Award Military Medal L/Cpl. LEE WARNER, Queen’s Royal West Surrey Regiment (Escaper & Evader, 1940)

Award: Military Medal

NOTES ON INTERVIEW WITH

No. 6088621 L/Cpl. John LEE WARNER 2/5th Bn The Queen’s Royal West Surrey Regiment
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Captured 20th May Escaped 27th May
Recaptured 20th June Escaped 23rd June
Arrived in England from Lisbon on 1st August 1940
Present Address: Royal Court Hotel, Sloane Square, London, S.W..3, Tel. No. SLOane 9191

CAPTURE

On the 20th May 1940 L/Cpl. Lee Warner was in command of a forward section of his Company in the neighbourhood of ABBEVILLE. At approximately 18.00 hrs he received warning of an anticipated attack and shortly after, German tanks appeared, stopped and opened fire. The action continued until approximately 20.00 hrs, by which time Lee Warner concluded that his section was more or less surrounded. He sent an orderly back to Platoon and Company Headquarters for orders. The orderly returned and reported that both Platoon and Company Headquarters had gone. Lee Warner decided that orders for withdrawal had failed to reach him and commenced to withdraw on his own initiative, taking with him two wounded. He concealed his section for a time in a barn, where he found two wounded belonging to the West Kent Regiment and having, in the course of a reconnaissance, discovered an abandoned lorry, he put the whole of his section and the wounded in the lorry and drove it off himself in the direction of ABBEVILLE.

About a kilometere out of ABBEVILLE, he was halted by shouts and a German soldier, armed with a Thompson machine gun, jumped on the running board. Lee Warner switched on the lights of the lorry and found the road blocked by a section of German tanks. He had no alternative but to surrender. He was taken to a Prisoner of War Collecting Station, where there appeared to be about 14,000 prisoners, of who 10,000 were French, 2,000 Belgian and approximately 2,000 British, including a number of his own Battalion and Division (12th Division) and the Divisional Headquarters Staff.

The column of prisoners was marched for some days, the route taken being via BEAUMETZ, DOULLENS to BEAUCOURT SUR ANCRE, where it halted for two days and he with a number of others was confined in a large granary; while there, he came into contact with a private of his own Battalion who had escaped and had been recaptured. This private was in civilian clothes and as he had no wish to make a further attempt to escape, Lee Warner, who had by this time decided that he would escape, exchanged clothes with him.

ESCAPE NO. 1

On the 27th May 1940, having filled a bottle with water and another with grains of wheat, Lee Warner concealed himself on the tip of a large haystack, intending to remain there until the column marched off. He states that owing to the number of prisoners, there was very little control over their movements, and the guards, he thought, would not have missed 30 or 40, although the names of the British prisoners had been taken. The column moved off on the 27th May 1940, but to Lee Warner’s disgust, six Germans came into the granary at 17.00 hrs and proceeded to sleep there until early morning, when they went, He himself moved out at 06.00 hrs and proceeded on 28th May 1940 northwards as far as he was able to judge by the sun.

At MIRAUMONT, a French farmer, to whom he disclosed his identity, provided him with an egg and some bread and he continued his march until he reached the ARRAS-ACHIET railway, in the neighbourhood of GOMIECOURT. He found a deserted house which contained some food and he decided to rest there for a day or two as he was very exhausted. He was discovered by a Frenchman, who concealed and fed him for six days. During this time he was in a hut on the railway and heard on the wireless the news that the evacuation rom Dunkirk had been completed. He decided therefore that it was useless to continue his trek northwards and that it would be better to attempt to reach the coast.

While he was at this hut, an official of the German Military Railway Service called and asked him where his wife was as she was required to operate the level crossing. He said that his wife had gone to ARRAS to avoid the bombing and was told by the railway official to go himself to ARRAS and fetch his wife back. He accordingly left the hut, having previously put a note on the door, saying that he was going to ARRAS.

He set out in the direction of the coast and in the neighbourhood of DAINVILLE met a British official of the War Grave Commission, he provided him with a bicycle upon which he proceeded along by the railway line via ARRAS where he …ACQ, where he stayed in an empty house and ST. POL. The official of the War Graves Commission had provided him with a loan of 200 francs. From ST. POL he took the main road and eventually reached the neighbourhood of ETAPLES, where he contacted another Englishman, who had previously been of assistance to Capt. S.P. Barrow and 2/Lt. J.T. Stevenson, who were also hiding in the neighbourhood, pending such time they could find a boat.

This official put him in touch with these officers and from this date, 9th June 1940 to 13th June 1940, his story is the same as theirs. The three of them spent the period endeavouring to discover a boat. On the evening of the 13th June 1940, L/Cpl. Lee Warner, by arrangement with the two officers, set off by himself to endeavour to cross the bridge into ETAPLES and to bring over to their side of the river, a smack, which they has seen moored on the opposite bank. During this time two officers and L/Cpl. Lee Warner had been hiding in a deserted lighthouse and Lee Warner, who was unable to get across the bridge, returned to the lighthouse, only to find it was occupied by Germans.

He concluded that Capt. Barrow and 2/Lieut. Stevenson had therefore been recaptured or had been compelled to move owing to the presence of Germans and spent the rest of the day looking for them without success.

Having failed during the next day or two to find a boat Lee Warner cycled to BOULOGNE, where he was again unsuccessful and then to CALAIS, only to find that there was no possibility of getting a boat in this place either. He accordingly returned to BOULOGNE and went into the town and on arriving at the station saw that there were four British Red Cross trains there. He decided to inspect these trains in the hope of finding food and tobacco, but foolishly, as it afterwards transpired, left his bicycle outside the station. When he returned, the bicycle had gone and with his small stock of provisions and as he had no money left, he found himself in a very difficult situation. He tried unsuccessfully to “collect” another bicycle and eventually on the 20th June 1940, walked back to ETAPLES. He found that the sentries on the bridge at ETAPLES were not now asking for passes and crossed into LE TOUQUET, where he broke into an empty house to sleep.

RECAPTURE

The Party was then marched to HESDIN, where it was housed in a yard where there were one or two buildings surrounded by a high brick wall.

He was awakened by a German who arrested him for breaking not the house and he at once informed this German he was a Belgian who had lost his papers. He was locked in the Cavalry stables at LE TOUQUET Racecourse and his guar brought in and insisted on his drinking two bottles of champagne, presumable to ensure his sleeping and enable the guard to do likewise. The following morning he was taken to the Civil Kommandantur and brought before the Kommandant who informed him that he would probably be shot as a spy. At this stage, therefore, he disclosed his identity. L/Cpl. Lee Warner stresses the fact that this Civil Kommandant was the only German by whom he was ill-treated. The Kommandant dispatched him to the Military Kommandantur and sped him on his way by kicking him down six steps. It came to Lee Warner’s notice that German soldiers who assaulted or attempted to assault Prisoners of War, were subject to heavy penalties and he was informed, though he has no confirmation of this, that in some cases they had been shot for doing this. The Military Kommandantur was at MONTREUIL to which he was marched accompanied by two sentries on bicycles. The Military Kommandant was a very different type from his civil counterpart and when Lee Warner questioned him as to his fate, told him that he would certainly not be shot, as it was not in custom of Germans to shoot prisoners. At the Kommandantur at MONTREUIL there were about 18 British and 60 French prisoners.

ESCAPE NO. 2

On 23rd June 1940, Lee Warner discovered that one of the buildings in the courtyard abutted on to the wall at a place where it was not overlooked by the sentries. He accordingly manged to move from the particular building in which he was housed, into this other building and eventually climbed over the wall into a private garden, knocked at the door of the house to which the garden belonged and was let through the house into the street beyond by the residents.

He found himself shortly afterward on the MONTREUIL-HESDIN road where he succeeded in cadging a lift to BERTIN. Although the car was halted by a sentry who asked for the papers of the two occupants in front, he himself was by a stroke of luck not required to produce an. He decided to make this way back to ETAPLES where by he knew one or two people and again made contact with the British official of the Grave Commission. This man was by now too frightened to render…help and he eventually go in touch with a sergeant of the French Army that had been released for farm work. This sergeant gave him a brand new bicycle in exchanged for promissory note for 1,500 francs, payable after the war.

On 24th June 1940, Lee Warner decided tht the only thing to do was to attempt to cycle to Spain and he accordingly set off via ABBEVILLE, where he got into touch with another official of the War Graves Commission, who directed him to a ferry about 20 kilometres from ROUEN where he could cross the SEINE. This he did successfully and bicycled via PASSY to PARIS without very great difficulty. He was not stopped on the way and even at the barricades on the outskirts of PARIS, the Germans were stopping only cars and German Military personnel.

In PARIS, he went o the American Consul who put him in touch with a retired British officer resident in PARIS, who gave him 500 francs and sent him to the Salvation Army Headquarters, where he met Sergt. Major Fullerton of the Gordon Highlanders and six other escaped British soldiers. He and Sergt. Major Fullerton decided to join forces and they cycled without incident via CHARTRES and TOURS to the frontier of the occupied territory, which they crossed at a village some 3 kilometres south of LOCHES. They explained to the German sentry that their papers had been examined in the village as they came through and were passed through without further question, on the excuse that they were going to se their mother at CHATILLON.

At CHATILLON they were housed and fed for two days and two nights by a French doctor and then moved on via ST. GAUTIER and ARGENTON to CELON, whence they succeeded in obtaining a train to LIMOGES, where they reported to the French Military Commission and received a permit to proceed by train to TOULOUSE. At TOULOUSE they found that the British Vice-Consul had already gone and learnt from some Poles that if they attempted to cross into Spain without papers they would certainly be taken and interned. At TOULOUSE, Lee Warner sold his bicycle for 350 francs and decided to make for MARSEILLES, Fullerton having decided that he would attempt to cross into Spain, papers or no papers. This he did and Lee Warner understands that he is interned in a concentration camp in Spain.

Lee Waner stayed in MARSEILLES just over a fortnight and succeeded in obtaining provisional papers from the American Consul, but he had no money with which to pay for visa until he met a Mrs. SYMONSON, who lent him the necessary money and he then set out for BARCELONA by rail.

Unfortunately, he had no exit permit from France and when he attempted to hide in the train at the frontier, e was given away by some boys and handed over to the Chief of Police. He disclosed his identity to the latter who proved to be very helpful and told him to go over the mountains as he, the Chief of Police, would not be able to give him a safe passage by train.

He accordingly attempted to go over the mountains by night but got badly lost and was again arrested by a gendarme, who fortunately hailed from ABBEVILLE. This gendarme was very anxious to know the condition of his house and Lee Warner declared quite definitely that he had seen the house and that it was intact. The gendarme was so overjoyed at this news that he told Lee Warner that he could quite easily cross the mountains by daylight and this he did. He eventually arrived at BARCELONA and thence, with the assistance of the British Military Attaché at Madrid. Proceed via MADRID and LISBON to the U.K., where he arrived on the evening of the 1st August 1940.

INFORMATION

Apart from any information of military value which he has disclosed to the appropriate country sections of the M.I. Directorate, L/Cpl. Lee Warner makes the following points:-

The morale of the older officers and N.C.Os. of the French Army is high and to his knowledge there are a number of arms concealed in various parts of the country which could be used in the event of a rising. Older people generally were inclined to be helpful and he had no hesitation in disclosing his identity to most of these whom he met.

The larger towns contained singularly few German troops, most of which are concentrated in the villages around about.

The food shortage in France is becoming acute, especially in the…

WO 373/60/312

WO 208/3298/36

 

Posted 162 OCTU 3rd October 1941

 

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Liverpool Echo 30th July 1940​

 

Mrs. Mercia G. Symondson who worked at Hotel Moderne, Paris

Daily Mirror 3rd August 1940​

 

I remember his MM being sold about ten years ago! His is a story that has clearly stayed in my mind all this time!