001 KILLICK AJ 5435430 2ND BN 05/03/1940 DUKE OF CORNWALL'S LIGHT INFANTRY 002 LARCOMBE A 5430858 2ND BN 05/03/1940 DUKE OF CORNWALL'S LIGHT INFANTRY From 1 Div Intel Summary No.33 (WO167/190 1 Div GS) On 5 March the enemy carried out a raid, supported by artillery barrage, against a post in the British sector of the SAAR front. British casualties amounted to two dead, one wounded and several missing. One German identification was obtained of which details have not yet been received.
From The History of the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry 1939-45 by Maj. Godfrey. No.17 Platoon in C Company's scheme of defence was isolated. Platoon Sergeant Major Larcombe, who commanded it, had been allotted a defended locality in Hartbusch Wood, high on the escarpment overlooking Zeurange. Two of his section posts were sited just back from the edge of the trees, with completely 'dead' ground within 50 yards of them; third in support, was behind them. No one, least of all PSM Larcombe, like the positions, which had been dug originally by the French and occupied by successive battalions; but the ground was iron hard, digging was very difficult, and like successive platoon commanders before him he felt he could do no more than make the best of a bad position. Not only was there the hazard of the dead ground immediately to his front, which included a deep ditch running diagonally from a wood about 300 hundred yards from his left front to within 20 yards or so of his position, but some 300 yards to his left was Ewig Wood, which was undefended, and to which the enemy had a covered line of approach from his positions in Rehfesche Wood overlooking Zeurange from the other side of the valley. Stand-to on March 5th was at 6am. At about 6.50, just as the troops manning their posts were about to stand down, a heavy artillery 'box-barrage' was put down by the Germans around No.17 Platoon, which effectively sealed it off from the platoon on its right and from the reserves in Bizing. At the same time the forward posts of C Company were subjected to mortar fire. Meanwhile a German raiding party had worked themselves into the dead ground, and had occupied positions in Ewig Wood from which enfilading fire was brought to bare on the platoon's forward posts. Immediately the barrage lifted the raiders seem to have cut the wire behind the forward section posts and then delivered their assault from the rear. The platoon on the right of No.17, commanded by Captain Nicholls, could give them no supporting fire, as they were separated by at least 200 yards of thickly wooded rising ground. So much is clear, but what actually happened in and around the immediate area occupied by No.17 Platoon will never be known, for no reliable witness was left alive to tell the tale. Hand-to-Hand fighting of some kind between raiders and raided must have taken place, but it was quickly over. The suddenness of the action and the direction from which the raid was delivered must have caused a good deal of confusion, because the platoon could not immediately have grasped what the heavy initial barrage portended. As soon as Captain Nicholls realised what was happening he fired the S.O.S. signal for artillery defensive fire to be brought down in front of the forward posts, and then took his platoon sergeant and a Bren gunner towards No.17 Platoon's position. He could not take anymore men in the prevailing uncertainty, for his own platoon was expecting attack and was not overstrong in numbers. To continue in his own words: 'We had to proceed with a certain amount of caution owing to the close nature of the ground and also because there was the sound of fairly heavy small arms fire from No.17 Platoons postion. When we eventually arrived at the position the raiders had left and we discovered that the firing was coming from what appeared to be a machine-gun post in Ewig Wood. This was firing straight into 17 Platoon's left flank. The enemy had also set fire to combustible material in the two forward posts and had piled boxes of ammo on the fires. These were exploding and giving the impression of heavy fire from the posts. There was one dead German lying well out in front of 17 Platoon's position and I crawled out to him and removed all papers and identification marks, etc. These were handed to the Brigade Intelligence Officer and I think it was later established that the man had been part of a 'commando' unit which had carried out a number of raids in other sectors. After the raid we were told that the enemy had ranged on Hartbusch Wood early in January but this information had not been passed on to us when we took over the sector.' Near the raided posts the bodies of Platoon Sergeant Major Larcomb, killed in the act of throwing a grenade, and of Corporal Killick, one of the section commanders, were found. There was one dead German, but fourteen non-commissioned officers and men of the battalion and two signallers from 1 Royal West Kents were missing.
Is there any way of finding out who the missing sixteen men were ? It's a little odd that the (post-war ?) history says that "no reliable witness was left alive"...but if those sixteen were captured and not killed then surely some of them returned in 1945 ? Is there a 'Missing Men' file relating to this action that could be linked to POW questionnaires ?
There is a missing men file but it starts from the 10th May. No nominal roll of those missing with I thought odd and they only sure way I can think of it to go through the 100,000 Q's which is a non starter really. 'No reliable witness's left alive' suggests that someone was left but they couldn't be trusted/believed?
