Just a quick shout for anyone to look out for pictures of Aumale circa 1940. I know the town was heavily bombed and sheeled by German artillery and the Luftwaffe so I'm guessing there should be some pics out there that I can do then and nows of. Any additional info/links would be also great regarding the battalion and battle. I've nearly finished my research on this subject and have a final trip planned in September to take some more photo's etc. so some then and nows would be a great addition to the thread I'll post up. Regarding my current sources I already have the war diaries and missing men file, both regimental histories, all medal citations and the documents from the Surrey historical centre. Any additions you may know of would be great. Cheers Andy
Andy, sent you what I had from Surrey Historical - I also had this from their own tourism site and from Exode en France. "During the Battle of France in World War II , Aumale was bombed on May 20, 1940, causing a huge fire that lasted more than 15 days and destroyed much of the city. 15 people were killed during the bombing, which continued with the strafing of columns of Belgian refugees. A later bombing took place on June 5 and on June 8, 1940, the columns of the Wehrmacht passed through Aumale, still on fire, on the way to Rouen. In 1941 a census showed that 213 of the 512 buildings in the city were destroyed, 65 others were uninhabitable, and 5 of the 11 municipal buildings destroyed." From Exode en France - the report of a Belgian refugee, Professor Fernand Rigot: "On the way we passed a child pushing his grandfather cramped into a baby carriage; an old man was wheeling his blind and aged wife in a wheel-barrow; people carried dogs, cats, chickens and babies already half dead. Stories, stories, always stories of horror and death everywhere we went. People praying and supplicating women who long since had stopped weeping about their children already lost and trying to protect and keep alive their children still alive. We saw a crazed mother hugging her dead child which was only three months old. Another mother was vainly trying to save her two-day old baby. Near Aumale there were wounded everywhere, dead horses and children, abandoned cars, bodies in ditches, face-down where they had been machine-gunned." I also have a translation of the War Diary/history of the 2é Regiment Dragon Portes, who fought around Aumale 4-5th June if that's of interest? My initial interest of course being the entry in the 10th Hussars history. When they entered the town of Aumale on May 24th, the Tenth Hussars would drive past the bodies of civilians killed in an air raid of 20th May and Belgian refugees strafed several days later by the Luftwaffe. The War Diary records, “ On passing Aumale which had been previously bombed we caught sight of dead women, children and horses lying in the road where they had been machine gunned by the Germans. Nothing could have served a better purpose in spurring on all ranks at this stage.” I haven't got any pictures - there's a few postcards of pre WW1 vintage on Ebay but some at eye watering prices. Some here, but don't know about copyright http://www.communes.com/haute-normandie/seine-maritime/aumale_76390/cartes-postales-anciennes,7.html This of the station on Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gare_d%27Aumale That'll do, I've got work to avoid y'know....
Andy, Was looking for another thread using the new search function and stumbled upon this thread by accident. Hope you enjoyed your trip to Aumale last year. Found these two maps in the 1st Support Group WD. I'm sure you've seen them before, but other contributors here may not. 1SptGp were the formation commanding the defence in and around Aumale. Almost all of HQ 1SptGp was lost in the battle, killed or captured, and thus their WD contains little of the events themselves. Is it the same story for the other units that were there? Are their WD also a bit bare on telling the events at Aumale too?
Hi Mark Yes, I have those along with some other stuff I'm not sharing yet. I found quite a lot on the ground last year inc 101st gun positions. I'm trying to sort out another trip but getting two people in Belgium, two people in France and two in England to all be in the same place at the same time if proving rather difficult. I believe I've found my missing chaps grave along with another missing man from the battalion-proving it though is being rather tricky.
Andy, If you're working on something, I hope I haven't thrown a spanner in the works by posting up those images. I can delete them if you'd like.
