大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by a volunteer from Northumberland on behalf of Mrs. Mary Sherwood (nee Coulson). Mrs. Sherwood fully understands the site鈥檚 terms and conditions, and the story has been added to the site with her permission.

My husband, Allan Sherwood (Service number: 942827), came from the Midlands. He was awarded four medals for his service during the Second World War: The 1939-45 Star; The Africa Star (North Africa 1942-43, 1st Army); The Defence Medal, 1939-45; And, the War Medal, 1939-45. During the early part of the War he served with the 56th (Highland) Medium Regiment, Royal Artillery (Territorial Army), later joining a 鈥淗eavy鈥� regiment.

Allan was one of the last men to be taken off the beaches at Dunkirk. He told me that to improve their chances of survival on the beaches men dug themselves into the sand so that only their heads, protected by their steel helmets, were visible. As the evacuation was nearing its end, Allan and his mates saw little immediate prospect of being saved, so they moved onto one of the wrecks lying just offshore, which they thought might offer better protection than remaining on the open beach. One night, they attracted the attention of a passinf launch, which took them off the wreck and put them aboard HMS Esk (Pennant Number H-15). When the Germans saw what was happening they fired on the wreck, which blew up but not before the launch had escaped. By the time they got back to England, nobody remained at the railway stations offering survivors cigarettes and cups of tea or cocoa, as everything had by then been used up.

Allan had to walk all the way from Belgium to Dunkirk. On the way, he and a mate came across an abandoned NAAFI truck or whatever. He never really told me if they'd found any drink to help themselves to but they certainly stocked up with cigarettes! Allan said that during the retreat the roads were clogged with refugees fleeing the fighting. Given how far Allan had to walk, it might not be surprising to learn that his feet turned septic when he got back to England, as a result of which he was returned to 鈥淐ivvy Street鈥� for twelve months during which time he worked in a brickyard. It was when he was called up again that Allan first came to Amble, in Northumberland, where we met. His billet was in a house on Station Road, Warkworth.

After Allan鈥檚 leave in September 1942, he went to Bexhill, in Kent where he joined the 56th Heavy Regiment, Royal Artillery, I think. By the following Christmas he was on embarkation leave prior to being sent with his regiment to join the British First Army in North Africa. He was captured in Algeria and taken to a Prisoner of War (POW) camp on Sicily. His POW number was 226651. When the Allies invaded Sicily, he was moved, first, to Italy before he ended up at Stalag 4D, near Annaburg in Germany not too far from Leipzig and Dresden. There he was put to work on the railways. He received pay, in Deutschmarks, which, of course, was worthless. Occasionally, he saw forced labour workers from nearby concentration camps who could be recognised by the flimsy pyjama-type clothing now so closely associated with the holocaust. One particularly nasty job that Allan and his mates had to do was to clear out a train that was full of people who had been electrocuted. The most likely explanation was that the train was caught in an area subjected to a bombing raid, which brought down power lines onto the railway lines, so electrocuting everybody on the train. Allan told me that it was impossible to tell if the passengers had been civilians, military personnel or, perhaps, prisoners, so badly burnt were they.

Allan鈥檚 escape from captivity was unusual. One day, in 1945, he was part of a working party when an American jeep appeared out of nowhere. In the absence of any road signs to guide them, the Americans who were an advance party reconnoitering the area, stopped to seek directions. When they heard English voices they immediately told Allan and some of his mates to jump in, and off they went. He got back to England around Easter time and he was immediately given leave for seven weeks during which, in early June 1945, we got engaged.

When hostilities ended British forces remained overseas, to clear up and to help the civil authorities return their countries to peacetime conditions. Allan found himself included in a draft bound for Burma, so we decided to get married during his embarkation leave, which we did on 20 October 1945. However, when he reported back for duty and was on parade with the rest of the draft ready to go overseas, an officer realised that Allan and many others in the draft had been POWs. He immediately stopped their transfer, scolding the non-commissioned officer who had selected men for the draft: 鈥淒o you realise these are all ex-POWs? Find another lot!鈥� So, Allan stayed in England, eventually being discharged at a time when he was in charge of a stores depot in County Durham despite the fact that he did not hold the rank of Sergeant, which would have been usual for the man holding such a position. Before his demobilisation efforts were made to persuade him to remain in the Army but Allan did not want to.

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.