the retaking of Caen and try to dislodged SS troops in and around the shallow valleys that encapsulated the town of Evercy. Their task was to cut them off from joining up with the SS Panzer brigades that had made a push towards the town of Falaise. This fight saw the RWF attack on three separate occasions over difficult, exposed terrain, finally capturing the town of Evercy from the Nazis on 16 July 1944.

The final pilgrimage was to visit the site where Lt Tasker Watkins of the Welch Regiment – who would later become a Knight of the Realm, Senior Appeal Court Judge and president of the WRU – who had to assume command of his company due to more senior officers either being killed or severely injured and whose action in charging heavy gun emplacements under machine-gun fire secured the area and helped the Allies annex the Falaise Pocket and continue to drive the Nazi troops to retreat. For this action he was awarded the Victoria Cross, Britain’s highest decoration for valour.

Every town and village that the group visited welcomed them with open arms, a spokesperson said, and residents are eternally grateful for the Allies’ heroic actions and sacrifice.

The group conducted ceremonies at RWF memorials and at the towns and villages’ civilian memorials.

Read the full feature and see more pictures from the visit to Normandy in this week’s Cambrian News, on sale now