大象传媒

I was born Harold Shaw at the corner of Staffordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire, some eight miles southwest of Birmingham and I鈥檝e since acquired the name of Anthony because I got the nickname Tony after a heavyweight boxer Two-ton Tony Galenti and so it got complicated, because people not knowing who they were talking about and so I adopted the name of Anthony, so I鈥檓 Harold Anthony Shaw now.

I was born on 15th July 1918 and at the age of 21 I鈥檇 already received the summons that I had to join within 6 days of the 15th July. I had to report to a training battalion near Aldershot, which I did. It was part of the militia. There were 35,000 of them and I collared it as one aged 21 at that time. 35,000 of them, the first conscripts ever that happened in Britain in peacetime and it was training for the RASC. I volunteered for that because I was interested in cars, I鈥檇 just picked up one with my brother and we were interested in running things and I thought well, don鈥檛 feel like being shot up in a car but maybe it鈥檚 better than being shot up on foot and tired or something or other, or in a lorry. On the other hand I hadn鈥檛 allowed for the fact that there鈥檇 be an awful lot of ammunition and petrol to carry and anyway I volunteered for that, and there I was stuck for the duration of the war really.

I could have got commissioned elsewhere but it would have been a much longer wait, and by the time I鈥檇 been put in for a commission it would have been only in the RASC. Anyway, two months had hardly gone by because on 3rd September the war broke out, and so six months training became nothing at all and the troops were being paid one shilling and sixpence, that鈥檚 seven and a half pence per day, was suddenly put up to take the full service pay, which was two shillings a day, which was ten pence per day. That鈥檚 a big increase, that! In that time they鈥檇 been trying to pick out leaders, so they thought that I鈥檇 been called one, and I was made a Lance Corporal and trained to drill some of the squad as well in training so I was Acting Unpaid, Not on War Establishment Lance Corporal, for what that is worth - the lowest form of human life!

But on the 3rd September the war broke out. On the 5th September, possibly the 6th, batches were all shifted out all over. The army鈥檇 got plenty of places to slot people into, these young lads, and a batch of us I suppose about twenty, twenty-five of us went to the Connaught Barracks in Woolwich, next to the old RA Barracks. I was told I was in the 4th MAC, Motor Ambulance Convoy, and before I knew what had happened I was shoved in a Motor Ambulance, army type, and told to drive that. They asked me if I鈥檇 passed as a driver, I said yes. Do you ride a motorbike, no, ah well, you will, and then within days we were running on down to Southampton. I got an inkling of what was going on and I rang my parents and said look, I may not be speaking to you for some time but don鈥檛 say anything. My mother was told by a cousin of mine that I was scaring her. They wouldn鈥檛 want to put anybody overseas at that time!

By the time that was spoken I was in France. We moved from Cherbourg up to near Arras. One got on with the job and got ready for whatever was supposed to happen. There was no threat of war at the time, but then when winter came, I鈥檇 been made by then a proper Lance Corporal so I got a bit more money, and I also was rather flattered by the time the winter was over, my Platoon commander had made a recommendation that I should be considered for a commission and I was in fact pushed into a committee sitting in Doullens at the time and nothing happened obviously. The army was in a chaos very shortly. I was attached for different reasons to other units as a corporal, mainly because I鈥檇 learnt to ride a motorcycle by then and, because I spoke French I was invaluable for despatch riding to the headquarters who wanted somebody, preferably with a knowledge of French.

So I was pushed to the Medical General鈥檚 headquarters. So I was getting all over the area of the British Army Expeditionary Force as they called it then, and I was also sent later to take a vehicle and be specially attached to somewhere near St Omer where I had further experiences with the Royal Artillery. And then I was pulled back from there because I was promoted to full Corporal to the annoyance of several of the regular soldiers who had seen me jumping over them. It was a natural annoyance; I was only twenty-one after all. But they still pulled me out from the unit to send me as a Corporal despatch rider.

I was careering around, and when the Germans attacked on the 10th May, I was just north of Doullens and was woken up by a bomb which made me shoot in the air practically. I said could I go back to my unit? 鈥淣ot on your sweet Nellie鈥�. And so I had to stay with them, and they went all over the place. Headquarters was trying to go up with the rest of the BEF into Belgium which, of course, was precisely what the Germans wanted them to do, having planned it all beforehand. We got up into Belgium and then back at one time when the Germans began to react seriously, and I was in France again in Boulogne but they鈥檇 obviously got some headquarters information. The Germans were bombing Boulogne, at a particular spot where our General Headquarters was.

Then we went into Belgium again, and I thought it was a bit grim. I saw a lot of Belgian soldiers with a small cannon (it didn鈥檛 look very effective), pointing down the road at the way we were coming. I thought they should be pointing the other way, but they knew more than I did, the Germans were getting nearer and nearer the other way, and within a day we were going backwards again. Then I was gathered round and told by some Brigadier that in order to lighten the British load, the maintenance columns and so on were being sent back to Britain so that the British army could fight on less hindered. Who was going to look after the sick? It seemed a likely story to me and sounded a bit like a panic. He said leave all your gear here, you鈥檙e only to take rucksack with you and your arms, and I got my motorbike. So we were headed towards Dunkirk and going there in the night. The whole place was lit up with explosions, fireworks, I could even read a map at a particular point where it was clear enough to read without any light.

As we got into Dunkirk, anything that was like a building had been shattered already and we were walking ankle-deep in glass practically. Anyway, we were told the pier was blocked and there were troops on there and the Germans were bombing it so we鈥檇 got to disperse into the East of the town on the scrub land behind the beaches, but not on the beaches. Meanwhile I had to dispose of my motorcycle, which they told me to wreck, but don鈥檛 set it on fire, it will attract attention. So I did what damage I could to it, poor old thing, it had taken me along safely. Then I was told to throw in my rifle as well, which was rather curious I thought, but I took the bolt out carefully and I buried that in the sand. The rifle wouldn鈥檛 be any good without that, and buried that in a stream that was nearby, and then set off for this place.

And then some officer said 鈥淩ight, Corporal, stay with these men here but tell them to disperse all over the place. Don鈥檛 stay near each other, there鈥檚 bombing and strafing, one thing and another going on, and wait for further instructions鈥�. Well, I never felt more lonely or afraid in my life. If some German had come up to me then with anything like a bayonet or weapon, I鈥檇 have given in quite happily. Why? I was alone, I鈥檇 been told to do nothing and I鈥檇 got no responsibility to do anything except stay there. I told officers later I never forgive them for being a coward or being fussed when they had a job to do in danger because they had the responsibility; because once I got the responsibility it never worried me. The trouble is, this was some time in the morning when all this happened, and by late afternoon I was still there. I鈥檇 eaten my haversack rations by then and was looking round for a bit of water to drink. Then someone came up and said 鈥淐orporal, gather these men up鈥� and meanwhile, none of ours had been killed but there were one or two dead men being carried across by French troops from the other side of some hedges, 鈥淕et these men along and come along to the DC to tell them what to do鈥� and then I found that on the beach a mile or more east of Dunkirk there was a thousand or more soldiers fell-in in sections of about five deep and twenty-five yards long and then a space. The RAF got blamed because our lads never saw them but point is they doing a job trying to keep the people off but they could only do it for a few minutes and then they had to fly back to England because they鈥檇 lost all their landing grounds.

We waited our turn and they came nearer and nearer. There were no ships to pick us up at that time, and then we got on board a whaler and thought, 鈥渨ell, now what happens?鈥� Then suddenly I heard the immaculate voice of a well-educated Englishman come over on the loudhailer, 鈥淐alling drifter Earl Howe, calling drifter Earl Howe. Would you please go to the pier immediately. Very difficult there with crowded troops and bombing and take as many as you can off because other craft can鈥檛 get there鈥�. The Scots captain said 鈥淪orry sir, I cannae do it. I鈥檓 absolutely full up already鈥�. 鈥淥h, come alongside me. I鈥檝e got to go back on anti-e-boat duties, and I鈥檒l throw a scrambling net out and they can get up on to me and then you can go off鈥�. 鈥淎ye, aye sir鈥�.

So the next job was getting off the drifter, and a destroyer is a small craft relatively but scrambling nets are not easy things to get up. You鈥檝e got your haversack on your back. We all scrambled up eventually, then they pulled up and the destroyers slipped out and started going back to England. A kindly sailor said 鈥淗ere鈥檚 my bunk and here鈥檚 a pair of dry trousers while yours dry鈥� so I climbed into a pair of sailor鈥檚 trews and he woke me at six-thirty and said we鈥檙e just coming into Dover now. So I tumbled out of the hammock, it鈥檚 a dreadful thing to sleep in, and there was the finest sight I鈥檝e ever seen in my life鈥� the white cliffs of Dover.

I hadn鈥檛 expected to see them frankly. We were put onto a train and there were civilians pushing their way through past the turnstiles giving fruit and so on to the troops and somebody asked me to write a postcard and they鈥檇 post it to my parents and so on. And then to my astonishment as it pulled out I saw people waving and cheering, and I felt desperately ashamed of myself quite frankly, I thought this is the beginning of an almighty cock-up. I felt desperately ashamed; so much for the BEF. There were flags all over the place. It wasn鈥檛 until you got well out into the country, well away from Dover where the people knew what was happening and they wanted to show that you were welcome.

Eventually, you can imagine what had happened to the railway timetables, we didn鈥檛 know where we were going to, but we suddenly stopped at Winchester and we were tipped out into vehicles and taken to the Rifle Brigade Barracks, which were mostly empty. I had to give up my pistol there, and my steel helmet for some reason or other. Then there was the inevitable survivors leave for a day or two. Then they finally got me rejoining my unit, which happened eventually at Chipping Norton, and by the time I鈥檇 gone on some more leave, and gone back, they鈥檇 moved to somewhere in Wiltshire, but the unit was all together again. I was happy to see them again. There were not too many casualties there. And then there we were, stuck in Rotherham in Yorkshire, trying to train without weapons, without vehicles, without anything.

2230 words

End of part 1 of 3 parts

For part 2 see www.bbc.co.uk/dna/ww2/A8118894

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