75 years ago my uncle was taken prisoner
Published: Fri, 06/26/15
This month is the 75th anniversary of the fall of Dunkirk. The popular image of the event is the flotilla of boats of all shapes and sizes rescuing nearly 200,000 British servicemen from the advancing German army. 130,000 French soldiers and some Belgians were evacuated too. A sort of very British success in the face of a very real defeat. My family, along with thousands of others, had a rather different take on this episode in the history of World War 2. My father’s elder brother, real name Ernest although he was always known by his nick name ‘Boy’ within the family (and ‘Bunny’ by friends, no, I don’t know why) had been in the territorial army before the war. Consequently he was mobilised in 1939 and found himself in France as part of the British Expeditionary Force sent to support the French in their defence against the expected German invasion. Although the initial deployment of 158,000 men was completed by early October 1939
there followed the period known as the ‘Phony War’ during which really nothing much happened. Then, on the 10th of May the German army moved into Belgium and by the 26th of May the only channel port left in allied hands was Dunkirk. Over the next 8 days the massive evacuation described above took place. By the 4th of June the swastika was flying over the Dunkirk docks, all remaining troops in the area who had not been evacuated were ordered to surrender to the Germans on the 6th of June. There were other evacuations later in June from Atlantic ports but by the 25th of June any remaining members of the BEF still in France were either fugitives or prisoners of war. Over 41,000 men were taken prisoner and were marched back to camps in Germany, among them my Uncle.
We know about those who managed to make it onto ships and escape to fight another day. But this was largely possible because of those who put up a brave resistance against the advancing German troops. I know that there is a question of whether or not the Germans could have captured a much larger proportion of the British Army if they had advanced even faster. That is a issue for another day. What is certain is that those troops who maintained the defensive cordon up until the last possible moment would have had no chance of being evacuated. I remember my uncle telling me that the order came through to cease resistance and stop fighting. So the command structure effectively broke down and any one who could made their way to the docks which were by now deserted. My uncle said that he collected up abandoned rifles, took out the bolts and threw them into the water to make the weapons useless. Then he surrendered to the Germans. He
did not see his home and family again for nearly five long years.
Here is an extract from a German army intelligence report written about the BEF in 1940.
“The English soldier has always shown himself to be a fighter of high value. Certainly the Territorial divisions are inferior to the Regular troops in training, but where morale is concerned they are their equal... In defence the Englishman took any punishment that came his way.”
Note that word ‘morale’. Okay, the defence of France in May 1940 was nothing other than a military disaster for the Allies. But it could have been even worse had there not been a tough rearguard defence mounted by ordinary troops such as my uncle. They were not very well equipped (the Lewis gun my Uncle took to France probably dated back to the first world war, certainly the design did. His training was limited too since he had been a territorial rather than a regular. Yet the Germans found members of the BEF to be resolute fighters, even when the only real option was retreat. As the Germans observed it is only a high morale which makes this possible.
There is a story that, as the situation deteriorated and the BEF was in rapid retreat towards the Channel ports, morale started to break down and soldiers began to lose confidence in themselves and in the chain of command. Then an order came down from HQ saying that first thing each morning all soldiers were to shave, shine their boots and parade for inspection in full kit. Sounds like just the kind of army b*** ***t you don’t need when the whole world is going to hell around you. Yet, the simple actions of shaving, having shined boots and parading as a properly dressed and armed soldier made a huge contribution to raising morale. With that morale otherwise ordinary young men felt able to sacrifice their freedom, or even their lives, while their comrades were escaped to fight another day.
So, when life seems tough and nothing seems to be going your way do something to raise your morale. It just needs something as basic as smartening yourself up and presenting yourself to the world. Just try, you will be surprised how different everything will suddenly seem.
regards
Graham
PS. Don’t forget the training opportunities coming up over the next 3 weeks, Salisbury tomorrow, Crewkerne on the 4th and Stav camp the week afterwards, details http://iceandfire.org/calendar.html