I'm trying to find more information about the role of the 1st Loyals (North Lancs Regiment) just before the Dunkirk evacuation in 1940. My wife's grandfather, James Duckworth, died on 23rd May 1940 during the withdrawal and I want to discover as much as I can about the loyasl leading up to that date. I know they were involved in Bergues, and wwere one of the last units to be evacuated from Dunkirk, but that is all after James has been killed. Can anyone shed any light on what the loyals were doing in late may, or any deas on where I can go to find out. We are planning to take James' son to see his grave in Oustereene soon and I'd like to know why he rests at that particular place also, being quite far south of Dunkirk.
hello Dave hopefully our forum member with this knowledge will be along shortly to assist. DUCKWORTH, JAMES Rank: Private Service No: 3853288 Date of Death: 23/05/1940 Age: 31 Regiment/Service: The Loyal Regiment (North Lancashire) 1st Bn. Grave Reference Plot 3. Row B. Grave 28. Cemetery OUTTERSTEENE COMMUNAL CEMETERY EXTENSION, BAILLEUL CWGC - Casualty Details
Further research maybe required. The Battalion arrived at Lannoy on the 23rd May and spent a quite day occupying pillboxes, wiring and digging defences with the Bn HQ moving into the Chateaux. Look at the location of where he is buried in relation to Lannoy it would suggest he was evacuated earlier to a field hospital.
Found the cemetery using Geoff's SE: Geoff's Search Engine If you look at the different amount of cap badges within the cemetery this supports the theory that he died of wounds in the care of the RAMC.
Best guess looking at the Bn war diaries he was wounded at Pont-a-Chin between the 20th and 22nd May.
Wow, thanks - that's brilliant. Can you tell me how can I find out more about James' last actions and the 2nd Bn / 1st Loyals during mid may?
Hi Andy, would the war diaries hold casualty info? (I'm new to this) Do you have copies of those or is it a trip to TNA for me? Thanks
I've posted a casualty overview from the diary above. The diary covers some of the fighting and locations during May but it probably rates as average on the detail front as far as diaries go.
Oops - as I sent my last, yours appeared. Thanks for that. I know nothing of war diaries, but is that all they were able to record? (I suppose it can't be easy!) I wonder if the "1 wounded" on 20/5 was our man? Or could he have been wounded before then? Could have been anytime when the RAMC unit was wherever they were receiving casualties. Would James' service record tell me more - I'm sending for those. Many thanks for the above - I really appreciate it.
Thanks for that Andy, brilliant stuff. I stumbled on this recollection on the BBC site - sheds a lots more light on things. BBC - WW2 People's War - Retreat to Dunkirk
Hi Andy, Do you know if there would be a way fo finding out what RAMC units were in the Port a Chin / Lannoy area between 19-22 May and would they have accessible records? I dont know what Company James was in yet, but I'm guessing he was a victim of the heavy shelling. I also wonder how he and those few others were interred at Outtersteene when everyone was in full retreat. Would this have happened at the time or afterwards? Thanks, Dave
My best guess at this stage is: He was wounded and evacuated to a Casualty Clearing Station or an other RAMC formation for medical treatment and died there in their care. This would explain the variety of cap badges in the cemetery. If you look at the two locations- place of burial and battalion position this would also fit with a medical unit being some miles to the rear of the fighting. RAMC units do have war diaries but it will be some years before I get around to doing the 1940 ones. If you can get to the National Archives I would check I, 2 and 3 Field Ambulance war diaries as these were the first line of RAMC cover within 1 Division. I would say 2 Fld Amb were with 2 Brigade but they did swap around depending on what was happening and who was known to be the nearest.
20th May Both 1 Guards and 2 Brigade continued to improve their positions, 3 Brigade, after some reorganisation relieved the divisional engineers by 1000 hrs and took up their positions from the boundary point at Pont 'a Chin to the southern boundary with 125 Brigade of 42 Division where the river formed a salient opposite Constantin. The Brigade deployed with 1 Duke of Wellington Regiment on the left and 1 King's Shropshire Light Infantry on the right, 2 Foresters, who were still short of a detachment that had crossed the Escaut further north were in Brigade reserve. The salient in the river at this point was recognised as a very weak point in the defence, on the enemy side there was excellent aproach routes to it through the railway cutting and the houses of the village of Constantin and consequently it was covered by the fire of all of the 19th Field Regiment and the attached machine guns were positioned to sweep the entire area with fire. During the afternoon the enemy was in contact along the whole divisional front and sporadic shelling began of the defensive positions and divisional rear areas, in response harassment fire was brought down on the enemy observation posts on Mont St. Aubert. 21st May At dawn a heavy artillery, machine gun and mortar bombardment opened up along the whole of 1 Guards Brigade front, under cover of this barrage and the early morning mist the enemy crossed the river at the junction of the two forward battalions and forced the left hand companies of 2 Coldstream Guards back to the line of the Pont 'a Chin Pecq road and overran the left of 3 Grenadier Guards. Two counterattacks by 3 Grenadier Guards during the morning failed to dislodge the enemy from this area and the battalion suffered heavy losses in the attempt but they had stopped the enemy advance and stabilised the position. German losses in the action had also been heavy and they subsequently withdrew back over the river, patrols sent forward that night found the enemy gone and all the lost ground was re-occupied. 3 Grenadier Guards reported 188 casualties in this action. 2 Brigade experienced the same bombardment on its front and the enemy crossed the river and threatened the left flank of 2 North Staffordshire, a counter attack by the reserve company and carrier platoon halted the enemy advance and stabilised the front until the Guards Brigade counter attack that evening forced the enemy back across the river. On 3 Brigades front the enemy crossed as expected at the salient in the river but here the weight of artillery and machine gun fire brought to bear on them annihilated the attacking troops. To the south of the brigade the enemy had succeeded in crossing the river in the 42 Division area and the right flank of 1 Kings Shropshire Light Infantry supported by the guns of 19 Field Regiment launched a counter attack that evening into the area gained by the enemy and drove them back and regained all the lost ground. 22nd May Apart from sporadic shelling, there was no activity by the enemy along the whole divisional front during the day. During the afternoon orders came through for a further withdrawal that night back to the frontier defences in the Roubaix area. Artillery ammunition was now becoming scarce and guns were restricted in the number of rounds they could fire on any task. 3 Brigades Anti-Tank Company was partially re-equipped with 25mm guns and the remainder now mounted on bicycles formed the brigade mobile reserve. At dusk a heavy bombardment came down on the forward positions in 1 Guards Brigade area and the enemy attempted to cross the river, the attempt was beaten off, as was a further attempt at midnight. The withdrawal went ahead during the night, forward positions started to thin out at 2200hrs, main bodies withdrew at midnight and the rear guard followed four hours later, there were no problems or interference from the enemy. 23rd May The troops spent the day digging in and occupying the pillboxes in the frontier defences. In the afternoon the fine weather came to an end and by the evening it was pouring with rain. The division was deployed in front of Roubaix with 1 Guards Brigade on the left, initially with 2 Coldstream Guards on the left and 2 Hampshire Regiment on the right and 3 Grenadier Guards in reserve at Roubaix. 2 Brigade held the sector from the river Marque to Hem to Lannoy with all three battalions forward, 1 Loyals on the left, 2 North Staffs in the centre and 6 Gordons on the right. 3 Brigades line ran from the boundary with 2 Brigade along the River Marque southwards to the boundary with 42 Division. Minefields were laid to supplement the anti-tank obstacles, bridges over the River Marque were demolished and craters blown in the approach roads. The enemy made contact during the afternoon but only reconnaissance probes were carried out along the front. From Philson's BEF Orbat Vol. 4
Hi Andy, This is all brilliant information. Can I ask a bit more about your entry #18 please? This is a breif record of the casualties form the 1st Loyals, but is in a different hand to the Bn diaries. Who recorded this info and is it part of the diaries or another document? Also, from the overview above and the diaries, I can't place on Google maps the village of Constantin mentioned above - I guess it's been bulldozed under the dual carraigway that passes north of Tournaix now, but I'm trying to lcoate the 1st Loyals positions whilst they were at Port a Chin and so where James was most likely wounded - any ideas? Sounds like he was one of the 10 wounded on the 22nd. Thanks, Dave
Its from a book and I have a map with 1 Loyals positions marked on it. I'll post a copy of it in a few days.
