大象传媒

On the 6 May 1940 the regiment was warned to be ready to move overseas at 10 days notice. On the 20 May they found themselves at Southampton and at 5 a.m. on the 21 May they landed at Cherbourg France.

On the 10 May the Germans had attacked Holland and the French and British forces had moved into Belgium.

The 9th Lancers along with the Queens Bays and 10th Hussars made up the 2nd Armoured Brigade of the 1st Armoured Division. (The only Armoured Division in France)

The Plan was for the 1st Armoured Div to join the B.E.F. (British Expeditionary Force) in Belgium, but the German advance was so swift that by the 24 May the B.E.F. was cut off and had already begun withdrawing from Dunkirk. The German forces were now at the river 鈥淪omme鈥� and the immediate role for the 1st Armd Div was to support the French forces south of that river.

Edwin had landed with his regiment on the 21 May and he remembered the scruffy looking French soldiers at the port and in Cherbourg itself, which they marched through that night so as to disperse in its suburbs as a protection from possible air raids.

Edwin鈥檚 group found themselves in the courtyard of either a farm or orchard where they had to bed down for the night in hay carts. They spent a fitful night, and Edwin recalled the fleas keeping him awake, and seeing eyes staring at him from out of the darkness鈥�.. these turned out to be rats.

The next day they were moved on again to join the transport which would take them to their regiments collection area. (The tanks had gone on ahead leaving the dismounted troops to catch up later.) The transport which consisted of a number of lorries was eventually located in a wood. Here they were fed and given their first fag ration, a great priority to them all. It was here that they experienced their first taste of war.

Edwin remembered the sudden chaos as the bombs began to fall. They were in the general area but not close enough to be of any real threat. He, along with others, dived under the nearest lorry and as trained they all placed a stick ( which they carried in their helmets) into their mouths. These sticks were to bite on, supposedly to relieve the effects of concussion. The air raid passed without incident and the stick idea was soon dropped as complete daftness. As for sheltering under vehicles this was soon realised as madness as the vehicles are most likely the intended targets of the attack. Edwin was to learn a few years later the folly of such an action.
After meeting up with his regiment at the concentration area the next thing Edwin could recall was going out on patrol. The patrol consisted of (as far as he could remember) three tanks, which were Vickers Mk V1 Light Tanks. These were small tanks of around 5 tons and had a crew of three. They were armed with a heavy machine gun and one light machine gun. Their top speed was 35 M.P.H. The regiment was (as was the whole Arnd Div) so under equipped that they had not enough tanks to mount all the crews. This led to each tank having a reserve crew. These reserve crews followed in trucks directly behind the tanks. Edwin was a driver in a reserve crew.

The poor state of readiness of the regiment (and the Div) can be realised when one considers the facts that it had one tank with a turret made of ply-wood, and another was fitted with a howitzer but had no ammunition, and the regiment had been issued with the new Besa machine gun, but had no one trained in its use.

Edwin was unaware of all this, and he had no idea of what was happening. All he knew was that he was being driven around beautiful French countryside on a hot sunny day. He remembered a shot ringing out and the column coming to a halt, Someone in the truck behind his own had accidentally shot himself in the foot with his own revolver, He was taken in a staff car.

Edwin could not remember if it was the same day or the following one, but again they were out on patrol with two or three tanks and two lorries. Again it was lovely summer weather and they drove along country lanes with high corn growing on either side. Suddenly the lead tank stopped- it鈥檚 engine had cut out. Everyone made their way along the column and stood around the tank discussing what could be wrong with it. The driver was out getting ready to lift the engine cover. Someone suddenly spotted a small hole in the front of the tank and putting his finger in to it asked what it was. Immediately everyone realised it was a bullet hole and ran. Edwin remembered seeing the driver, who was a large fat man, diving head first into the tanks very small drivers hatch. They ran scattering into the cornfields.

The bullet (Armoured Piercing) had removed all the rocker arms from the engine causing it to stop immediately. It appears that German motorcycle combinations were Operating in the area. They would shoot up a tank before speedily disappearing. The driver in the MK V1 light tank sat on the near side of the vehicle, with the engine at his side to the right. The German gunner probably presumed that being British (drive on left) that the driver would be situated on the off side. He most likely aimed where he thought the driver would be.

The few weeks Edwin spent in France were Chaotic and disorganised. Not only for him, but also his regiment. The 9th Lancers were unable to record a full account of their many moves and actions- like wise Edwin鈥檚 memories were dis 鈥攋ointed. I have set out his recollections as best I can in the most feasible order of occurrence.

Edwin recalled being on patrol (again as reserve crew) and seeing a British 鈥淐ruiser鈥� tank come crashing out of a wood it鈥檚 gun facing rearward firing rapidly. It paused briefly in the open field and then slowly drove off disappearing into the trees at the far side of the said field. What it was firing at or trying to flee was never seen.

At around the same time Edwin recalled being in a wood. He was with his Sergeant Major and they had set up a Bren gun on a high tri-pod ready for Anti-aircraft use. Edwin had been chosen by the Sergeant Major because the Bren gun was a fairly new weapon to the regiment and Edwin had been fully trained in its use whilst serving in the Infantry. They were situated at the edge of the wood, probably on a hill, overlooking open fields. Suddenly, and very noisily a German fighter plane flew sedately past them. It was very low and so close that the pilot was in full view. He had his canopy pushed back and his scarf was flowing freely in the wind He tilted his wing down as he flew past offering an even better view. Edwin swore that in the few seconds, which seemed like hours, he could clearly see the pilots face looking back at his own. He was brought back to his senses by the Sergeant Major shouting, 鈥淪HOOT IT鈥�.. SHOOT IT鈥�. But the plane had gone.

Edwin often wondered what would have happened if he had fired. It was highly unlikely that he would have hit the plane, but what if it had come back and retaliated. What then.

Edwin remembered watching a French bomber being attacked by German fighters. Possibly at the same location as his own encounter with the Luftwaffe. It slowly lost height until it crashed in a nearby field. A party of soldiers went out to the crash site but Edwin could not remember if there were any survivors.

An experience Edwin loved to re-count, but was unable to give an exact date other than France 1940, this was another encounter involving a Bren gun. A Sergeant was giving instructions on its use and firing drills to a small group of men, Edwin included. They had the machine gun set up on the floor of a small barn and two men acting as gun crew lay behind it. The remaining men sat on either side of the machine gun facing each other. The Sergeant circled the small group shouting out various parts of the gun and their function. Soon Edwin and another man were sent by the Sergeant to fetch an ammo box containing the magazines for the Bren gun. They had strict instructions to collect a specific box from just inside the tent. They found the box and returned to the barn with it. Re-taking their seats they watched as a magazine was handed to the gun crew. The Sergeant barked 鈥淟OAD鈥�, and Edwin noticed the bullets inside the magazine as it was clicked into place. He thought this strange but said nothing. 鈥淩EADY鈥�- the sights were set and the gun cocked. Edwin was now a little apprehensive but still said nothing鈥�. He secretly hoped someone else would speak up - surely everyone else had noticed 鈥� especially the loader. Perhaps they were training bullets, and he did not want to make a fool of himself. 鈥淎IM鈥�- The gunner aimed at the diff of a tractor a few yards away. It had a cross painted on it as an aiming point. 鈥淔IRE鈥�- The gun jumped into life and the tractor diff disintegrated sending metal fragments flying around the barn. Several men, including the sergeant were injured. Edwin never mentioned the outcome of this disaster.

Another incident Edwin recalled (which may well have been influenced by previous happenings) was being left in a ditch by the side of a road. He had been told by his Sergeant Major that the squadron was going to visit a mobile bath unit that was in the area. When they had washed and cleaned up they would return. Edwin鈥檚 job in the mean time was to guard the bivouac. They would only be gone a few hours.

He spent the whole day sitting in the ditch with a Boys Anti Tank Rifle. This was a very large rifle and known for its tremendous kick back when fired. The day dragged on and was broken occasionally by an old woman who would come out of her nearby cottage and feed him milk and biscuits. It was a very hot day and Edwin remembered lying in the hot sun. Eventually Edwin grew restless and began to wander about. He left the rifle in the ditch. Finally he began to walk in the direction his squadron had left. He had gone a short distance down the road when he came across a junction. As he stood trying to decide which route to take he heard someone making Pssssst! Pssssst! noises at him. It turned out to be one of his fellow troopers (possibly Llewellyn) who had also been dumped in a ditch. He had with him a Bren gun. They discussed their predicament, and decided they had been left as some sort of rear guard as the others scarperd. They both began to walk in the direction their regiment had gone. Both weapons were now left behind.

It was now late evening and as they walked they came across a large house that was busily being emptied by soldiers. Some were stood burning papers while others loaded lorries with paintings and furniture. No one paid them any attention so they carried on past.

Edwin never continued the story past this point. Perhaps he couldn鈥檛 remember how he re-joined his regiment, but somehow he did. His next memory was of listening to the noise of a battle with his fellow troopers. It was close by and his regiment was being held in reserve. They were not called forward to fight. (This was probably a battle around 鈥� Huppy Village鈥� on 27th May?)

Edwin recalled arriving at a large country house set at end of a long private road The road had large trees on either side between which were parked tanks and other vehicles. Edwin was very thirsty and extremely dirty and determined to find some water. He walked down the road and into a small courtyard at the rear of the house and straight to a tap fixed on a wall. He had an extremely strong sense of having been there before and was conscious of having known exactly where the tap was. It was a very eerie experience for him. He returned up the road and saw soldiers standing around and sitting on tanks. Some were eating large pieces of cheese and swigging from bottles of wine. The exterior storage boxes of the tanks were open and full of wine and cheese. Edwin helped himself and climbed up on to a tank. He noticed they looked a bit knocked about and as he went to open a turret hatch an old soldier stopped him, 鈥淵ou don鈥檛 want to look in there鈥濃�� These tanks had been recovered from the battlefield and the remains of the crews were still inside.

By the end of May 1940 the Armoured Division was no longer effective as a fighting Division. It had very few tanks fit to fight. What tanks it did have were formed into a 鈥渃omposite regiment鈥� made up of the remains of the 9th Lancers, 10th Hussars and Queen Bays. Dunkirk was fully evacuated by the night of 2/3rd June. On the 2nd June 1940 Edwin was attached to the 10th Hussars. He was not part of the 鈥渃omposite regiment鈥� as the tank he manned had had its gun spiked (made inoperative) at some time previous, and this made it un -battle worthy. The tank he crewed was a Cruiser (A13), it weighed 14.5 tons and had a top speed of 30 M.P.H. It took 4 men to crew it, but Edwin found himself and a sergeant doing the job. They were armed with just their revolvers and a set of binoculars. Edwin travelled in the turret while the Sergeant drove. Their job was to patrol a given area and to watch the refugees. They had to look out for nuns who they were told were probably Nazis paratroopers.

At last light each day the dispersed tanks would move into close leaguer. They formed a tight circle 鈥� reversed together with their armament facing outwards. The few tanks with a workable gun had the gun placed on fix lines. (That is, the gun was aimed at a specific place before dark so if fired later they would know exactly where the shot landed). One night an unidentified tank moved noisily along the skyline, its engine backfiring loudly. The flames from its exhaust made it an easy target. There was a hurried debate among the tired ragged tank crews as to its identity. It was decided to open fire on it when it reached a fixed line. Edwin luckily identified it in a burst of light from its exhaust as a cruiser. It was allowed to come closer and when it was confirmed as friendly it was allowed to join them. . Edwin may have saved a few lives.

Edwin recalled stopping at a house set on the side of a country road. He and the Sergeant went in hoping to be fed, but they found the house empty with the table set for a meal. Who ever lived there had left in a hurry. Food was still on the cooker, and a pig had been let free from its sty in the backyard, presumably to enable it to fend for its self. There was also a scattering of freed chicken. They left the house as they found it

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