ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½

Introduction

I remember growing up hearing about many of my Grandfather's exploits during World War Two. My Grandmother told most of the stories to me second-hand, as Grandfather was, and still is, a very modest and humble person. It is only now that I am able to understand the full extent and magnitude of his bravery and achievements. It has taken many years to convince him to put pen to paper but here, in his own words, is an account of some of the action that he saw.

Private Stanton's tale

1937 I enlisted into the Territorial Army 8th Battalion, The Royal Warwickshire Regiment, Private Frederick Walter Stanton, Service No. 5111384, at Wilton Barracks, Aston, Birmingham.

1939 August 25th - Mobilisation

Move to Swindon mid September, billeted at the drill hall, Old Town, Swindon.

Move by train to Dover early October, boarded the steam ship 'The Ulster Princess' at midnight, landed at Le Havre, France early morning. It was cold, we were hungry and angry. It was the worst winter in the history of France.

Cold soldiers arrive in France

After a cup of WARM Tea and a sandwich we waited in a marshalling yard for two hours before getting onto a train. Our accommodation was an all steel cattle container, 28 men to a truck. After two further hours we moved off, heading north. There was standing room only, and no seats. During the journey we were shunted into sidings in order to allow fast well-heated restaurant car trains to pass.

After midnight that day we arrived in the small town of Faches, 20 miles south of Lille. We then marched for 8 miles on ice-bound roads with full bumper, arms and ammo to the small village of Toumont, where we arrived at about 4am. We were given a valise and told to fill it with straw and then bed down in an open-ended barn. We used our great coats for blankets and our small packs for a pillow. We were still very angry at our uncaring treatment.

The following morning we were on parade in a company order. During the inspection I was ordered to parade before the Captain and Adjutant. On doing so I was told I had been promoted to Lance Corporal and transferred to the Regimental Police. I was to be billeted in battalion HQ area, which was situated on the east side of the main road leading to Pont-a-Marcq and Lille, 300 yards south of Dransart Farm in the rue de Borghous.

Dispatch rider with Police duties

Christmas came and went, the weather improved a little; we were fitted out with winter underwear, new great coats and blanket. I was personally issued with a BSA M20 motorcycle, registration No. C3929743. I was to act as a dispatch rider along with Police duties. In late February of that year, I met an old school friend who had happened to be on duty in our divisional area as a military policeman. His name was Les Cound. We had a good long chat and on parting he said, 'See you again sometime'. I never did! I was unable to find out if he survived Dunkirk.

March and April passed by and the weather was a little warmer. On 11 May 1940, the battalion moved into Belgium by way of Pont-a-Marcq, Roubaix, Tournai and Brussels. On 17 May we moved to form a block on the bridge over the canal in Hal, and cover the gap in a Belgian tank obstacle. Next came the chess board movement of moving from place of defence and attack, with resulting losses.

Fighting in Belgium

21 May, Colonel Baker led an attack to Calonne. The attacked failed due to heavy mortar and machine fire. Colonel Baker was killed in the attack. Major Lowe took over command but was killed at Warnaffles farm; we sustained very heavy casualties on that day. Major Kendall assumed command and the battalion moved to Aix during the night of 22nd and 23rd.

At 4pm on the 23rd we moved to Auchey, under heavy German mortar fire. I was notified that my Uncle Sam, mother’s brother who was the battalion intelligence Sergeant had been wounded during a forward reconnaissance. He crawled backed to lines during that night but was shot in the back 3 times by one of our officer who mistook him for a German. Sam was eventually taken back to England and treated in hospital in Sheffield. He survived for a number of years and later died at home in Birmingham.

The battalion moved to Tournai on the 25th. On the 26th we moved to Warneton, where we took a defensive position on the Leie Canal near Comines. We were told to hold that position at all costs. The battle began early the next day and by mid day fighting on the canal was severe due to heavy mortar fire from the enemy. Battalion posts were either captured or driven in, but a ragged reserve line was maintained. A counter attack passed through, but could not regain control of the canal line. That night was quieter but on the 28th it was a day of fierce fighting, most of the line held but Battalion HQ was forced to move twice. We were heavily shelled during that day.

Ordered to abandon the line

At about 9pm the Battalion was ordered to abandon the line, and we marched to Stavele. I abandoned my motorcycle in the Comines Canal so the Germans couldn’t make use of it. On the 29th the Battalion came into action about half a mile from the river Ijzer, facing southeast. On the 30th the remnants of the Battalion, about 130 strong arrived at Moeres, on the coast.

During foregoing operations I was with a part section still in position near Tournai. In the late evening of 29th/30th we were joined by a mixed crowd of stragglers from other units who were under the command of a 2nd Lieutenant. During the night we were under mortar fire from the enemy, flares were put by a section on our far right flank. Retaliation was made by sporadic Bren gun fire. At about 3am a shout came through which told us that the right flank section had moved off. It was suggested that we move off to the nearest coastal town about 9 miles away. Six of us then walked to the beach at De Panne where we arrived at 7.30am.

We found that the beach was deserted, the sea was flat calm and there were bodies of British troops floating amongst the debris of sunken ships. It was clear that the evacuation had taken place. The six of us dragged the bodies of our comrades in above the high water mark and laid them out in a line. Most of the bodies had evidence of being burned, probably due to their ships being sunk. Their injuries were consistent with oil burns. We dug shallow graves and buried the men. We were able to see down the coast towards the port of Dunkirk. There were huge clouds of black smoke filling the sky with a lot of Luftwaffe action taking place.

Swimming for it

We noticed that German tanks were travelling towards us along the coast road from the area of Ostend, so we decided to take to the sea. We found the remains of a large wooden bottomed Royal Engineers boat. It consisted of shallow wooden bows, and part of one side. We waded into the water and tested it for buoyancy. Two of the group were non-swimmers and we put one each side tied together under the debris with a piece of rope. The other four of us positioned ourselves on either side and linked one arm using our other to paddle out to sea. After about three hours in the water we heard a German Stuka flying over. It paid considerable attention to us and strafed us with machine gun fire. Luckily nobody was hit and the plane left us to

After another three hrs of swimming we noticed a steam ship making its way from our left, some distance away. We waved frantically and it suddenly to our relief began steaming towards us. It was a destroyer, HMS 'Anthony'. The crew threw boarding nets over the side and one of the large knots hit me over the head and knocked me out for a few minutes. I was dragged from the water onto the relative safety of the ship. During our pick up HMS 'Anthony' was attacked by another German Stuka, which was driven off and damaged by the ship's gunners. It left us heading for the French coast trailing black smoke. We were later informed that our pickup point had been 10 miles from the beach at De Panne. We were one of the last groups to be picked up alive.

Grandson's postscript

My Grandfather was transferred to the Royal Military Police when The Royal Warwickshire Regiment was disbanded. He later landed in Normandy on 6 June 1944 and played his part in D-Day, and the subsequent liberation of Europe. Undoubtedly the highlight of his military career was when, at the rank of Sergeant, he was selected to be the personal escort to Field Marshall Montgomery, at the signing of the peace treaty at Luneburg Heath, Germany, in 1945.

I have accompanied my Grandfather to Normandy to celebrate both the 40th and 50th anniversaries of Operation Overlord. We plan to repeat this journey with the rest of the family on 6 June 2004 to mark the 60th anniversary of the campaign that, without doubt, changed world history.

Christopher Wright (31yrs)

© Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.