5111343 Reginald Charles Herbert BUNN, 1 Coldstreams Guards: 13/05/1940

Coldstream GUards 1st Battallion, France 1940. Reginald Charles Herbert Bunn. Gdsn.5111434 Killed 13.5.40. I would like to know how to access the the regimental diaries for this period, both Reg. and another was
killed on that date. The 1st Batt. were near the Canal that runs through
Herent close to Wilsele.
Any information would be appreciated.

Email is bunn (@) midwest.com.au

Regards Keith Bunn, Australia.

 

Hi Keith and welcome to the forum.

There are quite a lot of Guards stuff on here, so someone may have posted the 1st Battalions diary on here. Maybe a quick use of the forum search engine will prove fruitful.

I had a quick look through 'Blitzkreig in the West' and those locations aren't mentioned unfortunately.

Good luck with your search.
Andy

 

https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/f...etails/2770880/reginald-charles-herbert-bunn/
GUARDSMAN REGINALD CHARLES HERBERT BUNN
Service Number: 5111343
Regiment & Unit: 1st Bn. Coldstream Guards
Date of Death: 13 May 1940
Age 19 years old
Buried or commemorated at DUNKIRK MEMORIAL
Memorial Reference: Column 34.
Location: France
Additional Info: Son of Charles and Lilian Rosa Lucy Bunn, of Handsworth, Birmingham.


I missed this post thread time around.

Some bits and pieces about the Bn are already on this thread, incl tips from ADM199 and an ex RSM, 1CG.
http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/1940/17981-1st-battalion-coldstream-guards-1939-40-a-2.html

Apparently RHQ at Wellington Barracks should have a lot of info. It may be worthwhile pursuing this route for records and War Diaries before attempting to get them from Kew..?

It may also be worthwhile trying to contact Lakey1 to see if he has managed to find some further info about the Bn at that time.

Fraid I've already posted up all I have.

Best of luck to Keith in his research about his brother. Hopefully someone on here has access to WDs already.

 

Keith - welcome to the forum.

I am away from my main computer at the moment, but I have some material to post here for you on my return. Will probably do this at the weekend.

 

Keith, somthing that may be of interest until Paul gets back to his home PC

BBC - WW2 People's War - Dunkirk Spirit

DYLE 1940
World War II – North West Europe - 14th May 1940

On the 10th May 1940, the British Expeditionary Force moved forward into Belgium to check the German invasion of the Low Countries. The 1st Battalion took up a position on the River Dyle, near Louvain, and here on the 14th May they were attacked by German motorised troops. It was with considerable difficulty that the forward troops were withdrawn from close contact with the enemy forces when the Battalion retired some two days later.

SOURCE : Home Page)

 

The War Diary reference is

WO 167/698
1 Coldstream Guards
1939 Sept.-1940 June

 

Keith, Geoff's Search engine as you know returns 2 possibly 3 casualties for the 1st Bn. Coldstream Guards for the 13th May. Having just got home I have looked up the 13th in 'IRON DIVISION The History of the 3rd Division' by Robert McNish. As with various other sources it doesnt have the Bn is action on the 13th with The defence of the Dyle starting on the 14th May, with the Bn Stationed on the Left Flank of the Division on the outskirts of Herent.

The only possible mention that could be relative is that the shelling started well in advance of the main attack.

I guess this really is one for the war Diaries to confirm, although the fact that both your brother and Mathews are remembered on the Dunkirk memorial which suggests no know grave, leads me to think casualties of direct shellfire.

• BUNN, RCH 5111343 1ST BN 13/05/1940 COLDSTREAM GUARDS
• MATHEWS , LT 2658220 1ST BN 13/05/1940 COLDSTREAM GUARDS
• 2654747 Corporal Donald Alfred William SIMPSON, 1 Coldstream Guards: 13/05/1940 - 22/05/1940

 

I've had a look at all my literature covering the BEF in Belgium and can find no reference to direct attacks on the Dyle Line until 14th May, after the withdrawal over the Dyle of the former Divisional Cavalry units which had been used in a reconnaissance / forward screen rôle.

1st Coldstreams, in what Blaxland refers to as their traditional position on the left of the line were the battalion in contact with the Belgians, once it had been agreed that the BEF should defend Leuven. As such they were at a potentially weak point.

I wonder if air attack is the most likely cause of the casualties, not forgetting the risk of accident where adjoining forces were moving in to position.

Wilsele has three unidentified graves and it's not uncommon in the 1940 campaign to find that this was a result of uncertainty on the part of CWGC when they finally had access five years later.

Let's hope that the War Diaries provide clarification.

 

From The Coldstream Guards, Howard & Sparrow:
Pgs 30-32
FIRST BATTALION, MAY-JUNE 1940

At noon on 11 May the Battalion left ROUBAIX for VILVORDE, a small town just north of BRUSSELS. The whole of the 3rd Division was moving along one road, and 7th Guards Brigade were nearly at the tail of the column. The route lay through AUDENARDE and ALOST. Progress was slow; hold-ups and delays were continual, and it was dark before the battalion reached its destination. To everyone’s surprise and relief the enemy’s aircraft interfered very little with the column; but there was a certain amount of bombing of the bridge at ALOST, where the tail of the battalion came in for some unpleasant moments.

Good billets and a hot meal had been secured for the battalion in VILVORDE by the Commanding Officer and the Intelligence Officer, who had arrived earlier with the Brigade Reconnaissance Group. On account of the danger of bombing, however, the battalion was not allowed to spend the night in VILVORDE, but was ordered to move into the woods near the neighbouring village of MELSBROEK, where they arrived at 4 o’clock next morning, and dug themselves in. Just as it was beginning to get light they settled down to a much-needed rest.

[12 May]
Their rest was a brief one; at a Brigade Conference held early in the morning the Commanding Officer was told that the Belgian troops in front were withdrawing, and 3rd Division was to occupy at once the line of the RIVER DYLE astride LOUVAIN. At 11 o’clock, therefore, the battalion was moved forward to WINXELE, where the Brigade was covering a one-battalion front, the First Grenadiers holding the line of the DYLE CANAL and RIVER, which ran alongside each other north of LOUVAIN, with the Second Grenadiers in support; the Coldstream were placed in reserve.

[13 May]
Next day the battalion had to abandon their newly dug positions at WINXELE; the Brigade had been ordered to extend its front to the left and take over the canal defences held by the Belgians in front of the village of HERENT on the left of the First Grenadiers, and this task was allotted to the Coldstream. It was some time before the Belgians were clear that their orders were to withdraw, and for twenty-four unsatisfactory hours we had to share with them positions chosen and sited to suit their much superior force and their different weapons. When they finally withdrew, on the evening of the 14th, they left dangerous gaps in the defences at a time when the position was becoming critical.

From HERENT, where the Battalion Headquarters was established, a pavé road ran dead straight for a mile and a half, with the railway running alongside it on the right, to meet at right angles the line of the canal. On both sides of the road the country was practically flat, and bare of trees and houses until it approached the canal; there it dipped down and became a track crossing low and marshy ground, over which the railway was carried by an embankment. The canal was some 25-30 yards broad, and its towing-path, on the near side, was lined with rows of tall poplars. On the far side of the canal was a collection of houses, warehouses, and factory buildings, in and out of which ran a network of railways and embankments, and through which flowed the DYLE, at this point so narrow and shallow as to be a negligible obstacle. This was the suburb of WILSELE, which extends continuously along the eastern bank of the canal to LOUVAIN, a mile or more away to the right. The battalion had to hold the canal on the left of the railway bridge, which (together with the road from HERENT leading to it) formed its right-hand boundary. Looking across the canal, all that the companies could see was the buildings and embankments of WILSELE; even from the far bank it was impossible to obtain a view of the country beyond until one got clear of the built-up area.

The line of the canal was held by 2 Coy, on the right, and the railway bridge, and 3 Coy, on the left. Two companies were not a sufficient force to defend this front; but the battalion had been ordered to keep two companies in reserved for the defence of the village of HERENT, where Battalion Headquarters was placed. 2 and 3 Coys were in widely dispersed slit trenches under the trees along the canal bank, each with a platoon as outpost on the far side of the canal.

[13-14 May]
Throughout the next two days a procession of Belgian civilians, cavalry, and artillery streamed back through the battalion’s position - a depressing sight, and a dangerous factor in the situation, for they attracted heavy bombing on to the village and the roads running through it on the afternoon of the 14th.

It was on the evening of 14 May that, for the First Battalion, the war began in earnest.

 

I wonder if this TNA file might be worth checking - although the dates state 1941 onwards ... it does cover:

British Expeditionary Force, France: The Coldstream Guards; missing men
WO 361/71 Detecting your browser settings

 

I think Bunn and Matthews may have drowned crossing the canal.

The war diary says the Battalion had outposts on the far side of the canal and were withdrawn when they came under MG fire. The diary says they suffered 'two' or 'few' casualties 'several posts having to swim the canal'.

It would explain being commerated on the Memorial at Dunkirk if they drowned in the canal. That said I'm not familiar with the area and you would think the canal would have a gentle current, if one at all.

Di - Did you check the missing men file?

 

The Kanaal Leuven - Dijle at Wilsele is a not insignificant stretch of water to swim in full kit. Plenty of photos here :-

Pictures of Wilsele Brabant Belgium

 

Andy
I think we talked about this at the time via VM. There's nothing in the file at all, so whatever Guardsman Bunn's fate, it was certainly dealt with, to the Cas. Branch's satisfaction at least, by 1941.

[The majority of this Missing Personnel file is taken up with ongoing enquiries into 2 other men of 1st and 2 of the 2nd Bn.]

WD pages attached