Queens regiment 2/6th battalion in 1939 at abbeville, retold by a veteran

Discussion in '1940' started by Dunn3, Feb 23, 2013.

  1. Dunn3

    Dunn3 Junior Member

    Hi

    Whilst researching a family members time in the queens royal regiment during 1939 I came across this website where a veteran recalls his time and friends/colleagues time in France.
    Some interesting details in and around abbeville that may help others.

    NOTE: scroll down half way to the "with the 2/6th queens regiment" links
     
  2. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    Thanks Richard - Thought I post the France section up with a link incase it disappears:

    With the 2nd/6th Queens Royal Regiment (part 1)

    Chapter 5 With the 2nd/6th Queens Royal Regiment

    In 1939 there were a million coffins ready for the expected bombing casualties. The state paid for those persons who died by enemy action but if you were to depress people by being defeatist you could be fined or go to prison. On 26 October 1939 I volunteered for the army at Reading but after a medical lasting an hour they put me down as grade C and told me the army did not need me. As a result I had to get myself a job back in service until in March 1940 I was called up and had another medical and after ten minutes was passed A one. On Thursday 18 April 1940 I joined up at Reading barracks in the Royal Berkshire Regiment. I quite enjoyed the army life and never became so fit as then; I started at ten stone and got to eleven and a half stone. The barracks seemed to be old fashioned and possibly built halfway through the 19th century. Until 1868 soldiers could be flogged in peace time. A butler I worked with when told me that in 1913 when his elder brother joined the army; his mother wept for three days because of the disgrace!

    In our platoon we had 31 soldiers plus two corporals and one sergeant, a nice, good man. One soldier had to keep an eye on the room, polish equipment and brush kit while the other 30 drilled in threes, in the past they were drilled in fours. Out of 31 we had some fools, some thick persons and a few bright people. On Friday afternoon you had to lay all your kit out for inspection. As a domestic servant for over nine years I found it quite easy, but not everyone did. I found this army very clean but if you tried to ‘bugger the army’ it would ‘bugger you’

    I was not the first of the Whittles to be in the armed forces; my eldest brother Wilfred had served in the Royal Navy at Shotley near Ipswich from about 1925. Around 1936 he moved to the submarine service as he got 6d a day more. He reached the rank of Chief Petty Officer but out of the 14 submariners he trained with only 5 survived the war. On 9th June 1940 his submarines and others went to Oran in Algeria. Wilfred told me that the commander of the fleet had orders from the admiralty to persuade the French navy to surrender their warships to the Royal Navy. When the French refused his submarine started attacking a modern French battleship. This was sunk with large numbers of French sailors drowned and French aircraft were ordered to attack the submarine. The captain ordered the submarine to submerge so quickly that in the course of the dive every cup in the submarine was broken. As a result they could not get a cup of tea until they got back to Gibraltar. Wilfred said that they would have received a medal if it had not been for the ship they sunk being French. Roland, the second eldest volunteered at the start of the war and went into the Royal Military Police where he later became a lance corporal.

    Clifford could not be called up because he was an epileptic and remained a gardener during the war. Gilmore had developed TB in 1938 and he had a piece of his leg taken off and put on his spine in Cheltenham hospital. This was paid for by a special fund from the Gloucestershire authorities. He was not fit enough to go in the forces and became a messenger for the armed forces although he did not have a uniform. Leslie Whittle joined the navy in January 1940 and spent the war as a signalman on convoy duty to the United States and the Soviet Union. Amongst the ships he served on were Escort Aircraft carriers which provided air cover for those convoys. From time to time he used to remind me that I spent less than four years in uniform while he had had to spend six years. Altogether six of the brothers went into the armed forces; three in the army, two in the navy and one in the air force.

    At the beginning of June 1940, the whole British Army came back to England, a terrible thing to see the shambles of a great army glad to get back away from the German forces. Suddenly our platoon was turfed out of our room into a shed. We were told not to undo our boots in case Germans paratroopers might suddenly land. The main gate to the barracks was opened and lots of coaches arrived from Reading Station with tired, untidy and hungry soldiers desperate for food, a bed and some shelter. I was told that all around the station there were hundreds of persons cheering the soldiers as if they had won a great victory. Outside our barracks there were also hundreds of persons cheering and clapping as the soldiers came into the barracks.

    The Lieutenant Colonel said that no soldiers must leave the barracks but the public could be allowed to come in, which they did. The atmosphere was quite wonderful and strange. What would happen to the UK! France was going to surrender; the USSR was on the side of the enemy! Nearly all of Europe was under German or Russian control. However, in the strange euphoria of that time, the Lieutenant Colonel ordered a large table to be put in the centre of the parade square in the main part of the barracks and that every evening there would be entertainment with any soldier or civilian able to get up on the table and do a turn. One soldier did a very funny turn, pretending that he was a woman! I felt that we, the civilians and soldiers, were united as never before. In the House of Commons, Mr Churchill made a great speech. He said it was not a victory for us but a defeat; victories were not made by retreats.

    Amongst the people who had been outside the barracks on that day had been Violet Queenie and Vera Peachey from 15 Prospect Street, Reading, whom I had got to know. Violet, the older sister, had worked in domestic service with me. Both Vera and Violet had worked in service together, Vera as a cook and Violet as a maid. Vera was, however, now working as a packer at Huntley and Palmer. They had originally come from the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire and were a family of five having three brothers, the eldest of which, Jack, was in the Royal Navy as a cook. Their father Stephen Peachey had also been in the Royal Navy during World War One and been present at the Battle of Jutland in 1916 as a photographer. He had come out of the Royal Navy in 1922 under the Geddes axe and had gone into the Merchant Navy. His father and grandfather before him had been in the Royal Navy as well. Violet Peachey invited me around to visit them at Prospect Street but the first time I turned up it was nearly 10 p.m. at night, something Vera was to remind me of when I complained about my own son Timothy’s late hours, when a student.

    On three evenings a party of soldiers from our unit, the Royal Berkshire Regiment, had to go to Chequers to guard Mr W. Churchill for the night. Each morning the Prime Minister used to talk briefly to the soldiers and tell them “we will win the war” and thanked them for guarding him, then he got in his car and drove away. They said that he was always cheerful. Vera Peachy commented to me that she was actually quite surprised when Churchill made his famous ‘We shall fight them on the beaches’ speech culminating in his statement that “we shall never surrender” for it had never occurred to her that we would ever surrender, no matter what happened. She also told me how, when the war started, she had said to her father that she hoped that the war would be quickly over but that her father had replied that, in that case, she was hoping for a German victory; for they were prepared for war and we were not. If we were going to win the war then it would be a long war.

    Since we were now sleeping in a small shed and could not undress we had to kip as best we could. Out of the 31, three soldiers developed ‘stinking feet’ and had to go sick. For 13 days soldiers were not allowed to take off their uniforms because of the threat of invasion. Often at 2:00 or 3.00 a.m. a large number of us, who were still untrained, had to go out in lorries around Reading and the surrounding area in case the enemy were to come. There were also at this time a large number of enemy male persons aged from youths of about 14 through to elderly men of 60 or 70 to be interned and the authorities turned the tennis courts in the barracks into an internment camp for them.

    Twice I went back into our old barrack room and listened to a sergeant and an officer talking to soldiers who had returned from France, they were mainly in bed and some were still asleep. It took a great deal of tact and diplomacy to try to get these soldiers who came from all over the UK to go back to their own units. After all, they were not members of the Royal Berkshire Regiment! The officer gently suggested to one soldier that he should go back to his unit. The soldier said “no sir, I am still bloody tired”. Another soldier said that he “can’t go – I haven’t got a shirt!” The officer said he would make sure that he would get a shirt, a pass, a railway ticket and some money, “will you go?” The soldier, a sergeant, agreed. All this time the army canteen was open all day and night so these soldiers could get food and drink whenever they wanted it and then go back to sleep.

    After about ten days, on the 18th June, our unit was moved to a new barracks at Tilehurst, about a mile away. Later on we were moved from there by train via Oxford and Coventry to Haltwhistle in Northumberland near the Roman Wall where we were billeted in the local workhouse. The building was similar to the Reading barracks, the floors were bare though clean, the beds were hard and there was little furniture. I wondered what had happened to the elderly men and women who had lived there until 1940. Altogether there were about three to four hundred of us and about two hundred of the men were from Berkshire and some had never left the county before. Soon after we arrived a Brigadier gave us all a pep talk and explained that we must take off our Royal Berkshire badge and replace it with that of the Queen’s Royal Regiment badge. Somebody then gave us the new badge and the Brigadier told us that we will be members of the 2nd battalion of the 6th regiment of the Queens Royal Regiment.

    This unit had originally been mainly made up of cockneys from the East End of London and was designated the Bermondsey battalion. The first battalion had been a Territorial Army battalion and when conscription was introduced in March 1939, the first time ever in peacetime in the UK, it, along with other TA battalions, was asked to raise a second battalion. In January 1940 the unit had been camping on an exercise and the weather was very cold so that five of the cooks had taken a coke stove into their tent, in the morning they were found dead of carbon monoxide poisoning.

    The battalion had been involved in the Battle for France in May 1940 and those who survived related their experiences to me. In April 1940 the 2/6th entrained at Caterham for Southampton and disembarked at Le Havre. They were effectively still untrained but were sent to France to work on the lines of Communication. They slept in tents at Abancourt (15 miles ease of Neufchatel) where the battalion had the daily duty of assisting French Engineers to build a new railway junction. The battalion formed part of the 35 Infantry brigade in the 12th Division.

    On 10th May the Germans attacked in the West and only three days later the panzers broke through the French lines at Sedan. On 17th May Lt Colonel E.K.Bolton, the commanding officer, received orders from the brigade head quarters for the battalion (622 men and 5 vehicles) to march to Abancourt station and await a train to Abbeville. They set off at 11.15 p.m. and the following morning the 2/6th and 2/7th battalions left Abancourt by train. Both battalions arrived at Abbeville at midday but were not allowed to detrain because fresh orders had been received to go on north to Lens (50 miles NE of Abbeville). Both battalions arrived at Lens at about 7 p.m. where the station was immediately bombed and the train machine-gunned by two enemy aircraft. Lt Colonel Bolton dispersed both battalions into the nearby woods while Lt Colonel Girling, commander of the 2/7th, found a British Signals Office and telephone to GHQ for orders. It was all a 'mistake' and they were told to take a train back to Abbeville the next morning.

    At midnight on 19th May, thanks to an excellent Station Master, the troops retrained and left Lens for Abbeville but with very few rations left. The train arrived at Arras at 5 a.m. with several trains standing in the station and German aircraft being fired at by French AA guns. The battalion was informed that the main railway line to Abbeville had been destroyed by bombing so we could go no further. Lt Colonel Girling managed to contact GHQ in Arras where the Divisional Commander Major General Petrie gave our train priority to leave by the single line to Abbeville via St Pol.

    St Pol was in chaos but Lt Colonel Bolton tried to persuade the station master to give the train priority. The Lt Colonel got an officer who could speak French to negotiate with the station master. The French stationmaster said that the war was over and that he could not help! The Lt Colonel told the officer to say to the stationmaster that he must obey the order otherwise he would be shot dead. The Lt Colonel told the officer to tell him slowly and tell him twice. The stationmaster still said no and so he was shot dead on the platform. The Lt Colonel then told Corporal Jim Bourne of Redhill, a regular, and the officer to grab the train driver to show him the corpse then to drag him into the engine and tell him to drive the train as far as possible so that the unit could fight another day! This is what the driver did and that evening both battalions detrained outside Abbeville station, leaving packs and vehicles to be brought up later. The 2/6th marched to the village of Drucat (5 miles north of River Somme) and 2/7th to Vachelles on the right. The 2/5th battalion were already in the Abbeville area.

    The HQ of the 35th Infantry Brigade was in the village of Epagnette but had no communications to each battalion other than by despatch rider or the civilian telephone lines. No artillery support was available and the only anti-tank defence for each battalion was one anti-tank rifle per company. I was told that, unless a tank was built of cardboard, anti-tank rifles were virtually useless for stopping tanks.

    As the morning wore on during 20th May enemy activity increased in the air and waves of bombers bombed Abbeville and destroyed the bridges over the River Somme behind us. Brigadier H.Baker visited the battalion and put it on half an hours notice to move. That afternoon German tanks were reported as coming out of the woods in front of 2/6th and firing was heard over the hill to the right. Lt. Colonel Bolton told Sgt. Troster of Transport to go by motorcycle to find out if it was true and to take Lt. Milne with him. They found it was correct, a German officer shot Lt Milne dead then tried to fight Sgt Troster by kicking him in his legs. Sgt Troster called out “fight fair Fritz, fight fair Fritz!” and although wounded he managed to get on his motorcycle and report back.

    Unknown to 2/6th, the two battalions on the right were heavily attacked by German armoured vehicles and the majority were either killed or taken prisoner. Several of 2/5th were later drowned trying to swim across the River Somme. During this period, the 2/6th tried to get into touch with brigade HQ for orders but all communications were out. By 6 p.m. it was clear that the battalion was surrounded by Germans armoured forces and that retreat across the River Somme east of the town of Abbeville would be impossible. Lt Colonel Bolton now decided to remain in Drucat until dark and then lead the battalion across country by compass to a small bridge over the River Somme Canal at Petit Port about 8 miles west of Abbeville. At 9.30 p.m. the 2/6th formed up in Drucat with bayonets fixed for this night march. All vehicles were destroyed and heavy kit was left behind. The only rations carried: one tin of bully beef and four biscuits per man. Just as the main body had crossed the first road, the rear guard platoon was attacked by German tanks and only a few got away in the dark. An order for the Brigade to withdraw had in fact been sent out by Divisional HQ at 2 p.m. but it never reached anyone.

    By 5 a.m. on 21st May the 2/6th had successfully crossed the bridge at Petit Port. They then marched a further few miles to a farm at Quesnoy-Lelmontant. All the rations were finished so they pillaged the empty farm for food. Lt Colonel Bolton stopped a French civilian and forced him to take a message to Divisional HQ at Fresnaville, requesting further orders. The reply to this arrived about 5 p.m. and read "Cannot send rations today as there are German tanks in this area, but if you will say which way you are withdrawing we will try to send rations tomorrow". That evening the battalion marched about 12 miles to Camaches arriving that about 5.30 a.m. and then rested in a cheese box factory.

    The following day after marching 12 ½ miles the battalion received some rations and then after a night march of 12 miles to Billy-en-Riviere they were picked up by motor transport and taken to Anques-le-Bataille 4 miles south of Dieppe. They were later taken to Cherbourg and sailed back to Britain 7th June and thence to Haltwhistle for reorganisation. Lt. Colonel E. Bolton and Sergeant Troster went to Buckingham Palace, the Lt Colonel got the DSO and Sergeant Troster got the MM from King George VI.

    After two weeks the whole of the 2/6th QRR travelled from Haltwhistle to Kent. We initially went to a village between Canterbury and Faversham. All place names had been removed and the local people did not seem very keen to let us know where we were. After pulling their legs they said that it was Boughton Stour. We were not allowed to go out of the village and we had to go around with a rifle and 50 rounds at all times. After a week or so we moved to the Isle of Sheppey. Later our unit moved around various parts of Kent and were based in Kent until November 1941. I noted that on the coast there were lots of empty houses and it seems that most of the children were moved away. On the daily orders we would read such things as that now every soldier has a rifle; or the unit had now been equipped with 2 inch Mortars, or that 3 inch Mortars had now been received. Also, we were told that we were now members of the 56th Heavy Infantry (London) Division and we were told to sew on our uniform a Black Cat, the divisional badge, on a red background. Those soldiers who could not read or write were told to ask from those would could read about what the daily orders said. Generally speaking the soldiers spent some time waiting in lorries or coaches in case the Germans might try to land and we practised and practised again how to retreat. We were told, however, that you must never run away from the enemy! When we were on manoeuvres, vans provided by the Salvation army used to turn up driven by middle class ladies who seemed cheerful and friendly to us; selling cheap buns, tea, coffee, blades, toothpaste etc.

    I remember 1940 as a lovely summer in which we were left to face the German forces alone. About 100,000 French soldiers who also escaped from Dunkirk to England went back to France. Only 7,000 of them decided to stop here in England and fight with us. I also understand the 50,000 British persons were conscientious objectors. The communist Party of Great Britain with 53,000 members was against the war until Sunday, 21st June 1941 when Hitler stabbed Stalin in the back. Then they all changed their view and demanded an immediate second front, trying to get us all killed for their cause! The Government had closed the Daily Worker newspaper and I understand that Mr Churchill considered stopping the Daily Mirror since it became too critical of the Government. One Member of Parliament was put in prison as was Sir Oswald Moseley Leader of the Blackshirt Party.

    We saw the battles in the skies above us such as when three German fighters were shot down in five minutes above Minster in the Isle of Sheppey. A Corporal and a Private soldier got in their vehicle and drove up to one of the downed German pilots who was lolling against his machine. The Corporal said “what is your name?” The German told him upon which the Corporal said “I can’t remember that, we will call you Fritz”. Fritz, the German asked for a cup of tea. The Corporal said “I am sorry Fritz, we can’t do that” but he offered him a fag and the Private gave Fritz a light. Then the two English soldiers looked at Fritz and they discussed with each other that the German had two arms and two legs and one head just like us. They noted that he was tall and smart and that he spoke good English. They then had a laugh to think that this German could speak English while they could not speak German and that the German seemed able to speak better English than them! The Company Sergeant Major (CSM) known as ‘the snake’ came in a huff and tried to tell the Corporal off because they had been too friendly to the German! Then a Military Policeman came and drove the German away by van while they got the German airplane to Farnborough when it would be examined.

    Both in Minster and in East Church, because lots of the local people had left, we had empty houses that we were able to use as billets. Soon after we arrived, I and a few other soldiers were moved two miles from Faversham towards Sittingbourne with the brigade HQ. On some occasions we had to take all the files, typewriters, desks, chairs and other equipment of the brigade HQ, we were the 169th (London) Brigade, into a lorry and then drive quickly to the north of Faversham and then stop. After half an hour the whole of the brigade HQ returned. This was called a practice retreat and some soldiers had to protect the HQ at night while others slept in tents.

    We had to drive the local police around to visit every garage in the area. The police officer used to speak to the owner of the garage and say that if the enemy came to this part of Kent then they must destroy all of the petrol to prevent it falling into enemy hands. We started at 9 a.m. each morning and finished at about 4 p.m. I then drove the police officer back to Faversham and went to our petrol depot to top up for the following day. When the police had completed their visits to all the garages we went back to our unit in Minster and East Church. Soon after we had settled in Kent, firms were pleading for those soldiers who had been working in the aircraft industry to go back into the factories. I don’t remember exactly how many in our unit went back but I think it was about 30-35.

    On 7th September 1940, on a Saturday afternoon, we were playing cricket two miles from Faversham when about 500 German bombers came over us, not heading to bomb the airfields but to the London docks; we saw them attacked by about 15 British fighters. Before long the docks were alight and persons who lived in Kent and who worked in London had to get a pass to travel into London. On a few other times I saw about 500 bombers flying over Faversham.

    At the end of September 1940 our unit (the B Company) moved to Badlesmere staying in a large house called Lords about 4 miles from Faversham. On Sundays we used to attend services at the local church. The vicar used to say to us that, if we were not that keen on the service, we should instead think of our friends and relations. He was a kindly old gentleman.


    I'll add some more info to this account when I have time.
     

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