Beds & Herts at Escanaffles Railway Bridge at Avelghen

Discussion in '1940' started by Owen, Dec 18, 2018.

  1. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    Just found this painting on ArtUK.org.
    Would be good to add some details .

    Lieutenant Charkham's Platoon of 'D' Company, 2nd Battalion, Bedfordshire & Hertfordshire Regiment amongst the Rubble of the Blown Escanaffles Railway Bridge at Avelghen during the Withdrawal to Dunkirk | Art UK
    beds herts bridge.JPG
    Lieutenant Charkham's Platoon of 'D' Company, 2nd Battalion, Bedfordshire & Hertfordshire Regiment amongst the Rubble of the Blown Escanaffles Railway Bridge at Avelghen during the Withdrawal to Dunkirk
    Thomas Sherwood La Fontaine (1915–2007)




    Looking at the map , that should be spelt Avelgem .

    From The Fourth Division 1939-1945 pages 20-21.

    The Germans also attacked 4th Division's front on the river in the early morning. An early morning attack by fifteen men across the canal by the broken bridge at Escanaffles was broken up by artillery fire and thrown back by the Bedfords.
     
  2. Guy Hudson

    Guy Hudson Looker-upper

    124206 Lieutenant (later Major) Sidney Frederick CHARKHAM 2nd Bedfordshire & Hertfordshire Regiment Killed in action 16th May 1944 Italy
    Casualty


    R.H. Medley 'Cap Badge'

    Scan 1.jpeg
    Scan 2.jpeg
    Scan 6.jpeg
    Scan 7.jpeg
    Scan 8.jpeg
     
    Last edited: Dec 18, 2018
  3. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    Tony56 and Tricky Dicky like this.
  4. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

  5. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

  6. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

  7. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    Most excellent info Andy. Cheers. Glad I found that painting , it's been interesting reading about what happened at that time.
     
    Drew5233 likes this.
  8. Stuart Avery

    Stuart Avery In my wagon & not a muleteer.

    Andy, are pages 4,5,6,7,8 & 33 from the CAB File, if so, can you please say which number it is?

    Regards,
    Stu.
     
  9. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    CAB 106/251
     
  10. Stuart Avery

    Stuart Avery In my wagon & not a muleteer.

    Andy, thanks for that. I'm well out of my knowing of Dunkirk. I'm trying to look through The Story of The Beds & Herts Regiment (The 16th Regiment of Foot) Volume II 1914-1958. Its a hell of two Volumes has I'm sure that you have a copys. I'm hoping to scan some pages & post them on this thread.

    Regards,
    Stu.
     
    Last edited: Dec 24, 2018
    Drew5233 likes this.
  11. Stuart Avery

    Stuart Avery In my wagon & not a muleteer.

    Owen, some more detail. Appendix A to Chapter 26. Diary of the 2nd Battalion The Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment Covering a Period from May to the Early Part of June 1940 By Lieutenant-Colonel J C A Birch, DSO. These are the last four pages of 37.
    629.jpg
    630.jpg
    631.jpg
    632.jpg
    Stu.
     
  12. battleofassche

    battleofassche Well-Known Member

    Hello Guy, could you possibly post Chapter 4 of R.H. Medley 'Cap Badge' I was looking for any more detail for the events of May 16-17.

    Cheers..
     
  13. Stuart Avery

    Stuart Avery In my wagon & not a muleteer.

    Here we go..
    Stu.

    rsz_ccf25122018.jpg
    rsz_ccf25122018_0001.jpg
    rsz_ccf25122018_0002.jpg
    rsz_ccf25122018_0003.jpg
     
    battleofassche likes this.
  14. battleofassche

    battleofassche Well-Known Member

    Thanks Stu, much appreciated!
     
  15. battleofassche

    battleofassche Well-Known Member

    Would anyone perhaps have a field return of officers for May 1940, I'm trying to confirm if a Col. Birch was in command of 2 Beds & Herts Regiment and who were his 2IC and company commanders.

    Cheers
     
  16. Stuart Avery

    Stuart Avery In my wagon & not a muleteer.

    I think this is the information that you are asking for (see scans?) I was looking through the book that i mentioned in my post 10 & came across a paragraph on page 595 that reads as follows:

    Since all documents & correspondence with the Battalion, including the War diary for the early part of May were lost or destroyed in the withdrawal from Belgium, i feel it advisable to record the events as i saw them. That is a comment from the Editor.

    Regards,
    Stu.

    CCF30122018.jpg
    CCF30122018_0001.jpg
    CCF30122018_0002.jpg
     
    Last edited: Dec 30, 2018
    battleofassche and Rich Payne like this.
  17. battleofassche

    battleofassche Well-Known Member

    Spot on!

    Thanks mate, just what I was looking for.
     
  18. vac

    vac Active Member

    Can anyone help with a naïve question please? My primary interest is 1st Bucks OBLI, but I know that some men from the very north of the county (ie what people now think of as Milton Keynes!) joined the Beds and Herts but I don't know which battalion or whether that would have been post Dunkirk. Any pointers gratefully received. Also what does CAB stand for -- County Archive Bedforshire?? Thank-you
     
  19. idler

    idler GeneralList

    I'm not sure anyone tries to think of Milton Keynes but the CAB is the National Archives' reference for Cabinet Office (as in government) papers. They seem to have kept a lot of stuff that provides a flavour of the times rather than drier factual records.
     
  20. Deneckere

    Deneckere Member

    Hello I'm making a study on BEF in the Halluin region. You mention a book here.One chapter mentions as title French frontier Neuville en Ferrain. It mentions on p 43 see map 4. Can you make a scan of this map 4 and place it here?? Thx
     

Share This Page