Notes
Chapter 1: Return
1. Brookes. Grand Party. Hutchinson 1941, p13. In 1940 an artillery field regiment of 18 or 25-pounders was composed of two batteries of twelve guns divided into three troops.
2. Montgomery. The Memoirs. Collins 1958, p.52.
3. Dill’s discussion with Falls is in Benoist-Méchin, Sixty Days That Shook the West, p.12.
4. The Escaut is the French name for the River Schelde. In order not to confuse I have used the French – Escaut – when describing events that took place along the river.
5. Taylor. Suffolk Records Office. GB 554/Y1/252.
6. Duncan.Underground From Posen, Kimber 1954, p.9.
7. IWM Dept of Foreign Documents. 11929.
8. Gribble. The Diary of a Staff Officer, Methuen 1941, p.9.
9. Nelson. Always A Grenadier. The Regiment 1983, p.8.
10. Horsfall, Say Not The Struggle, Roundwood 1977, p.26.
Chapter 2: The Dyle
1. Rhodes, Sword of Bone, Severn House 1942, p.127.
2. Youth at War, Batsford 1944, p.176.
3. Stewart, History of the XII Royal Lancers, Oxford 1950, p.348.
4. Taylor, op. cit.
5. Ibid.
6. Duncan, We Marched, Royal Hampshire Regiment Trust, Chelsea 2001.
7. TNA WO 167/778. David Smith’s account at the Monmouth Castle Museum. GB 1578 RMRE/25/6.
8. Walker’s diary at KCLMA. The Cointet defences, also known as the Belgian Gate, were a series of heavy steel fences about 10 feet wide and 6 feet high mounted on concrete rollers. Rail obstacles were short sections of railway line sunk vertically into the ground forming a wide belt which was designed to slow any armoured advance.
9. Montgomery, The Memoirs, pp.60–61.
10. Forbes and Nicholson, The Grenadier Guards 1939–1945, Vol.I, Gale & Polden 1949, p.1.
11. Graves, History of the Royal Ulster Rifles Vol. III, The Regiment 1950, p.46.
12. Howard & Sparrow, The Coldstream Guards 1920-1946. p.33.
13. Ibid, pp.33–4. Lord Frederick Cambridge is buried at Hevelee War Cemetery.
14. Farr, Durham Records Office. Farr/DL19/208/1.
15. DLI Newsletter No.8, 1942. I was sent Townsend’s diary account by Jim Tuckwell who is the webmaster of the DLI website at http://durhamlightinfantry.webs.com/2dlidyledunkirk1940.htm. He was originally given a copy of the diary by the family of Private Anthony Corkhill who was killed at St Venant and is commemorated on the Dunkirk Memorial.
16. The account of Private James Miller’s war is at: www.jameshenrymiller.petermillerphotoworld.co.uk/21.html.
17. There is some discrepancy over who was in command at the blockhouse. David Rissik in The DLI at War says it was a Corporal Thompson while Townsend’s diary identifies him as 34-year-old Corporal Wilson. I have taken Townsend’s diary as the correct version as Wilson’s name is on the Dyle Memorial.
18. Farr,/DL19/208/1.
19. Townsend’s diary.
20. Farr, DL19/208/1.
21. Miller’s account. Private Joseph Hunter died of wounds on 17 June 1940 and is buried at Maastricht General Cemetery.
22. Bell, in The History of the Manchester Regiment, reports 9 and 10 Platoons in C Company lost several guns in this engagement before they extricated themselves. Captain Lewis was killed on 19 May and commemorated on the Dunkirk Memorial.
23. Townsend’s diary. The majority of the Durhams killed on the Dyle are buried at Leopoldsburg War Cemetery.
24. Henniker, An Image of War, Leo Cooper 1987, pp.16-18. William Thorburn was killed in 1944 serving with the Royal Scots at Kohima. He had recently been promoted to major. He is buried at Kohima War Cemetery.
25. Ibid, p.18.
26. Money’s diary. James Bruce’s diary is at TNA CAB 106/242.
27. Gaston-Henri Billotte was the French commander of the 1st Army Group.
Chapter 3: Towards the Escaut
1. The diary of L T Tomes. Chipping Campden History Society.
2. OBLI War Chronicle 1939–1940, Gale and Polden 1949, p.89.
3. 68/Field Regiment was not brought into action here and would fire its first rounds on 19 May west of the Escaut at Wez Velvain. Arthur Hammond is buried at Waterloo Communal Cemetery. He is the only BEF casualty buried there.
4. OBLI War Chronicle 1939–1940, p.242.
5. Smith. Op. cit.
6. National Army Museum, 2003-02-277.
7. OBLI War Chronicle 1939–1940, p.244. Turner tells us he retired on 18 May, this is probably incorrect as 2/Lieutenant David Wallis writes that the whole of 145 Brigade were across the canal at Hal by 12.45pm on 17 May.
8. Underground From Posen, p.17.
9. Forbes & Nicholson. The Grenadier Guards in the War of 1939–1945, Volume 1. p.20.
10. Ibid.p.20.
11. Quilter, No Dishonourable Name, E P Publishing 1972, p.22. Much of the Rivers Senne and Dendre had been canalised to take barge traffic. The Senne in Brussels was also known as the Charleroi-Brussels Canal and in several accounts the line of both rivers is referred to simply as the ‘Canal’.
12. Suffolk Records Office. GB 554/Y1/252.
13. No Dishonourable Name, p.22.
14. Guardsman Robert Wriglesworth was killed at Eychen and is buried at Voorde Churchyard Cemetery.
15. Duncan, We Marched, Royal Hampshire Regiment Trust.
16. Courage,The History of 15/19 King’s Royal Hussars, 1939–1945, Gale and Polden 1949, pp.30–31. Cokayne-Frith and seven other casualties of the action at Assche can be found in the Asse (Mollemsebaan) Communal Cemetery. Others are at Adegem Canadian War Cemetery, Hevelee War Cemetery, Mollem Communal Cemetery and are commemorated on the Dunkirk Memorial.
17. Captain Taylor’s account of his escape is at TNA WO 208/3298. Guy Courage’s older brother, Captain Nigel Courage, commanding B Squadron, was wounded and taken prisoner later on 18 May. He was repatriated in 1943.
18. Farr, DL19/208/1.
19. Designed by Captain H C Boys, the Boys Anti-Tank Rifle (or incorrectly Boyes), was often nicknamed ‘the elephant gun’ by its users due to its size and large bore.
20. Henniker, An Image of War, p.21.
21. The actions of the 4/7 Royal Hussars is at TNA CAB 106/231. Albert Argyle is commemorated on the Dunkirk Memorial. Denis Atkinson was taken prisoner and survived the war.
22. Henniker, An Image of War, p.22.
23. TNA, CAB 106/292.
24. Wilkinson, in Daniell, Cap of Honour, White Lion 1951, pp.251–2.
25. The majority of the identified men killed in this episode are buried at Merignies Churchyard and Gaurain-Ramecroix War Cemetery. Jones notes that 51 men of A Company were missing of which 8 later rejoined for duty.
Chapter 4: Massacre of the Innocents
1. Giraud escaped from Konigstein Castle in April 1942 and returned to co-operate with the landings in North Africa and the South of France. He died in 1949.
2. The 1/Tyneside Scottish was formed in June 1939 as 12/DLI – a duplicate unit of 9/ DLI: known locally as the ‘Gestetner Gurkhas’.
3. Ron Stilwell edited Bert Jones’ wartime diary A Prisoner in Poland and obtained permission from Jones for me to quote from his diary. Ian Laidler sent me a copy of A Slice of My Life written by his father James C Laidler and The Duke of Wellington’s Regimental Association gave permission to quote from Peter Walker’s account.
4. TNA WO 167/765.
5. Captain Edward Hill is buried at Albert Communal Cemetery Extension along with thirteen identified members of the battalion. Another eight unidentified casualties may well have been killed at Albert. A further seven who died between 20–21 May commemorated on the Dunkirk Memorial.
6. Ibid.
7. TNA WO 167/837. The war diary documents the battalion’s arrival at St Roche as 15.15 hours while Lieutenant Colonel Gethin in his 1942 account maintains it was 17.10 hours. Other evidence points towards the war diary being correct.
8. Jacques Mercier is author of La Gare d’Amiens: 1846–1986.
9. Dalglish. KCLMA Archive and Doug Swift, Slow March Through Hell, Arcturus 2006.
10. TNA WO 167/837.
11. The officers and men killed between 18–21 May 1940 can be found mainly in Salouel Communal Cemetery, Abbeville Communal Cemetery Extension and Pont-de-Metz Churchyard. Major Cassels is buried at Morvillers-St-Saturnin Churchyard east of Aumale.
12. Jones’ Account.
13. TNA WO 217/20.
14. Ibid.
15. Jones’ Account.
16. Ibid.
17. Huygebeart’s account is contrary to some reports that a tank shell was responsible for Lungley’s death. André Colliot’s account of the battle in Mai 1940: Un Mois Pas Comme Les Autres was sent to me by Ron Stilwell.
18. TNA WO 217/20.
19. Two A Company officers, Captain William Findlay who died on 28 May and Second Lieutenant Donald Fergusson who died on 25 May are buried at Mondicourt Communal Cemetery along with 8 NCOs and men of the battalion. John Lungley is buried at La Herliere Communal Cemetery. Others can be found at Saulty Communal Cemetery, Doullens Communal Cemetery and on the Dunkirk Memorial.
20. Swinburne’s comments are in the report in WO 167/262 submitted by Captain J B Burr.
21. These may well have been men from 48 Company (Major J S Alston) who had become detached from 5 Group AMPC.
22. Lynch. Dunkirk 1940:Whereabouts Unknown, Spellmount 2010, pp.108–9.
23. IWM Dept. of Documents. 94/49/1.
24. The majority of the identified casualties from 70 Brigade can be found at Bucquoy Road Cemetery, Ficheux. Amongst the 162 casualties are Privates Arthur Todhunter and Albert Forster, Sergeant Richard Chambers, CSM John Morris and Captain John Kipling.
25. Walker’s Account.
26. Ibid.
27. Ibid. Second Lieutenant Kenneth Smith is buried at Abbeville Communal Cemetery.
28. Ibid.
Chapter 5: The Escaut
1. Chaplin in The Queen’s Own Royal West Kent Regiment 1920–1950 notes the Belgians did not in fact appear on the left flank until 19 May, Captain M Few of the 5/Royal Sussex noted a 2 mile gap between the BEF and the Belgians on the same day, a gap that he says was still apparent 2 days later.
2. Clarke and Tillot, Kent to Kohima, Gale and Polden 1951, p.8.
3. Richard Rutherford is buried at Esquelmes War Cemetery.
4. Diary of Edward Sonsonby. QRWS/30/SYSO/1.
5. Arthur Peters died on 26 May 1940 and is buried at Guilford Cemetery.
6. Foster, History of the Queen’s Royal Regiment, Gale and Polden 1953, p.76.. Blaxland’s papers at the IWM indicate he was east of Petegem with 17 Platoon, 2/Buffs at the time.
7. TNA WO 167/762.
8. The Queen’s Royal Regiment casualties are at Moregem Churchyard and Ansegem Communal Cemetery. Keane is buried at Bevere Communal Cemetery. The largest concentration of 131 & 132 Brigade casualties is at Esquelmes War Cemetery.
9. Riordan, A History of the 7th Field Company RE, privately published, p.25.
10. This was a 300 strong party of the 2/Sherwood Foresters under the command of Maj N Temple who had become detached. They rejoined the battalion on 21 May. Lieutenant Colonel Birch commanding the 2/Beds and Herts comments on the degree of confusion that existed at the time and that many units were mixed up at this stage.
11. Jervois, The History of the Northamptonshire Regiment 1934–1948, The Regiment, p.73.
12. Captain John Johnson is buried at Kortrijk Communal Cemetery. Lieutenant Colonel Green died of wounds and is buried at White House Cemetery, St-Jean-les-Ypres.
13. Ricketts, The Final Years 1938–1959, The Regiment, p.19.
14. Boxhall’s account, Surrey History Centre.
15. Finch White in The Final Years 1938–1959, p.20.
16. Manley’s Account, TNA WO 167/778/1. Lieutenant Colonel Charles Rougier is buried along with 17 other Lancashire Fusiliers at Waarmaarde Churchyard.
17. Medley, Cap Badge, Pen and Sword 1995, p.37. Robin Medley was a subaltern with the battalion in May 1940.
18. TNA CAB 106/251.
19. Cap Badge, p.40.
20. Suffolk Records Office. Frazer died of wounds in England and is buried at Leigh (St Mary) Churchyard in Kent. John Trelawney died of wounds and is buried at Pecq Communal Cemetery.
21. Bootle-Wilbraham’s diary account. The 2/Coldstream Battalion HQ was probably at the Château de Biez. Fane and Boscawen are both buried at Pecq Communal Cemetery and John Burnett is commemorated on the Dunkirk Memorial.
22. Drinkwater, The Grenadier Gazette, No.5, 1982. George Button is commemorated on the Dunkirk Memorial as is Major Alston-Roberts-West who may be the unidentified Grenadier officer at Esquelmes War Cemetery.
23. Bollmann & Flörke, Das Infantrie-Regiment 12, Castings 1968.
24. Drinkwater, op.cit.
25. The Grenadier Guards 1939–1945, Volume 1, p.3. Captain Robert Abel-Smith and Lieutenant the Duke of Northumberland are buried at Esquelmes War Cemetery. Lieutenant Reynell-Pack is commemorated on the Dunkirk Memorial.
26. Major Frederick Matthews is buried at Esquelmes War Cemetery.
27. IWM Sound Archive, Reference: 8192.
28. Ibid. Ernie Leggett’s IWM interview, Reference 17761.
29. George Gristock died on 16 May from his wounds and is buried at Bear Road Cemetery, Brighton.
30. Diary of L T Tomes.
31. HFHS Journal. No. 4 May 1993.
32. Lieutenant Colonel Whitfeld’s account.
33. Diary of L T Tomes. The 128 Royal Warwicks and 22 Cameron Highlanders that appear on the CWGC database can be found mainly at Calonne Communal Cemetery, Bruyelle War Cemetery, Hollain Churchyard and are commemorated on the Dunkirk Memorial. The 34 Royal Scots and 35 Ox and Bucks Light Infantry who were killed between 20–21 May are mainly commemorated on the Dunkirk Memorial or buried at Bruyelle War Cemetery.
34. Alanbrooke, War Diaries, 1939–1945, Phoenix, 2002, p.67.
Chapter 6: Arras
1. Franklyn, The Story of One Green Howard, The Regiment, 1966, p.14.
2. English, Durham Bugle, Spring 2001, p.9.
3. Macksey, The Shadow of Vimy Ridge, Kimber 1965, p213.
4. Perrett, Through Mud and Blood, Hale 1975, p.30.
5. Brigadier Peter Vaux in the Pictorial History of the Fourth and Seventh Royal Tank Regiment (www.4and7royaltankregiment.com)
6. Ibid.
7. Through Mud and Blood, p.34.
8. Ibid.
9. Macksey. Op. cit. p216.
10. Ibid, p.226.
11. Second Lieutenant Thomas Bland died of wounds on 30 May and is buried in Arras Communal Cemetery. Corporal Winder was taken prisoner and survived the war.
12. Lewis and English, 8th Battalion Durham Light Infantry 1939–1945, Naval & Military Press, p.15.
13. Self. IWM Sound Archive, Reference 10413.
14. Ibid, p.16. Whether this attack took place in Berneville, as suggested in some accounts, is unclear but English’s account suggests they were still in the environs of Warlus.
15. Lieutenant Colonel Tom Craig in the Pictorial History of the Fourth and Seventh Royal Tank Regiment (www.4and7royaltankregiment.com)
16. Through Mud and Blood, p.36. The account is taken from Liddel Hart’s The Rommel Papers.
17. Royal Tank Museum Bovington (BTM) archive.
18. Ibid.
19. Ibid.
20. Lieutenant Colonel Fitzmaurice is buried in Dunkirk Town Cemetery, Lieutenant Colonel Heyland is commemorated on the Dunkirk Memorial but could be the unidentified officer buried at Wailly Communal Cemetery. Major Gerald Hedderwick is buried at Beaurains Communal Cemetery along with 16 other casualties of the battle. He was killed near the same spot where he fought in April 1917.
21. Weygand’s plan mirrored the offensive first mooted by Gamelin which was cancelled when Weygand assumed control of French forces. Had it taken place before 19 May it might possibly have blunted the German panzer thrust and altered the final picture.
22. Norfolk Records Office.
23. From the notes made by Major Llewellyn and given to me by his son, Trefor Llewellyn.
24. From the account of the Welsh Guards Carrier Platoon in France during the defence of Arras, May 1940 compiled by Second Lieutenant Hugh Lister in October 1940.
25. The 8/RNF were intercepted by German infantry just after dawn losing 5 officers and 120 ORs including Lieutenant Colonel F Clarke.
26. Ibid, pp.13–14.
27. Ibid, p.15.
28. Welsh Guards casualties are mainly buried in Arras Communal Cemetery, Guardsmen Daley and Williams are buried at Athies Communal Cemetery and Furness and Berry are commemorated on the Dunkirk Memorial. It is possible that the latter two are amongst the ten unknowns buried at Athies.
29. Moore looks at this phase of the Dunkirk campaign in The Road To Dunkirk, pp.40–58.
Chapter 7: The Hell that was Boulogne
1. Behr, in Guderian Mit den Panzern in Ost und West Vol. 1, Volk-u-Reich Verlag, 1942.
2. Newbery TNA WO 167/718.
3. Ten identified Guardsmen are buried at the Hook of Holland General Cemetery and one at Gravenzande General Cemetery.
4. TNA CAB 106/226.
5. From an account sent to Jon Cooksey by Boswell and quoted in Boulogne: 20 Guards Brigade’s Fighting Defence – May 1940, Pen and Sword, 2002.
6. Stanier, IWM Sound Archive, Reference 7175/7.
7. From a tape transcript sent to Jon Cooksey by Corporal Bryan.
8. Hanbury, A Not Very Military Experience, privately published, p.10. Captain J Higgon in his account says it was a Boys Rifle that knocked out the church tower sniper, but he was not present at the time.
9. Boswell op. cit.
10. TNA WO 106/697.
11. Cook, Missing in Action, Trafford, 2013, p.24.
12. From a conversation between Leslie and Jon Cooksey.
13. CAB 106/226.
14. Ibid.
15. Stanier, op. cit.
16. IWM Dept. of Documents, Reference 5/2/85.
17. IWM Dept. of Documents, Reference 66/24/1.
18. Ibid.
19. Glover in The Fight For The Channel Ports, Leo Cooper 1985, p.82.
20. CAB 106/226.
21. CAB 106/228.
22. Ibid.
23. Tape transcript recorded by Jon Cooksey with Davies.
24. The CWGC Database records sixty-seven identified officers and men from all units involved in the defence of Boulogne buried at: Bolougne Eastern Cemetery, Outreau Communal Cemetery and St Martin Boulogne Communal Cemetery.
Chapter 8: Calais – The Bitter Agony of Defeat
1. Timpson. TNA WO 217/4.
2. Kydd. For You The War Is Over, Bachman and Turner 1975, p.41.
3. Recording of Foote’s memoirs held by the RTM at Bovington. Already the recipient of the DSO (1942) Foote was in command of 7/RTR when he was awarded the Victoria Cross at the Battle of Gazala in 1942 where he was injured along with Bill Reeves who was CO of 4/RTR at the time. He retired as a Major General in 1958 and died in 1993. SD 7 was the Royal Armoured Corps Branch on the General Staff.
4. Reeves, RH.87 3RTR 54.
5. Keller, Report 3.RTR/3N004.
6. Simpson, BTM Archive.
7. Reeves, op. cit.
8. Ibid.
9. TNA WO 167/458.
10. Ibid.
11. TNA WO 167/458.
12. Keller, op. cit.
13. TNA WO 217/5.
14. Davies-Scourfield, In Presence Of My Foes, Wilton 1991, p19.
15. Evitts. Calais 1940 Remembered. Journal of the Royal Signals Institution, Winter 1971, Vol X, No.3.
16. Jabez-Smith, National Army Museum.
17. Ibid.
18. Davies-Scourfield, op. cit. p.30.
19. Ibid, p.31.
20. Reeves., op. cit.
21. Ibid.
22. Cornwall, BTM Archive.
23. TNA WO 217/5.
24. TNA WO 106/1693.
25. Illingworth, National Army Museum.
26. Evitts. op. cit.
27. Ibid and TNA WO 106/1693.
28. TNA WO 217/3.
29. Hoskyns died on 18 June 1940 and is buried in Chilworth Churchyard, Hampshire.
30. Davies-Scourfield, op. cit p.54–55.
31. National Army Museum.
32. TNA WO 217/3.
33. There are 105 identified men (killed or died of wounds between 22–28 May) from the units that fought at Calais buried in the Calais Southern Cemetery. Amongst these are Second Lieutenants David Sladen, George Thomas, Richard Warre and Adrian Van der Weyer together with PSMs James Easen, Ivan Williams and Corporal Birt. On the Dunkirk Memorial are 62 men of the KRRC and RB who died at Calais including Major ‘Puffin’ Segar-Owen. Major Hamilton-Russell is buried at Burwarton Churchyard, Shropshire. His cousin Lt G Hamilton-Russell was serving with the 3/Grenadier Guards at Pecq. He died of wounds on 2/6/40.
34. TNA WO 167/458.
Chapter 9: The Canal Line
1. TNA CAB 106/217. Woolven is buried at Hazebrouck Communal Cemetery where there are four further casualties from the same battery.
2. Ibid and WO 373/16.
3. Horsfall, Say Not The Struggle. Fusilier Connolly is buried at Beuvry Communal Cemetery. The only Fusilier Herbert Wilson on the CWGC database died of wounds on 5/5/41 and is commemorated on the Brookwood Memorial.
4. Ibid, p.101.
5. Irwin, Youth At War, p.199.
6. Ibid. Martin in The Essex Regiment 1929–1950 states that Irwin was accompanied across the canal by Private Clarke who was subsequently awarded the MM. I suspect Irwin’s account is the correct version.
7. Kallmeyer’s account. Mercian Regiment Museum.
8. Ibid.
9. Hofmann. Signal, 1941.
10. Townsend’s account.
11. Miller’s account. Lieutenant John Gregson is buried at Longuenesse Souvenir Cemetery, St Omer.
12. The War Diary of II/IR 3.
13. Townsend’s account. The café referred to was the Café du Nord on the canal bank.
14. Farr, Durham Records Office.
15. Clough-Taylor, A Wartime Log, RWF Museum.
16. Townsend, op. cit.
17. Miller’s account.
18. The St Venant War Crimes, TNA WO 311/97. MI19 was a section of the British Directorate of Military Intelligence and was responsible for obtaining information from enemy prisoners of war.
19. IWM Sound Archive, Reference 11479.
20. Brunnegger, Saat in den Sturm. Ein soldat der Waffen SS Berichet, Stocker 2000.
21. IWM Sound Archive, Reference 16972.
22. Brunnegger, op. cit.
23. Ibid.
24. Muir, The First of Foot, Blackwood 1961, p.69.
25. Ibid. p.72.
26. IWM Sound Archive, Reference 10320.
27. TNA WO 309/1811, WO 309/1371, WO 311/101 & 102.
28. IWM Sound Archive, Reference 10393.
29. Pooley in The Vengeance of Private Pooley.
30. Brunnegger, op. cit.
31. Jolly, The Vengeance of Private Pooley, Heinemann 1956.
32. Miller’s account.
33. Ibid.
34. Bell’s statement and other material relating to the Nieppe Forest murders are at TNA WO 311/99, WO 208/4647 & TS 26/205.
35. Ibid. Fred Carter, Henry Daniels, Fred Lancaster, Joseph Mills, Ernest Shilling and Horace Theroux are buried at Nieppe-Bois British Cemetery.
Chapter 10: Hazebrouck and Cassel
1. TNA WO 167/804.
2. Gibbens. Soldiers of Oxfordshire (S of O) Archive.
3. Saunders. S of O Archive.
4. Ibid.
5. Le Neve Foster. S of O Archive. The anti-tank officer may have been Major Pedley.
6. Saunders, op. cit.
7. Gibbens, op. cit.
8. Watson. S of O Archive. The Ox and Bucks War Chronicle 1939–1940 p.149, states 10 officers and 200 other ranks succeeded in getting back to England. Many of the identified dead who were killed at Hazebrouck are buried at Hazebrouck Communal Cemetery including Brian Heyworth, James Ritchie and Martin Preston. Gunner Ronald Scoates is buried at Steenwerck Communal Cemetery.
9. Perkins, S of O Archive.
10. Gibbens, op. cit.
11. In 1940 the Place du Général Vandamme was called Place du Général Plumer.
12. Wild, The Ox and Bucks War Chronicle 1939–1940, p.228.
13. Gilmore, S of O Archive 9/3/J/3.
14. TNA WO 217/9, Appendix III.
15. Ibid.
16. TNA WO 167/804.
17. Duncan, Underground From Posen, p.24.
18. Wallis, The Ox and Bucks War Chronicle 1939–1940, p.199.
19. Mercian Regiment Museum Archives.
20. Gilmore, op.cit.
21. ‘Hull-down’ is a position taken up by an armoured fighting vehicle where the main part of the vehicle is behind a crest or other raised ground leaving only its turret and main armament exposed.
22. National Army Museum.
23. Duncan, op. cit. pp.32–33.
24. The CWGC database has only six Ox and Bucks and nineteen Gloucesters buried in the Cassel Communal Cemetery, including George Weightman and Gerald French. More from both battalions, such as Major James Graham, Private William Phelps and Lance Corporal Percy Badnel, are commemorated on the Dunkirk Memorial. John Clerke Brown is buried at Longueness Souvenir Cemetery and Michael Fleming at Lille Southern Cemetery.
Chapter 11: Hondeghem and Cäestre
1. WO 106/217.
2. The time of the German attack differs, from 7.00pm in WO 167/217 to 10.15am (German time) in the German account.
3. From an account held by the 6th Panzer Division Veterans Association and provided by Oberstleutnant Schmidt in 1983.
4. Williams, The New Contemptibles, Wyman 1940, p.23–4.
5. WO 167/546.
6. Williams, op. cit. p.27.
7. Casualties are mainly to be found at St-Sylvestre-Cappel New Cemetery, Terdeghem Churchyard and Hondeghem Churchyard. Gunner Manning is buried at Longueness Souvenir Cemetery.
8. Hadley, Third Class to Dunkirk, Hollins and Carter 1944, p.100
9. Bleach. www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/04/a2350504.shtml.
10. Longden. Dunkirk, The Men They Left Behind, Constable 2009, p.45.
11. Hadley, op. cit. p.108.
12. Ibid, p.109.
13. Ibid, p.110–11.
14. Second Lieutenant Desmond Cardwell is buried at Strazeele Communal Cemetery, Sergeant Reginald Cleverly and Private Sidney Bampton are buried at Bertenacre Mil Cemetery, Fletre. Private John Friend died of wounds on 16.6.40 and is commemorated on the Dunkirk Memorial.
15. Few, West Sussex Records Office.
16. Ibid.
17. Ibid.
18. Austin’s account in Greenwood Dunkirk. Bombed, Beached and Bewildered, privately published, 2011.
19. Other casualties are to be found at Caëstre Communal Cemetery where Second Lieutenant John Hincks is buried, Pradelles Churchyard (Private Ronald Gurr) and on the Dunkirk Memorial.
Chapter 12: Ledringhem, Wormout and West Cappel
1. Priestley, The Back Badge, 1946.
2. Guy Rommelaere, The Forgotten Massacre, May 1940 in Flanders, Warwick 2001, p.28.
3. Priestley op cit. The officers referred to by Priestley were Lieutenant Duncan Norris of D Company, the younger brother of Lieutenant Charlie Norris and Lieutenant Tony Dewsnap. Duncan died of wounds on 28/4/42 and is buried at Hanover War Cemetery.
4. Firm, The Regimental Magazine of the Worcester Regiment, July 1948.
5. Diary of L T Tomes.
6. Rommelaere, p.42.
7. Ibid.
8. Ibid.
9. Haywood. Mercian Regiment Museum Archives.
10. 38 Royal Warwicks are buried at Wormhout Communal Cemetery along with the Cheshires and Gunners who supported them including Majors Rance and Chichester-Constable and Lieutenants Dunwell and Padfield. Also there are the dead from the 69/Medium Regiment including Captain Heneage Finch. A further 23 Warwicks are buried ar Esquelbecq Military Cemetery.
11. Cheshire Military Museum Archive and also quoted in part by Rommelaere, p.39.
12. Wormhout Massacre Report WO 309/1813.
13. Ibid.
14. CSM Augustus Jennings and Sergeant Stanley Moore are buried at Esquelbecq Military Cemetery. Captain James Lynn-Allen is commemorated on the Dunkirk Memorial.
15. Norman. KCLMA Archive.
16. Ibid.
17. Llewellyn’s account.
18. Ellis. Welsh Guards at War, London Stamp Exchange 1989, p.109–10.
19. Llewellyn’s account.
20. Haywood. Mercian Regiment Museum Archives. Captain John Farrar is commemorated on the Dunkirk Memorial.
21. Ibid.
22. Norman. KCLMA Archive.
23. Ellis. Welsh Guards at War, p.107.
24. Haggas in the Prain papers at KCLMA.
25. Ronald Sharp and Foster Jennings are buried at Warhem Communal Cemetery along with three others of the regiment.
26. Twenty identified Welsh Guards are buried at West Cappel Churchyard, including Guardsman Ivor Llewellyn. PSM Maisey and a number from 6 Platoon were taken prisoner. Ten casualties from the 8/Worcesters are at West Cappel (possibly from the fight at Groenenspriet) and six more at Rexpoëde Communal Cemetery.
27. Haywood, Mercian Regiment Museum Archives.
28. Bailey, Mercian Regiment Museum Archives.
Chapter 13: The Ypres – Comines Canal
1. TNA WO 167/29.
2. The Story of One Green Howard, p.29.
3. Holdich Family History Society (HFHS) Journal No. 4, May 1993.
4. Caddick-Adams in British Army Review No. 116 and mentioned in Bourgeois Comines et la Bataille du Canal.
5. Warner. The Ox and Bucks War Chronicle 1939–1940, p.160.
6. Riordan. A History of The 7th Field Company RE, p.35.
7. Forbes and Nicholson, The Grenadier Guards 1939–1945, Vol. I, p.32–3.
8. Ibid, p.34.
9. Quoted by Kemp in The History of the Royal Scots Fusiliers, Maclehose 1948, p.36.
10. Kemp and TNA WO 167/816.
11. Kemp, p.38.
12. HFHS Journal No. 4, May 1993.
13. Smith, Monmouth Castle Archive.
Chapter 14: The Final Line
1. Crang, J, in Bond, B, The Battle For France and Flanders, Leo Cooper 2001, p.120.
2. TNA WO 167/778. Furnes is now called Veurne.
3. Smith. Monmouth Castle Archive.
4. Beasley et al, History of 53 (London) Medium Regiment 1861–1961, p.56. Thornton is buried at Nieuwpoort Communal Cemetery.
5. Henniker. Op. cit. p.42.
6. Christopher Jeffreys and John Lloyd are buried at Veurne Commumal Cemetery Extension and Hercules Pakenham at Gartree Cemetery, Ireland.
7. Howard & Sparrow. The Coldstream Guards 1920–1946, p38.
8. Jones, in Wilson, Dunkirk – From Disaster to Deliverance, Pen and Sword 2002. John Campbell, Peter Allix and Cecil Preston are buried at Veurne Communal Cemetery Extension.
9. No Dishonourable Name, p.30
10. Langley, Fight Another Day, Collins 1974, p.45. The Welsh Guards referred to by Langley may well have been those remnants that had survived the fighting at West Cappel.
11. Fight Another Day, p.49.
12. Ibid, p.52.
13. No Dishonourable Name. p.33. Second Lieutenant Blackwell & Major McCorquodale are buried at Warhem Communal Cemetery. Speed, Dance. Hardwick & Gibbs are commemorated on the Dunkirk Memorial.
14. Ervine-Andrews in Wilson, Dunkirk – From Disaster to Deliverance.
15. Ibid.
16. Doll. British Medical Journal (BMJ) Vol, 300, May 1990.
17. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/12/a2281312.shtml
18. Doll, op. cit.
19. Henniker, op. cit. p.59.
20. Longden, op. cit. p.65.
Chapter 15: The Quick and the Dead
1. Quoted by Reid in Colditz – The Full Story, Hodder and Stoughton 1962, p.38.