Jon Cooksey - Boulogne 20 Guards Brigades Fighting Defence, May 1940

Other guides in the Battleground Europe Series:

Walking the Salient by Paul Reed

Ypres Sanctuary Wood and Hooge by Nigel Cave

Ypres Hill 60 by Nigel Cave

Ypres Messines Ridge by Peter Oldham

Ypres Polygon Wood by Nigel Cave

Ypres Passchendaele by Nigel Cave

Ypres Airfields and Airmen by Michael OConnor

Ypres St Julien by Graham Keech

Walking the Somme by Paul Reed

Somme Gommecourt by Nigel Cave

Somme Serre by Jack Horsfall & Nigel Cave

Somme Beaumont Hamel by Nigel Cave

Somme Thiepval by Michael Stedman

Somme La Boisselle by Michael Stedman

Somme Fricourt by Michael Stedman

Somme Carnoy-Montauban by Graham Maddocks

Somme Pozieres by Graham Keech

Somme Courcelette by Paul Reed

Somme Boom Ravine by Trevor Pidgeon

Somme Mametz Wood by Michael Renshaw

Somme Delville Wood by Nigel Cave

Somme Advance to Victory (North) 1918 by Michael Stedman

Somme Flers by Trevor Pidgeon

Somme Bazentin Ridge by Edward Hancock and Nigel Cave

Somme Combles by Paul Reed

Arras Vimy Ridge by Nigel Cave

Arras Gavrelle by Trevor Tasker and Kyle Tallett

Arras Bullecourt by Graham Keech

Arras Monchy le Preux by Colin Fox

Hindenburg Line by Peter Oldham

Hindenburg Line Epehy by Bill Mitchinson

Hindenburg Line Riqueval by Bill Mitchinson

Hindenburg Line Villers-Plouich by Bill Mitchinson

Hindenburg Line Cambrai by Jack Horsfall & Nigel Cave

Hindenburg Line Saint Quentin by Helen McPhail and Philip Guest

Hindenburg Line Bourlon Wood by Jack Horsfall & Nigel Cave

La Bass Neuve Chapelle by Geoffrey Bridger

Loos Hohenzollen by Andrew Rawson

Loos Hill 70 by Andrew Rawson

Mons by Jack Horsfall and Nigel Cave

Accrington Pals Trail by William Turner

Poets at War: Wilfred Owen by Helen McPhail and Philip Guest

Poets at War: Edmund Blunden by Helen McPhail and Philip Guest

Poets at War: Graves & Sassoon by Helen McPhail and Philip Guest

Gallipoli by Nigel Steel

Walking the Italian Front by Francis Mackay

Italy Asiago by Francis Mackay

Verdun by Christina Holstein

Boer War The Relief of Ladysmith by Lewis Childs

Boer War The Siege of Ladysmith by Lewis Childs

Boer War Kimberley by Lewis Childs

Isandlwana by Ian Knight and Ian Castle

Rorkes Drift by Ian Knight and Ian Castle

Wars of the Roses Wakefield/ Towton by Philip A. Haigh

English Civil War Naseby by Martin Marix Evans, Peter Burton and

Michael Westaway

Napoleonic Hougoumont by Julian Paget and Derek Saunders

Napoleonic Waterloo by Andrew Uffindell and Michael Corum

WW2 Pegasus Bridge/Merville Battery by Carl Shilleto

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WW2 Gold Beach by Christopher Dunphie & Garry Johnson

WW2 Normandy Gold Beach Jig by Tim Saunders

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WW2 Sword Beach by Tim Kilvert-Jones

WW2 Battle of the Bulge St Vith by Michael Tolhurst

WW2 Battle of the Bulge Bastogne by Michael Tolhurst

WW2 Dunkirk by Patrick Wilson

WW2 Calais by Jon Cooksey

WW2 Boulogne by Jon Cooksey

WW2 Das Reich Drive to Normandy by Philip Vickers

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Battleground Europe Series guides under contract for future release:

Stamford Bridge & Hastings by Peter Marren

Somme High Wood by Terry Carter

Somme German Advance 1918 by Michael Stedman

Somme Beaucourt by Michael Renshaw

Walking Arras by Paul Reed

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Fromelles by Peter Pedersen

Hamel by Peter Pedersen

WW2 Normandy Epsom by Tim Saunders

WW2 Normandy Mont Pinon by Eric Hunt

WW2 Normandy Operation Bluecoat by Ian Daglish

WW2 Market Garden Arnhem, The Bridge by Frank Steer

WW2 Normandy Falaise by Tim Kilvert-Jones

WW2 Walcheren by Andrew Rawson

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Photograph previous page: An abandoned Allied anti-aircraft gun on the harbour front. Bundesarchiv, Koblenz

For Heather and Georgia

Other books by Jon Cooksey:

Calais A Fight to the Finish

(2000 Battleground series)

and

Barnsley Pals

History of the 13th and 14th Battalions,

York and Lancaster Regiment, 1914-1918

(1986)

Published by

LEO COOPER

an imprint of

Pen & Sword Books Limited

47 Church Street, Barnsley, South Yorkshire S70 2AS

Copyright Jon Cooksey, 2002

ISBN 0 85052 814 3
eISBN 9781783379286

A CIP catalogue of this book is available

from the British Library

Printed by CPI UK

For up-to-date information on other titles produced under the Leo Cooper imprint, please telephone or write to:

Pen & Sword Books Ltd, FREEPOST SF5, 47 Church Street

Barnsley, South Yorkshire S70 2AS

Telephone 01226 734555

CONTENTS

FOREWORD

by

Sir Beville Stanier Bt

I can remember, very clearly, at the age of six, the moment when my mother said to me, Your fathers safe and hes back from Boulogne. Of course at such a young age, I had no real idea of what he and the men of 2nd Battalion, Welsh Guards, of whom he was in command, had been through in those latter days of May 1940. The battles that took place then, around both Boulogne and Calais, have been a somewhat forgotten episode for the greater British public by comparison with Dunkirk and indeed in subsequent years have tended to recede still further from our collective memory.

My father held the dual distinction of being one of the last British commanding officers to leave continental Europe in 1940 before the Fall of France and one of the first to return four years later on D-Day as a Brigade Commander. He landed on Gold Beach on 6 June 1944, near Arromanches, where his personal memorial lies next to the sea wall in the town square. His 231 Infantry Brigade fought right through France and, ironically, back up to the northern channel ports from where he had been so unceremoniously ejected over four years earlier.

He did not talk much about the war afterwards, although he wrote occasional articles for the regimental magazine. It was only at a late stage in his ninety-six year life that he was eventually interviewed and a tape was recorded in which he gave an account of his personal experiences in Boulogne and his recollections of those frantic hours. It was only then that I began to understand the tension and the drama of the withdrawal and subsequent evacuation, under fire, from Boulogne harbour.