Walking in the Footsteps of the British Expeditionary Force 2008 to 2009

Discussion in 'WW2 Battlefields Today' started by Drew5233, Dec 28, 2008.

  1. Recce_Mitch

    Recce_Mitch Very Senior Member

    Andy, Fantastic thread. My father was with 2nd Grenadiers before he joined Recce and was evacuated off the beach at La Panne on HMS Codrington. One day I would like to do what you have done.

    Cheers
    Paul
     
  2. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    At the start of our trip we first went into Dunkirk in search of a Casualty Clearing Station and heaps of 'Then and Now's' armed with some rather good 'Then' shots from 1940.

    At this point I must say thank you to the two very helpful girls in the towns Tourist Infomation who helped me identify the location of nearly all of my photographs. I did feel rather chuffed with myself and this forum when one of the girls asked me where I had got all these photographs from - She went on to explain that they are better than the towns museum collection :D

    Anyway more of those later...

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    Many thanks to Paul Reed for helping me identify the following as a CCS at Dunkirk. Whilst there is no confirmation that this was the one Edwards was saving lives at is does fit with some of his accounts and those given by other members of the RAMC who were working night and day to save lives.

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    Lawrence Edwards, an NCO Nursing Orderly recalls that one of the rooms in the basement was used for a operating theatre. There was no power in the building so a truck was driven to one of the sky light windows that were at ground level and a head lamp was removed and with a longer lead added it was held by the truck driver over the casulaty due to all the nursing staff busy elsewhere. During the first operation the driver fainted and the lamp dropped onto the casulaty.

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    He also remembers that he was kept busy with the intake of casualties and he had never seen so many bruised and broken bodies.According to Edwards most had been lying in the Chateau grounds for hours and some for days without medical attention. 'Never did I see such obstinate determination to stay cheerful. Never did I hear a word of complaint or self-pity. I said to myself, "Never would I complain about life again".'

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    Without adequate medical supplies and short of medically trained staff many men suffered and Edwards remembers two Nursing Orderlies armed themselves with the largest syringes they could find and filled them with enough Morphine to kill a regiment. Where ever the two orderlies found men suffering with no hope of survival they gave them a shot to ease their pain. He knew if he was following the book they should have been arrested but in the real world he knew that sometimes it was just better to look the other way. Not knowing if they ever killed anyone he knew they were stopping a lot of suffering.
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    One can only begin to imagine how many men were buried in the grounds of the Chateau.
     
  3. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

  4. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

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    Like so many buildings in Dunkirk its not too hard to find the scars of war.

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    Heimbrent likes this.
  5. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    Then
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  6. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    Then
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  7. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    Then
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  8. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

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    Since 2005 when my old Squadron laid a wreath on Sgt H H E Gibbs grave I have always made my way there when in Dunkirk.

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    :poppy: CWGC :: Certificate :poppy:

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    This was my fourth trip to his grave.

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    Owen likes this.
  9. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    One of the more fascinating accounts from Dunkirk thats has really got me intrigued is a story about a Guards unit in Dunkirk waiting in turn to go home via the mole or beaches when were spreads through the British ranks that the Germans have breached the final defensive line and are massing in the town square.

    Then and Now looking from the harbour towards Jean Bart Square. Taken from where the quarter mile bayonet charge started from.

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    Edgar Rabbets, 5/Northants volunteered to take part in the bayonet charge which ended in the main square, Place de Jean Bart and he takes up the story:
    'I only used my bayonet on one man. My short legs found it hard to keep up with the Guardsmen and I just used my bayonet on the first German I came across. I got him right in the middle. There was no messing with those big bayonets. When you jab one of them in and twist it, they don't live.

    The charge was a complete success, as the Germans obviously hadn't expected anything of this sort to happen. We managed to clear the whole area which gave everybody in the docks a little bit of breathing space.'

    Jean Bart Square where the charged finished and the Germans were routed at the point of the bayonet.

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    I would love to get to the bottom of this story.
     
  10. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

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  11. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    One of the let downs of the trip. Sadly this is no longer open to the public due to health and safety fears.

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  12. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

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    Before the war the Princess Elizabeth operated as a pleasure craft off the south coast of England. When war broke out she was taken over by the Admiralty and converted into a minesweeper No. J111.

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    In 1940 she was on her way to Dunkirk where she cleared mines from the narrow channel near the beaches, which was being used in the early stages as the BEF's evacuation area. After the mines were cleared ships started embarking the waiting troops on the beaches. Her sister ships the Brighton Belle, the Devonia and Gracie Fields were sunk at that time off the French coast.

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    Her first trip was on 29th May 1940. The Princess Elizabeth and her fellow minesweepers embarked 3,415 troops. One of them, the paddle-minesweeper Oriole deliberately beached herself in morning at high tide to allow 2,500 troops to pass over her decks to other ships, before she refloated on the next high tide that evening.

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    When Princess Elizabeth arrived off the coast the following day on Saturday, 1st June, there was a furious air attack when, among the Luftwaffe's targets the destroyers Keith and Baselisk and the minesweepers Skipjack and Brighton Queen were sunk. By the evening, the fog came down and Princess Elizabeth had to return to Dover.

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    She made a third trip in the night of 3rd/4th June, joining in the last desperate effort to rescue some of the remaining troops. On this trip she brought back to Dover 500 Frenchmen. Before the end of the war she served as an anti-aircraft vessel.

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    After the war she returned to civilian life and is now owned by the city of Dunkirk and can be found in the harbour.
     
  13. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    As our trip draws to an end and indeed as the pockets starts to shrink on 30th May we head back East to Nieuport Beach for a shot looking West where the 1st South Lancashire Bn of 12 Brigade with eliments of 6th Black Watch were defending the perimeter.

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    Paul Reed likes this.
  14. Paul Reed

    Paul Reed Ubique

    Some really superb photos there. You should think about setting up a blog on something like Wordpress and publishing these photos and some text describing what you got up to for a wider audience. It doesn't require any skills, except those you already use here!

    WordPress.com ยป Get a Free Blog Here
     
  15. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    As we headed west towards Dunkirk and our own extraction drew nearer we headed into De Panne in search of Gort's final HQ in France....

    16-18 Zeelan Street, De Panne.
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    A mere shadow of it's former self it seems the owners never appreciated the importance of who lived in the building nearly 70 years ago.
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    The Generals room was situated on the first floor behind what used to be a bay window'd room. The room was said to have a telephone cable running direct to England. I suspect Dover but more of that later.

    Feeling a bit disappointed to see the building totally modernised I went for a quick recce and found a bit of a jackpot on the otherside of the road.

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    :poppy: CWGC :: Certificate :poppy:

    Following my nose it got a bit better. Inside the building (Townhall/TI/Police Station) I found a couple of plaques one I believe was on the building across the road before all the building work started.

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  16. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    Main Street, De Panne.

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    The La Terrasse Cafe is still trading today
     
  17. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    From the town centre we made our way to the first of the three main beaches used in the embarkation area. This beach was allocated to Lt Gen. Brookes men of II Corps.

    The first shot is looking East towards Nieuport.
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    The second shot is West towards the Belgian/French Border and Bray Dunes.
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    What struck me was the lack of any form of cover. Looking at this beach one can begin to imagine how exposed they must have felt and wondering if they would ever see home and their loved ones again.
     
  18. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    The first one is a bit hard to prove but it is the exact spot according to ATB. You can just make out the King Leopold I arch in the 'Now' shot (Centre) that replaces the Kings Summer Palace in the 'Then' shot.

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  19. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    Taken on the eastern end of the perimeter the 'Morning Star' Tower can still be seen today.

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  20. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    The credit for making jetties on De Panne beach from lorries is credited to Lieutenant Harold Dibbens, RMP. His company, 102 Provost drove the lorries onto the beach and they were held together and modified into a jetty by a group of some 30 Royal Engineers under the command of Captain E H Sykes. They tied the lorries together, slashed tyres and weighed them down with sandbags and heavy objects to stop them moving when the tide came in. Planks of wood were lashed to the roofs of the lorries to enable soldiers to walk out to the waiting boats.

    The Kursaal Building on the left can be seen in both pictures to confirm the spot.

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    Men of the Royal Ulster Rifles waiting to be lifted of one of the piers made with dumped lorries.
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