大象传媒

CHAPTER TWO
FRANCE
Even only partly trained we were very efficient. We arrived in Cherbourg, France and entrained in bitterly cold weather to St.Remy du Plain where we were split up into a billeting area of some three miles distance. Four days later we were on the move again this time to Boisleux about five miles south of Arras. Again each company was billeted in separate areas. Whenever possible, sight seeing trips were made into Arras but due to the icy state of the roads these trips were pretty rare. Enthusiastic and friendly locals greeted us. I'm ashamed to admit that the red light district did a roaring trade during the month we were stationed close by. The bars did a roaring trade and there were many rowdy incidents. As Sergeant I and four other ranks patrolled the area to sort out rowdiness.
But on one occasion the sound of breaking glass and loud singing, the junior NCO with us asked if we were to intervene. I told him they were just letting off high spirits and many of them could be killed in battle any day. So we about turned and left them to enjoy them selves. As it was things were starting to move. On March 4th 1940 'C' Company (my company) were moved to Roeux with the rest of the Battalion following four days later. On the 9th a fresh draft arrived and 'B' Company was re-instated under the command of Captain Hawkins. On the 29th a second draft arrived. All in all both drafts consisted of 137 other ranks. We were now four rifle companies. On the last day of March the whole Battalion entrained for Metz for a tour of duty with the British 144th infantry Brigade on the Saar. We arrived on the 1st April and were billeted in a Cavalry barracks in a suburb of Metz. Here we were told we were to clean up the forward villages that were already in a very unsanitary condition. Billeting parties were sent forward during the day to the respective villages they were to occupy and make preliminary inspections' which did nothing to dispel their fears, they were in a really disgusting state. On March 3rd 'A', 'C' and 'D' companies had been moved into their new areas. 'C' company went to Bitzing and 'D' company to Halstroff 'A' company to Metzeresche in the main Maginot defences. 'B' Company remained behind to clean up the barracks and erect blast walls. Bitzing and Halstroff were evacuated villages just behind the Maginot line. 'C' company was unable to reach Bitzing on the 4th due to a sudden sharp enemy attack accompanied by heavy artillery fire. 'D' company was also held up by enemy patrols whilst they inspected houses in the village. As soon as the villages were made habitable work proceed on the forward defences. The Ardennes was on the left of us protected by the French Ninth army. It became quite apparent that these positions were designed for French occupation, which were very much first World war style consisting of boarded sides held together with stakes and wire, not the most comfortable, particularly in wet weather. Under the direction of a unit from the Royal Engineers we
worked to make them more protective and after a few days we managed on our own. All this work had to be done during the day due to enemy patrol activities during the hours of darkness. Our positions were quite visible to the Germans from a distance due to the height they were built up and were not popular with us Terriers. Basically we were poorly equipped to deal with any type of heavy attack. There were no binoculars, compasses or maps. We had no idea where our HQ was. We manned four outposts fairly close to each other. There were no anti tank weapons available to us and just one Bren gun shared between all four positions. Other than our rifles and a few small arms, handgrenades were our only means of defence. Yes we were a real Fred Karno's army in those early days.
The French Military placed unshaken faith in the Maginot line. Had it stretched all the way to the coast I might have shared their faith. As it was, these underground fortifications only ran from the Swiss Border to the Belgium border just south of Sedan. Here it turned west where it was believed the Ardennes would provide all the protection defenders needed. Other than a line of forts built at intervals along the border to the coast a great number of them still under construction it was still very little. Still many of the forts were to hold out until June 16th that year, long after the French surrender due to communications difficulties. On April 13th we came under a considerable barrage from the German's which was concentrated along most of the line. Fortunately there were no casualties but we received a 'General Alarm' signal since it was thought enemy troops would follow the barrage so all the forward companies stood too, but nothing transpired and after three days of waiting the warning was withdrawn. Further up the line the 5th Gloucester's were attacked by 50 Germans. They suffered a few casualties and had three of their number taken prisoner. Later that day the weather broke and the rain continued for three days that made our digging work almost impossible. Water built up alarmingly in our trenches so we had to set in drainage, which still left us standing in thick sticky clay. We continued to work on sandbagging our trench, which at its maximum depth was still only three feet deep.

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