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

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Tim of Aclea
Triumviratus Rei Publicae Constituendae
Tim of Aclea


Posts : 586
Join date : 2011-12-31

With the 2nd/6th Queens Royal Regiment  (part 2) Empty
20120803
PostWith the 2nd/6th Queens Royal Regiment (part 2)

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.
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