大象传媒

CHAPTER FOUR
END OF THE ROAD
On June 10th the remaining two Brigades together with the small remnants of the French Ninth Army and the large numbers of stragglers, men who had lost contact with their units we moved back towards the coast to take up positions around St.Valery-en-Caux. We were to keep Jerry guessing by holding on as long as possible to enable as many of our comrades to get away. I shall never forget the hoards of refugees filling the roads to the coast. It was a nightmare. The mixture of French troops mingling with them was of no help to anyone, they just seemed obsessed with escape. German Fighters found these wretched columns easy targets. Roads were quickly littered with the corpses of these sad refugees. Seeing the bodies of small dead children was the worst scene one can witness and you try hard to forget but you never do. It was very demoralising but we could not get involved. It was only in after thought that had I been a refugee myself I would remain in my hometown in the hopes that I could pretend to co-operate with the enemy whilst planning on how to hit back. This was a point proven when I was in a camp in Poland later. As it was these poor devils held up our movements to some extent with their carts. We barely made it before the Germans closed in around us in tight pockets, one stretching from Boulogne in the west to Zeebrugge in the east the other from Dieppe to Le Harve but the German armour pushed its way up between the two pockets both North and South. We were ordered to destroy our transport and carry what stores we needed. The road into St.Valery seemed to be full of trucks many left with engines racing in order to seize up their engines after first puncturing fuel tanks and releasing oil from their sumps. During the ensuing battle many of these vehicles burst into flames.

Situated in a valley that swept down to the beaches St.Valery was just a tiny Fishing village. Here British troops really took control of things. The 153 Brigade defended the Western side of our pocket, the 152nd the eastern side with the French Ninth holding the southern end. We were up against constant attacks by German infantry. I was greatly impressed by the German infantry and how fearless they were in their attacks on us but we stood our ground. I learnt after the war that Hitler had made a grave mistake in holding back his Armour for fear of loosing it to the soft marshy ground in the coastal areas and committed infantry against us instead. The casualties must have been terrible for the Germans as they were for us since the Germans now resorted to long range bombardment which was just as affective in whittling down our numbers, not to mention the continuous strafing from German fighters and bombers. The respite from German Armour was short lived but the break had been valuable in organising our positions as well as getting many troops away from the beaches who, like ourselves, were under continual bombardment from aircraft and long range guns.
The sound of a Tiger Tanks 88mm gun is one you never forget even though one's surroundings were filled with exploding mortar and shellfire not to mention the screaming wine of the Stuker's and the scream of their bombs.
The incoming small arms fire added to the noise that was very much like a large swam of bees buzzing around you only these bees could kill. You never forget the sound of lead striking bone, it鈥檚 a sound I was to carry with me the remainder of my life. It was indeed Hell you had to be there to realise the madness that was happening around you. Arranging burial for the fallen, and there were a great many of them was very harrowing for me. I instructed burial details to wrap the bodies in ground sheets as I felt covering an un protected body with earth was too heathen and barbaric. They were heroes and deserved to be buried as such. With the greatest respect.

On the 10th, 11th and 12th of June the German attacks strengthened in a final effort to push us into the sea.
Heavy guns situated in the woods inland and the constant shelling from Tanks and very accurate mortar fire around our bridgehead that were bombarding us almost non-stop for the entire three days was taking a heavy toll on us defenders. There was hardly a building in sight that was not burning. By this time we were more than a mixed bunch but we organised as best we could under the circumstances. We could see the ships lying off the coast that were taking a terrible beating from the air. The bombing of the beaches was constant and one wondered how the masses of troops remaining on them could survive. The noise of battle was horrendous and continuous. German tanks and heavy guns had been set up on the cliffs south and north of us, adding to the discomfort of the few ships laying off shore, not to mention the thousands of troops waiting for ships, it was sheer hell. Many small units ran out of ammunition so resorted to hand to hand fighting falling back all the time to join groups who were still able to return fire. I witnessed so many brave acts performed by unnamed defenders who were driven by shear desperation and the will to survive. In the early hours the ships off shore were shrouded in a heavy sea fog and it was hoped we might still get away under this cover. We knew the situation was becoming hopeless but still we hung on. Our G.O.C. Major-Gen. V.M.Fortune Issued his final orders on June 11th which was to the affect that the navy would probably take us all off by boat. He indicated that in order to get all the Division away it would require co-operation in that should the Germans force an attack they had to be held at all costs.

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