Murland - Retreat and Rearguard - Dunkirk 1940: the Evacuation of the BEF to the Channel Ports

For my great uncle Lance Corporal Archie Goode
and my grandson Archie Proud

First published in Great Britain in 2016 by
Pen & Sword Military
an imprint of
Pen & Sword Books Ltd
47 Church Street
Barnsley
South Yorkshire
S70 2AS

Copyright Jerry Murland 2016

ISBN: 978 1 47382 366 2
PDF ISBN: 978 1 47388 105 1
EPUB ISBN: 978 1 47388 104 4
PRC ISBN: 978 1 47388 103 7

The right of Jerry Murland to be identified as the Author of this Work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

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Contents

Authors Note

W hen describing the fighting in this book I have often referred to modern day road numbering in order to give the reader using current maps of the area a more precise location. While some of the abbreviations in the text are self explanatory others require a modicum of explanation. I have used a form of abbreviation when describing battalion formations, thus the 2nd Battalion Royal Norfolk Regiment becomes 2/Norfolks or more simply the Norfolks. German army units are a little more complex. Within the infantry regiment there were three battalions each one approximately the size of a British battalion and as with their British counterparts the battalion was broken down into four companies of riflemen who were given an Arabic numeral, for example, 3 Kompanie. Again, I have abbreviated when describing these units, thus Infantry Regiment 162 becomes IR 162 while the second battalion within that regiment is abbreviated to II/IR 162. Some of the other equivalent German and British ranks referred to in the text are as follows:

Acknowledgements

I n searching for personal accounts written by the men who fought in the France and Flanders campaign of 1940 I have examined archive collections across the country and it is to those archivists, librarians and keepers of collections that I am indebted. The National Archives at Kew continues to be a valuable source of material, particularly in respect of regimental war diaries and the rich source of accounts that flowed between veterans and the Army Historical Branch post-1945. These accounts, apart from revealing what exactly took place and where, have provided a fascinating insight into the true nature of the fighting at a tactical level. Other sources of material have been found in the Imperial War Museum collections and the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives.

I must also thank Eric Old the administrator at the Monmouth Castle Museum, Gavin Glass at the Royal Ulster Rifles Regimental Museum, Geoff Elson at the Staffordshire Regimental Museum, Lieutenant Colonel Colin Bulleid at the Hampshire Regimental Museum, Jim Pearson at the Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum, Dr John Paddock at the Mercian Regimental Museum, General Jonathan Riley at the Royal Welch Fusiliers Museum, Kate Swann at the National Army Museum, Mike Galer at the 9/12 Lancers Museum, and the archivist at the Bovington Tank Museum.

I also extend my thanks to John Dixon for his help and Tim Lynch for sharing with me some of the material he used in Dunkirk 1940 Whereabouts Unknown. Peter Caddick-Adams kindly gave permission to quote from his account of 143 Brigade, John Carbis allowed me to quote from We Marched, Major General Sir Lawrence New gave permission to quote from the Pictorial History of the 4th and 7th Royal Tank Regiment, Patrick Wilson kindly gave permission to use some of his material in Dunkirk From Disaster to Deliverance, Guy Rommelaere was kind enough to allow me access to his sources and the Holdich family allowed me to quote from Neil Holdichs diary. I have also used extracts from several veterans accounts and for these I must thank Ron Stilwell, Ian Laidler, Ricki Brandon Cliffe, Jim Garside, Peter Miller and Andrew Newson. Trefor Llewellyn very generously lent me his fathers papers in which I found the account of the Welsh Guards at Arras and West Cappel.

Jim Tuckwell, the webmaster of the excellent Durham Light Infantry website read my material regarding the Durham Light Infantry and kindly sent me Michael Farrs diary along with other accounts of the St Venant fighting. Dave OMara and Nick Watts advised me on aspects of the Arras counter-stroke while Dave Drew and others on the WW2 Talk website answered my numerous requests for information and very helpfully supplied me with material. Chris Baker saved me several trips to Kew and generously photographed material for me and Laura Dimmock at the RUSI library in Whitehall responded with her usual promptness to my many requests. Tom Waterer, Dave Rowland and Paul Webster have my gratitude for their excellent company on several battleground visits and for sharing in those delightful moments when the first beer is poured.

To Jon Cooksey I am eternally thankful, not only for his support and guidance in the preparation of this volume but for allowing me full access to his archive of material on Boulogne and Calais. He and I spent two days following the BEF retreat from Louvain to the Escaut trying to find obscure chteaux and scrambling around the pill boxes of the Gort Line, an activity that my eldest granddaughter Alisha found altogether easier than we did! It was she that remarked that we were often on ground that was fought over during the First World War, a sobering thought when visiting Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) cemeteries in search of 1940 casualties.

The maps have been drawn by Rebecca Jones of Glory Designs in Coventry who has made her usual suggestions as to how my scribbles can be improved. For her this book has been the catalyst that prompted the discovery of the military service of her grandfather, Gunner John Jones, who served in the 48th Division with 24/Field Regiment and was evacuated from Dunkirk on 2 June 1940.

While I have made every effort to trace the copyright holders of the material used, I crave the indulgence of literary executors or copyright holders where those efforts have so far failed and would encourage them to contact me through the publisher so any error can be rectified.