大象传媒

In April/May 1940, my unit of the Military Police was posted from Dunkirk to St Malo, France, which had been designated the main supply and communications base for the forthcoming offensive.

Weeks passed, and a group of 1000 British civilians were sent to us for evacuation to the UK. The evacuees were transported by train, and had to wait in the trains inside the shunting sheds overnight. In the dark and cold, they sat huddled, 8 to a compartment. They were allowed no light, and were forbidden from talking or smoking. No one was allowed to leave the trains. The dark faceless figures were an eerie sight.

During my spell of train duty, I heard a woman's voice call out 'soldier, something seems to be wrong! My legs are getting wet and sticky.' On investigation, I found that the man next to her had cut both of his wrists, and calmy placed them in his pockets, waiting for the end to come. I managed to get him transferred to the Red Cross Notre Dame Hospital, and they successfully patched him up. My colleagues had persuaded the boat crew to wait for him, and eventually he was transported to England

I found out later, that the young chap (he was only about 30) had no relatives, no home to go to, and very little money. I don't know what happened to him.

My unit was one of the last units evacuated from St Malo. A Navy launch appeared on 24th June, but they didn't seem to know that we were still there, and said that they had come to demolish the harbour installations. Eventually, the Navy found a flat bottomed Dutch fishing boat, and we set off on the last tide. We had been chugging along for about 3 hours when there was an incredibly loud explosion, and flames shot into the sky - the dock at St Malo had gone. We landed on English soil after 13-14 hours at sea on 25th June 1940. When we disembarked, we were met by the Sally Army with tea and buns - what a sight!

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