Hi Everyone. Thanks for your further info.
To Dallas Tx. You asked about the weapons. Well, here I must be honest, the Germans went for quality, and we went for quantity, or that is how it appeared to us.
The standard British infantry rifle was good, The Standard Machine gun, the Bren, was Ok, for me, it fired a pattern of five, one of them nearly always dead centre, But it was slow in comparison to the Spandau. The Sten was rubbish, that is all I can say about it.

By the way, my spelling of German names leaves a lot to be desired! I cannot distinguish between the makes of Spandau. For us, they were just the German machine gun, very good indeed, and with a tremendous rate of fire. I have seen a comrade cut in half at the waist, when he caught a burst.

There was one other German light machine gun that was envied by the British and that was the, (Here I go again) “Schmiezer” or something like that. It was light and beautifully balanced and when fired, hardly any recoil. A wonderful weapon.
Much in demand, but with one terrible drawback, its sound was distinctive, if you were using one, then there was the possibility that someone nearby hearing the sound would open fire in your direction. Some poor souls, it is reputed, were killed using this gun, Then the use of it was banned, for obvious reasons.

The one outstanding German weapon was undoubtedly the 88 artillery piece, for this was a gun of legend, (Still is) its fire sound was distinctive and very effective. Old Veterans still talk about the 88 as being the greatest gun of the second World war.

The Heaven preserve us! we come to the PIAT Projectile/Infantry/anti/tank. A bloody great heavy thing that had to be loaded by pulling back on a very strong spring, I always had difficulty in loading the thing. The projectile sat in an open, half round tray ready for firing, but you had to get close for accuracy. When it hit the tank it burned a hole right through the armour about ¾” diameter and then the power of the blast followed through and spread the occupants all over the inside of the tank, rather like jam.
Nasty! Very nasty! I have seen a PIAT shot penetrate solid hard rock to a depth of six feet.

When using the PIAT you made sure there was not a tree behind you, and that your legs were closed! for the recoil could slam you back and it there was anything behind? Then your future love life would be severely restricted! There was one other very dangerous thing about the PIAT, When fired, you should roll over quickly, for sometimes the tail fin would come hurtling back in your direction. Nasty! Very nasty!

I remember very clearly in Holland, two of us had been put into a prepared defensive are armed with a PIAT , for there was nothing in front of us and we could hear German tanks moving. Believe it or not, I could not pull the blasted spring back to load it. One other oddity. The German stick grenade had concrete heads, they had done away with the old metal ones.

Kai Petri talked about the Falaise pocket, I am coming to that next, for we were at the back of the trap pushing those inside towards the ever closing noose at the bag neck. I never want to see anything like that again. Not even for a sworn Enemy.
Sapper Brian.