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My memories of Dunkirk
By
Private Stanley Mewis
658th General Construction Company Royal Engineers

I was living in Sparkhill when the war started and working at the Rover Company on Lode Lane. I was engaged as a carpenter in the year 1939, the weather was vile and at the time if we lost an hours work we lost an hours pay. So that was the real reason why I and some of the boys on the site joined up. There was an essential works order in force and you couldn’t change jobs, if you did you got called up. If you received your call up papers you would automatically go into the infantry. Not wanting to go into the infantry we had already made enquiries at the recruiting office in Birmingham and they needed construction workers in France. That’s the real reason I joined up “force of necessity” rather than patriotism.

I think the weather if anything was worse over there than here and we were housed in very basic Nisson huts. There were gaps in the floor boards and the grass was growing through. Our boots were frozen to the floor in the morning and we were allowed, much to our surprise to sleep in pairs, in our uniforms, this was to combat the extreme cold. We learned afterwards to put our boots on paper instead of the floor which stopped them from getting frozen. Our purpose for going there was a huge landing field which was under construction, this was to bomb Germany from France but it turned out to be the other way. However nothing much was happening and it was called the “bore” war until activities started. Belgium at this time was neutral and as soon as Germany attacked Holland, Belgium withdrew their neutrality and we marched into Belgium which on comparing notes we all thought was a huge mistake. One of the things I had was a conversation with a Belgian officer and he said the most sensible thing to do would be to march the Belgian troops out and meet the German soldiers on French soil.

However they were far too heavy, far too strong and much better equipped than we were. We got well up into Belgium and we had the order to retreat back to Dunkirk.

On the march back from Belgium all the dykes were flooded and we were knee high in water. We weren’t allowed to rest and we only kept small packs and our rifles, we were all very exhausted. We were given the order to cut down large trees at the side of the road to stop the German tanks but we were spotted from the air by German planes who tipped of the artillery who then bombarded us on the ground. I was blown through a hedge and was wounded by shrapnel in my knee, which I still have in my knee to this day. My hearing was also affected by all the bombardment and has remained that way all my life. I was put on a truck because I couldn’t walk and when I got into the salt water it really gave me a lot of pain. One of my most horrifying memories was seeing all the displaced persons, it was pitiful there were women and children with prams and wheelbarrows diving for the ditches at the side of the road as the Germans constantly bombed them to clear the roads for the tanks. One of the worst things was feeling so helpless and not being able to assist them as we had nothing ourselves. At one point during our retreat through Belgium it was decided we would camp on high ground. Whilst scanning the area from this high point one of the officers noticed a German column and there was immediate panic stations, we were told to load up and fix bayonets. Luckily for us they turned off and camped at a local village close by. We made a hasty retreat at this point and were very lucky we didn’t have to engage in combat.

We were amongst the first troops into Dunkirk and I can always remember this long line of cars, staff cars, lorries, cycles stretching to the horizon. They had just come off the boats for delivery and the order was to smash the lot, and that’s exactly what we had to do, destroy the lot of them so the Germans couldn’t get hold of them millions and millions of pounds worth of them.

The Germans had hit a large storage tank at Dunkirk and there was a great cloud of smoke and flames 500 foot high and all the troops were told to make towards the smoke and that’s Dunkirk, that was the landmark. When we got to the docks at Dunkirk there was a huge boat in the harbour and we all shuffled forward three at a time as we got to 50 yards of the gang plank it went up because it was full. I was then back on the beach. The Germans constantly came over bombing us. They had realised what was happening so they went on to bomb the docks day and night for eight days. Finally there was no docks at all and we had to take to the beach. We were formed in queues up to our neck in water and we had to keep our cigarettes and matches in our helmets to keep them dry. The weather was blazing hot and we had nothing to drink, it was known as “the nine days wonder” luckily the seas were calm and we eventually got away but not without further drama. The docks had been destroyed and the larger ships couldn’t drop anchor they had to form a large arc out of the harbour in the bay so they were sitting ducks for the bombers. They couldn’t get any closer in so there were small boats plying between them and us which was why we had to queue up in the water. When the tide came in we had to back up and those behind wouldn’t back up so there were some nasty scenes. It was orderly at first and then became very disorderly.

However I managed to get a boat 150ft long, not a large boat and we got on but unfortunately the skipper had come in too close and we got stuck on the bottom. There were about 150 of us on the boat, it was an empty shell inside and we were ordered to run from one side of the boat to another to rock it whilst the skipper reversed the engines. The incoming tide was too much and we had to abandon ship and jump into the sea. By the next day it was a blazing wreck the Germans had hit it in the night. That was my first attempt. At the second attempt we got on an old British destroyer it was HMS Wakeful, luckily I was one of the last on board and we hadn’t got hit up to that time. We were just pulling up anchor, I remember the sun was going down and there was a great cheer went up from the troops on board. We went out about three miles and when we were hit by a torpedo in the middle of the ship. The ship didn’t sink immediately it just folded up, there were about 850 men below who didn’t get out it and I believe it stayed that way for several days before sinking (although I had actually left the area at this point). I was thrown into the sea and was picked up by a small powerboat and put back on the beach. It was the lowest day of my life I was so depressed to be back were I started on the beach. That was the second attempt, I had been there six, seven nights. We were very thirsty and very hungry. Finally this small power boat came along very close to the shore, apparently the skipper had escaped from Holland and he picked about 15 of us up. Luckily the Germans weren’t interested in the smaller craft and we came straight across to Dover. The only officer that stayed with us was a Lieutenant Keeble.

We went back to Scotland to reform but I was unable to keep in touch with any of my colleagues as they were sent out to the Middle East. I was a casualty and was completely deaf due to the constant bombardment, I had to have my eardrum removed and was discharged as a result. This was mid 1940. I had done less than twelve months service before I was back in civvies street. I met a guy some years later in Selly Oak and he told me most of them got back so I was pleased about that.

There were 92 of us got back out of a total of 600, most were taken prisoner in Belgium. There are a few names that stick in my mind from this time they are
Private Stone
Private Flint
Private Clay
Sapper Pickering (from Selly Oak who was very tall)
Major Brand

My mother had had a telegram “missing presumed killed” and she was in a shocking state, this happened a lot to families. I wish I had kept the telegram. My mother was overwhelmed, I didn’t tell her I was coming I just turned up and she was very shocked. It was a few weeks after this that I got married. The vicar had fought in the first World War and he wanted me to get married in my uniform but I couldn’t as it was covered in black oil and was filthy. I hadn’t had a shave for days and was covered in a black oil like treacle, so I certainly couldn’t get married like that.

It was difficult getting a house at that time and we lived with my wife’s parents for about three years, then I came back to Birmingham to live in Forman’s Road and went back to the Rover as a master carpenter. I then moved to Solihull where I still live. I have five sons, twelve grandchildren and thirteen great grandchildren.

July 25th 2005
Stanley Mewis aged 92

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