大象传媒

A short synopsis of the early part of WW 11 Extracted from 鈥淛ust an Ordinary Man鈥� An autobiography spanning eighty plus years and awaiting a publisher

I was a member of HM BEF within a Regiment of Royal Artillery during 1939/40 based in Le Havre France. Our object was the defence of that Port from air attack.
Our emplacement was a small island off the Port of Le Havre called Petrol Island. As its name suggests a very strategic place where most of France鈥檚 fuel was stored.

Entry and exit on to the island was by way of a narrow causeway or Mole. Attacks by German aircraft were frequent and heavy. Several of the fuel tanks on Petrol Island were destroyed by enemy action. We did manage to down one plane. However the German Military were determined to knock us out. The war was travelling with greater speed across France. Our own local information was that the majority of the BEF were now surrounded South and West of Dunkirk. Our own position becoming precarious and almost untenable due to the very nature of Petrol Island and its position from the mainland.

We were ordered to destroy our guns and spare clothing and equipment, which we proceeded to do. We were suffering heavy bombardment from the air. One of the raids almost put paid to any thoughts of escape however. A diving Stukka in broad daylight dropped a stick of bombs on the Mole. The crater made was so huge that any escape from that direction was impossible; it also destroyed our one means of communication, a telephone land line. From then onwards any form of communication with the mainland and HQ was either by loud hailer or strong swimmer. By such means we were ordered to evacuate. With difficulty we managed to explain our situation to the RE Depot requesting assistance. Such a request was one of many during this period of the war and in this part of the conflict.

Fortunately our requests were met, and a lorry loaded with collapsible canvas dinghies was despatched. It was left to those on the opposite shore to assemble the craft, all being pressed into service as rescue squads. We observed this as a most difficult task. No oars had been supplied with the dinghies. There was no time to rectify this situation, so hands, odd pieces of wood and even rifles were being used in place of paddles. We were confronted of course by the same problem on our journey across. Our journey was made more difficult by the fact that we had one wounded officer. The task of lowering him into one of those flimsy craft was extremely difficult, but those of us detailed managed that with great effort and extreme caution.

This episode happened on the 10th June 1940. On this day the 大象传媒 announced that Italy had also declared war on the Allies. By midnight on this day we had made it ashore and paraded in a small field and given an explanation, supposedly from Churchill himself, who was, it seems, aware of our plight. We were also told that there were no sea craft available to get us home. It was expected of us to make a stand in defence of France in the face of the German onslaught. (In the true spirit of British Resistance) I am sure that he was not aware that our equipment consisted of rifle, bayonet and twenty rounds of ammunition!

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