Sorry to be so late in messaging this thread but I would appreciate any advice that someone with operational knowledge of WW2 signals could give me. I am writing down the story of my grandfather who was killed in action in May 1940 in the fighting withdrawal of the BEF to Dunkirk. He was a sarjeant [sic] in the RCS and was serving in the signals detachment attached to 10th Inf Bde HQ. His letters home allude to a sore derriere from the large amount of riding of motorcyles over potholed roads that he was doing but, obviously, says nothing more of operational matters. I cannot find out what the signals detachment that he was serving in would have been composed of - what ranks, what sort of equipment they had etc. The signals detachment serving the whole of 10th Inf Bde amounted to 256 men in 56 vehicles, when they landed at St Nazaire, France in September 1939. I presume that some of these men and vehicles would have been deployed at battalion level, reducing the size of the Bde HQ squadron. I have copies of some amazing photographs from Tim Stankus the regimental archivist at Blandford Camp. These show groups of trucks with heavy telephony and wirlesss equipment but I have no actual details written down as to how the detachment actually looked and cannot tell if these group of vehicles are attachments to Div HQ or Bde HQ. Can anyone help? I have a detailed structure of the Inf Bde HQ itself and this document refers to the fact that there is an attachment of signallers but says nothing more. The Bde HQ was shelled in Kemmel, Belgium and my grandfather was killed in one of these bombardments. I hope someone may have some rough idea. Many thanks for any help you are able to offer.
Welcome Andy will be along shortly to help you out. would you be able to state your late Fathers name to assist regards Clive
I'm heading south tomorrow for a reserach trip to Dunkirk so won't be able to help until I get back next week. In the meantime could a kind Mod move this to the 1940 section of the forum please? If this is your relative, and I think it is, I have been visiting his grave for close to ten years now, he was the first CWGC grave I had ever visited and pretty much one of the main reasons I now visit the area and research the France and Flanders campaign of 1940. http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2274888/GIBBS,%20HAROLD%20HERBERT%20EDMUND I must confess - I've kind of adopted him and I took my then 18mth old son to his grave for the first time this year. I'll be visiting him again next week and placing another cross on his grave. http://ww2talk.com/forums/topic/24517-adopted-graves-and-cemeteries/?hl=787566
Hello and thank you so much for the kindness and respect you show to my grandfather. i have been dipping in and out of WW2 talk over many years but focussed on the regiment rather than on Harold himself, which is why I had not spotted your posts. I don't get the chance to visit his grave often enough but it is always very moving. I very clearly remember the first time I visited the grave in 1968 and was very distressed, as a 7 year old boy, to see my father cry for the first time. Harold Herbert Edmund Gibbs was severely injured at 5.00am on 28/05/1940 when a German artillery shell landed in the small chapel that they were sleeping in. He suffered appalling injuries from which he died a day or so later. The recorded date on the headstone is a "died on or after" date in war office records. Following his death, his wife dealt with her grief by trying to remove anything from her life that reminded her of him. He sadly became a ghost until after my gradmother passed away, when I came across a bundle of letters from Harold to his wife from the front. Intrigued, I have been reseraching him ever since and like you been doing a lot of reserach into the unwritten history of the Dunkirk Campaign. Sheer bloody minded detrmination has allowed me to work out, to within 3 metres, wher he was probably lying when he took the blast. It was in Kemmel Belgium, when the Brigade HQ was deployed in the stable block of the Kemmel Chateau. I have met some of the local residents who were there and actually remember the day!! I also was increadiby lucky to meet a veteran age 94 who was there at the time recalled a barrage that has never been written down. This was the missing piece of the jigsaw in my story and everything fell into place. The story has subsequently been borne out by memories of the villagers.Like you I have celebrated the anniversary of his death - but in Kemmel itself. If you would like more information let me know. I have a draft manuscript of what I have discovered so far. I have tried to attach a picture for you to see Harold himself but the upload keeps failing. Any idea as to how I can send in a photo or two? It would be great to hear more from you. I hope you have/had a great time in France and Flanders. Best wishes
And another of his mess mates at time of embodiment. He had re-enlisted in the TA in early 1939 and was at Annual Camp at Dibgate Camp, near Folkestone when war was declared, so he was embodied on the spot. Martin
Dear amberdog45, I had the dates but had not seen this actual document before. thanks for posting. martin
Brilliant - I'd love to read the docs and letters you have if your happy to post them on here. I'm going away again soon but I'll post the picture of his headstone from this trip as soon as I can. I have 10 Bde HQ's war diary so I'll post that up as well. Do you know how he ended up in Dunkirk? Cheers Andy
Hi Andy The whole document is rather long and runs to 37 pages at the moment. I've written it up as a book for my whole family to read once I've completed all the research. My Grandfather was totally unknown to my family until I uncovered a batch of his letters in my Grandmother’s old belongings, so to do justice to him I have written an account of his whole life. It is in draft format at moment and pretty scratchy. I was going to turn my wordsmithing skills to it when I had the time. Time - what is that i hear you say!! If we go on a private message and you could let me have your email I will gladly send the stuff over to you as an attachment. I think it is probably too long and improperly worded to post on WW2talk yet. The war diary will be interesting to read. I have looked through the original at Kew many years ago but just took notes, photocopies were too expensive and troublesome to have done. I look forward to seeing the headstone. I picked up some of the pine cones from the big trees near to his grave and am trying to get the seeds to grow. It would be like having a little bit of him here at home. Now Dunkirk is a can of worms and pure detective work has given me a reasonable idea as to how this happened. I have another document detailing the thought process that you could look at if you want. the most likely explanation is that he passed away at a CCS in Steenvoorde in France and was left behind. He would have been interred in a shallow temporary grave there but later disinterred and collected by the Deutsche Rote Creuz. Isolated temporary grave sites were, apparently, often collected, recorded and reinterred in a centralised military cemetery - the largest of these in the location being Dunkirk Town Cemetery. Then the British Army was notified of the burial, name and number. There was a delay of over 18 months between him being as posted missing and the war office being notified that he was confirmed as dead and buried. Let me know the email address and I'll get the documents over to you as attachments. Best wishes, Martin
At long last, the rest of my family accompanied me to meet my grandfather and here am I with my two daughters paying our respects to Sjt Harold Gibbs on 23rd October 2016. I had also worn the FS Cap and RSigs cap badge shown in the photo to the Menin Gate ceremony in Ypres the week before, which had attracted a lot of attention. Most people I spoke to there were totally unaware of the action that the BEF had seen in Belgium in May/June 1940 and were astonished to learn that further Allied deaths had occurred at exactly the same place as the trenches just over 20 years from the end of the Great War. We will remember them!
Did you ever find a detailed listing relating to the organisation of Signals at Infantry Brigade level in 1940 ? I have some information on file relating to the sections provided for Brigades by Divisional HQ. There wasn't actually much hardware at Brigade level.
Dear Rich Thank you for your kind offer. I did not get the information I originally was after. When Andy revealed that he had so kindly adopted my grandfather's grave, things went off on a bit of a tangent. I would be extremely grateful for any advice or information you may have. The archive staff at Blandford Camp had lots of photos of the setup at Divisional HQ level but little actual operational details of the lower level Signals Squadrons in 1940 and Nalder's "British Army Signals in the Second World War" is not very helpful at that level either. From my grandfather's letters home from the front, it sounded as though things were a little improvised. Your help would be massively appreciated. Best wishes, Martin.
