Private DR Hurley Jumped from Dakota Alongside Glen the Para Dog

An Update from Steve Smith whose grandfather fought with my uncle, Daniel "Roddy" Hurley, in 9 Para A Company at D-Day:

I just wanted you to know that Daniel Hurley jumped with Emile Corteil, Glen (para dog) and James Baty.  Emile and Glen were due to jump first but due to the dog being scared James stayed and helped Emile retrieve Glen from under a seat.  Emile jumped after Glen then James was the last to jump from the plane.

Daniel made it to the RV on the drop zone and was collected with a number of others by Brigadier Hill.  The rest I am sure you know.

I also found a letter in the National Archives from a Private Franklin detailing how my grandfather, jumping number 8 from a different Dakota, had jumped after him.  They both met up at the rendezvous on the drop zone but the battalion had already moved off the drop zone.  They made haste and managed to catch up to the battalion before it reached the battery.  Both were present for the assault but sadly that was the last time he was seen by Franklin. 

How fabulous to know that Uncle Roddy jumped with the famous Glen the Para Dog - seen in many wartime pictures - was at the the Battle for Merville Battery (as we long suspected, knowing that he died the day after, 7/6/44).

A big thanks to Steve for all his work and for sharing this!

Edward Hurley - Uncle Eddie - RIP

Three years ago today my Uncle Eddie passed away.

He was a "typical Hurley man" and that's the finest thing I can say, the greatest epithet that any of us could hope for.

I was greatly upset at the time, because I had been rushed into hospital and so was unable to get to his funeral and pay my respects to him.

I suppose my main memories of Uncle Eddie were at my Nanna Hurley's house in Fairwater on Boxing Day. Every year the Hurleys would all gather there to continue our Christmas celebrations, and exchange presents between the extended family. We'd all be there crammed into my nan's little house.

Many years I'd come away loaded down with gifts, both ridiculous and coveted. I recall a Jaws gift set in which the socks fitted me like stockings. Another was a gift set of soaps (red, yellow and blue) in the shape of speed boats - and they smelt "lush." I kept them for many years, always smelling them, never daring to use them for fear they'd wear away. It was years before I even dared to take them out of the packaging!

When we were up our nan's all the Hurley cousins would be there of course, and like any children at Christmas we would tear around the house (inside and out) and I'm sure we all drove our parents crazy being all hyped up on the excitement of Christmas. Many's the time a parent would hiss those words that all parents have hissed to their children down the ages at clan gatherings: "behave!" -- as they try not to be overheard, yet at the same time load the words with enough of a threat to stop their child running about like a mini tornado.

And many's the time Uncle Eddie would overhear and say "leave him alone - he's only having fun." He always seemed to have a twinkle in his eye that told you he was still a kid at heart. Perhaps because he never had children of his own he enjoyed the chaos and the company of all of us who brought our manic ways to Nanna Hurley's.

I recall him being generous too, pressing a secret fiver into a hand when mum and dad weren't looking, which could be secreted away in a pocket. You'd tell mum and dad later when they couldn't say "give it back" as in those days it was a small fortune (still is to me - just in case my children are looking in).

My dad often told us of the time Uncle Eddie went out to work. As the first of the Hurley boys to get a job (Uncle Roddy must have been older, but died in WW2) one of the things he bought was lemonade. As he drunk it, he would mark the bottle and warn his siblings not to touch it (you can imagine, can't you?). Anyway, my dad would laugh as he told us they'd swig at his bottle and then top it up with water.

Just a little while ago we had our wedding video converted over to DVD. It brought the memories flooding back. When asked if anyone wanted to say any other words by the MC only one person from all those tables of guests stood up - and it was Uncle Eddie. In his thick Cardiff accent (which you don't notice growing up as we all had them), he thanked us for a great occasion and then announced that he was too "het up" to say much more. He was clearly quite emotional.

People often say we don't appreciate what we have until it's gone and I think that is true. Some of our extended families we don't see now from year to year, especially as more move away, have families etc. Perhaps now it's just the occasional wedding, Christening etc.

The South Wales Echo

I just wish I could have seen my Uncle Eddie one last time, even if it were not to speak to as such, but to say goodbye at his funeral. Maybe one day, God willing, I'll see him again and he'll clip me round the ear and say "gercha" whilst pulling a mean face like he did when we were kids.

I know Auntie Evelyn was distraught to lose Eddie as he took care of everything. I can't imagine what she went through, but I do know that all of us miss Uncle Eddie for his wicked sense of humour, his generosity and for being a "typical Hurley man."

Rest in Peace Uncle Eddie. We all miss you.

Private D.R. Hurley Remembered

Private D.R. Hurley

Just the other day I got in touch with an old school friend called Ashley via Facebook and we began reminiscing about the good old days, catching up etc.

It turns out he had gone on to join the Paras and did 119 jumps with them. It was then he spotted a post I'd done on Facebook, on All Souls Day in honour of my uncle who had served and died with the Paras in WW2.

He then told me that he was going to London for the Remembrance Day activities this weekend, and that he would be planting a Cross for my uncle at Westminster Abbey. I hadn't asked him to, it was clearly something he felt he had to do for a fellow Para.

I have to say I was deeply moved. All too often in our daily lives we bump into people who sap our belief in humanity. Then something like this happens and it reminds me that there are good people out there, who do good works because they should be done.

So thanks Ashley! You've done something fantastic for all our extended family, and reminded me that good deeds can have a much greater impact than we may think when we do them.

Barry Train Station and a WW2 Blackout Death

I waffled on yesterday about Barry Island and some of my memories of the place. In doing so I forgot, mea culpa, a major event in my family history. I had intended on mentioning it, but in all the excitement of remembering rides at the fun fair and the freeeeeeezing cold water at Cold Knap pool, I erm... what was I going to say? Well, um, this is embarrassing. Oh yes -- I forgot.

Those 'senior moments' happen more often, their proximity getting closer and closer.

Many moons ago my mum told me of a relative (from her Huzzey side of the family) who died at Barry station, during WW2 at the height of the blackout. I think it was her auntie - but I'll no doubt get the details through very soon.

It's strange really because when we think of WW2 we often think of those men who died on the front line, the brave souls like my own uncle Daniel 'Roddy' Hurley who died the day after D Day with the Paras at or near Merville. Or perhaps we think of those killed in the bombing raids.

A London Transport safety poster

But whoever thinks of those killed in accidents due to the blackout? We take lights for granted of course, whether street lights, car headlights, lights on buildings... and despite what the (media-omnipresent) Prof Brian Cox might tell us, we do need lights at night for safety, especially with cars, trains, motorbikes, buses and much else whizzing around.

I'm sure my relative who died at Barry station (not the only relative to have an accident with a train - I'll try and write something about my paternal grandfather another day) was far from the only victim of a blackout accident.

Who knows... this may be something I return to later.

Relative Confesses to Tramp Friend - On TV

Gandalf without the hat

I had a text the other day from a relative who shall remain nameless (hi mum) who had felt honour bound to confess that her friend was a tramp.

'That's no way to talk about dad' I thought. OK, he might occasionally walk sideways as he ambles down Albany Road, but let's have some respect here!

On closer inspection the text said her friend and neighbour was playing a tramp on the TV series 'New Tricks.'

He was seen drinking, abusing the police and throwing a brick, all very convincingly! I wonder if he had used any nearby people as role models? Was that a bag of reduced 10p doughnuts in his hand?

There was also an unkempt ex-tramp in a Catholic nursing home. So many role models in one episode. Did they give Old Pa Hurley any royalties???

Link:
New Tricks Episode 8.2

House of Hurley Au Couture Summer 2011

If our Nanny Hurley hasn't washed since Tommy Steele kissed her sometime before the telephone was invented, we believe this is a faithful reconstruction of her new wardrobe for Summer 2011.

If you see her on the streets of Cardiff, collecting bags, throwing cats at passers by, cussing at teenagers, please be kind.

Ever since that Tommy Steele peck, it's been downhill all the way! ;-)

She Hasn't Washed Since the 50's? What A Tommy Steele Kiss Can Do.

A vinyl recording from the 19th Century.

I received a rather disturbing email this week.

go to you tube to: - Tommy Steele "Singing the Blues"  and Bill Haley "Rock around The Clock"    and show the kids the music Nan loved and went to see them in Concert.

Tell them that Tommy Steele came out at the back of The Gaumont Cinema in Queen Street (Where Top Rank was afterwards) sang this song and kissed me on my cheek... told my friend Nesta I wasn't going to wash my cheek for a week!!!!!

They will wet themselves laughing at that..

Also Jim Reeves  I love you because and the special one of Nat King Cole singing "When I fall in Love"  Poppa ###* asked for this to be played on board the cruise ship for my Birthday he always says it was his song to me.............. Got the bucket ready!!!!!!! 

Indeed I have! I think it will have to be a vomit trough for the whole family though!


*I have deleted the name for his sanity, his good name down the Cons Club, and just in case I get sued (bad taste etc.)

Heol-y-Plwcca & City Road: Growing Up Where Two Welsh Martyrs Were Killed

St Philip Evans

I still remember to this day coming across a small plaque on a wall at the very bottom end of Crwys Road, where it met Mackintosh Place, Albany Road, City Road and Richmond Road, quite a thoroughfare in Roath, Cardiff.

I believe it was on the wall of a branch of Nat West Bank which stood on the corner between Crwys and Richmond Road - but I might be wrong there (lap it up, it may be the last time ;-) ).

Anyhow, this plaque struck me because it told me that I was standing on the spot where two Catholic Saints were martyred for their Faith.

It seemed weird to read that in the middle of urban Cardiff with cars whizzing by in all manner of directions (a five way junction is a startling place by anyone's reckoning).

Here was the place where St John Lloyd and St Philip Evans met their fate on the scaffold, merely for being Catholic priests in Wales. That is how terrible (in its real sense) those penal times were, when men could be killed for offering the Mass to those who were practising the religion that their forefathers had, for many generations.

You might even say that Welshmen had witnessed the Sacrifice of the Mass since the time of the Roman Empire, since circa the third Century A.D.

Maybe I was crass in my ignorance not to have hitherto known this historical reality, but to discover that two Saints had died on that spot really made an impression on me as a teenager (yes, I have a good memory, before anyone quips in!)..

The B4261 is City Road, the A469 is Albany Road

So it was the other day on researching some part of Cardiff's history I fell upon a reference to the Saints being martyred at a place called Pwllhalog.

This struck me as strange, as I quite literally grew up just around the corner from the spot where the martyrs were hung. Yet I had never heard of Pwllhalog as a place.

I know enough schoolboy Welsh to know that Pwll means Pool, but more than that? Just lake Manuel in Fawlty Towers I had to state "I know nothing."

On researching this further, it seems that the place name may well be Pwll Halog and translates as Unhallowed Pool.

According to the Real Cardiff site, City Road used to be called Heol-y-Plwcca:

Up until the middle of last century it was known as Heol-y-Plwcca after the gallows field at its northern end. Here, in a plot known as 'the Cut Throats', more or less where the Road has its junction with Albany, stood the town gibbet. Nearby were plots called Cae Budr (the defiled field), Plwcca Halog (the unhallowed plot), and Pwll Halog (the unhallowed pool). Today they've got side streets built across them and are happily called Strathnairn, Glenroy and Keppoch. The grimness has been vanquished, buried under backgarden clay and foundation, forgotten.

 According to the site/page Walk Down City Road:

City Road used to be called Plwcca Lane.

Plwcca means reeds or rushes. Before the houses were built this part of Roath was rough scrub land. People used to come to collect the rushes to make baskets.

In 1829, the building that is now the Mackintosh Institute was a mansion out in the countryside. It was called Roath Castle because the tops of its walls looked like the turrets on a castle.

In those days, City Road was called Castle Road because it led to Roath Castle.

In 1905, Cardiff was granted the status of city rather than simply a town and Castle Road became City Road.

So we are left to wonder did Heol-y-Plwcca gain its name from the rushes that people gathered there, or from the gallows where the Saints met their end? Plwcca seems to mean plot and/or scrubland, with Halog (unhallowed) seeming to be the part of the name(s) from the area linked to the death of the guilty and possibly the burial-site on unconsecrated ground of 'criminals.'

I wonder if the 'unhallowed plot' refers to a burial plot where the Saints may well have ended up, discarded as common criminals by the government officials that oversaw their martyrdom?

If so (and I realise I am taking a little poetic licence here) might the fact that "today they've got side streets built across them and are happily called Strathnairn...." mean that the street I spent most of my youngest years on (the same Strathnairn near the City Road end), be at least near the place of their martyrdom, if not even closer to the site of their burial?

I have found one reference to their being hung, drawn and quartered (a particularly brutal manner of death - the fate of William Wallace in the film Braveheart), but other information seems scanty, so I simply do not know if they ended up being scattered around Britain as a warning, or put in unmarked graves locally.

But how fascinating to find out more of the background of Heol-y-Plwcca, which would become City Road.

When I was up my Nan's, Anne Huzzey's house in Pentwyn a few years before she passed away, she told me about when she was young, growing up on Strathnairn Street and her Uncle Walter would come home from working on the railways and send her around to City Road to buy fish and chips.

It's funny that two Welsh priests found martyrdom at the end of City Road, where my Nan bought fish and chips, where I spent my very earliest, formative years and later would return to drink in the Roath Park - a pub which made it into one of the tabloid papers for being in the top ten "worst pubs in Britain." I still remember starting a tour of Cardiff's pubs on my 18th birthday at that very establishment.

As a youngster in the late 70s I remember City Road being full of car dealerships (seems weird now) and someone once told me it was in the Guinness Book of Records for having the world's greatest concentration of car dealers in a road. I still don't know if that was an urban myth.

Isn't it weird how one single road can change so much and encapsulate so much?

From Heol-y-Plwcca and the Martyrdom of two Saints to City Road, take-aways and allegedly one of the worst pubs in Britain.

Life rolls on...

Private D R Hurley on the Para Data Site

Great News.

At last my Uncle Roddy (D R Hurley) is on the Para Data site (click here).

When I first started searching for reference to him on official web sites, his name was virtually non-existent.

I have submitted his photo to the Para Data site and once it is accepted by their moderator I'll let you know via this blog.

btw - here's a great page on the memorial activities at the Merville Battery site. The 'Traditional 9th Battalion Curry' (pictured right) looks like something not to be missed.

I have to wonder, if Private DR Hurley's brothers turned up would there by any curry left???

Mr & Mrs Daniel Hurley, Cork City.

This photo of my grandfather and grandmother, Daniel Hurley and Ann Hurley, is undated. My father believes it was taken in Cork City when they stayed there on holiday.

HVP Huzzey: International Welsh Rugby & Baseball Player

My great-grandfather, HVP Huzzey, was not only the Shane Williams of his day -- a winger with a huge number of tries scored for his club (Cardiff RFC) and an impressive try-per-match record for Wales -- he also went on to score a large number of tries of Oldham RLFC (see previous post), and played international baseball.

This article, written by Howard Evans in the South Wales Echo on 30/12/2008, details HVP Huzzey's track record with Cardiff, Wales and Oldham.

"These days [HVP Huzzey] would be a world-beater..."

How strange to read that, in 1908, he played Baseball for Wales at the Harlequins Ground in Roath, playing fields where I would play as a child some 70-80 years later.

I recall climbing worryingly high trees there, fishing for sticklebacks, climbing to the disused old rail branch line from which you could look-over much of the industrial units of the Colchester Avenue area of Penylan.

Halcyon days!

Click on the image here to read the full article by Howard Evans in the South Wales Echo.

Welsh Team, 7th January 1899 at St Helens ground, Swansea.

My great-grandfather HVP Huzzey is 2nd from left in the 2nd row.

This photo is from the Swansea RFC site.

To quote the site directly:

Wales Team v England 7th January 1899.
Wales (26) v England (3) played at St Helens.

Back Row(L to R): T Dobson(Cardiff), F Scrine(Swansea), W Parker(Swansea), J Hodges(Newpot), A Bryce(Aberavon), J Blake(Cardiff), D J Daniel(Llanelli).

2nd Row(L to R): R T Skrimshire(Newport), H V P Hussey(Cardiff), W J Bancroft(Captain  - Swansea), W Llewellyn(Llwynypia), E G Nicholls(Cardiff), W Alexander.

G Bowen(Linesman), Evan James(Swansea), David James(Swansea).

(Image made available for copy by John & Ira preece. Ira preece is the Grand daughter of David James).

Again my (maternal) great-grandfather's name is erroneously spelt 'Hussey.'

It does not say the positions etc. but he generally played Wing for Cardiff and Wales and was/became Vice Captain of both.

H.V.P. Huzzey at Cardiff RFC

The following page give the fixtures and results for Cardiff RFC for the season 1899-1900:

CRFC 1899-1900.


This was the final year that my great grandad Vivian Huzzey played for Cardiff before switching codes to play for Oldham RLFC.

As you'll see on the page it misspells his name as Hussey, which is a great shame.

Cardiff, already ensconced in the Arms Park were a formidable team winning 23 out of 30 matches.

I have a clipping from the South Wales Echo which details the number of tries scored by the Cardiff Vice-Captain, Henry Vivian Pugh Huzzey, and the total is a formidable.

I hope to scan the article and put it on this site in the coming days.

HVP Huzzey's photo appears in the Cardiff Yeseterday book, according to the Index Site:

Huzzey, H.V.P., Vice Captain, Cardiff RFC (Team Photo), 1898-99, III-131

Hello Smiler! This IS Private Daniel Roderick Hurley

The soldier at mid-right in this photo, with the broadest smile, is indeed Private Daniel Roderick 'Roddy' Hurley, A Company, 9 Para Battalion, 6th Airborne Division who died on the 7th June, 1944.

Please say a prayer for the repose of his soul.

Were D.R. Hurley & T.W. Smith Good Mates in A Company?

9 Para Battalion, A Company.

I have posted this picture before.

Just today the grandson (Stephen Smith) of a member of A Company (Thomas William Smith) got in touch after viewing this blog to say that he thinks my uncle (Daniel Roderick "Roddy" Hurley) is standing next to his grandfather in the above photo, they are in the 2nd row down from the back, 2nd and 3rd from the right respectively.

Here is a close-up of the two men:

 

 

 

T.W. Smith & D.R. Hurley?

I am going to ask family members to confirm that the man in the middle-right of this close-up is indeed my Uncle Roddy, but it sure looks like him.

Here is Uncle Roddy in his individual photo in uniform for you to compare:

It certainly seems that we are finding out more about Private Daniel Roderick Hurley.

Many thanks to Stephen Smith for his help. It's tempting to think that his grandad and my uncle were good friends. They certainly must have known each other!

As a fitting P.S. I'm happy to say that the author Neil Barber is ensuring that the above photo of Uncle Roddy is going to be put on view, with other members of A Company, 9 Para, at the Merville Battery museum in Normandy.

Photo of Private D.R. Hurley, 9 Para Batallion , 6th Airborne Division

This is Private Daniel Roderick Hurley, my uncle, who died in Normandy on the 7th June 1944.

Family members will see the resemblance of his brothers in the 19-year-old's face.

Known as Roddy (his father - my grandfather's - first name was also Daniel) it seems that he died of his wounds on the 7th, so may have been fatally shot or had shrapnel injuries etc. at the assault on the Merville Battery on the 6th, or received his fatal injuries the following day at the village of Hauger where 9 Para was faced with some form of 'Ostruppen' (volunteers from Poland/Russia/Turkmenistan - details unknown at present).

If family members, researchers, veterans etc. want to be sent a high resolution jpeg by email please drop me a line.

A special thanks to Uncle Pat and Aunty Mary (recently decamped to the wilds of Lancashire!) who supplied the hard copy of this photo.

Please say a prayer for the repose of the soul of Roddy Hurley.

A Company, 9 Para Batallion, 6th Airborne Division, 1944

The above picture is of 9 Para's A Company, which we believe is the Company in which Private Daniel Roderick Hurley served and died.

At the front of the picture is Para dog Glenn (see previous post).

If any veterans or family members can identify Private Hurley in the above photo, please do contact me.

Any internet casual visitors, please say a prayer for the repose of his soul.

9 Para's War Dog

I have just been reading about Private Emil Corteil and his dog, Glenn, in a book on the Merville Battery assault by Carl Shilleto.

They were in A Company, which we believe to be the Company my uncle, Private D.R. Hurley, served with.

The following 6 year old news report from the telegraph includes a mention of 9 Para, A Company's famous War Dog:

The members of the airborne forces who died in the initial D-Day landings and are buried in the Ranville cemetery include a dog.

Glen was the only "war dog" with 9 Parachute Battalion, which parachuted into the area around Merville to silence the main German coastal defence battery on the allies' left flank.

Pte Corteil was probably known to my uncle, and they share the same cemetery in Normandy. Corteil's grave (pictured right) is shared by his dog Glenn*, said to be the only example of this, a handler being buried with his dog.

Link:
Daily Telegraph article
Para Dogs
Pte Corteil's Grave Info

*Some reports (like the Telegraph's) give Glen as the name, but most seem to refer to Glenn.

A Tale of Two Bunkers

This picture of the Merville Battery site today shows one of the bunkers on site.

This is the site that 9 Para, including Private D.R. Hurley assaulted before dawn on D-Day, whilst other battalions of the 6th Airborne Division took Pegasus Bridge and other targets.

These bunkers were built to be camouflaged from the air.

Indeed on seeing this picture of a bunker at Merville, our youngest immediately said 'it looks like Pembrey Country Park.'

At the Country Park - the site of RAF Pembrey until 1957 and a Royal Ordnance Factory during WW2 and the Korea War - there are many bunkers almost identical in layout to the Merville bunker pictured here.

The Kidwelly History site says of the Royal Ordnance Factory at Pembrey:

It was Britain's largest producer of TNT with 700 tons and produced 1,000 tons of Ammonium Nitrate and 40 tons of Tetryl at it's peak in 1942 and employed 2,000 people.

Therefore it would seem that the bunkers in the country park, such as that pictured here, were used for storing ordnance. It is probably the case that the bunker at Merville above was for the same usage.

One can almost imagine the concrete entrance to the bunkers painted in camouflage paint, draped with camouflage netting and similar to disguise them from the air and reconnaissance efforts by the RAF and the Luftwaffe accordingly.

There is less earth on top of the French bunker, but given the severe aerial bombardment of the Merville Battery, there's little wonder that the actual bunker had less natural coverage.

The picture below shows the Merville Battery with the gun bunkers circled. It shows the extent of Allied bombing on the site which, if nothing else, must have unnerved and demoralised the defenders.

According the official Merville Museum site (see link in right hand panel), the Merville Battery received:

The most intensive bombing (in excess of 1,000 bombs dropped by 109 Lancasters) of the night of 5th/6th June.

Funnily enough, the Welsh bunker pictured above with its occupant, a London-style red double decker bus (I think it's a Routemaster - it certainly looks like one), is said to be haunted and featured on the TV show 'Most Haunted' which focused on Pembrey Woods (see embedded You Tube link below).

As usual the programme is more than a little cheesy and open to all manner of interpretation, but it also gives a good overview and intro to the Country Park and its former occupants and usage. You can see the bunker with the double decker bus in it on part one of the show.



Links:
Merville on French Wikipedia (more info than its English version)
Kidwelly History on RAF Pembrey

Did Allied Leaflets Make Defenders of Hauger Fight on?

In reading up on 9 Para's engagement on the 7th of June at Hauger, against German Army volunteers/conscripts from Soviet Republics, I found the following text which gives an overall assessment of who those people were and why they enrolled in the German Army and thus were in Normandy, 1944, shooting at British paratroopers:

In my opinion there is one reason which explains everything: the general hatred of the Soviet system, a hatred greater than inborn patriotism and loyalty to one's own government. Those who have not seen the limitless degradation of man in what was the Soviet hell cannot understand that a moment may come when a man out of sheer desperation will take up arms against the hateful system even at the side of an enemy. The responsibility for his mutiny falls on the system and not him. Here the notions of loyalty and treason lose their meaning. If, in the eyes of many people, Germans who fought against Hitler were not traitors, why should the Russians who fought against the Soviet system be traitors?

How little public opinion in the West understood the real state of affairs is perhaps best shown by the text of the leaflets, addressed to Soviet soldiers in German uniform, which were dropped by the Allied Air Forces in France in the summer of 1944. These leaflets called for the cessation of fighting and promised as a reward - speedy repatriation of prisoners to the USSR! The effect was of course, such that some of the Eastern troops fought desperately to the last man. Thus, for example, an Armenian battalion perished completely in bitter fighting. Soldiers of the Eastern formations were the unhappiest soldiers of the Second World War. Deprived of their fatherland, scorned by their protectors, regarded generally as traitors, although in their consciences they were not traitors, they fought often for an alien and hateful cause; the only reward which they eventually received for their pains was toil and death, mostly in a foreign land, or "repatriation" to the hell from which they had tried to escape. 

The part I particularly found of interest was that Allied leaflets dropped on Normandy before D-Day, targeting the 'Ostruppen' in these regiments, hugely backfired. In all but promising to repatriate them to the USSR, the Allied forces had ensured that these men (who were known in part for surrendering or running away at engagements with an enemy) would fight to the bitter end.

If Private D. R. Hurley were indeed shot at Hauger, then the leaflet drops by the allies may have helped to create the circumstances. At the very least they may have resulted in the deaths of a few more Paras from his battalion.

Link:

Russian Volunteers in the German Wehrmacht in WWII by Lt. Gen Wladyslaw Anders and Antonio Munoz