Captain Nick Hallett
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Captain Nick Hallett 2nd Battalion The Royal Norfolk Regiment
Captain Hallett was another officer who was involved in the defence of Le Paradis. Here we look at the pivotal part he played in the action and beyond:
10th May 1940: Invasion
On 5th May, 1940, Nick Hallett was listed as follows in Captain Charles Long’s ‘Register of Officers’
HQ Coy (Headquarters Company)
A/Captain Hallett MTO (Motor Transport Officer)
When the enemy crossed the border on 10th May, 1940, so ending the ‘Phoney War’, Captain Nick Hallett, the Motor Transport Officer, was with the Battalion at Orchies which soon found itself under attack from the Luftwaffe Bombers.
Hallett remarked that it was his ‘first experience of this sort of thing, and decidedly unpleasant as about 200 yards is much too close for comfort’. Just after midnight as the Battalion marched to Valenciennes before journeying to the Dyle, Captain Hallett wrote that he ‘felt excited as this was what we had been waiting for since the beginning of the war. Action was imminent’.
Captain Nick Hallett proved to be more than a capable officer and when on 24th May, 1940, Major Ryder, the Commanding Officer was ordered by Brigade to organise a reconnaissance of the La Bassée Canal, Major Ryder had no hesitation in leaving Nick Hallett temporarily in charge of the Battalion.
On 26th May, 1940, Capt. Charles Long’s War Diaries recorded a ‘Redistribution of Officers’ in which Captain Hallett was moved from Motor Transport Officer to command the remnants of ‘B’ Company.
This move further demonstrated the quality of officer, not only serving in 2nd Battalion the Royal Norfolks, but also in the British Army.
The Defence of Le Cornet Malo
At Le Cornet Malo, Captain Hallett immediately took the fight to the enemy by leading a patrol from his fragmented ‘B’ Company to the southern part of the village. With rifle and Bren gun they prevented the enemy advance from the canal with effective firepower even though, as Hallett recalled, ‘It was a pity we had no mortars or we could have bombed them beautifully.’
As they moved forward, a few surviving Germans gave themselves up. On questioning one of the wounded German prisoners, Hallett was told ‘there was about a Division against us across the canal, as I had expected, instead of the odd hundred or so I’d been told’ * (*Editor Note – in the British Army a Division could contain between 8.000 to 25,000 soldiers depending on the composition of Brigades forming it).
As the fighting wore on along the front there became a shortage of spares and ammunition.
On 27th May, 1940, around 0500 hrs tanks appeared in the ‘B’ Company’s area around Le Cornet Malo. ‘Huge fellows’ wrote Hallett, ‘and about a dozen. I phoned Battalion HQ. Then they cut the line. That was the last message I got to the Battalion’.
Signaller Bob Brown was on the switchboard at Battalion HQ and confirmed ‘B’ Company were the first to go out of communication. Only moments before, there had been a poignant exchange of words between Bob Brown and his friend Alf Blake the ‘B’ Company signalman. ‘I’m afraid we are in for it’ Blake told him. ‘Don’t forget me. We have had some good times together. I don’t know whether I will ever see you again.’ That was the last Bob Brown heard of his friend.
Despite Captain Hallett’s forward section falling back and leaving guns and anti-tank rifles behind, the remnants of ‘B’ Company defiantly faced the Panzers.
With sudden inspiration, Hallett recalled ‘Eventually we had a brainwave, and ran out below the tanks’ angle of fire, and put Mills grenades in the tracks. This did not do the tanks much harm, but frightened the drivers, and they ditched them. We got four that way. Then gradually some form of order was restored.'
This action allowed Hallett time to get a LMG (light machine gun) back in position and the A/T (anti- tank) rifles mounted.
The Totenkopf infantry had now caught up with the Panzers advancing shoulder to shoulder and suffered at the hands of Hallett’s Bren guns and riflemen. ‘B’ company, however, suffered heavily and Hallett was finally left in a barn with only a rifleman who, when killed, left Hallett on his own and wounded. In trying to escape, Captain Hallett was taken prisoner.
Bethune Civil Hospital
When Pooley and O’Callaghan were handed over to the Wehrmacht without risk to themselves or to the Creton family who had looked after them, they were taken to Bethune Civil Hospital. Here, by clever work of ‘admissions’, their entry into the hospital was dated 27th May, 1940 – thereby eliminating them from being at the scene of the massacre.
In all there were about ten Royal Norfolks in the hospital including CSM Cockaday (click on link) and one of the officers. O’Callaghan said it was the Transport Officer which implied Captain Nick Hallett, who had been in charge of transport until 26th May when he was placed, by Major Ryder, in charge of the remnants of ‘B’ Company defending Le Cornet Malo.
Captain Hallett’s presence in the hospital gave O’Callaghan the opportunity to report the atrocity at Le Paradis and he decided to do so. This meeting is now described by author Cyril Jolly:
"The officer made no bones of his belief and told O’Callaghan there and then that he did not believe that the Germans would do such a thing. O’Callaghan was naturally pretty sore at this open disbelief and told the officer that he could please himself whether he believed it or not, but that he did not make such things up and there would be no point in doing so. The officer went down soon after to see Pooley. His arm was in a sling. He sat down on Pooley’s bed and demanded, ‘What’s this cock and bull story O’Callaghan has been telling us about the Germans shooting ninety of our men?’
Pooley was not in a fit state for much interrogation, but he answered ‘It’s not a cock and bull story. It’s the truth. All the survivors of the battalion were taken out of Headquarters and machine-gunned.’
‘What happened to the Commanding Officer?’
‘He got it as well’ replied the wounded man.
But the officer, unconvinced, said, ‘The Germans would not do such a thing’ and unwilling to worry Pooley further, turned away.
It was a stroke of luck that Captain Hallett did not believe the story or progress with an investigation via, for example, the Red Cross, as the lives of the two witnesses to the massacre, O’Callaghan and Pooley would have been in jeopardy.
A slightly different view of what went on with Pooley and O'Callaghan comes from Hallett's own diaries which have been donated to the Royal Norfolk Regimental Museum and cover the period from May 1940 going forward. This is what Hallett wrote with regard to his meeting with Pooley in Bethune Hospital:
"There were about a hundred British in the hospital of which about 12 came from the battalion. RSM Cockaday was there with a wounded leg and improved quickly.
"When we had been there about 10 days, Pooley came in with a very unpleasant story.
"He said that when Battalion HQ had surrendered they were disarmed and later marched into a courtyard and machine gunned. He said they saw the CO (Ryder) lying dead and that Long and Woodwark were there.
"He said he and O'Callaghan were the only survivors. This story must be checked as soon as possible.
"I questioned him a lot but could not shake him at all."
The 1970 Pilgrimage to Le Paradis
In May 1970 a Pilgrimage to Le Paradis was undertaken by members of the Norfolk and Norwich Branch of the Dunkirk Veterans Association led by their President, Major General Wade, where a memorial plaque on the barn wall where the massacre occurred, was unveiled by Bill O’Callaghan and Madam Creton.
During an ITV interview, reporter John Swinfield introduced the now Colonel Nick Hallett as ‘the first officer O’Callaghan spoke to about the incident’. Colonel Nick Hallett’s response was as follows; -
“After this event took place I was in fact in hospital at Bethune where I was taken after I was wounded…and one of the people who escaped the massacre came into the hospital and actually reported to me what had happened. This I found, at that stage, totally incredible. I, and others like me, had been captured by units of the same formation but not, indeed, by the people who carried out this massacre, and our treatment had been extremely good.
"The fact of a massacre of this sort was something totally foreign to our experience and not a thing we had expected from the German Army of those days. Of course, a further aspect of it was that, if this story was true, the knowledge of it was a very dangerous thing. There was nothing that we in hospital in an occupied country could do about it and if the Germans had known that somebody had escaped that massacre the future for him might have been very grim.
"I eventually was moved to a prison camp in Germany and it wasn’t until after the war when the whole story was published and Pooley and O’Callaghan were completely vindicated in the accuracy of their story when one realised what in fact had actually happened."
The 1978 unveiling of the Dunkirk Veterans Memoria at Le Paradis
In 1978 when the Dunkirk Veterans' Memorial in the centre of Le Paradis was commissioned there was an emotional encounter when Dennis O’Callaghan, the son of Bill O’Callaghan one of the two survivors of the atrocity, was introduced by Stan Priest, a member of the Dunkirk Veterans Association, to Colonel Nick Hallett, at the barn where the massacre took place. Here Colonel Hallett apologised to Dennis for not believing his father when they met at Bethune Civil Hospital. Dennis duly thanked him but there was a recognition of the circumstances which Colonel Hallett was under at that time and he was certainly not the only person to disbelieve the story.
After being repatriated in 1943, Bert Pooley reported the incident to the authorities whilst at Richmond Convalescent Camp. Soon after, he was interrogated by two officers whose unbelieving attitude to his story was deeply upsetting to Pooley. He would not disclose Bill O’Callaghan’s name as he had little faith in their security. Even when Bill O’Callaghan was released in 1945 and reported the atrocity – nothing more was heard as his affidavit disappeared into the system. It was only when the Americans and Lt. Col. A. P. Scotland of the London Cage (Kensington Interrogation Centre) became involved did the truth of the story unravel.
Captain Nick Hallett’s vital role
Notwithstanding his doubts over the massacre story which can be easily explained, Captain Nick Hallett’s incredible bravery implementing the final order of ‘last man last round’ and by leading by example at Le Cornet Malo demonstrated the vital role he too played in delaying the enemy advance to ensure the corridors to Dunkirk remained open for a successful evacuation.
Below we have transcribed Hallett's original war diaries. We start with a few sample pages which illustrate Hallett's handwriting and attention to detail and then follows the total transcript.
Captain Hallett was another officer who was involved in the defence of Le Paradis. Here we look at the pivotal part he played in the action and beyond:
10th May 1940: Invasion
On 5th May, 1940, Nick Hallett was listed as follows in Captain Charles Long’s ‘Register of Officers’
HQ Coy (Headquarters Company)
A/Captain Hallett MTO (Motor Transport Officer)
When the enemy crossed the border on 10th May, 1940, so ending the ‘Phoney War’, Captain Nick Hallett, the Motor Transport Officer, was with the Battalion at Orchies which soon found itself under attack from the Luftwaffe Bombers.
Hallett remarked that it was his ‘first experience of this sort of thing, and decidedly unpleasant as about 200 yards is much too close for comfort’. Just after midnight as the Battalion marched to Valenciennes before journeying to the Dyle, Captain Hallett wrote that he ‘felt excited as this was what we had been waiting for since the beginning of the war. Action was imminent’.
Captain Nick Hallett proved to be more than a capable officer and when on 24th May, 1940, Major Ryder, the Commanding Officer was ordered by Brigade to organise a reconnaissance of the La Bassée Canal, Major Ryder had no hesitation in leaving Nick Hallett temporarily in charge of the Battalion.
On 26th May, 1940, Capt. Charles Long’s War Diaries recorded a ‘Redistribution of Officers’ in which Captain Hallett was moved from Motor Transport Officer to command the remnants of ‘B’ Company.
This move further demonstrated the quality of officer, not only serving in 2nd Battalion the Royal Norfolks, but also in the British Army.
The Defence of Le Cornet Malo
At Le Cornet Malo, Captain Hallett immediately took the fight to the enemy by leading a patrol from his fragmented ‘B’ Company to the southern part of the village. With rifle and Bren gun they prevented the enemy advance from the canal with effective firepower even though, as Hallett recalled, ‘It was a pity we had no mortars or we could have bombed them beautifully.’
As they moved forward, a few surviving Germans gave themselves up. On questioning one of the wounded German prisoners, Hallett was told ‘there was about a Division against us across the canal, as I had expected, instead of the odd hundred or so I’d been told’ * (*Editor Note – in the British Army a Division could contain between 8.000 to 25,000 soldiers depending on the composition of Brigades forming it).
As the fighting wore on along the front there became a shortage of spares and ammunition.
On 27th May, 1940, around 0500 hrs tanks appeared in the ‘B’ Company’s area around Le Cornet Malo. ‘Huge fellows’ wrote Hallett, ‘and about a dozen. I phoned Battalion HQ. Then they cut the line. That was the last message I got to the Battalion’.
Signaller Bob Brown was on the switchboard at Battalion HQ and confirmed ‘B’ Company were the first to go out of communication. Only moments before, there had been a poignant exchange of words between Bob Brown and his friend Alf Blake the ‘B’ Company signalman. ‘I’m afraid we are in for it’ Blake told him. ‘Don’t forget me. We have had some good times together. I don’t know whether I will ever see you again.’ That was the last Bob Brown heard of his friend.
Despite Captain Hallett’s forward section falling back and leaving guns and anti-tank rifles behind, the remnants of ‘B’ Company defiantly faced the Panzers.
With sudden inspiration, Hallett recalled ‘Eventually we had a brainwave, and ran out below the tanks’ angle of fire, and put Mills grenades in the tracks. This did not do the tanks much harm, but frightened the drivers, and they ditched them. We got four that way. Then gradually some form of order was restored.'
This action allowed Hallett time to get a LMG (light machine gun) back in position and the A/T (anti- tank) rifles mounted.
The Totenkopf infantry had now caught up with the Panzers advancing shoulder to shoulder and suffered at the hands of Hallett’s Bren guns and riflemen. ‘B’ company, however, suffered heavily and Hallett was finally left in a barn with only a rifleman who, when killed, left Hallett on his own and wounded. In trying to escape, Captain Hallett was taken prisoner.
Bethune Civil Hospital
When Pooley and O’Callaghan were handed over to the Wehrmacht without risk to themselves or to the Creton family who had looked after them, they were taken to Bethune Civil Hospital. Here, by clever work of ‘admissions’, their entry into the hospital was dated 27th May, 1940 – thereby eliminating them from being at the scene of the massacre.
In all there were about ten Royal Norfolks in the hospital including CSM Cockaday (click on link) and one of the officers. O’Callaghan said it was the Transport Officer which implied Captain Nick Hallett, who had been in charge of transport until 26th May when he was placed, by Major Ryder, in charge of the remnants of ‘B’ Company defending Le Cornet Malo.
Captain Hallett’s presence in the hospital gave O’Callaghan the opportunity to report the atrocity at Le Paradis and he decided to do so. This meeting is now described by author Cyril Jolly:
"The officer made no bones of his belief and told O’Callaghan there and then that he did not believe that the Germans would do such a thing. O’Callaghan was naturally pretty sore at this open disbelief and told the officer that he could please himself whether he believed it or not, but that he did not make such things up and there would be no point in doing so. The officer went down soon after to see Pooley. His arm was in a sling. He sat down on Pooley’s bed and demanded, ‘What’s this cock and bull story O’Callaghan has been telling us about the Germans shooting ninety of our men?’
Pooley was not in a fit state for much interrogation, but he answered ‘It’s not a cock and bull story. It’s the truth. All the survivors of the battalion were taken out of Headquarters and machine-gunned.’
‘What happened to the Commanding Officer?’
‘He got it as well’ replied the wounded man.
But the officer, unconvinced, said, ‘The Germans would not do such a thing’ and unwilling to worry Pooley further, turned away.
It was a stroke of luck that Captain Hallett did not believe the story or progress with an investigation via, for example, the Red Cross, as the lives of the two witnesses to the massacre, O’Callaghan and Pooley would have been in jeopardy.
A slightly different view of what went on with Pooley and O'Callaghan comes from Hallett's own diaries which have been donated to the Royal Norfolk Regimental Museum and cover the period from May 1940 going forward. This is what Hallett wrote with regard to his meeting with Pooley in Bethune Hospital:
"There were about a hundred British in the hospital of which about 12 came from the battalion. RSM Cockaday was there with a wounded leg and improved quickly.
"When we had been there about 10 days, Pooley came in with a very unpleasant story.
"He said that when Battalion HQ had surrendered they were disarmed and later marched into a courtyard and machine gunned. He said they saw the CO (Ryder) lying dead and that Long and Woodwark were there.
"He said he and O'Callaghan were the only survivors. This story must be checked as soon as possible.
"I questioned him a lot but could not shake him at all."
The 1970 Pilgrimage to Le Paradis
In May 1970 a Pilgrimage to Le Paradis was undertaken by members of the Norfolk and Norwich Branch of the Dunkirk Veterans Association led by their President, Major General Wade, where a memorial plaque on the barn wall where the massacre occurred, was unveiled by Bill O’Callaghan and Madam Creton.
During an ITV interview, reporter John Swinfield introduced the now Colonel Nick Hallett as ‘the first officer O’Callaghan spoke to about the incident’. Colonel Nick Hallett’s response was as follows; -
“After this event took place I was in fact in hospital at Bethune where I was taken after I was wounded…and one of the people who escaped the massacre came into the hospital and actually reported to me what had happened. This I found, at that stage, totally incredible. I, and others like me, had been captured by units of the same formation but not, indeed, by the people who carried out this massacre, and our treatment had been extremely good.
"The fact of a massacre of this sort was something totally foreign to our experience and not a thing we had expected from the German Army of those days. Of course, a further aspect of it was that, if this story was true, the knowledge of it was a very dangerous thing. There was nothing that we in hospital in an occupied country could do about it and if the Germans had known that somebody had escaped that massacre the future for him might have been very grim.
"I eventually was moved to a prison camp in Germany and it wasn’t until after the war when the whole story was published and Pooley and O’Callaghan were completely vindicated in the accuracy of their story when one realised what in fact had actually happened."
The 1978 unveiling of the Dunkirk Veterans Memoria at Le Paradis
In 1978 when the Dunkirk Veterans' Memorial in the centre of Le Paradis was commissioned there was an emotional encounter when Dennis O’Callaghan, the son of Bill O’Callaghan one of the two survivors of the atrocity, was introduced by Stan Priest, a member of the Dunkirk Veterans Association, to Colonel Nick Hallett, at the barn where the massacre took place. Here Colonel Hallett apologised to Dennis for not believing his father when they met at Bethune Civil Hospital. Dennis duly thanked him but there was a recognition of the circumstances which Colonel Hallett was under at that time and he was certainly not the only person to disbelieve the story.
After being repatriated in 1943, Bert Pooley reported the incident to the authorities whilst at Richmond Convalescent Camp. Soon after, he was interrogated by two officers whose unbelieving attitude to his story was deeply upsetting to Pooley. He would not disclose Bill O’Callaghan’s name as he had little faith in their security. Even when Bill O’Callaghan was released in 1945 and reported the atrocity – nothing more was heard as his affidavit disappeared into the system. It was only when the Americans and Lt. Col. A. P. Scotland of the London Cage (Kensington Interrogation Centre) became involved did the truth of the story unravel.
Captain Nick Hallett’s vital role
Notwithstanding his doubts over the massacre story which can be easily explained, Captain Nick Hallett’s incredible bravery implementing the final order of ‘last man last round’ and by leading by example at Le Cornet Malo demonstrated the vital role he too played in delaying the enemy advance to ensure the corridors to Dunkirk remained open for a successful evacuation.
Below we have transcribed Hallett's original war diaries. We start with a few sample pages which illustrate Hallett's handwriting and attention to detail and then follows the total transcript.
THE TRANSCRIPT
Capt. Nick Hallett: Motor Transport Officer War Diary
We are grateful for the Royal Norfolk Regimental Museum and their museum’s curator, Kate Thaxton, for allowing us to transcribe the diaries of Captain Nick Hallett.
This transcription is from historic documents which we have tried to be as accurate as possible. The documents contain words which, at the beginning of the Second World War, were common place and were commonly used in the English language. Today these words would be classed as offensive and have no place within the English language or the British Army and doubtless with Captain Hallett if he was alive today. We apologise if these words cause offence but they have been retained for the authenticity of the transcription.
The maps have been reproduced from pencilled sketches made by Capt. Hallett from memory as a prisoner of war.
Military Personnel
Capt. Nick Hallett: Battalion Transport Officer
Sgt Firmin: Capt. Hallet’s second in command
Pte Slaughter: Assumed Capt. Hallett’s Batman
Ryder: Major Lisle Ryder became Commanding Officer and Acting Lieutenant Colonel on 20th May 1940
Hastings: Capt. Robert Hastings attached to the Royal Norfolks from the Ox and Bucks
Long: Capt. Charles Long; The Adjutant
Glossary
AA: Anti-Aircraft
ADS: Advance Dressing Station
Bde: Brigade
Berks: Royal Berkshire Regiment
BM: Brigade Major
Bn: Battalion
BTO: Brigade Transport Officer
Bty: Battery
Col: Colonel
Coy(s): Company/Companies
Cpl: Corporal
CQMS: Company Quartermaster Sergeant
Dannert Wire: Concertina barbed or razor wire
Div: Division
DR: Dispatch Rider
Ech: Echelon
Fd: Forward
Gib: Gibraltar
HQ: Headquarters
I.O: Intelligence Officer
Kommandantur: a German military government HQ
LAD: Light Aid Detachment
LMG: Light Machine Gun
M/C: Motor Cycle
M.G: Machine Gun
M.O: Medical Officer
M.P: Military Police
M.T: Motor Transport
NAAFI: Navy Army and Air Force Institutes
NCO: Non-Commissioned Officer
ORs: Other ranks
Pl: Platoon
PSM: Platoon Sergeant Major
PU: Pick Up
QM: Quartermaster
QME: No army acronym – assuming Quartermaster Echelon
RAMC: Royal Amy Medical Corp
RASC: Royal Army Service Corp
RB: Rifle Brigade
R.E: Royal Engineer
Recce: Reconnoitre
RedX: Red Cross
RQMS: Regimental Quartermaster Sergeant.
RS: Royal Scots
R Sig. Royal Signals
RV: Rendezvous
SAA: Small Arms Ammunition
SB: Stretcher Bearer
Tiffies Lorry: A Mechanical Maintenance and Repair Lorry
Trspt: Transport
Yakdan: A Military Trunk
A Diary of the Blitzkrieg and after
May 1940
J.N.R.Hallett
(Capt. Nick Hallett: Motor Transport Officer 2nd Battalion Royal Norfolk Regiment War Diary)
Tilloy May 10 1940
The day started unusually. There was a lot of aerial activity with flights of German bombers going over, starting from about 4.00 am. A lovely morning when I got up and watched them going over, there did not seem to be much resistance.
Slaughter called me as usual and I got up to find my landlady Mlle Bentot very excited. Before I went down to the office Sgt Firmin arrived with a message that all transport was to report to the Battalion at Orchies as soon as possible.
This meant something, as even during the previous flap about 10 days before, we’d not actually moved from Tilloy. I sent straight down to the office and we got all the Coys off within an hour, and HQ about half an hour. Slaughter cooked my breakfast as usual while Sgt Wiltshire got the Tiffies lorry and started packing up. I went round all the billets seeing that everything had been left clean and tidy. Said a very sad goodbye to the Dubois family, also Mme Beaucamp and Anna. I handed over the keys of my billet also the office to Suzanne. Everything was finished and MT HQ left about 11.30. I was last off in the P.U. with Duffin about noon. I stopped in Marchiennes to hand over the billeting certificates and buy some shaving soap etc. from Raymond’s. This was lucky as it was the last time I was to see an occupied shop for some time. Reported to Bn HQ in Orchies & found the whole town in a wild state of activity. I found that the advance into Belgium was on for that night and that the Bn was moving to a RV in Marchiennes forest as soon as possible, to leave the town clean in case it was bombed. All Coys moved down to the Croix au Pils and HQ Coy to Sars-et-Rosières. I was in A Coy office when the expected bombers arrived. They hit the station but did very little damage. My first experience of this sort of thing and decidedly unpleasant as about 200 yards is much too close for comfort.
I returned to a café by the NAAFI with a huge roll of maps to sort out and route cards for every driver. Yallop went out in my PU and left me stranded so I had to hitch-hike down to Bn HQ where I met him later. We had supper produced by the mess in a farm and in the middle some more bombers arrived. Of course, I went out to watch & saw a beautiful flame come down out Mouchin way. Just previously I’d been down to Brillon to see John Cave-Brown also he’d got all my money. I paid Tobin my mess bill and had about 200 francs left. We got orders to be formed upon the main St Amand Road ready to leave by 0120 the next day.
We started about dusk and got everything sorted out & the troop carriers in their proper places by midnight. The only absentee was Eames with the office. A little investigation produced him asleep in the straw at Bn HQ. After much bad language it was all sorted out, and I reported to Col. DeWilton at the head of the column.
May 11 Sars-et-Rosières
The column moved off at 0120, but as it was something like 4 miles long, I was later. We went via Rosult, to Rumegies by the Lecelles Road, and crossed the Belgium frontier at Pont Caillou which was the Bde starting point. It was fairly dark, but the underneath light made convoy driving fairly easy. We crossed the frontier at about 2 am and from then on, the road lights made the route easy. I felt very excited as this is what we had been waiting for since the beginning of the war. We knew the Germans has entered Belgium and that action was imminent.
Also, we all expected to be bombed on the way. About 10 miles after we entered the country, there was a long halt, as there must have been a jam up front. I sent Sgt Firmin up on his bike to report all well but got no information. We moved on again at about 8 am, and the light was now good. Actually, we saw no enemy aircraft all day and only a few Lysanders and Hurricanes of our own. We went through Hall (sic Halle) and Ath to Enghien. The roads we (sic were) nearly all concrete and the going excellent. As usual the tail of the column was moving fast and once I was travelling at 55 mph. for about 10 miles. We had very little trouble and a petrol stoppage held up the Tiffies for about 10 minutes.
At a short stop in Espinette a woman came up and said “Welcome to Belgium”. She was English, married to a Belgian, it was a very nice gesture. We moved on through the Forest of Soignes to La Hulpe. Just over the railway, which ran through a deep cutting, I halted with ‘B’ Ech until the transport lines had been decided on. I had some lunch, of bully and hard-boiled eggs and bread and butter. We borrowed some hot water by a nearby house and made tea. We were all very hungry and it was excellent. Then Johnny Gibbins, the B.T.O (1 Borders) came along and we went off to recce the wagon lines. They were in a big estate called La Roncière, which was a big park with two lovely chateaux. The gardens were at their best and there were some white peacocks on the lawn which made it look a bit unreal.
We settled our area up near the keepers cottages with plenty of rides for the vehicles. I took ‘B’ Ech back and parked them, leaving the cooks lorries up by the Bridge preparing a meal for the Bn which they took up later in the evening, led by the QM. It was arranged that all vehicles not wanted should be returned to the Bridge & there collected by the DR. This worked well enough. In the afternoon, I went off on a motor bike to look for Bn HQ. I covered about 25 miles, but never found them. Finally at 7.00 pm I went up with the QM and the cooks. After one false step we found them, & I stopped for supper at the HQ mess, and I left, promising to bring up petrol that evening. It was dark when I started & entirely failed to find them. So the QM took it up the next morning. When I got back, Duffin & Slaughter had put up the P.U. top as a tent and made a very comfortable place of it. I turned in thankfully and slept like a log.
Capt. Nick Hallett: Motor Transport Officer War Diary
We are grateful for the Royal Norfolk Regimental Museum and their museum’s curator, Kate Thaxton, for allowing us to transcribe the diaries of Captain Nick Hallett.
This transcription is from historic documents which we have tried to be as accurate as possible. The documents contain words which, at the beginning of the Second World War, were common place and were commonly used in the English language. Today these words would be classed as offensive and have no place within the English language or the British Army and doubtless with Captain Hallett if he was alive today. We apologise if these words cause offence but they have been retained for the authenticity of the transcription.
The maps have been reproduced from pencilled sketches made by Capt. Hallett from memory as a prisoner of war.
Military Personnel
Capt. Nick Hallett: Battalion Transport Officer
Sgt Firmin: Capt. Hallet’s second in command
Pte Slaughter: Assumed Capt. Hallett’s Batman
Ryder: Major Lisle Ryder became Commanding Officer and Acting Lieutenant Colonel on 20th May 1940
Hastings: Capt. Robert Hastings attached to the Royal Norfolks from the Ox and Bucks
Long: Capt. Charles Long; The Adjutant
Glossary
AA: Anti-Aircraft
ADS: Advance Dressing Station
Bde: Brigade
Berks: Royal Berkshire Regiment
BM: Brigade Major
Bn: Battalion
BTO: Brigade Transport Officer
Bty: Battery
Col: Colonel
Coy(s): Company/Companies
Cpl: Corporal
CQMS: Company Quartermaster Sergeant
Dannert Wire: Concertina barbed or razor wire
Div: Division
DR: Dispatch Rider
Ech: Echelon
Fd: Forward
Gib: Gibraltar
HQ: Headquarters
I.O: Intelligence Officer
Kommandantur: a German military government HQ
LAD: Light Aid Detachment
LMG: Light Machine Gun
M/C: Motor Cycle
M.G: Machine Gun
M.O: Medical Officer
M.P: Military Police
M.T: Motor Transport
NAAFI: Navy Army and Air Force Institutes
NCO: Non-Commissioned Officer
ORs: Other ranks
Pl: Platoon
PSM: Platoon Sergeant Major
PU: Pick Up
QM: Quartermaster
QME: No army acronym – assuming Quartermaster Echelon
RAMC: Royal Amy Medical Corp
RASC: Royal Army Service Corp
RB: Rifle Brigade
R.E: Royal Engineer
Recce: Reconnoitre
RedX: Red Cross
RQMS: Regimental Quartermaster Sergeant.
RS: Royal Scots
R Sig. Royal Signals
RV: Rendezvous
SAA: Small Arms Ammunition
SB: Stretcher Bearer
Tiffies Lorry: A Mechanical Maintenance and Repair Lorry
Trspt: Transport
Yakdan: A Military Trunk
A Diary of the Blitzkrieg and after
May 1940
J.N.R.Hallett
(Capt. Nick Hallett: Motor Transport Officer 2nd Battalion Royal Norfolk Regiment War Diary)
Tilloy May 10 1940
The day started unusually. There was a lot of aerial activity with flights of German bombers going over, starting from about 4.00 am. A lovely morning when I got up and watched them going over, there did not seem to be much resistance.
Slaughter called me as usual and I got up to find my landlady Mlle Bentot very excited. Before I went down to the office Sgt Firmin arrived with a message that all transport was to report to the Battalion at Orchies as soon as possible.
This meant something, as even during the previous flap about 10 days before, we’d not actually moved from Tilloy. I sent straight down to the office and we got all the Coys off within an hour, and HQ about half an hour. Slaughter cooked my breakfast as usual while Sgt Wiltshire got the Tiffies lorry and started packing up. I went round all the billets seeing that everything had been left clean and tidy. Said a very sad goodbye to the Dubois family, also Mme Beaucamp and Anna. I handed over the keys of my billet also the office to Suzanne. Everything was finished and MT HQ left about 11.30. I was last off in the P.U. with Duffin about noon. I stopped in Marchiennes to hand over the billeting certificates and buy some shaving soap etc. from Raymond’s. This was lucky as it was the last time I was to see an occupied shop for some time. Reported to Bn HQ in Orchies & found the whole town in a wild state of activity. I found that the advance into Belgium was on for that night and that the Bn was moving to a RV in Marchiennes forest as soon as possible, to leave the town clean in case it was bombed. All Coys moved down to the Croix au Pils and HQ Coy to Sars-et-Rosières. I was in A Coy office when the expected bombers arrived. They hit the station but did very little damage. My first experience of this sort of thing and decidedly unpleasant as about 200 yards is much too close for comfort.
I returned to a café by the NAAFI with a huge roll of maps to sort out and route cards for every driver. Yallop went out in my PU and left me stranded so I had to hitch-hike down to Bn HQ where I met him later. We had supper produced by the mess in a farm and in the middle some more bombers arrived. Of course, I went out to watch & saw a beautiful flame come down out Mouchin way. Just previously I’d been down to Brillon to see John Cave-Brown also he’d got all my money. I paid Tobin my mess bill and had about 200 francs left. We got orders to be formed upon the main St Amand Road ready to leave by 0120 the next day.
We started about dusk and got everything sorted out & the troop carriers in their proper places by midnight. The only absentee was Eames with the office. A little investigation produced him asleep in the straw at Bn HQ. After much bad language it was all sorted out, and I reported to Col. DeWilton at the head of the column.
May 11 Sars-et-Rosières
The column moved off at 0120, but as it was something like 4 miles long, I was later. We went via Rosult, to Rumegies by the Lecelles Road, and crossed the Belgium frontier at Pont Caillou which was the Bde starting point. It was fairly dark, but the underneath light made convoy driving fairly easy. We crossed the frontier at about 2 am and from then on, the road lights made the route easy. I felt very excited as this is what we had been waiting for since the beginning of the war. We knew the Germans has entered Belgium and that action was imminent.
Also, we all expected to be bombed on the way. About 10 miles after we entered the country, there was a long halt, as there must have been a jam up front. I sent Sgt Firmin up on his bike to report all well but got no information. We moved on again at about 8 am, and the light was now good. Actually, we saw no enemy aircraft all day and only a few Lysanders and Hurricanes of our own. We went through Hall (sic Halle) and Ath to Enghien. The roads we (sic were) nearly all concrete and the going excellent. As usual the tail of the column was moving fast and once I was travelling at 55 mph. for about 10 miles. We had very little trouble and a petrol stoppage held up the Tiffies for about 10 minutes.
At a short stop in Espinette a woman came up and said “Welcome to Belgium”. She was English, married to a Belgian, it was a very nice gesture. We moved on through the Forest of Soignes to La Hulpe. Just over the railway, which ran through a deep cutting, I halted with ‘B’ Ech until the transport lines had been decided on. I had some lunch, of bully and hard-boiled eggs and bread and butter. We borrowed some hot water by a nearby house and made tea. We were all very hungry and it was excellent. Then Johnny Gibbins, the B.T.O (1 Borders) came along and we went off to recce the wagon lines. They were in a big estate called La Roncière, which was a big park with two lovely chateaux. The gardens were at their best and there were some white peacocks on the lawn which made it look a bit unreal.
We settled our area up near the keepers cottages with plenty of rides for the vehicles. I took ‘B’ Ech back and parked them, leaving the cooks lorries up by the Bridge preparing a meal for the Bn which they took up later in the evening, led by the QM. It was arranged that all vehicles not wanted should be returned to the Bridge & there collected by the DR. This worked well enough. In the afternoon, I went off on a motor bike to look for Bn HQ. I covered about 25 miles, but never found them. Finally at 7.00 pm I went up with the QM and the cooks. After one false step we found them, & I stopped for supper at the HQ mess, and I left, promising to bring up petrol that evening. It was dark when I started & entirely failed to find them. So the QM took it up the next morning. When I got back, Duffin & Slaughter had put up the P.U. top as a tent and made a very comfortable place of it. I turned in thankfully and slept like a log.
May 12 La Hulpe
I was awakened at day light by a big air battle but was much too comfortable to get up. Finally, I got up and had an excellent breakfast provided by the Mess. During the day the Bn moved to the hills above Wavre & I visited Bn HQ at the White Farm with HQ trspt in the woods below the farm. They had to leave there as a battery of 60- pounders moved in and spoilt the place. In the evening, I took up petrol and water and went round all Coys. We had to drive across country to B Coy and through Wavre to C & D. I found D Coy in a lovely Chateau behind a wood but never got to C at all. Got back after a long night drive and slept well.
May 13
Another comfortable morning and after a look round the lines, I took a M/c and went up to Bn HQ in the morning and on to C Coy. There was much excitement over some parachutists. We searched some woods & fired a lot, but never caught anyone. That afternoon, I visited all Coys with petrol and water and picked up a lot of refugees on the way back. They were very grateful & presented me with a bottle of wine. Major Charlton came down to the transport lines, where we ran quite a good mess. The QM lorry was with us and looked after us well.
That afternoon the L.A.D moved also to us & I ran in C Coy cooks with a broken rear spring. They made a very good job with a block of wood. Had tea with Marcel Rangey 6th Fd Coy in Malaise
May 14
A lazy day but quite amusing. In the morning Keeler brought in a dog, a very nice spaniel bitch which I called Reine. That afternoon Sgt Miller & I went off into La Hulpe to collect an oxy-acetylene welding set that the L.A.D promised us. On the way I shot a pheasant with a rifle range 100*. It was a very lucky shot. This time we left water and petrol at White Farm for the Coys to collect whilst I went on to Bn HQ. That night we moved back to Forest of Soignes
May 15
After a very muddled night drive, we parked in the wrong place at dawn. Soon we moved off to the proper place and prepared to move that night. Early that morning, the Bn had moved back to a position just forward of Malaise, I went up to find Bn & Bde. (Inserted - Met Armitage, Tobin and Baddyl who directed me to Bde. Last time I saw ‘S’ forward Coy complete. Bde HQ was in Overieche.)
I found that Bde HQ in the village behind Malaise & then on to Bn, almost on the corner. They wanted some SAA taken to B Coy so as I could not find Picken I drove the truck myself. After some trouble I found them, & took PSM. Smalls back for the ammunition. While I was there, there was a fight between a Messerschmitt & a Lysander. Unfortunately, the Lysander was shot down in our lines, & we picked them up. After this I went back to the Forest and finished the preparations.
I was awakened at day light by a big air battle but was much too comfortable to get up. Finally, I got up and had an excellent breakfast provided by the Mess. During the day the Bn moved to the hills above Wavre & I visited Bn HQ at the White Farm with HQ trspt in the woods below the farm. They had to leave there as a battery of 60- pounders moved in and spoilt the place. In the evening, I took up petrol and water and went round all Coys. We had to drive across country to B Coy and through Wavre to C & D. I found D Coy in a lovely Chateau behind a wood but never got to C at all. Got back after a long night drive and slept well.
May 13
Another comfortable morning and after a look round the lines, I took a M/c and went up to Bn HQ in the morning and on to C Coy. There was much excitement over some parachutists. We searched some woods & fired a lot, but never caught anyone. That afternoon, I visited all Coys with petrol and water and picked up a lot of refugees on the way back. They were very grateful & presented me with a bottle of wine. Major Charlton came down to the transport lines, where we ran quite a good mess. The QM lorry was with us and looked after us well.
That afternoon the L.A.D moved also to us & I ran in C Coy cooks with a broken rear spring. They made a very good job with a block of wood. Had tea with Marcel Rangey 6th Fd Coy in Malaise
May 14
A lazy day but quite amusing. In the morning Keeler brought in a dog, a very nice spaniel bitch which I called Reine. That afternoon Sgt Miller & I went off into La Hulpe to collect an oxy-acetylene welding set that the L.A.D promised us. On the way I shot a pheasant with a rifle range 100*. It was a very lucky shot. This time we left water and petrol at White Farm for the Coys to collect whilst I went on to Bn HQ. That night we moved back to Forest of Soignes
May 15
After a very muddled night drive, we parked in the wrong place at dawn. Soon we moved off to the proper place and prepared to move that night. Early that morning, the Bn had moved back to a position just forward of Malaise, I went up to find Bn & Bde. (Inserted - Met Armitage, Tobin and Baddyl who directed me to Bde. Last time I saw ‘S’ forward Coy complete. Bde HQ was in Overieche.)
I found that Bde HQ in the village behind Malaise & then on to Bn, almost on the corner. They wanted some SAA taken to B Coy so as I could not find Picken I drove the truck myself. After some trouble I found them, & took PSM. Smalls back for the ammunition. While I was there, there was a fight between a Messerschmitt & a Lysander. Unfortunately, the Lysander was shot down in our lines, & we picked them up. After this I went back to the Forest and finished the preparations.
May 16
We moved off in the early morning via Petite Espinette. After one wrong shot we went back and at dawn, got awfully jammed with troops on a hill. It was eventually sorted out and we crossed the canal at Loth. Here the transport and the troops met and we stopped from 8 am till noon. Had an excellent breakfast, and prepared to move on. There were troop carriers and after a frightful muddle we moved off. It was my third day without sleep & I was very tired. After a bit we halted in a jam & got badly bombed. I was very lucky for, having stood behind a tree for a bit, I joined Elson and two carrier drivers in a semi dry pond. As the last one landed in the green slime, a bomb burst just where I was standing a few seconds before. It did not last long, and we moved off in fairly good order. Before leaving Loth, the Tiffies lorry with all the Sergeants had failed to turn up & I was afraid they had been caught the wrong side of the canal, before the bridge was blown. Soon after the column moved on, I must have fallen asleep, as the next thing that I remember is being woken up & asked if I knew our position. Of course, I didn’t but started to find out. The maps, which had been hopelessly inaccurate for the first part of the journey, were improving. I collected a column of about 150 vehicles & went to a town I could see. It proved to be Enghien & was half ruined & was being bombed. I decided to find a route across country, but as this was impossible we went back through Enghien. I used the carriers as traffic cops & they did excellent work bobbing back into their machines every time a bomb fell. After this, things went better; the roads were good and clear & we only went about 15 mph. I rolled into Grammont with about 150 vehicles. Most of our own and more than half the Royal Scots and Lancashire Fusiliers.
In the town we split & I found our billeting area without much difficulty. It was a village called --------- (left blank). All the HO vehicles were parked round a field & in an orchard. They had forgotten to fix a billet for me so I went & got my own. Quite a comfortable room in a café. I went back to the mess for supper, which was as usual very welcome. We had to be very quiet as the Col was not well. Actually the next morning he was shipped off to the A.D.S with a bad nervous breakdown & Charlton took command. I was very cheered, as the tiffies had reached our area about six hours before us. It was my first night in a bed for some days and I slept very soundly.
May 17
Got up late & went to the mess for breakfast. This was real luxury. That morning there was a move to a new transport lines a few miles away. I went off on a Norton (Editor note: a make of motor bike) & after one bad shot, chose two orchards which answered well, though we rather worried a woman by chopping down her fence to get in. A serious shortage of petrol had developed as the petrol point could not be found. I did a large mileage on a motor bike, with Chapman, following in a truck, but eventually the petrol lorry arrived & relieved the situation a bit. Apart from this I spent most of the day going backwards and forwards to the Bn. We got our orders to move that evening & were formed up about midnight. During the day I visited A Coy in their position and also C Coy for whom we commandeered a very nice Ford V8 which was lucky as it very shortly replaced their P.U. which was burnt out. The Ford which was absolutely new had been left by the owners in the garage at their house which later became Coy HQ.
Later that evening we got final orders for the move and a meeting place for the bases.
We moved off in the early morning via Petite Espinette. After one wrong shot we went back and at dawn, got awfully jammed with troops on a hill. It was eventually sorted out and we crossed the canal at Loth. Here the transport and the troops met and we stopped from 8 am till noon. Had an excellent breakfast, and prepared to move on. There were troop carriers and after a frightful muddle we moved off. It was my third day without sleep & I was very tired. After a bit we halted in a jam & got badly bombed. I was very lucky for, having stood behind a tree for a bit, I joined Elson and two carrier drivers in a semi dry pond. As the last one landed in the green slime, a bomb burst just where I was standing a few seconds before. It did not last long, and we moved off in fairly good order. Before leaving Loth, the Tiffies lorry with all the Sergeants had failed to turn up & I was afraid they had been caught the wrong side of the canal, before the bridge was blown. Soon after the column moved on, I must have fallen asleep, as the next thing that I remember is being woken up & asked if I knew our position. Of course, I didn’t but started to find out. The maps, which had been hopelessly inaccurate for the first part of the journey, were improving. I collected a column of about 150 vehicles & went to a town I could see. It proved to be Enghien & was half ruined & was being bombed. I decided to find a route across country, but as this was impossible we went back through Enghien. I used the carriers as traffic cops & they did excellent work bobbing back into their machines every time a bomb fell. After this, things went better; the roads were good and clear & we only went about 15 mph. I rolled into Grammont with about 150 vehicles. Most of our own and more than half the Royal Scots and Lancashire Fusiliers.
In the town we split & I found our billeting area without much difficulty. It was a village called --------- (left blank). All the HO vehicles were parked round a field & in an orchard. They had forgotten to fix a billet for me so I went & got my own. Quite a comfortable room in a café. I went back to the mess for supper, which was as usual very welcome. We had to be very quiet as the Col was not well. Actually the next morning he was shipped off to the A.D.S with a bad nervous breakdown & Charlton took command. I was very cheered, as the tiffies had reached our area about six hours before us. It was my first night in a bed for some days and I slept very soundly.
May 17
Got up late & went to the mess for breakfast. This was real luxury. That morning there was a move to a new transport lines a few miles away. I went off on a Norton (Editor note: a make of motor bike) & after one bad shot, chose two orchards which answered well, though we rather worried a woman by chopping down her fence to get in. A serious shortage of petrol had developed as the petrol point could not be found. I did a large mileage on a motor bike, with Chapman, following in a truck, but eventually the petrol lorry arrived & relieved the situation a bit. Apart from this I spent most of the day going backwards and forwards to the Bn. We got our orders to move that evening & were formed up about midnight. During the day I visited A Coy in their position and also C Coy for whom we commandeered a very nice Ford V8 which was lucky as it very shortly replaced their P.U. which was burnt out. The Ford which was absolutely new had been left by the owners in the garage at their house which later became Coy HQ.
Later that evening we got final orders for the move and a meeting place for the bases.
May 18
Having formed up just outside the wagon lines we started for the Bn R.V. which was to be at Z. (refer Sketch Map 2) The whole road was crowded with traffic and we had jams at X and Y. I stood at Y for a long time talking to the BM Major Grant – Peterkin. At one moment a single gun and its tractor arrived & I went over to talk to the Gunner Captain with it. I leant against the gun and found it was nearly red hot. I asked why, & he said he’d been blowing up a bridge that the charges had failed to demolish. He’d got 35 direct hits at 85 yards. It must have been a fine job. I went down the jam from Y to Z several times on a bike & found an overturned ambulance was causing most of the trouble. Eventually we got on to the R.V. at about first light and of course the troop carriers failed to appear. At last we loaded all the troops we could onto trucks and pushed off. All went well for about 5 miles till we reached the outskirts of ------- (word missing) where we jammed for about an hour and a half. During this time, the refugees began to pile up which did not make things any easier and also some enemy aircraft appeared. There was a wounded man in the back of A Coy P.U. who we got under cover, but nothing happened. Eventually the jam was slowly cleared at A. where our column split and I was diverted from Ryder’s part and went off down the Oudenarde road. Mercifully the maps were now good and we made very good time down the Oudenarde road and through to Renaix. Here we diverted onto 2 Div route to Tournai. After about 15 miles we joined the QM’s party and nearly all the other trucks and got them organised into some kind of order. When passing a crossroads down here I saw a familiar figure and passed William Shuttleworth who I had not seen since Aldershot some months before. About a couple of miles from Tournai we all halted again and this time the bombers came good and proper. First of all they machine gunned the road (at) what time the troops took to the woods and ditches. I got up behind a big hen house when I was joined by Charles Long who’d taken over spare driver for Howling.
Two men went into the hen house, the first one made it alright but the second was met by a perfect thunder cloud of white hens which knocked him off his feet. It was one of the funniest things I had seen for ages. Then the bombs started arriving with a most unpleasant whistling shriek. Mercifully they missed our column but set alight four 3 tonners of SAA just in front. When I got back to the road we had some trouble getting the drivers back but eventually we were ready to start. Suddenly a truck shot past with Shuttleworth standing in the back. I drove the P.U. myself & Duffin arrived just as we started. I was very angry, but learnt that Simmonds never turned up at all. The SAA was now blazing nicely and I passed those lorries doing about 55 mph. I slowed down before entering Tournai to let the column catch up. When we entered the town it appeared that all the traffic police had gone to earth & there were no guides of any sort. As the bombs were still falling, we could not stop so I made a guess at the route & struck lucky.
Unfortunately, some of the trucks got separated in the town and disappeared. Eventually we reached the village of (left blank); on the wrong side of the main road as I later discovered. I parked all the vehicles we had and the QM stayed to look after them. I eventually found a RAMC HQ who put me right. Down by the bridge I found some more trucks arriving and parked them under cover just as a swarm of about 30 bombers arrived. They looked as if they were making for us, so I got in the stream. I got very wet and quite needlessly, as they passed straight over. Charles Long now arrived with some more trucks, also a very beautiful Brigadier of the General Staff who was looking for Bde HQ. After he left, the C.O. and his party turned up and told us to stay put while he went to Froidemont (sic Froidmont) and sorted things out a bit. Later I went over myself and returned for the column which we got safely parked. After a hasty check we discovered several vehicles were missing, the most important of which was Claxton with all the QM’s spare clothing. Simmonds turned up having crossed the frontier and gone to Orchies before he found out where we were. It later transpired that Claxton had broken down somewhere near Lille and we never saw the vehicle again. By then I’d found Bn HQ and reported & went off to the Mess which was just established and fed. I’d developed a nasty place on my foot which made walking very painful & I used a m/c. I slept in the P.U. in the car park that night comfortably as usual. Things seemed to be quiet as the Bde was in reserve.
Having formed up just outside the wagon lines we started for the Bn R.V. which was to be at Z. (refer Sketch Map 2) The whole road was crowded with traffic and we had jams at X and Y. I stood at Y for a long time talking to the BM Major Grant – Peterkin. At one moment a single gun and its tractor arrived & I went over to talk to the Gunner Captain with it. I leant against the gun and found it was nearly red hot. I asked why, & he said he’d been blowing up a bridge that the charges had failed to demolish. He’d got 35 direct hits at 85 yards. It must have been a fine job. I went down the jam from Y to Z several times on a bike & found an overturned ambulance was causing most of the trouble. Eventually we got on to the R.V. at about first light and of course the troop carriers failed to appear. At last we loaded all the troops we could onto trucks and pushed off. All went well for about 5 miles till we reached the outskirts of ------- (word missing) where we jammed for about an hour and a half. During this time, the refugees began to pile up which did not make things any easier and also some enemy aircraft appeared. There was a wounded man in the back of A Coy P.U. who we got under cover, but nothing happened. Eventually the jam was slowly cleared at A. where our column split and I was diverted from Ryder’s part and went off down the Oudenarde road. Mercifully the maps were now good and we made very good time down the Oudenarde road and through to Renaix. Here we diverted onto 2 Div route to Tournai. After about 15 miles we joined the QM’s party and nearly all the other trucks and got them organised into some kind of order. When passing a crossroads down here I saw a familiar figure and passed William Shuttleworth who I had not seen since Aldershot some months before. About a couple of miles from Tournai we all halted again and this time the bombers came good and proper. First of all they machine gunned the road (at) what time the troops took to the woods and ditches. I got up behind a big hen house when I was joined by Charles Long who’d taken over spare driver for Howling.
Two men went into the hen house, the first one made it alright but the second was met by a perfect thunder cloud of white hens which knocked him off his feet. It was one of the funniest things I had seen for ages. Then the bombs started arriving with a most unpleasant whistling shriek. Mercifully they missed our column but set alight four 3 tonners of SAA just in front. When I got back to the road we had some trouble getting the drivers back but eventually we were ready to start. Suddenly a truck shot past with Shuttleworth standing in the back. I drove the P.U. myself & Duffin arrived just as we started. I was very angry, but learnt that Simmonds never turned up at all. The SAA was now blazing nicely and I passed those lorries doing about 55 mph. I slowed down before entering Tournai to let the column catch up. When we entered the town it appeared that all the traffic police had gone to earth & there were no guides of any sort. As the bombs were still falling, we could not stop so I made a guess at the route & struck lucky.
Unfortunately, some of the trucks got separated in the town and disappeared. Eventually we reached the village of (left blank); on the wrong side of the main road as I later discovered. I parked all the vehicles we had and the QM stayed to look after them. I eventually found a RAMC HQ who put me right. Down by the bridge I found some more trucks arriving and parked them under cover just as a swarm of about 30 bombers arrived. They looked as if they were making for us, so I got in the stream. I got very wet and quite needlessly, as they passed straight over. Charles Long now arrived with some more trucks, also a very beautiful Brigadier of the General Staff who was looking for Bde HQ. After he left, the C.O. and his party turned up and told us to stay put while he went to Froidemont (sic Froidmont) and sorted things out a bit. Later I went over myself and returned for the column which we got safely parked. After a hasty check we discovered several vehicles were missing, the most important of which was Claxton with all the QM’s spare clothing. Simmonds turned up having crossed the frontier and gone to Orchies before he found out where we were. It later transpired that Claxton had broken down somewhere near Lille and we never saw the vehicle again. By then I’d found Bn HQ and reported & went off to the Mess which was just established and fed. I’d developed a nasty place on my foot which made walking very painful & I used a m/c. I slept in the P.U. in the car park that night comfortably as usual. Things seemed to be quiet as the Bde was in reserve.
May 19
(Editor note: Some of the map references referred to cannot be found and it is assumed that they are on a missing map)
I awoke late, and washed and shaved in the open. It was a marvellous morning, and I rolled down very late to the Mess for breakfast. When sitting around afterwards, Acloque rolled in having gone on leave before the Blitzkrieg and only just being able to find us. I took him off to Bn HQ and then went down to see Draffin the MO. He did a very nice job of carving on my toe and I felt a lot better, though I still stuck to the m/c. Before lunch we got a warning order to move up to Colonne and relieve the Berks. Late in the afternoon a hasty conference was called and Gammy came back with orders that we were to enter a village where a lot of civilians had run amok. Further orders were that anyone who did not halt immediately when challenged was to be shot, including women and children. The ‘civilians’ later turned out to be germans who had crossed the river in plain clothes, but we did not know that at the time. The transport was to move by a different road to the Bn and we both moved off immediately. After driving some miles including a very narrow defile (Editor note: a pass) where some troops were feverishly digging dugouts in the banks, we arrived and parked the vehicles with HQ Coy at ‘A’ and the remainder at ‘B’. The latter a big deserted farm was chosen as Bn HQ. There I met O group and about half an hour later the Bn arrived, also the carriers which disappeared the large wood at ‘C’. We then sat down and waited for the order to go into the village. No order came & we just waited. As it was already 7.00 pm and the relief at Calonne was due to commence at midnight, things became rather trying. Eventually the village job was cancelled and the troops moved off for Calonne about 10 pm, taking A Echelon with them. We’d got a new location for B Echelon lines behind the French frontier.
I went back to Froidement (sic Froidmont) to collect the cooks and to run the hot meal up to Calonne and meet the Bn. I then found that a standfast order had been issued and also that Bde HQ had gone. After scouting around a bit, I found another HQ at Z. where I met Braddyl of the sappers and discovered that the standfast order was off. Arrived at Calonne where the cooks were met by guides and went off to their coys with orders to join me at the Railway Bridge ‘A’ as soon as possible. When we got to the corner (B) we were badly shelled. Goodfellow vanished and I had to drive his lorry under cover.
May 20
I went on to Bn HQ at ‘C’ in the big Chateau. Duffin parked the car in the yard and vanished down a cellar. I went inside and found a certain amount of disorder. Gammy and Elson had been wounded, also Charlton slightly. Ryder was commanding which seemed to be successful. I did what I could, including drinking in the dining- room, half a bottle of the finest white wine I’ve ever had the luck to meet.
I then collected the cooks and we set off for the new ‘B’ Echelon park, a drive of about 15 miles.
One felt a certain amount of relief on crossing the French frontier as we were sure we would hold that. I was met by Keeler and Slaughter and guided back to the wood where we were to lie up.
It was daylight before we left Calonne and was now about 5.30 am. I had a bed made up in the P.U and slept soundly till midday. That afternoon we got busy on the new park, including bridging a ditch for the entrance. Somehow Simpson had ditched the carrier platoon truck and had to be dug out. I took the cooks up again that evening and left them to return on their own. The drivers had not wasted any time but had gone round the farms and collected a bucket full of eggs and a couple of gallons of milk. To our everlasting regret we did not kill any pigs whilst we were there, as I think they would have been good.
May 21
A very ordinary day, except for a big parachutist drive in the afternoon. We beat the woods where the Cheshires had their M.T. Lines. Of course, we did not find anything and I missed my lunch. I did not go up to Calonne that day so I got a good nights rest which was more than lucky in view of what was to happen later. Gabby arrived wounded for his bit; I heard Peter (Editor note: Barclay) was also hit.
May 22
Another slackish day in which the troops went foraging again in the morning with equally good results. In the afternoon we got orders to be prepared to leave Calonne that night. All the transport was ordered to be up at dusk. When we reached Bde HQ at ‘Barges’ Swainson stopped us and said that all traffic was stopped as the Germans were supposed to be through. After a bit, the QM. took the cooks lorries back and I waited. After some anxious moments, the situation eased; I went back for the cooks and we got to the Bn soon after midnight.
May 23
I then went to Bn HQ and arranged to meet all the Cooks at the cross roads (D) as soon as possible. As there was some time to wait, I snooped around the castle and into the cellar. There was still some goodish wine left so I took a few bottles. With nothing more to do, as I was told that the A Ech was coming with troops, I retired to the railway bridge at E after parking Duffin in the P.U. at the ‘B’ Ech RV with orders to stop the cooks as they arrived. I took Slaughter with me and we parked in an empty café to wait. There seemed a lot of noise and eventually the family pets started to come out. First a very scared cat followed by a dog which attached itself to me; and last but not least a ferret which hung about for a long time but eventually made off down a drain. Soon al ‘B’ Ech was complete, and after refusing to take charge of a broken carrier for Johnston-Hall the QME we left with no regrets. It had been a nasty place and we’d had too many casualties. Five officers wounded and I’d lost Rusted killed. I picked up the cooks and the mess and all the A Ech which was not wanted and we went right back to the village of (left blank) where I parked the cooks in an avenue in a park. Leaving them there I set off for the Bn RV at (left blank).
After a very round-about drive, during which I collected a Gunner tractor and a gun who were hopelessly lost, I made the RV arriving at 4 am. and found a completely deserted village. We parked the P.U. close to a cottage where there was a truck and about a dozen motor- bikes but no people. Then I went round for a bit and eventually met Hastings who’d come to recce the Bn Area. We went into the village where the previous Unit had left masses of stores behind. I collected a petrol cooker for the section and an (sic a) QM yakdan complete for myself. They’d obviously abandoned their canteen. Some of our other finds were 21 lbs of cocoa & a case of tea, a rifle & bayonet and other useful stores. I went back to the cottage and found it occupied by a section of military police who’d been left by the previous Brigade. When I got back to the house, Duffin had collected in about half an hour, 120 eggs & I had eggs & bacon for breakfast which was excellent as we’d lived on scratch meals for some time. At last about 7 am the Bn arrived & we found that owing to some demolitions we were to move to another village and we took the trucks and set off. As it was the same place where I’d parked ‘B’ Echelon I was quite happy. On arrival we chopped down some orchard fences, and made a transport park of sorts. Later, we moved all the vehicles into the Chateau grounds where there were some big chestnuts and the cover was much better. By now Bn HQ had been established, and also the mess to which I retired for a second much needed breakfast. Later I went down and looked at ‘B’ Ech and found to my horror that their park was empty and the whole lot had gone, but it transpired later that they’d moved into a Bde park at (left blank), so I did not bother to go and look for them. Instead I went down to the P.U. where Slaughter had got some hot water. After a much-needed wash and shave I turned in and slept till about 4 pm. I woke when L/C Everett, who’d been helping the French troops to reach the Chateau, presented me with three bottles of Champagne.
I was very disturbed to discover that petrol was running short, so I set off immediately for ‘B’ Ech who I found had moved. We came back at high speed by a round about route which was lucky as later I had to cover it in the dark. On the way back, we hid up while some enemy bombers flew over and beat up the local town. When I reached it I met Tobin and C-B (Editor note: Cave-Brown). They’d had a lucky escape as a bomb had fallen on their house, though no one was hurt.
On my return to the Bn, I received orders to move again that night. The section filled up with petrol & I kept the lorry. ‘B Ech was to move under Bde control, so I did not have to worry about them. We were to move at dusk, but as usual the troop carriers were late. After much running about, on the back of some DR’s bike we were formed up about midnight and left shortly afterwards. Just before we were due to go, I missed ‘B’ Coy cooks from the end of the column. I made a hurried journey back to the village & found the lorry standing in the middle of the street with Myhill & C.Q.M.S.Milne fast asleep. I was furious, but knew all the drivers were very tired.
The Bde convoy started off at terrific speed, and as we had Simpson on tow it soon became difficult especially as the light was very bad. I was at the tail of the column & noticed that we passed through Cysoing which was not on the route.
May 24
There was a light ground mist which made map reading almost impossible and soon the column stopped. As it did not move on, I went forwards and found that half had gone on and Catanach had fallen asleep and lost them also holding up all in rear. I lead off until we come to a small town which I very luckily recognized from my trip the proceeding evening. (Inserted: This town was Templeuve.)
We were well south of our route to Aubers but going in the right direction. Just at dawn there was a big jam in a flat open bit of country. In this I discovered the Colonel with some of the column also the QM with ‘B’Ech. After about an hour and a half, the jam cleared and we let some guns through. In nearly all jams the trouble was caused by the troop carriers who had no idea of road discipline and were often very bad drivers as well. I then followed the correct route by the map, and reached Aubers about 8.am. This proved to be merely a dispersal point and not our final destination. All this time we happily thought we were going into a divisional rest area and were inclined to take things rather easily. I found parks for all the vehicles which they had just reached in time to leave again for forming up on the Neuve Chapelle Road. Shortly afterwards we started but stopped just in Neuve Chapelle. All this time I was traffic controlling on a m/c. Later on, as we went towards Béthune, the P.U. fell out and later it took a long time to find it again. On the way, we passed the big Indian cemetery and War memorial which had been badly pitted either by bombs or shell-fire. Eventually we arrived at our destination, which was Colon. The Coys kept their own vehicles and HQ parked at the back of the village under some trees.
Very soon, however, instead of the rest we’d all been expecting orders came through to take up a defensive position as a detachment of enemy were just across the La Bassée Canal about a mile away. The Colonel and all the Coy commanders left immediately on a recce & left me in charge of the Battalion. Very soon the enemy started to shell the village with shrapnel and did a lot of superficial damage. I got a bit worried and got through to Bde HQ by wireless. Shortly afterwards a platoon from ‘B’ Coy was sent off to the right, to guard a bridge across the river. Then luckily the Colonel and his party came back as I was afraid they’d been cut off. The MT. section was immediately sent back about three miles, & they left so quickly that I was afraid that some of the Coys had not had time to get their kit off, but all was well. Unfortunately, Sgt Firmin reported to me that Sgt. Wiltshire had been badly wounded, also that my P.U. was missing. I then left the villages on a m/c behind (in pencil appears to be written policeman R R mech); who knew where the section was. I visited them but found the M.O’s truck missing , so I came back and borrowed another bike to look for the strays. I very soon found the M O’s truck but deserted. I hunted round, shouting for Moss without success. Then I lifted an old ground-sheet on the tail board & found a dead officer lying there, who I had never seen before. It was a very nasty shock. When passing the Indian memorial some bombs fell, but they were only small incendiary ones and not very close. Later I found the P.U. and told Duffin to follow me back to the Bn but he started off in such a hurry that he went the wrong way and I lost him again. On reporting back I was told to take the M.T. section off to LESTREM as soon as it was dark enough. As there was only a very small scale map available, it did not look too easy.
The QM was in a different village and had to be collected, but as he was coming back I left the cooks lorries for him to collect. Soon after dusk we moved off on some awful byroads with a DR who knew the first part of the route. Luckily, about an hour later, I stopped and asked some gunners the way, and managed to beg a large scale map from them. When the column arrived near the farm where ‘B’ Ech was, I left to collect them. They’d gone and left no message. What was more serious was they’d got the petrol lorry, and we were getting dangerously short. After driving a bit further we came to a bridge which was prepared for demolition and we could not get across. I walked over and met a sapper subaltern in a cottage on the bank. He’d made himself very comfortable with lots of rations and a fire and was waiting for orders to blow the bridge. He told me there was another practical route a little way further on and he showed me on the map. He also gave me two large slices of bread and jam and a mug of tea. I blessed that man as it was the first food I’d had for more than 24 hours, & then set off cheerfully for the other bridge. Here the map let me down, and we drove round for hours looking for an apparently mythical bridge. Eventually I came back to where we started from and soon after midnight, set off alone in the P.U.
May 25
I drove round in large circles nearly all night and still failed to cross the river. Eventually I returned to the RE and begged a guide. After following a rather round about route we eventually found it and got to Lestrem. Here we found some trucks that we’d lost earlier on, and who’d crossed quite easily. It was now broad daylight and I ran my guide back to his bridge.
Back in Lestrem the trucks were parked and all the drivers promptly went to sleep. We had a religious school for M.T. HQ and a good yard and shed for the vehicles. Slaughter produced a very good egg & bacon breakfast and then I felt better, especially as we met the local baker and Aclocq managed to get him to promise his new bread at 10 am. The Tiffies and some cooks were in the school yard not far away and the rest of the vehicles were spread round the village with HQ Coy in an orchard. I then sent Cpl Picken off on a m/c to look for the strays. The petrol situation was now critical & I went off on a motor-bike, because we could not afford to use the P.U. to look to (sic for) Bn HQ who should have been at Le Paradis. They’d not arrived but I found the Mess and brought it back to the lines. I then went off to Bde HQ at Epinette. Here I found a bombed-out aerodrome and sent a message to Sgt Firmin who promptly took a truck and collected 400 gallons. Later in the morning I went back to Bde HQ to see the B.T.O. Here I met Freddie, who showed me the location of Bn HQ. I also met the QME who promised to go out and fetch Chandler who had broken down. Then the biggest stroke of luck of all I found the RQMS with the unused rations and the petrol lorry full. When we got back, all the vehicles were full and we had a lot over. Near Bde HQ I’d met John CB (Editor note: Cave- Brown) and learnt that all the sappers were safe in spite of their recent bombing.
Soon after we got back, Aclocq and I set off for Bn HQ, but on the way we got badly shot up by some aircraft, and Aclocq was not feeling awfully well. Very soon after, I started again with Slaughter driving. Very soon the enemy put some shrapnel down on the road and the aircraft came again, so I parked the P.U. and found a bicycle which was a most useful form of transport. I cycled down to Locon which had been badly shot up. All the phone wires were across the road and the whole place was in an awful mess. In Locon I met Hatch, one of the Bde liaison officers who was looking for the Bn HQ. I showed him on the map which we unrolled on the bonnet of the P.U. As I was leaning over the map a large and very jagged piece of shrapnel, fell just in front of my nose; it was too close for comfort. After Hatch left, I parked the velo (Editor note: Bicycle) in an empty house and continued on foot, as the road was under fire in places. After running and crawling for a bit, I got under cover and soon reached Bn HQ on the cross roads. The building was a big farm, with the trucks parked in the orchard round it, and the orderly room in the cellar. There was a lot of straw and it was fairly comfortable. There were one or two wounded down there but not serious. I was asked to bring a truckload of S.A.A. fairly soon; so I prepared to leave. Just then machine gun bullets began hitting the wall in large numbers. I postponed my trip back for a bit and arranged with Briggs, for Yaxley to come down and relieve him, I left soon after, by another road, alternately running and creeping. After going across country for a bit I reached a farm which to my surprise was occupied. The unfortunate people had left Roubaix as refugees, and now had nowhere to go. They were very kind to me and gave me some milk to drink. I rested there for a bit and then went on. On reaching the main road I met some French troops who had lost their unit. We met an aged Frenchman who wanted a truck to get away in. When he tried bribery I got rather angry, but I was really sorry for him all the same. Shortly after I joined Slaughter, and went back to Lestrem. Here I arranged for High to come down with me after lunch with the ammunition. Slaughter produced an excellent lunch with which Aclocq & I had a bottle of wine. Then I started off on a motor-bike, with High following. In Locon we stopped and I made him wait while I got going. I then started off across the open and came into the cover of the houses doing close on 65 mph. soon after the truck arrived and all was well. I left the truck and High and returned alone. The section had got the petrol cooker going and were very pleased with it. All the cooks were told to be ready to leave at dusk. That afternoon, I had a much needed rest. We started down again as soon as it was dark enough, and arrived without incident. We parked in a big farm yard just opposite Bn HQ. I took the mess truck over and the coy guides collected their cooks. I waited inside HQ for a bit and then as the cooks could come on alone, I prepared to go back. There was a lot of fire on the yard where the P.U. was parked and we left hastily, arriving without trouble at Lestrem some minutes later. I was pretty tired by then, as it sees my fourth night with no sleep. There was a good bedroom at section HQ where Slaughter made me up a bed. I turned in at once and slept like a log.
May 26
I woke up late and in great comfort. There was real hot water for washing and shaving and an excellent prospect for breakfast. As I was dressing the B.T.O. arrived to say there was a large load of cigarettes and chocolate etc from some deserted NAAFI for us if we’d send a truck, which Sgt Firmin did. Then came the bombshell, a DR arrived from Bn HQ saying that I was wanted down there at once. As I was only just dressed, I went straight away with no equipment, shoes instead of boots and a pistol in my pocket. Duffin drove me down & we reached Le Paradis about ten minutes later. There the Colonel produced the big surprise. He said they were very short of officers and that I’d got to hand over the M.T. section to Sgt Firmin and take command of two companies in the line right away. I never saw the M.T. again and very much hope they got away alright. There were no maps available, and all I could get was a diagram drawn on the back of an old photo. Duffin drove me down to Le Cornet Malo and left me. Here I found A & B Coy HQ’s in a café on the crossroads with the stretcher- bearers and a telephone. I sneaked up the road which was under long range MG fire and found the remains of the two coys, plus A Coy Royal Scots all lying in one ditch. Bucher (RS) was wounded in the leg but refuses to go back. Hastings and our I.O (Editor note: Long) were there too, and showed me round. The place was considerably battered by mortar bombs and everyone seemed a bit shaken. After a bit we got them sorted out into companies & Bucher Hastings & the I.O. went back. This left me with Slater in A Company and Lt (left blank). (Editor note: Edgeworth) in B. As things seemed very quiet I took out a patrol of about 6 R.S. under Cpl (left blank) We went forward to the edge of the village unchecked, and there we saw about 50 or 60 enemy leaving a farm about half a mile down the Canal Road and advancing towards the village. When they got a bit closer we started to pick them off with rifle fire, but they still came on so we withdrew. It was a pity that we had no mortars as we could have bombed them beautifully. After a short while in the Company line, nothing happened, and we went forward again. Here we found a wounded Cpl in a ditch and took four or five unwounded prisoners. After all the frightful things the troops had threatened, it was amusing how well they treated the prisoner. They gave him cigarettes and chocolate and then I started to question him, and he was quite ready to talk. He said there was about a division against us across the canal, as I had rather expected, instead of the odd hundred or so that I’d been told. We sent the unwounded ones straight back to Bn HQ & on to Bde. That evening the mortar Pl arrived under P.S.M. Ireland who got into action straight away, and did some very good shooting especially when some more ammunition arrived. At dusk I sent A Coy over to a farm about 200* to our left as there was a big gap between us and D Coy with whom we could not make touch. They got badly bombed on arrival, and had some casualties.
About then Johnny Woodwark arrived to take command of them which relieved my mind a lot as Slater was having rather a rough time. Then, as it got dark the enemy attacked again and drove in our forward posts. They started digging hard just beyond the village where we could hear them all night. Just before midnight I heard unmistakable sounds of tanks which was bad. I phoned through a report and asked for AT mines which were not available, and hand grenades which were. Soon after dark C.Q.M.S Milne arrived with hot stew which was excellent and badly needed. Troops came back in relays to collect the food & take it forward.
May 27
Soon after midnight I ordered out a small recce patrol under P.S.M. Smalls which did very well. They found the enemy digging and measured the distance back to the mortar position. Then Ireland did some really brilliant shooting in the pitch dark using sound to direct. From the shouts and shrieks, there must have been some direct hits. I sent up white verey (sic very) lights occasionally but never saw anything. Before first light the tanks started to move and we got the dannat (sic dannert) wire off the mortar trucks and made a small road block. As it began to get light about 5 am the tanks arrived huge fellows & about a dozen. I phoned Bn HQ & then they cut the line. This was the last message I got to the Bn. The forward sections came in leaving their guns & worse the AT rifles. And for a bit there was ancient chaos. Some of the mortar Pl was captured but Ireland got away with the guns in one truck. Eventually we had a brain-wave & ran out below the tanks angle of fire & put Mills grenades in the tracks. It did not do the tanks much harm, but frightened the drivers and they ditched them. We got four that way, which was not too bad. Then gradually some form of order was restored, we got the L.M.Gs back into position and the A.T. rifles mounted. Luckily the German infantry were a long way behind their tanks, so when they came, we were ready for them. And come they did. In masses, I never believed I’d see troops advancing shoulder to shoulder across the open, but these men did, and suffered accordingly. The Brens fired till they were red-hot and also the riflemen. But we suffered heavily and in the end, I was left in a big farm with an attic with an A. T. rifle & a rifle for myself, and one rifleman to help. We dodged around firing at the tanks and sniping until a chance shot killed the other man & left me alone.
For a long time our position had been surrounded, and eventually I went across the road to join A Coy Royal Scots. They were all in a big farm and had hardly suffered at all. Both their officers Turkin (sic Turcan) and Page had disappeared sometime before, but the C.S.M. was doing very well. I stayed there a bit and had a much needed cigarette also helped to put out a fire in their ammunition store, which the tanks had set alight. While I was in the house, one of the tanks shelled it. Very unpleasant as the small armour-piercing shells came straight through the walls. Eventually, as I was doing no good there but sniping, I decided to try and contact C Coy 2/RS on the right, and get help & information. Directly I got outside the wall, I was hit in the side, it burned a bit but was not serious. Then I ran along a ditch under cover into the wood which was a breathing-space. Here luckily I destroyed the 1st Corps Code-list – “just in case”. Then further on, I left the wood, and started to slink back along a hedge between two fields towards the road. Here my luck turned, for an enemy M.G. post saw me & opened fire. At once I was hit in the arm & so I lay down. As they took no further action, I lay still, shamming dead & did some hard thinking. Finally, as my arm was obviously broken, I decided to stay there till dusk, as it was now about midday, it was a longish wait, and I was bleeding pretty badly. At dusk, I got up, rather painfully, and leaving my rifle I crept along the fence to a farm by the road. It was deserted so I went in and rested for a while on a bed. Soon however I heard a car stop outside & some Germans came in. At first they did not discover me so I tried to creep out of the window. Unfortunately I was so weak that I slipped through the glass with a crash, and there the (sic they) found me sitting in the courtyard.
May 27 (continued)
After the initial excitement, they took my pistol & a grenade which I had in my pocket, and led me out to the car. They turned out to be some Gunners going to join their battery. Very soon we reached the rest of the Bty, halted beside the road which was simply jammed with traffic. Their march discipline & traffic control appeared good, but the amount of traffic far exceeded the capacity of the road. The Bty went into a small field where they got the guns straight into position very efficiently and the ammunition was stacked near them. I was taken to the Bty Commander who appeared a very decent fellow. In the car they had bound up my arm & offered me a drink, they also showed me a 25mm A/T gun sight & were very curious as to what it was: they obviously disbelieved me when I said I did not know either, but did not press the subject. When the Bty had settled down a bit, they asked if I was hungry and when I said ‘yes’, they asked me to join them & I fed with the officers at their evening meal of sausage, bread & butter and most excellent coffee. They took my wallet & all my papers but returned them to me before I left. They cut my coat off and made a very good job of my arm, with a cardboard splint and bandages. A Colonel came up & talked to me, but we did not get far as he spoke no English and my German was not very efficient. After dark, I was put into a car with the blankets they’d given me and we set off for Div HQ. On the way we passed the tanks I’d ditched that morning, still well and truly ditched. After much trouble with a long & perfectly apalling (sic appalling) traffic jam we reached the Div. HQ where I was handed over to someone. He was very kind and gave me a blanket and his own coat. There was some straw in the corner of a field and I lay down to sleep, but almost immediately it started to rain. The same man came out & took me into a house, where after I had layed (sic laid) down on the floor he found some straw. On this I finally went to sleep absolutely exhausted. It had been an eventful day and I did not fully realize till later how extremely lucky I was to be alive.
May 28
I was woken by an Intelligence Officer who came to question me. He spoke excellent English but we did not get very far, as our ideas on what a prisoner should say, did not coincide at all.
However he was very cheerful about it all. Later I got up and marched off to another yard of an old school where a lot of prisoners, British and French were crowded. Here I met Barker, the M.O of the 1st Royal Scots. It was very pleasant to see a friend. Here also the Germans gave me a jerkin as I’d nothing but a torn shirt and was pretty cold. We did not stay here long & I was put on the pillion of a motor bike & taken back to Locon. Here again I was taken to a Div HQ for questioning. There were three ORs there as well. The enemy were looking for a sapper, as they seemed very worried about road mines. They asked me if I knew what roads were mined & when I said I didn’t, the (they) threatened to put me & the three troops in a car to go hunting for mines in front of some columns. I laughed a lot at this & pointed out how useless it was as we did not know anything about mines & even if we did we were quite prepared to be blown to hell looking for them. This seemed to put them off a bit & they dropped the idea. The questioning officer was named Spink & was one of the worst types I’ve ever had the misfortune to meet. When this rather cheerless party broke up, the four of us were taken to Locon crossroads where we found a lot of wounded prisoners in a ruined & partially roofless barn. Among others were Maclean, Padre of the R.S. & Cruickshank, both with leg wounds & rather sorry for themselves. Mason from HQ Coy was there & soon after arrived 2/Lt Simpson & the remains of our C. Coy including PSM’s Barratt & Howlett, also Sgt Wright (SB) who was slightly wounded with a bullet through the shoulder. There was a lot more questioning but little result. Soon after midday it started to pour with rain most of which came through on the wretched wounded. We were all pretty hungry by this time but no food was available. The unwounded men marched off to a house and soon one of the German MP’s produced an old lorry and loaded the first party on & went off in search of a hospital leaving us wet but hopeful. It was about four hours before it came back, during which time I ate a couple of handfuls of wheat, which was much better than I’d expected although the Apostles seemed to have liked it. Eventually we got on the lorry & set off. We crossed the canal towards Béthune on a temporary bridge which did not look over safe, and soon reached the town. After a long drive round the town, looking for the hospital we found it and bundled out. The hospital staff were most kind, also the French doctors. We were taken upstairs to a big ward where a very pleasant & cheery Irish sister sorted us out. I & a few others went of (sic off) to St George (Editor note: a commune in the Pas-de-Calais). I was put in as little room at the end of the ward with a French boy. All the staff were very sorry for us and kept talking about “les pauvres Anglais “(Editor note: the poor English). A ward charwoman helped me to undress & gave me some hot water to wash with. Then I bundled into bed. It was a most amazing feeling to be safe and comfortable again. I lay back between the sheets and just felt, I’ve never been so thankful for anything in my life. We were still ravenous and were given a meal of boiled eggs and macaroni; it was delicious. Soon after the M.O. came round & looked at my arm, redid my dressings and promised to operate the first thing next morning. I was very pleased, as though it did not hurt much, I was rather worried about it as it was hanging awfully loose. Then I slept, for I was absolutely exhausted, and pretty weak as well, and for the first time for weeks I was free from anxiety and responsibility.
May 29
I was woken up about 6 am & taken straight to the operating theatre which was in the cellar. The French doctors were very kind and I went under soon after they started giving the anaesthetic.
The next thing I knew was when I came to in bed; all strapped up in the most tremendous plaster, and very hungry into the bargain. It was not till late in the day that I was allowed to eat. They also told me that another British Officer had arrived who had lost an arm; this turn out to be Barlow-Massick of the Borders who I had last seen at Jacky’s party at Warlaing some weeks before the Blitzkrieg while they were still brigaded with us.
Here in the hospital we stayed about eight weeks. Under the circumstances it passed very pleasantly. My wound healed very rapidly and in seven weeks I had the plaster off. The doctors were amazed and very pleased. After a few days the french boy moved out of my room & a wounded sergeant came in. He was Sgt. Marcel Noel of the 7th Auto - Mitraclleurs (sic Automitrailleuse) home address; 31. Rue du Petit-fort. Dinan. Côte du Nord.
He was in a pretty bad way, having lost a leg & with wounds in both hands & one eye. He was a pleasant chap but with a rooted objection to fresh air, especially at night. As a result of this I moved into the wrecked operating theatre. It was lovely in there as the weather was perfect and all the glass was blown out by the shelling, it was just like sleeping out of doors. I got out into the garden after a week or so & spent more time there every day. After the first month, we started an officers mess downstairs with eight french officers. It was quite fun and the food improved noticeably.
There were about a hundred British ORs in the hospital of which about 12 came from the 9th (Editor note: believed 7th Battalion from St Valary). R.S.M. Cockaday was there with a wounded leg but improved quickly. When we’d been there about 10 days, Pooley the ex D.R. came in with a very unpleasant story. He said that when Bn HQ had surrendered, they were disarmed and later marched into a courtyard and machine-gunned. He said the (he) saw the CO. (Ryder) lying dead & that Long, IO Woodwark were there. He said he & O’Callaghan were the only survivors. However the R.S.M. (Editor note: Cockaday above) said he had seen the M.O. (Editor’s note: Lieutenant Draffin) & some others later than this. This story must be checked as soon as possible. I questioned him a lot but could not shake him at all.
Our main interest in the hospital was the visitor days. The local French people adopted us & were amazingly kind, coming to see us on thursdays & sundays & bringing cigarettes etc. They caused some bad feeling by being awfully kind to us & ignoring the french troops, with whom they were furious. The local people were much in sympathy the attack on Oran (Editor note: 3rd July 1940 British air and naval forces attacked the French fleet station near Oran Algeria) which surprised us.
Our stay in hospital was made pleasant by the kindness of the Aumonier (Editor’s note: chaplain) (M Bouchindomme), the Sisters and the french doctors, who did all they could for us and more.
We wrote some letters home but have, till now, no idea if they have arrived.
(Inserted: About 18 months later some of the letters arrived.)
Part II
July 14
Visitors day and a Sunday. I had my first and last proper visit from Héléne Airand. She brought a camera & took some photos of China & I. Then the blow that we’d been expecting for so long, fell.
We were warned to be ready to leave the next day. We told Héléne and all our friends that we might be gone by the following thursday & said good-bye with much exchanging of home addresses. Then we completed our scanty packing.
July 15
A troubled night as the man in the room with Pte (left blank) & I was very ill with pneumonia. We took turns at nursing him all night, and finally about 5 am, as it got light, we both went to sleep. An hour later he was dead. I never knew his name & anyway, we were pretty callous by then. Apart from that, everything was pretty normal up till lunch-time. In the middle of lunch, which was my last decent meal for some weeks, we got the order to go.
Three lorries arrived, and we all got set. A hurried goodbye all round to the people who’d been so very kind to us, and we packed in. The German N.C.O. organising the party, had been a prisoner in England most of the last war & had been very well treated. He spoke excellent English and was very helpful.
After some waiting in the street, we moved off to the prison camp. Here we waited some more until we finally got on the move. We set off along the Lille Road for Tournai. It would have been easy enough to escape by jumping off the lorry during the trip, but I was still pretty weak, though I’ve always regretted that I did not try it, as it was the last hope of any success, that I got. We passed rapidly through Lille, and reached Tournai about an hour later. Here we were driven into a Belgian Barracks where we disembarked. The troops went off to one big block, & we went to the officers block where I met about 14 more officers from various hospitals in northern France, among them J.T.Nicholson, Fleet Air Arm. We hung about for a bit and got a meal of thin soup and a good whack of bread. I walked around the courtyard in between the rainstorms. We all got given beds in a big barrack room, with palliasses & straw pillows. In spite of this, even after my comfortable couch at the hospital, I slept like a log. It was the most energetic day I’d spent since I was captured two months before.
July 16th
We got up fairly early & got a scratch breakfast of coffee & bread. At Tournai there were fine showers with good hot water. We shaved and those who were able to, bathed, but my arm prevented me as the bandages & a splint were still on.
We made a jug of tea just before we embussed at mid-day; it was excellent but unfortunately we left all the spare tea & sugar behind which was a bad oversight.
We left Tournai in busses & were surprised to see how little the town was damaged. We went out over the main bridge, and along the Renaix road on which I’d been bombed, not many weeks before. The skeletons of the ammunition lorries which had caused us so much trouble, were still there. We passed rapidly through Renaix and on to Aalst. At first we were taken to a Belgian hospital which looked almost too good to be true, it was! We were taken into the town of Aalst to a factory or mill. Here we debussed and piled our kit. The place was full of french troops and wogs. After hanging about for a long time, we went into a huge stone paved building in which we were to sleep. The straw, of which there was a little, looked filthy, so we swept it away. I was lucky enough to find an old door, on which I slept; it was much better than the stone. Soon an English doctor arrived from the hospital and opened a small dressing station, with two Belgian red-cross nurses. I had my arm dressed, & the redX girls went out into the town to buy us food etc if we wanted it. A bit later all the prisoners in the place paraded for food, & here we got into trouble. All the British officers formed up facing the rostrum and the bread came out in huge baskets, but at the critical moment, someone said something comic, & we all laughed. This was fatal as the German N.C.O. thought that we were laughing at the mouldy bread, which was pretty filthy. He flew into a towering rage & shouted at us at great length. Finally we were made to wait on parade until all the other troops, both white and wog had been fed. It did have one advantage, in that the British orderlies changed our mouldy bread, when no one was looking, for good stuff & about twice as much. But the whole affair was one of the worst exhibitions of temper, I’ve ever seen. The N.C.O. or Apple-green as we promptly christened him because of his camouflage jacket, was probably one of the worse type of his breed, as his underlings were on the whole good. I slept uncomfortably that night, but soundly inspite of everything.
July 17
We were due to leave Aalst that day & there was some doubt if and when any transport would arrive for us. Finally, we paraded hurriedly at midday & waited on the grass patch by the gate. Nothing happened & about 2 pm we got a meal of sorts, & waited some more. At about 5 pm some lorries arrived and we piled in, & set off. We saw nothing of the driver, as our lorry was a closed one. We arrived at a little Belgian town called Lockern (Editor note; this could be Lokeren) & went first to the mess camp but later were taken to an officers one. This was the first time we’d been separated in any way from the troops. Although sorry for our own men, we were very glad to be rid of the wogs for a bit. The camp to which we went was a school and not uncomfortable either. We got a room to ourselves with a fair supply of straw. The orderlies went out into the town and brought us things, including excellent fresh Belgian bread, sardines, chocolate etc. Altogether it was a distinct improvement on the previous night at Aalst. Locbein (Editors note: this also could be Lockeren) seemed to be an attractive place on a small canal
July 18
In the morning we learnt that we were not to move that day & so took things fairly easily, as well as doing some much needed washing. These two nights we heard aircraft & the sound of heavy bombing, not far away, so we knew the RAF were still busy. During the day, we bought such stocks of food as we could afford & conveniently carry, which later proved invaluable. Late that evening we were warned to be ready to leave first thing in the morning. We bedded down early, to the sound of bombing aircraft.
July 19
We were woken about 3 am and told to parade immediately. There was hot coffee before leaving which was very welcome, as it was cold in the early morning. Then it was discovered that there was no transport & we were to march which was a blow as we were all straight from hospital. However it was only to be 12 km which was not too bad for most of us, though hard on the Padre & Cruickshank. We went very slowly & some of the troops passed us. The local people were quite friendly, and a few even gave us things. Luckily we were picked up in lorries about half way along the march which I was quite enjoying. The country was very fresh & green & the crops excellent.
Very soon we were packed in an orchard beside a small narrow gauge railway line. After waiting about a couple of hours, a train arrived & we all got in. The officers had a quite nice carriage with a seat each which was pleasing. We started almost at once, the line following the road most of the way. Very soon the line crossed the frontier into Holland. The whole country was very interesting, being absolutely flat & very highly cultivated. The grain crops were some of the heaviest I have ever seen, & I was interested to see some fields of poppies which I can only assume were for opium. Nearly all the roads were on embankments & lined with poplar trees. The farms & villages were very neat & tidy and spotlessly clean. The people were very friendly, especially after crossing the Dutch frontier. Lots of the women wore a very peculiar dress, with white starched caps, and little brass springs or plates in them.
Very soon we were detained along the side of a road. There was a big marsh bank not far away, with masts showing over it so we knew we were near the sea or a river. We marched onto a raised embankment with a road lined with trees running along it. Here we halted & were fed from field kitchens. Soon however we collected our baggage and moved off towards the masts. On arriving at the bank we saw that it was a large estuary, with a landing stage of sorts and a pub at the corner. The name of the place was Wolsoorden. We filed down the landing stage and were given a very mouldy loaf each. When we asked how long it was supposed to last, we were told “Two or maybe three days”. This was not too hopeful, as half the stuff was not fit to eat. Then we passed on to an enormous coal barge, in which we were herded; 150 officers English & French in one compartment. The barge was still covered in coal dust and filthy beyond belief. We were not allowed on deck whist the large barge was alongside & there was not room to sit down even, which seemed a pretty poor prospect for a three day trip. Another snag which rapidly appeared was the complete absence of any form of fresh water.
After waiting while all the troops embarked, which took some time as there were sixteen hundred of them, about half of which were french colonial troops; a tug came along side and we set off down stream against a rising tide. We all came on deck & the sea-air was marvellous after the appalling fug down below. The scene was rather fine, and the sort of thing I had not seen since I’d been home on leave. A large salt water estuary, only one side of which was visible and bounded by a huge sea-wall. There were long stretches of mud-flats, being slowly covered by the rising tide, and in the distance, wooded hills. We sailed down and across the estuary to a canal mouth on the other side. This canal, we entered through a lock. The buildings and small quays were very neat, & beautifully kept. The canal was broad and seemed fairly deep.
We passed through several locks, all neat & well kept as the first. All the bridges across the canal had been blown, most efficiently & were being rebuilt. It seemed to be a biggish job. At frequent intervals along the canal bank, there were German AA posts each with its little camp, well camouflaged. After about two hours we came out at the other end of the canal into a little harbour built out with moles into another estuary. Here there were lots of sailing barges all apparently idle. The country we’d passed through was flat & low and seemed mostly grazing land below the canal level. There were occasional villages built round their little churches and small clumps of trees.
On leaving the canal, we passed into another estuary within view of the sea. But unfortunately we turned upstream which was a pity. The tide was in and the place was very wide. We steamed all the evening against a strong current and anchored at dusk in midstream (Inserted: 26/10/40. Great excitement! 1st letter from home since captured.). Directly the tug came alongside, there was a rush for fresh water. It was lucky they had any as we were getting pretty thirsty at the end of the day. The hardest part of the day came when it was time to bed down. A lot of people went up on deck to sleep, where it was, I thought, bitterly cold, but even then there was not room below to lie out straight. I sat at the bottom of the steps where everyone tripped over my feet. It was impossible to sleep so I sat talking to Ponsonby (Major R.Sigs), till about four o’clock in the morning. Between us we finished my store of chocolate & he had half a bottle of brandy which helped a lot. It was the most amusing night I’d spent for a long while, though beastly uncomfortable. About 4 am I went on deck & walked along the scuppers; the only place that was not occupied by sleeping forms. It was a fine moonlight night, though the wind was very cold. The stream was rushing past but apart from that, everything was very quiet. There must have been an air raid on by the R.A.F. as in the east there were a number of searchlight beams, & the sound of muffled A.A. fire. Just before dawn I went below again & went to sleep in a huddled heap against the ladder. I didn’t wake up till someone fell over me & I found we were already under way.
July 20
We spent the whole day on the barge going slowly upstream. The estuary gradually narrowed down, & we left the salt water for a river. I was sorry to see the last of the sand hills & mud-banks; they seemed friendly somehow. The river was enclosed by high banks and we could see nothing of the country on either side. About noon we reached Dordrecht which seemed a prosperous sort of town place though obviously the war had brough everything to a standstill. There were a lot of german troops in the town, but the population seemed very friendly until forcibly bashed by the police. Here in Dordrecht we stopped and a Dutch M.O came on board to do the most urgent dressings. My arm seemed well enough so I did not have it touched. Here again the bridge had been beautifully blown, and was a complete wreck. We moved in the afternoon & in the evening moored again in midstream, behind a huge string of barges, that we had been close to all day. This time, I tried sleeping on deck. Mercifully John Surtees (R.B.) lent me a blanket, as I has none of my own, but even then I was pretty cold.
July 21
This was almost a repetition of the previous day, except that we came to one large town but did not stop. Here the main bridge, which also carried a railway line, was not touched, & had electric trains running every few minutes. At this town some lard was given to us in addition to the bread ration. Mercifully, I was not very hungry, as three small slices of bread and dry at that is not awfully satisfying. At night, I slept below again, this time under the ladder, and got down early enough to get a good pew. I got a good nights rest inspite of the dirt, & the hardness of the floor.
July 22
The barge started off early, before I was awake. We reached our destination, a place call Emerich (sic Emmerich), about 7 am. & came alongside a landing stage where we waited for some hours. Eventually we were marched onto the quay where we were given some excellent biscuits and some cheese. We marched through the town to an old sports ground beside the railway. Here we all sat on the grass & fed. Again more waiting about & we got into a heated argument with the guards which did no good. About 1 pm we entrained in cattle trucks & prepared to move off. As there were forty of us in a small truck we were still pretty cramped. We did not finally move until 4 pm & travelled steadily until 10pm. The trucks, were carefully closed, so was saw hardly anything. At dusk we arrived at Hemer station & I got out. We marched up through the village to the prisoners camp; a brand new barracks, not even finished. We were separated from the men & went into an officers block. The rooms were dry & airy & the straw clean. We just rolled up & slept like logs. I have rarely spent a better night, or more appreciated clean straw as a bed. We knew we were to stay here some days, so we prepared to make ourselves as comfortable as possible.
July 23
We all spent an excellent night after our rather uncomfortable journey & did not get up until we had to. There was the usual breakfast of ersatz (Editor note: substitute) coffee and some bread we’d saved from the night before. I went outside to see what there was to be seen, which was not much. The camp appeared to be very cosmopolitan, English French Dutch and Poles, as well as french colonials of every race shape and colour. The men were living in huge tents, but there was a wire fence round us & we could not see or talk to them
In the morning we were issued with blankets and eating bowls, both of which were very necessary & at midday we had a bowl full of soup. It was the most filling meal we’d had for days. The main snag was there was nowhere to walk, except a small mud patch outside our block. The place was obviously a collecting camp, for all prisoners & we hoped to be away fairly soon.
July 24
We spent practically the whole day doing nothing in particular; just reading and playing cards. A short walk outside for a change, but it wasn’t much fun, as the space was so small & the wire so close. We were fed quite reasonably, compared with what we’d been used to, but it still left much to be desired. Still it was very pleasant to be left in peace for a while. The only interest all day was in the evening, when the guards started firing against the walls of our building, to enforce the blackout.
July 25
In the morning, we all paraded and had our belongings searched. They were pretty thorough about it, but the only thing I lost was my tin hat, which was a pity, as I was rather attached to it. The rest of the day we just loafed.
July 26
There was a sick parade in the morning & I went along to have my arm looked at. It was healing well but still very weak & wasted, and needed exercises more than anything. We were getting pretty bored by this time and were very pleased to hear in the afternoon, that we were to leave next day.
July 27
We were all ready to leave in the morning, but had to hang about all day. The French left about 2 pm & I said goodbye to the two with whom I’d been in hospital & travelling so long, among them Lt Reynand (11th Gouoaves (sic Gouves). Finally at about 6 pm we marched off to the station where we got into an empty carriage in a siding. Here we waited as usual for some hours, & eventually left just before dark. As there were 6 of us to a compartment, I slept on the floor & very well too, though it was awful hard.
July 28
We stopped at Kassel in the early morning & stretched our legs. The breakfast, that the guard tried to get for us did not materialize but he managed to get a loaf from somewhere which was quite good. While we were there, several troop trains came through, with troops returning from France. They seemed very cheerful, poor devils. Soon after we left the station and reached Spangenberg, a distance of about 20 miles, at 3 pm by a very round-about route. From the station we saw the Schloss (Editor note: Castle), which was to be our home, perched on top of a hill behind the village. From the station, we marched up through the very attractive village, with its winding cobbled streets, to the Kommandatur (sic Kommandantur). Here we were taken in turn by rank, and questioned & searched again most thoroughly. I lost my jacket, a book (Editor note: appears to read Soulhuener) and my wallet, the last two of which were later returned to me. After our particulars were taken, we all met in a room in one of the outbuildings and were given Red X cards to fill in.
We were all very pleased, as this was probably the first news of us which would reach home.
Then we were marched up the hill to the Schloss, which was an old walled castle with a moat all round. A very attractive place but a bit rough. It was all much more comfortable & reasonable than I’d expected, & I was correspondingly pleased.
I was a little disappointed to find no one I knew & no news at all of the Bn. However we got a good meal, and a room all together which was pleasant. We were disappointed to find there was no communication with England so I wrote to the Drury’s at Gib asking them to forward news of me to England. I don’t know if they ever got it as up till now (30th Oct 1940) it produced no result.
(Editor note: Some of the map references referred to cannot be found and it is assumed that they are on a missing map)
I awoke late, and washed and shaved in the open. It was a marvellous morning, and I rolled down very late to the Mess for breakfast. When sitting around afterwards, Acloque rolled in having gone on leave before the Blitzkrieg and only just being able to find us. I took him off to Bn HQ and then went down to see Draffin the MO. He did a very nice job of carving on my toe and I felt a lot better, though I still stuck to the m/c. Before lunch we got a warning order to move up to Colonne and relieve the Berks. Late in the afternoon a hasty conference was called and Gammy came back with orders that we were to enter a village where a lot of civilians had run amok. Further orders were that anyone who did not halt immediately when challenged was to be shot, including women and children. The ‘civilians’ later turned out to be germans who had crossed the river in plain clothes, but we did not know that at the time. The transport was to move by a different road to the Bn and we both moved off immediately. After driving some miles including a very narrow defile (Editor note: a pass) where some troops were feverishly digging dugouts in the banks, we arrived and parked the vehicles with HQ Coy at ‘A’ and the remainder at ‘B’. The latter a big deserted farm was chosen as Bn HQ. There I met O group and about half an hour later the Bn arrived, also the carriers which disappeared the large wood at ‘C’. We then sat down and waited for the order to go into the village. No order came & we just waited. As it was already 7.00 pm and the relief at Calonne was due to commence at midnight, things became rather trying. Eventually the village job was cancelled and the troops moved off for Calonne about 10 pm, taking A Echelon with them. We’d got a new location for B Echelon lines behind the French frontier.
I went back to Froidement (sic Froidmont) to collect the cooks and to run the hot meal up to Calonne and meet the Bn. I then found that a standfast order had been issued and also that Bde HQ had gone. After scouting around a bit, I found another HQ at Z. where I met Braddyl of the sappers and discovered that the standfast order was off. Arrived at Calonne where the cooks were met by guides and went off to their coys with orders to join me at the Railway Bridge ‘A’ as soon as possible. When we got to the corner (B) we were badly shelled. Goodfellow vanished and I had to drive his lorry under cover.
May 20
I went on to Bn HQ at ‘C’ in the big Chateau. Duffin parked the car in the yard and vanished down a cellar. I went inside and found a certain amount of disorder. Gammy and Elson had been wounded, also Charlton slightly. Ryder was commanding which seemed to be successful. I did what I could, including drinking in the dining- room, half a bottle of the finest white wine I’ve ever had the luck to meet.
I then collected the cooks and we set off for the new ‘B’ Echelon park, a drive of about 15 miles.
One felt a certain amount of relief on crossing the French frontier as we were sure we would hold that. I was met by Keeler and Slaughter and guided back to the wood where we were to lie up.
It was daylight before we left Calonne and was now about 5.30 am. I had a bed made up in the P.U and slept soundly till midday. That afternoon we got busy on the new park, including bridging a ditch for the entrance. Somehow Simpson had ditched the carrier platoon truck and had to be dug out. I took the cooks up again that evening and left them to return on their own. The drivers had not wasted any time but had gone round the farms and collected a bucket full of eggs and a couple of gallons of milk. To our everlasting regret we did not kill any pigs whilst we were there, as I think they would have been good.
May 21
A very ordinary day, except for a big parachutist drive in the afternoon. We beat the woods where the Cheshires had their M.T. Lines. Of course, we did not find anything and I missed my lunch. I did not go up to Calonne that day so I got a good nights rest which was more than lucky in view of what was to happen later. Gabby arrived wounded for his bit; I heard Peter (Editor note: Barclay) was also hit.
May 22
Another slackish day in which the troops went foraging again in the morning with equally good results. In the afternoon we got orders to be prepared to leave Calonne that night. All the transport was ordered to be up at dusk. When we reached Bde HQ at ‘Barges’ Swainson stopped us and said that all traffic was stopped as the Germans were supposed to be through. After a bit, the QM. took the cooks lorries back and I waited. After some anxious moments, the situation eased; I went back for the cooks and we got to the Bn soon after midnight.
May 23
I then went to Bn HQ and arranged to meet all the Cooks at the cross roads (D) as soon as possible. As there was some time to wait, I snooped around the castle and into the cellar. There was still some goodish wine left so I took a few bottles. With nothing more to do, as I was told that the A Ech was coming with troops, I retired to the railway bridge at E after parking Duffin in the P.U. at the ‘B’ Ech RV with orders to stop the cooks as they arrived. I took Slaughter with me and we parked in an empty café to wait. There seemed a lot of noise and eventually the family pets started to come out. First a very scared cat followed by a dog which attached itself to me; and last but not least a ferret which hung about for a long time but eventually made off down a drain. Soon al ‘B’ Ech was complete, and after refusing to take charge of a broken carrier for Johnston-Hall the QME we left with no regrets. It had been a nasty place and we’d had too many casualties. Five officers wounded and I’d lost Rusted killed. I picked up the cooks and the mess and all the A Ech which was not wanted and we went right back to the village of (left blank) where I parked the cooks in an avenue in a park. Leaving them there I set off for the Bn RV at (left blank).
After a very round-about drive, during which I collected a Gunner tractor and a gun who were hopelessly lost, I made the RV arriving at 4 am. and found a completely deserted village. We parked the P.U. close to a cottage where there was a truck and about a dozen motor- bikes but no people. Then I went round for a bit and eventually met Hastings who’d come to recce the Bn Area. We went into the village where the previous Unit had left masses of stores behind. I collected a petrol cooker for the section and an (sic a) QM yakdan complete for myself. They’d obviously abandoned their canteen. Some of our other finds were 21 lbs of cocoa & a case of tea, a rifle & bayonet and other useful stores. I went back to the cottage and found it occupied by a section of military police who’d been left by the previous Brigade. When I got back to the house, Duffin had collected in about half an hour, 120 eggs & I had eggs & bacon for breakfast which was excellent as we’d lived on scratch meals for some time. At last about 7 am the Bn arrived & we found that owing to some demolitions we were to move to another village and we took the trucks and set off. As it was the same place where I’d parked ‘B’ Echelon I was quite happy. On arrival we chopped down some orchard fences, and made a transport park of sorts. Later, we moved all the vehicles into the Chateau grounds where there were some big chestnuts and the cover was much better. By now Bn HQ had been established, and also the mess to which I retired for a second much needed breakfast. Later I went down and looked at ‘B’ Ech and found to my horror that their park was empty and the whole lot had gone, but it transpired later that they’d moved into a Bde park at (left blank), so I did not bother to go and look for them. Instead I went down to the P.U. where Slaughter had got some hot water. After a much-needed wash and shave I turned in and slept till about 4 pm. I woke when L/C Everett, who’d been helping the French troops to reach the Chateau, presented me with three bottles of Champagne.
I was very disturbed to discover that petrol was running short, so I set off immediately for ‘B’ Ech who I found had moved. We came back at high speed by a round about route which was lucky as later I had to cover it in the dark. On the way back, we hid up while some enemy bombers flew over and beat up the local town. When I reached it I met Tobin and C-B (Editor note: Cave-Brown). They’d had a lucky escape as a bomb had fallen on their house, though no one was hurt.
On my return to the Bn, I received orders to move again that night. The section filled up with petrol & I kept the lorry. ‘B Ech was to move under Bde control, so I did not have to worry about them. We were to move at dusk, but as usual the troop carriers were late. After much running about, on the back of some DR’s bike we were formed up about midnight and left shortly afterwards. Just before we were due to go, I missed ‘B’ Coy cooks from the end of the column. I made a hurried journey back to the village & found the lorry standing in the middle of the street with Myhill & C.Q.M.S.Milne fast asleep. I was furious, but knew all the drivers were very tired.
The Bde convoy started off at terrific speed, and as we had Simpson on tow it soon became difficult especially as the light was very bad. I was at the tail of the column & noticed that we passed through Cysoing which was not on the route.
May 24
There was a light ground mist which made map reading almost impossible and soon the column stopped. As it did not move on, I went forwards and found that half had gone on and Catanach had fallen asleep and lost them also holding up all in rear. I lead off until we come to a small town which I very luckily recognized from my trip the proceeding evening. (Inserted: This town was Templeuve.)
We were well south of our route to Aubers but going in the right direction. Just at dawn there was a big jam in a flat open bit of country. In this I discovered the Colonel with some of the column also the QM with ‘B’Ech. After about an hour and a half, the jam cleared and we let some guns through. In nearly all jams the trouble was caused by the troop carriers who had no idea of road discipline and were often very bad drivers as well. I then followed the correct route by the map, and reached Aubers about 8.am. This proved to be merely a dispersal point and not our final destination. All this time we happily thought we were going into a divisional rest area and were inclined to take things rather easily. I found parks for all the vehicles which they had just reached in time to leave again for forming up on the Neuve Chapelle Road. Shortly afterwards we started but stopped just in Neuve Chapelle. All this time I was traffic controlling on a m/c. Later on, as we went towards Béthune, the P.U. fell out and later it took a long time to find it again. On the way, we passed the big Indian cemetery and War memorial which had been badly pitted either by bombs or shell-fire. Eventually we arrived at our destination, which was Colon. The Coys kept their own vehicles and HQ parked at the back of the village under some trees.
Very soon, however, instead of the rest we’d all been expecting orders came through to take up a defensive position as a detachment of enemy were just across the La Bassée Canal about a mile away. The Colonel and all the Coy commanders left immediately on a recce & left me in charge of the Battalion. Very soon the enemy started to shell the village with shrapnel and did a lot of superficial damage. I got a bit worried and got through to Bde HQ by wireless. Shortly afterwards a platoon from ‘B’ Coy was sent off to the right, to guard a bridge across the river. Then luckily the Colonel and his party came back as I was afraid they’d been cut off. The MT. section was immediately sent back about three miles, & they left so quickly that I was afraid that some of the Coys had not had time to get their kit off, but all was well. Unfortunately, Sgt Firmin reported to me that Sgt. Wiltshire had been badly wounded, also that my P.U. was missing. I then left the villages on a m/c behind (in pencil appears to be written policeman R R mech); who knew where the section was. I visited them but found the M.O’s truck missing , so I came back and borrowed another bike to look for the strays. I very soon found the M O’s truck but deserted. I hunted round, shouting for Moss without success. Then I lifted an old ground-sheet on the tail board & found a dead officer lying there, who I had never seen before. It was a very nasty shock. When passing the Indian memorial some bombs fell, but they were only small incendiary ones and not very close. Later I found the P.U. and told Duffin to follow me back to the Bn but he started off in such a hurry that he went the wrong way and I lost him again. On reporting back I was told to take the M.T. section off to LESTREM as soon as it was dark enough. As there was only a very small scale map available, it did not look too easy.
The QM was in a different village and had to be collected, but as he was coming back I left the cooks lorries for him to collect. Soon after dusk we moved off on some awful byroads with a DR who knew the first part of the route. Luckily, about an hour later, I stopped and asked some gunners the way, and managed to beg a large scale map from them. When the column arrived near the farm where ‘B’ Ech was, I left to collect them. They’d gone and left no message. What was more serious was they’d got the petrol lorry, and we were getting dangerously short. After driving a bit further we came to a bridge which was prepared for demolition and we could not get across. I walked over and met a sapper subaltern in a cottage on the bank. He’d made himself very comfortable with lots of rations and a fire and was waiting for orders to blow the bridge. He told me there was another practical route a little way further on and he showed me on the map. He also gave me two large slices of bread and jam and a mug of tea. I blessed that man as it was the first food I’d had for more than 24 hours, & then set off cheerfully for the other bridge. Here the map let me down, and we drove round for hours looking for an apparently mythical bridge. Eventually I came back to where we started from and soon after midnight, set off alone in the P.U.
May 25
I drove round in large circles nearly all night and still failed to cross the river. Eventually I returned to the RE and begged a guide. After following a rather round about route we eventually found it and got to Lestrem. Here we found some trucks that we’d lost earlier on, and who’d crossed quite easily. It was now broad daylight and I ran my guide back to his bridge.
Back in Lestrem the trucks were parked and all the drivers promptly went to sleep. We had a religious school for M.T. HQ and a good yard and shed for the vehicles. Slaughter produced a very good egg & bacon breakfast and then I felt better, especially as we met the local baker and Aclocq managed to get him to promise his new bread at 10 am. The Tiffies and some cooks were in the school yard not far away and the rest of the vehicles were spread round the village with HQ Coy in an orchard. I then sent Cpl Picken off on a m/c to look for the strays. The petrol situation was now critical & I went off on a motor-bike, because we could not afford to use the P.U. to look to (sic for) Bn HQ who should have been at Le Paradis. They’d not arrived but I found the Mess and brought it back to the lines. I then went off to Bde HQ at Epinette. Here I found a bombed-out aerodrome and sent a message to Sgt Firmin who promptly took a truck and collected 400 gallons. Later in the morning I went back to Bde HQ to see the B.T.O. Here I met Freddie, who showed me the location of Bn HQ. I also met the QME who promised to go out and fetch Chandler who had broken down. Then the biggest stroke of luck of all I found the RQMS with the unused rations and the petrol lorry full. When we got back, all the vehicles were full and we had a lot over. Near Bde HQ I’d met John CB (Editor note: Cave- Brown) and learnt that all the sappers were safe in spite of their recent bombing.
Soon after we got back, Aclocq and I set off for Bn HQ, but on the way we got badly shot up by some aircraft, and Aclocq was not feeling awfully well. Very soon after, I started again with Slaughter driving. Very soon the enemy put some shrapnel down on the road and the aircraft came again, so I parked the P.U. and found a bicycle which was a most useful form of transport. I cycled down to Locon which had been badly shot up. All the phone wires were across the road and the whole place was in an awful mess. In Locon I met Hatch, one of the Bde liaison officers who was looking for the Bn HQ. I showed him on the map which we unrolled on the bonnet of the P.U. As I was leaning over the map a large and very jagged piece of shrapnel, fell just in front of my nose; it was too close for comfort. After Hatch left, I parked the velo (Editor note: Bicycle) in an empty house and continued on foot, as the road was under fire in places. After running and crawling for a bit, I got under cover and soon reached Bn HQ on the cross roads. The building was a big farm, with the trucks parked in the orchard round it, and the orderly room in the cellar. There was a lot of straw and it was fairly comfortable. There were one or two wounded down there but not serious. I was asked to bring a truckload of S.A.A. fairly soon; so I prepared to leave. Just then machine gun bullets began hitting the wall in large numbers. I postponed my trip back for a bit and arranged with Briggs, for Yaxley to come down and relieve him, I left soon after, by another road, alternately running and creeping. After going across country for a bit I reached a farm which to my surprise was occupied. The unfortunate people had left Roubaix as refugees, and now had nowhere to go. They were very kind to me and gave me some milk to drink. I rested there for a bit and then went on. On reaching the main road I met some French troops who had lost their unit. We met an aged Frenchman who wanted a truck to get away in. When he tried bribery I got rather angry, but I was really sorry for him all the same. Shortly after I joined Slaughter, and went back to Lestrem. Here I arranged for High to come down with me after lunch with the ammunition. Slaughter produced an excellent lunch with which Aclocq & I had a bottle of wine. Then I started off on a motor-bike, with High following. In Locon we stopped and I made him wait while I got going. I then started off across the open and came into the cover of the houses doing close on 65 mph. soon after the truck arrived and all was well. I left the truck and High and returned alone. The section had got the petrol cooker going and were very pleased with it. All the cooks were told to be ready to leave at dusk. That afternoon, I had a much needed rest. We started down again as soon as it was dark enough, and arrived without incident. We parked in a big farm yard just opposite Bn HQ. I took the mess truck over and the coy guides collected their cooks. I waited inside HQ for a bit and then as the cooks could come on alone, I prepared to go back. There was a lot of fire on the yard where the P.U. was parked and we left hastily, arriving without trouble at Lestrem some minutes later. I was pretty tired by then, as it sees my fourth night with no sleep. There was a good bedroom at section HQ where Slaughter made me up a bed. I turned in at once and slept like a log.
May 26
I woke up late and in great comfort. There was real hot water for washing and shaving and an excellent prospect for breakfast. As I was dressing the B.T.O. arrived to say there was a large load of cigarettes and chocolate etc from some deserted NAAFI for us if we’d send a truck, which Sgt Firmin did. Then came the bombshell, a DR arrived from Bn HQ saying that I was wanted down there at once. As I was only just dressed, I went straight away with no equipment, shoes instead of boots and a pistol in my pocket. Duffin drove me down & we reached Le Paradis about ten minutes later. There the Colonel produced the big surprise. He said they were very short of officers and that I’d got to hand over the M.T. section to Sgt Firmin and take command of two companies in the line right away. I never saw the M.T. again and very much hope they got away alright. There were no maps available, and all I could get was a diagram drawn on the back of an old photo. Duffin drove me down to Le Cornet Malo and left me. Here I found A & B Coy HQ’s in a café on the crossroads with the stretcher- bearers and a telephone. I sneaked up the road which was under long range MG fire and found the remains of the two coys, plus A Coy Royal Scots all lying in one ditch. Bucher (RS) was wounded in the leg but refuses to go back. Hastings and our I.O (Editor note: Long) were there too, and showed me round. The place was considerably battered by mortar bombs and everyone seemed a bit shaken. After a bit we got them sorted out into companies & Bucher Hastings & the I.O. went back. This left me with Slater in A Company and Lt (left blank). (Editor note: Edgeworth) in B. As things seemed very quiet I took out a patrol of about 6 R.S. under Cpl (left blank) We went forward to the edge of the village unchecked, and there we saw about 50 or 60 enemy leaving a farm about half a mile down the Canal Road and advancing towards the village. When they got a bit closer we started to pick them off with rifle fire, but they still came on so we withdrew. It was a pity that we had no mortars as we could have bombed them beautifully. After a short while in the Company line, nothing happened, and we went forward again. Here we found a wounded Cpl in a ditch and took four or five unwounded prisoners. After all the frightful things the troops had threatened, it was amusing how well they treated the prisoner. They gave him cigarettes and chocolate and then I started to question him, and he was quite ready to talk. He said there was about a division against us across the canal, as I had rather expected, instead of the odd hundred or so that I’d been told. We sent the unwounded ones straight back to Bn HQ & on to Bde. That evening the mortar Pl arrived under P.S.M. Ireland who got into action straight away, and did some very good shooting especially when some more ammunition arrived. At dusk I sent A Coy over to a farm about 200* to our left as there was a big gap between us and D Coy with whom we could not make touch. They got badly bombed on arrival, and had some casualties.
About then Johnny Woodwark arrived to take command of them which relieved my mind a lot as Slater was having rather a rough time. Then, as it got dark the enemy attacked again and drove in our forward posts. They started digging hard just beyond the village where we could hear them all night. Just before midnight I heard unmistakable sounds of tanks which was bad. I phoned through a report and asked for AT mines which were not available, and hand grenades which were. Soon after dark C.Q.M.S Milne arrived with hot stew which was excellent and badly needed. Troops came back in relays to collect the food & take it forward.
May 27
Soon after midnight I ordered out a small recce patrol under P.S.M. Smalls which did very well. They found the enemy digging and measured the distance back to the mortar position. Then Ireland did some really brilliant shooting in the pitch dark using sound to direct. From the shouts and shrieks, there must have been some direct hits. I sent up white verey (sic very) lights occasionally but never saw anything. Before first light the tanks started to move and we got the dannat (sic dannert) wire off the mortar trucks and made a small road block. As it began to get light about 5 am the tanks arrived huge fellows & about a dozen. I phoned Bn HQ & then they cut the line. This was the last message I got to the Bn. The forward sections came in leaving their guns & worse the AT rifles. And for a bit there was ancient chaos. Some of the mortar Pl was captured but Ireland got away with the guns in one truck. Eventually we had a brain-wave & ran out below the tanks angle of fire & put Mills grenades in the tracks. It did not do the tanks much harm, but frightened the drivers and they ditched them. We got four that way, which was not too bad. Then gradually some form of order was restored, we got the L.M.Gs back into position and the A.T. rifles mounted. Luckily the German infantry were a long way behind their tanks, so when they came, we were ready for them. And come they did. In masses, I never believed I’d see troops advancing shoulder to shoulder across the open, but these men did, and suffered accordingly. The Brens fired till they were red-hot and also the riflemen. But we suffered heavily and in the end, I was left in a big farm with an attic with an A. T. rifle & a rifle for myself, and one rifleman to help. We dodged around firing at the tanks and sniping until a chance shot killed the other man & left me alone.
For a long time our position had been surrounded, and eventually I went across the road to join A Coy Royal Scots. They were all in a big farm and had hardly suffered at all. Both their officers Turkin (sic Turcan) and Page had disappeared sometime before, but the C.S.M. was doing very well. I stayed there a bit and had a much needed cigarette also helped to put out a fire in their ammunition store, which the tanks had set alight. While I was in the house, one of the tanks shelled it. Very unpleasant as the small armour-piercing shells came straight through the walls. Eventually, as I was doing no good there but sniping, I decided to try and contact C Coy 2/RS on the right, and get help & information. Directly I got outside the wall, I was hit in the side, it burned a bit but was not serious. Then I ran along a ditch under cover into the wood which was a breathing-space. Here luckily I destroyed the 1st Corps Code-list – “just in case”. Then further on, I left the wood, and started to slink back along a hedge between two fields towards the road. Here my luck turned, for an enemy M.G. post saw me & opened fire. At once I was hit in the arm & so I lay down. As they took no further action, I lay still, shamming dead & did some hard thinking. Finally, as my arm was obviously broken, I decided to stay there till dusk, as it was now about midday, it was a longish wait, and I was bleeding pretty badly. At dusk, I got up, rather painfully, and leaving my rifle I crept along the fence to a farm by the road. It was deserted so I went in and rested for a while on a bed. Soon however I heard a car stop outside & some Germans came in. At first they did not discover me so I tried to creep out of the window. Unfortunately I was so weak that I slipped through the glass with a crash, and there the (sic they) found me sitting in the courtyard.
May 27 (continued)
After the initial excitement, they took my pistol & a grenade which I had in my pocket, and led me out to the car. They turned out to be some Gunners going to join their battery. Very soon we reached the rest of the Bty, halted beside the road which was simply jammed with traffic. Their march discipline & traffic control appeared good, but the amount of traffic far exceeded the capacity of the road. The Bty went into a small field where they got the guns straight into position very efficiently and the ammunition was stacked near them. I was taken to the Bty Commander who appeared a very decent fellow. In the car they had bound up my arm & offered me a drink, they also showed me a 25mm A/T gun sight & were very curious as to what it was: they obviously disbelieved me when I said I did not know either, but did not press the subject. When the Bty had settled down a bit, they asked if I was hungry and when I said ‘yes’, they asked me to join them & I fed with the officers at their evening meal of sausage, bread & butter and most excellent coffee. They took my wallet & all my papers but returned them to me before I left. They cut my coat off and made a very good job of my arm, with a cardboard splint and bandages. A Colonel came up & talked to me, but we did not get far as he spoke no English and my German was not very efficient. After dark, I was put into a car with the blankets they’d given me and we set off for Div HQ. On the way we passed the tanks I’d ditched that morning, still well and truly ditched. After much trouble with a long & perfectly apalling (sic appalling) traffic jam we reached the Div. HQ where I was handed over to someone. He was very kind and gave me a blanket and his own coat. There was some straw in the corner of a field and I lay down to sleep, but almost immediately it started to rain. The same man came out & took me into a house, where after I had layed (sic laid) down on the floor he found some straw. On this I finally went to sleep absolutely exhausted. It had been an eventful day and I did not fully realize till later how extremely lucky I was to be alive.
May 28
I was woken by an Intelligence Officer who came to question me. He spoke excellent English but we did not get very far, as our ideas on what a prisoner should say, did not coincide at all.
However he was very cheerful about it all. Later I got up and marched off to another yard of an old school where a lot of prisoners, British and French were crowded. Here I met Barker, the M.O of the 1st Royal Scots. It was very pleasant to see a friend. Here also the Germans gave me a jerkin as I’d nothing but a torn shirt and was pretty cold. We did not stay here long & I was put on the pillion of a motor bike & taken back to Locon. Here again I was taken to a Div HQ for questioning. There were three ORs there as well. The enemy were looking for a sapper, as they seemed very worried about road mines. They asked me if I knew what roads were mined & when I said I didn’t, the (they) threatened to put me & the three troops in a car to go hunting for mines in front of some columns. I laughed a lot at this & pointed out how useless it was as we did not know anything about mines & even if we did we were quite prepared to be blown to hell looking for them. This seemed to put them off a bit & they dropped the idea. The questioning officer was named Spink & was one of the worst types I’ve ever had the misfortune to meet. When this rather cheerless party broke up, the four of us were taken to Locon crossroads where we found a lot of wounded prisoners in a ruined & partially roofless barn. Among others were Maclean, Padre of the R.S. & Cruickshank, both with leg wounds & rather sorry for themselves. Mason from HQ Coy was there & soon after arrived 2/Lt Simpson & the remains of our C. Coy including PSM’s Barratt & Howlett, also Sgt Wright (SB) who was slightly wounded with a bullet through the shoulder. There was a lot more questioning but little result. Soon after midday it started to pour with rain most of which came through on the wretched wounded. We were all pretty hungry by this time but no food was available. The unwounded men marched off to a house and soon one of the German MP’s produced an old lorry and loaded the first party on & went off in search of a hospital leaving us wet but hopeful. It was about four hours before it came back, during which time I ate a couple of handfuls of wheat, which was much better than I’d expected although the Apostles seemed to have liked it. Eventually we got on the lorry & set off. We crossed the canal towards Béthune on a temporary bridge which did not look over safe, and soon reached the town. After a long drive round the town, looking for the hospital we found it and bundled out. The hospital staff were most kind, also the French doctors. We were taken upstairs to a big ward where a very pleasant & cheery Irish sister sorted us out. I & a few others went of (sic off) to St George (Editor note: a commune in the Pas-de-Calais). I was put in as little room at the end of the ward with a French boy. All the staff were very sorry for us and kept talking about “les pauvres Anglais “(Editor note: the poor English). A ward charwoman helped me to undress & gave me some hot water to wash with. Then I bundled into bed. It was a most amazing feeling to be safe and comfortable again. I lay back between the sheets and just felt, I’ve never been so thankful for anything in my life. We were still ravenous and were given a meal of boiled eggs and macaroni; it was delicious. Soon after the M.O. came round & looked at my arm, redid my dressings and promised to operate the first thing next morning. I was very pleased, as though it did not hurt much, I was rather worried about it as it was hanging awfully loose. Then I slept, for I was absolutely exhausted, and pretty weak as well, and for the first time for weeks I was free from anxiety and responsibility.
May 29
I was woken up about 6 am & taken straight to the operating theatre which was in the cellar. The French doctors were very kind and I went under soon after they started giving the anaesthetic.
The next thing I knew was when I came to in bed; all strapped up in the most tremendous plaster, and very hungry into the bargain. It was not till late in the day that I was allowed to eat. They also told me that another British Officer had arrived who had lost an arm; this turn out to be Barlow-Massick of the Borders who I had last seen at Jacky’s party at Warlaing some weeks before the Blitzkrieg while they were still brigaded with us.
Here in the hospital we stayed about eight weeks. Under the circumstances it passed very pleasantly. My wound healed very rapidly and in seven weeks I had the plaster off. The doctors were amazed and very pleased. After a few days the french boy moved out of my room & a wounded sergeant came in. He was Sgt. Marcel Noel of the 7th Auto - Mitraclleurs (sic Automitrailleuse) home address; 31. Rue du Petit-fort. Dinan. Côte du Nord.
He was in a pretty bad way, having lost a leg & with wounds in both hands & one eye. He was a pleasant chap but with a rooted objection to fresh air, especially at night. As a result of this I moved into the wrecked operating theatre. It was lovely in there as the weather was perfect and all the glass was blown out by the shelling, it was just like sleeping out of doors. I got out into the garden after a week or so & spent more time there every day. After the first month, we started an officers mess downstairs with eight french officers. It was quite fun and the food improved noticeably.
There were about a hundred British ORs in the hospital of which about 12 came from the 9th (Editor note: believed 7th Battalion from St Valary). R.S.M. Cockaday was there with a wounded leg but improved quickly. When we’d been there about 10 days, Pooley the ex D.R. came in with a very unpleasant story. He said that when Bn HQ had surrendered, they were disarmed and later marched into a courtyard and machine-gunned. He said the (he) saw the CO. (Ryder) lying dead & that Long, IO Woodwark were there. He said he & O’Callaghan were the only survivors. However the R.S.M. (Editor note: Cockaday above) said he had seen the M.O. (Editor’s note: Lieutenant Draffin) & some others later than this. This story must be checked as soon as possible. I questioned him a lot but could not shake him at all.
Our main interest in the hospital was the visitor days. The local French people adopted us & were amazingly kind, coming to see us on thursdays & sundays & bringing cigarettes etc. They caused some bad feeling by being awfully kind to us & ignoring the french troops, with whom they were furious. The local people were much in sympathy the attack on Oran (Editor note: 3rd July 1940 British air and naval forces attacked the French fleet station near Oran Algeria) which surprised us.
Our stay in hospital was made pleasant by the kindness of the Aumonier (Editor’s note: chaplain) (M Bouchindomme), the Sisters and the french doctors, who did all they could for us and more.
We wrote some letters home but have, till now, no idea if they have arrived.
(Inserted: About 18 months later some of the letters arrived.)
Part II
July 14
Visitors day and a Sunday. I had my first and last proper visit from Héléne Airand. She brought a camera & took some photos of China & I. Then the blow that we’d been expecting for so long, fell.
We were warned to be ready to leave the next day. We told Héléne and all our friends that we might be gone by the following thursday & said good-bye with much exchanging of home addresses. Then we completed our scanty packing.
July 15
A troubled night as the man in the room with Pte (left blank) & I was very ill with pneumonia. We took turns at nursing him all night, and finally about 5 am, as it got light, we both went to sleep. An hour later he was dead. I never knew his name & anyway, we were pretty callous by then. Apart from that, everything was pretty normal up till lunch-time. In the middle of lunch, which was my last decent meal for some weeks, we got the order to go.
Three lorries arrived, and we all got set. A hurried goodbye all round to the people who’d been so very kind to us, and we packed in. The German N.C.O. organising the party, had been a prisoner in England most of the last war & had been very well treated. He spoke excellent English and was very helpful.
After some waiting in the street, we moved off to the prison camp. Here we waited some more until we finally got on the move. We set off along the Lille Road for Tournai. It would have been easy enough to escape by jumping off the lorry during the trip, but I was still pretty weak, though I’ve always regretted that I did not try it, as it was the last hope of any success, that I got. We passed rapidly through Lille, and reached Tournai about an hour later. Here we were driven into a Belgian Barracks where we disembarked. The troops went off to one big block, & we went to the officers block where I met about 14 more officers from various hospitals in northern France, among them J.T.Nicholson, Fleet Air Arm. We hung about for a bit and got a meal of thin soup and a good whack of bread. I walked around the courtyard in between the rainstorms. We all got given beds in a big barrack room, with palliasses & straw pillows. In spite of this, even after my comfortable couch at the hospital, I slept like a log. It was the most energetic day I’d spent since I was captured two months before.
July 16th
We got up fairly early & got a scratch breakfast of coffee & bread. At Tournai there were fine showers with good hot water. We shaved and those who were able to, bathed, but my arm prevented me as the bandages & a splint were still on.
We made a jug of tea just before we embussed at mid-day; it was excellent but unfortunately we left all the spare tea & sugar behind which was a bad oversight.
We left Tournai in busses & were surprised to see how little the town was damaged. We went out over the main bridge, and along the Renaix road on which I’d been bombed, not many weeks before. The skeletons of the ammunition lorries which had caused us so much trouble, were still there. We passed rapidly through Renaix and on to Aalst. At first we were taken to a Belgian hospital which looked almost too good to be true, it was! We were taken into the town of Aalst to a factory or mill. Here we debussed and piled our kit. The place was full of french troops and wogs. After hanging about for a long time, we went into a huge stone paved building in which we were to sleep. The straw, of which there was a little, looked filthy, so we swept it away. I was lucky enough to find an old door, on which I slept; it was much better than the stone. Soon an English doctor arrived from the hospital and opened a small dressing station, with two Belgian red-cross nurses. I had my arm dressed, & the redX girls went out into the town to buy us food etc if we wanted it. A bit later all the prisoners in the place paraded for food, & here we got into trouble. All the British officers formed up facing the rostrum and the bread came out in huge baskets, but at the critical moment, someone said something comic, & we all laughed. This was fatal as the German N.C.O. thought that we were laughing at the mouldy bread, which was pretty filthy. He flew into a towering rage & shouted at us at great length. Finally we were made to wait on parade until all the other troops, both white and wog had been fed. It did have one advantage, in that the British orderlies changed our mouldy bread, when no one was looking, for good stuff & about twice as much. But the whole affair was one of the worst exhibitions of temper, I’ve ever seen. The N.C.O. or Apple-green as we promptly christened him because of his camouflage jacket, was probably one of the worse type of his breed, as his underlings were on the whole good. I slept uncomfortably that night, but soundly inspite of everything.
July 17
We were due to leave Aalst that day & there was some doubt if and when any transport would arrive for us. Finally, we paraded hurriedly at midday & waited on the grass patch by the gate. Nothing happened & about 2 pm we got a meal of sorts, & waited some more. At about 5 pm some lorries arrived and we piled in, & set off. We saw nothing of the driver, as our lorry was a closed one. We arrived at a little Belgian town called Lockern (Editor note; this could be Lokeren) & went first to the mess camp but later were taken to an officers one. This was the first time we’d been separated in any way from the troops. Although sorry for our own men, we were very glad to be rid of the wogs for a bit. The camp to which we went was a school and not uncomfortable either. We got a room to ourselves with a fair supply of straw. The orderlies went out into the town and brought us things, including excellent fresh Belgian bread, sardines, chocolate etc. Altogether it was a distinct improvement on the previous night at Aalst. Locbein (Editors note: this also could be Lockeren) seemed to be an attractive place on a small canal
July 18
In the morning we learnt that we were not to move that day & so took things fairly easily, as well as doing some much needed washing. These two nights we heard aircraft & the sound of heavy bombing, not far away, so we knew the RAF were still busy. During the day, we bought such stocks of food as we could afford & conveniently carry, which later proved invaluable. Late that evening we were warned to be ready to leave first thing in the morning. We bedded down early, to the sound of bombing aircraft.
July 19
We were woken about 3 am and told to parade immediately. There was hot coffee before leaving which was very welcome, as it was cold in the early morning. Then it was discovered that there was no transport & we were to march which was a blow as we were all straight from hospital. However it was only to be 12 km which was not too bad for most of us, though hard on the Padre & Cruickshank. We went very slowly & some of the troops passed us. The local people were quite friendly, and a few even gave us things. Luckily we were picked up in lorries about half way along the march which I was quite enjoying. The country was very fresh & green & the crops excellent.
Very soon we were packed in an orchard beside a small narrow gauge railway line. After waiting about a couple of hours, a train arrived & we all got in. The officers had a quite nice carriage with a seat each which was pleasing. We started almost at once, the line following the road most of the way. Very soon the line crossed the frontier into Holland. The whole country was very interesting, being absolutely flat & very highly cultivated. The grain crops were some of the heaviest I have ever seen, & I was interested to see some fields of poppies which I can only assume were for opium. Nearly all the roads were on embankments & lined with poplar trees. The farms & villages were very neat & tidy and spotlessly clean. The people were very friendly, especially after crossing the Dutch frontier. Lots of the women wore a very peculiar dress, with white starched caps, and little brass springs or plates in them.
Very soon we were detained along the side of a road. There was a big marsh bank not far away, with masts showing over it so we knew we were near the sea or a river. We marched onto a raised embankment with a road lined with trees running along it. Here we halted & were fed from field kitchens. Soon however we collected our baggage and moved off towards the masts. On arriving at the bank we saw that it was a large estuary, with a landing stage of sorts and a pub at the corner. The name of the place was Wolsoorden. We filed down the landing stage and were given a very mouldy loaf each. When we asked how long it was supposed to last, we were told “Two or maybe three days”. This was not too hopeful, as half the stuff was not fit to eat. Then we passed on to an enormous coal barge, in which we were herded; 150 officers English & French in one compartment. The barge was still covered in coal dust and filthy beyond belief. We were not allowed on deck whist the large barge was alongside & there was not room to sit down even, which seemed a pretty poor prospect for a three day trip. Another snag which rapidly appeared was the complete absence of any form of fresh water.
After waiting while all the troops embarked, which took some time as there were sixteen hundred of them, about half of which were french colonial troops; a tug came along side and we set off down stream against a rising tide. We all came on deck & the sea-air was marvellous after the appalling fug down below. The scene was rather fine, and the sort of thing I had not seen since I’d been home on leave. A large salt water estuary, only one side of which was visible and bounded by a huge sea-wall. There were long stretches of mud-flats, being slowly covered by the rising tide, and in the distance, wooded hills. We sailed down and across the estuary to a canal mouth on the other side. This canal, we entered through a lock. The buildings and small quays were very neat, & beautifully kept. The canal was broad and seemed fairly deep.
We passed through several locks, all neat & well kept as the first. All the bridges across the canal had been blown, most efficiently & were being rebuilt. It seemed to be a biggish job. At frequent intervals along the canal bank, there were German AA posts each with its little camp, well camouflaged. After about two hours we came out at the other end of the canal into a little harbour built out with moles into another estuary. Here there were lots of sailing barges all apparently idle. The country we’d passed through was flat & low and seemed mostly grazing land below the canal level. There were occasional villages built round their little churches and small clumps of trees.
On leaving the canal, we passed into another estuary within view of the sea. But unfortunately we turned upstream which was a pity. The tide was in and the place was very wide. We steamed all the evening against a strong current and anchored at dusk in midstream (Inserted: 26/10/40. Great excitement! 1st letter from home since captured.). Directly the tug came alongside, there was a rush for fresh water. It was lucky they had any as we were getting pretty thirsty at the end of the day. The hardest part of the day came when it was time to bed down. A lot of people went up on deck to sleep, where it was, I thought, bitterly cold, but even then there was not room below to lie out straight. I sat at the bottom of the steps where everyone tripped over my feet. It was impossible to sleep so I sat talking to Ponsonby (Major R.Sigs), till about four o’clock in the morning. Between us we finished my store of chocolate & he had half a bottle of brandy which helped a lot. It was the most amusing night I’d spent for a long while, though beastly uncomfortable. About 4 am I went on deck & walked along the scuppers; the only place that was not occupied by sleeping forms. It was a fine moonlight night, though the wind was very cold. The stream was rushing past but apart from that, everything was very quiet. There must have been an air raid on by the R.A.F. as in the east there were a number of searchlight beams, & the sound of muffled A.A. fire. Just before dawn I went below again & went to sleep in a huddled heap against the ladder. I didn’t wake up till someone fell over me & I found we were already under way.
July 20
We spent the whole day on the barge going slowly upstream. The estuary gradually narrowed down, & we left the salt water for a river. I was sorry to see the last of the sand hills & mud-banks; they seemed friendly somehow. The river was enclosed by high banks and we could see nothing of the country on either side. About noon we reached Dordrecht which seemed a prosperous sort of town place though obviously the war had brough everything to a standstill. There were a lot of german troops in the town, but the population seemed very friendly until forcibly bashed by the police. Here in Dordrecht we stopped and a Dutch M.O came on board to do the most urgent dressings. My arm seemed well enough so I did not have it touched. Here again the bridge had been beautifully blown, and was a complete wreck. We moved in the afternoon & in the evening moored again in midstream, behind a huge string of barges, that we had been close to all day. This time, I tried sleeping on deck. Mercifully John Surtees (R.B.) lent me a blanket, as I has none of my own, but even then I was pretty cold.
July 21
This was almost a repetition of the previous day, except that we came to one large town but did not stop. Here the main bridge, which also carried a railway line, was not touched, & had electric trains running every few minutes. At this town some lard was given to us in addition to the bread ration. Mercifully, I was not very hungry, as three small slices of bread and dry at that is not awfully satisfying. At night, I slept below again, this time under the ladder, and got down early enough to get a good pew. I got a good nights rest inspite of the dirt, & the hardness of the floor.
July 22
The barge started off early, before I was awake. We reached our destination, a place call Emerich (sic Emmerich), about 7 am. & came alongside a landing stage where we waited for some hours. Eventually we were marched onto the quay where we were given some excellent biscuits and some cheese. We marched through the town to an old sports ground beside the railway. Here we all sat on the grass & fed. Again more waiting about & we got into a heated argument with the guards which did no good. About 1 pm we entrained in cattle trucks & prepared to move off. As there were forty of us in a small truck we were still pretty cramped. We did not finally move until 4 pm & travelled steadily until 10pm. The trucks, were carefully closed, so was saw hardly anything. At dusk we arrived at Hemer station & I got out. We marched up through the village to the prisoners camp; a brand new barracks, not even finished. We were separated from the men & went into an officers block. The rooms were dry & airy & the straw clean. We just rolled up & slept like logs. I have rarely spent a better night, or more appreciated clean straw as a bed. We knew we were to stay here some days, so we prepared to make ourselves as comfortable as possible.
July 23
We all spent an excellent night after our rather uncomfortable journey & did not get up until we had to. There was the usual breakfast of ersatz (Editor note: substitute) coffee and some bread we’d saved from the night before. I went outside to see what there was to be seen, which was not much. The camp appeared to be very cosmopolitan, English French Dutch and Poles, as well as french colonials of every race shape and colour. The men were living in huge tents, but there was a wire fence round us & we could not see or talk to them
In the morning we were issued with blankets and eating bowls, both of which were very necessary & at midday we had a bowl full of soup. It was the most filling meal we’d had for days. The main snag was there was nowhere to walk, except a small mud patch outside our block. The place was obviously a collecting camp, for all prisoners & we hoped to be away fairly soon.
July 24
We spent practically the whole day doing nothing in particular; just reading and playing cards. A short walk outside for a change, but it wasn’t much fun, as the space was so small & the wire so close. We were fed quite reasonably, compared with what we’d been used to, but it still left much to be desired. Still it was very pleasant to be left in peace for a while. The only interest all day was in the evening, when the guards started firing against the walls of our building, to enforce the blackout.
July 25
In the morning, we all paraded and had our belongings searched. They were pretty thorough about it, but the only thing I lost was my tin hat, which was a pity, as I was rather attached to it. The rest of the day we just loafed.
July 26
There was a sick parade in the morning & I went along to have my arm looked at. It was healing well but still very weak & wasted, and needed exercises more than anything. We were getting pretty bored by this time and were very pleased to hear in the afternoon, that we were to leave next day.
July 27
We were all ready to leave in the morning, but had to hang about all day. The French left about 2 pm & I said goodbye to the two with whom I’d been in hospital & travelling so long, among them Lt Reynand (11th Gouoaves (sic Gouves). Finally at about 6 pm we marched off to the station where we got into an empty carriage in a siding. Here we waited as usual for some hours, & eventually left just before dark. As there were 6 of us to a compartment, I slept on the floor & very well too, though it was awful hard.
July 28
We stopped at Kassel in the early morning & stretched our legs. The breakfast, that the guard tried to get for us did not materialize but he managed to get a loaf from somewhere which was quite good. While we were there, several troop trains came through, with troops returning from France. They seemed very cheerful, poor devils. Soon after we left the station and reached Spangenberg, a distance of about 20 miles, at 3 pm by a very round-about route. From the station we saw the Schloss (Editor note: Castle), which was to be our home, perched on top of a hill behind the village. From the station, we marched up through the very attractive village, with its winding cobbled streets, to the Kommandatur (sic Kommandantur). Here we were taken in turn by rank, and questioned & searched again most thoroughly. I lost my jacket, a book (Editor note: appears to read Soulhuener) and my wallet, the last two of which were later returned to me. After our particulars were taken, we all met in a room in one of the outbuildings and were given Red X cards to fill in.
We were all very pleased, as this was probably the first news of us which would reach home.
Then we were marched up the hill to the Schloss, which was an old walled castle with a moat all round. A very attractive place but a bit rough. It was all much more comfortable & reasonable than I’d expected, & I was correspondingly pleased.
I was a little disappointed to find no one I knew & no news at all of the Bn. However we got a good meal, and a room all together which was pleasant. We were disappointed to find there was no communication with England so I wrote to the Drury’s at Gib asking them to forward news of me to England. I don’t know if they ever got it as up till now (30th Oct 1940) it produced no result.
Biography
Nick Hallett was born on 9th June, 1917, in Weybourne, North Norfolk. He was the son of Captain and Mrs G. Hallett.
He was educated at Gresham's School, Holt and trained at the Royal Military College at Sandhurst. In 1937 he was commissioned in the Royal Norfolk Regiment. Before the war he served in Gibraltar for three years.
After the war he undertook regimental duties in Germany and was adjutant to the company commander and second in command of the First Battalion of the Royal Norfolk Regiment.
After a period at the Army staff college in Camberley he was stationed at the War Office in London in the Directorate of Military Operations.
From 1951 to 1958 he was stationed with the allied forces in Oslo and then saw further service in Hong Kong and the UK. A number of other high ranking posts followed. It was during this time that Hallett was made an MBE.
After leaving the army he became what was commonly known as a television watchdog, being ITV's regional officer in East Anglia and stationed in Norwich.
Nick Hallett was a linguist speaking French, German, Finnish and Norwegien. He married Patricia Mary Clogstoun at the Holy Trinity Church in Brompton. They had a son Anthony and a daughter Nicolette. Major Hallett was a former chairman of Lyng Parish Council and a member of Mitford and Launditch Urban District Council. He died at the age of 82 in 1999.
Below are a number of press cuttings and other information relevant to Nick Hallett.
Nick Hallett was born on 9th June, 1917, in Weybourne, North Norfolk. He was the son of Captain and Mrs G. Hallett.
He was educated at Gresham's School, Holt and trained at the Royal Military College at Sandhurst. In 1937 he was commissioned in the Royal Norfolk Regiment. Before the war he served in Gibraltar for three years.
After the war he undertook regimental duties in Germany and was adjutant to the company commander and second in command of the First Battalion of the Royal Norfolk Regiment.
After a period at the Army staff college in Camberley he was stationed at the War Office in London in the Directorate of Military Operations.
From 1951 to 1958 he was stationed with the allied forces in Oslo and then saw further service in Hong Kong and the UK. A number of other high ranking posts followed. It was during this time that Hallett was made an MBE.
After leaving the army he became what was commonly known as a television watchdog, being ITV's regional officer in East Anglia and stationed in Norwich.
Nick Hallett was a linguist speaking French, German, Finnish and Norwegien. He married Patricia Mary Clogstoun at the Holy Trinity Church in Brompton. They had a son Anthony and a daughter Nicolette. Major Hallett was a former chairman of Lyng Parish Council and a member of Mitford and Launditch Urban District Council. He died at the age of 82 in 1999.
Below are a number of press cuttings and other information relevant to Nick Hallett.
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NOTES AND THANKS
Our gratitude for this article is extended to:
Our gratitude for this article is extended to:
- Mrs Debbi Lane, widow of the author Richard Lane, who has kindly allowed us to use the research information contained in his book ‘Last Stand at Le Paradis’ in memory of him.
- The family of Cyril Jolly author of ‘The Vengeance of Private Pooley’ who have allowed us to use material from his book in memory of him.
- The Long family for the use of Capt. Charles Long’s War Diary.
- Journalist Steve Snelling for supplying the photograph.
- East Anglian Film Archives.
- The Royal Norfolk Regimental Museum at Norwich Castle and their curator Kate Thaxton for allowing us access to Captain Hallett's diaries.