TASKER WATKINS

“TASKER WATKINS WAS AN EXTRAORDINARY MAN, PERHAPS THE MOST DISTINGUISHED WELSHMAN OF THE 20TH CENTURY”
Peter Owens, Welsh Rugby Union

he cornfield quivered with bullets and falling bodies as the light faded across Normandy. 1/5th Welch Regiment’s B Company – a contingent of the 53rd (Welsh) Division – had lost radio contact with battalion headquarters and their fellow attackers in C Company, while their tank support was no longer engaged. With every other officer killed or wounded by enemy machine guns, small-arms or booby-traps laid in the crop, Captain Tasker Watkins had been thrust into command of a force facing perilous odds. Unknown to the athletic and intelligent Welshman, a brigade communique had been sent instructing the unit not to advance beyond the road that eventually led into German-held Falaise. However, since there was no way of receiving the order, Watkins decided that he