大象传媒

In spring 1940, the 2nd Battalion of the Welsh Guards moved out of London to a camp site at Theydon Bois and training for war began. We were joined by some experienced officers from the 1st Battalion.

On the May Bank Holiday 1940 the German army charged across the Maginot line. Belgium capitulated and the German tanks charged across the Rhine into Holland and Alsace-Lorraine. Undoubtedly Hitler knew that due to the Bank Holiday, half the British Army would be on home leave.

Half the 2nd Battalion, Welsh Guards, supplemented by a T.A. Regiment, were embarked on a cross Channel steamer and disembarked at the Hook of Holland which was not far from Rotterdam. We understood that we were on a mission to evacuate various VIPs but knew little else. It was late evening when we landed and the German bombers were in the process of blitzing Rotterdam. The Germans were particularly interested in targeting the city of Rotterdam to destroy crucial oil supplies and - more importantly - destroy Dutch morale.

The night sky was lit up by the blazing city. A vast tide of civilian refugees from the city of Rotterdam streamed towards the docks hoping to be rescued by 鈥渙ur allies the British鈥�. My orders were to stop all pedestrians. I gave this order to my sentries and we settled down for the night. At about 3am, a coach was driven towards us and insisted on being allowed through. My sentries stopped it and I sent for the Commanding Officer. When he arrived, we discovered that it was the British Consul escorting Queen Wilhelmina and Princess Juliana with her children. They were taken down to the docks and escorted over to England. The next day a destroyer was sent in to rescue us. As soon as it was light, the Luftwaffe dive-bombed the destroyer but the Navy zigzagged and got us all safely back to England.

Fortunately, the main loss during the operation was the instruments of the regimental band (the bandsmen had not been needed for their stretcher-bearing duties) and we were greeted at Waterloo Station by Millie and her girls from the 400 Nightclub.

However, as soon as the Dutch people realised that the Queen had escaped, they capitulated to the Germans.

A few weeks later, in June 1940, the officer in charge of the officers鈥� mess had gone on holiday and I was left in charge. We were told that we were going overseas in a hurry and my Commanding Officer ordered me to get provisions for the officers鈥� mess. I rushed to Harrods to get emergency provisions of wine and stilton cheese, etc. On my return to Theydon Bois I found the whole camp evacuated and already on their way down to Dover to board a cross-Channel ferry. This time we were a composite battalion made up of half Welsh Guards and half Irish Guards, with the Welsh Guards commanding. Our destination was Boulogne with the task of forming a bridgehead to hold back the German army while British troops were evacuated from France, scrambling over the beach at Dunkirk to ships of all shapes and sizes sent from England to get them back to 鈥楤lighty鈥�.

We were under heavy fire from the Germans and it was here that I had my first encounter with a German tank, which bore down on me with its flame thrower blazing from the front of the tank. I shot at with my revolver and miraculously it stopped. I later discovered that this was because they had moved so fast out of Holland to cut off the British army that fuel supplies could not keep up and they had run out of fuel.

My platoon was holding the bridgehead leading out of the harbour when the Brigadier of our force ordered the evacuation of those soldiers positioned across the Dock entrance bridge because engineers were preparing to blow up the bridge. I objected strongly as half my platoon were still on the town side but nevertheless the order was given and signals were made to a British destroyer to enter harbour and take on board half of our Battalion who were on the seaward side. We lost the other half of our Battalion who were killed or taken prisoners by the Germans. Later we understood that we could have held the bridgehead long enough to allow the British troops to escape whilst the German army stayed static for lack of fuel.

Back in England to regroup, we learnt that the Guards Armoured Division was to be formed. All officers and men were to be trained to work in tanks.

I felt the time had come to use my training with the Cambridge University Air Squadron, and applied to join an Air Liaison course at RAF Old Sarum. This was agreed and after training I joined 613 Squadron RAF as Army Liaison Officer.

The squadron was equipped with Lysander high winged aircraft which had been withdrawn from France, and was at RAF Doncaster, retraining on the latest equipment.

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