Well Done, Drew. No trace of Appendix 1 with the account of the day's fighting on 5th (or is it 6th ?) June I suppose ?
Drop me a Private Message if you want a copy of the Missing Men file. I'll give you a copy of the battalions war diary covering their time in France for free with the order Cheers Andy
You are a superstar Andy! I was just looking back through the chapter in Saul David's book which seems to draw heavily on this account when I saw you had posted this. I take from the comments at the start that this was an account compiled shortly after the fall of France as the original records were presumably destroyed to stop them being captured? An absolutely fascinating account of what must have been a desperate fight that has largely been forgotten about in the larger story of WW2. I read somewhere else that the casualties sustained by the Argylls that June were akin to WW1 levels and this account certainly bears that out. Thank you so much for sharing this.
Top work Andy, but don't go resting on your laurels...any chance of seeing the earlier page if it details how the battalion came to be defending the canal there - Who were the brigade on 7 A&SH's right ? Sadly there wasn't really a battlion left to write a history and by the time the survivors came home in 1945 most probably just wanted to forget it all.
Thanks for that disposition diagram Mathieu, Very interesting. Don't suppose you have any others covering the period 30 May - 12 June or can provide a source where it came from?
hi the document comes from the War Diary Lt. Col. H. R. Swinburn of 51 Highland Division Drew5233 has the document. Mathieu
For the sake of completeness thought someone might be interested in what I found out about the action from the German perspective. Thanks to the internet It has been possible for me to find out in some detail the German forces involved in the action against the 7th Argylls. Mainly through the fact that almost uniquely, the German 12th Infantry Division's fatalities for the 1939 - 41 period are available online here: http://www.denkmalprojekt.org/2011/12.Inf-Div-3_wk2.html From the locations listed against each German casualty the 7th Argylls' No13 Platoon in the Bois de Nevers appears to have been facing No 10 Company from the 3rd Battalion, Grenadier-Regiment Nr. 89, while the main force involved in the attack on Franleu itself was the 1st Battalion, Grenadier-Regiment Nr. 89. The 12th was a fully equipped "1st wave" Infantry division organised as per this link. http://www.niehorster.org/011_germany/40_organ_army/div-inf_1-welle.html
Outstanding stuff Andy. I feel bad for the poor bloke who had to write the diary up THREE times! No wonder it's so detailed - he must've had it committed to memory after the second go. Thanks for adding these to the thread.
Thanks for adding this KRO. I'm not going to pretend I understand all of it but I take it this means the German's the Argylls were up against were top drawer front line troops?
German Army organisation is an entire subject in itself Incredibledisc The 12th Infantry Division was part of the German pre-war regular army so had its full equipment scale - I believe that some of the German Divisions formed in early 1940 were not so lavishly equipped as their war production did not really ramp up until 1941 and so demand outstripped supply of some equipment such as artillery etc. So much Czech and Austrian equipment was used as well as existing reserve stuff. With the massive expansion of the German army I guess they suffered the same manpower issues as everyone else and "regular" units were filled out with reservists/conscripts etc, so the 12th was probably averagely experienced as it had taken part in the Polish campaign in 1939. Also here is the link to those buried in Franleu chuchyard - there are individual details at the bottom of the page: http://www.ww1cemeteries.com/ww2_cemeteries/franleu_chyd.htm My sincere thanks to all contributors for posting their information here.
Thanks for the additional info KRO. I'm hoping to add to this thread as more information comes to light.
Just a brief update. Found this in the kindle store - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Highland-Division-Army-War-ebook/dp/B00KBTLN9C?ie=UTF8&ref_=pe_385721_133652831_TE_M1DP a mere £1.59. Probably the first account of what happened to the 51st Highland Division drawn from first hand accounts and war diaries. Only 80-odd pages but lots of detail.
From the pages of The Victor, September 1st 1962 The Gallant Defenders of Franleu by Bill Robertson, on Flickr The Gallant Defenders of Franleu by Bill Robertson, on Flickr
No problems Drew. I got a 5dvd set of scans from a certain well known auction site after I couldn't find an original copy. I wouldn't be surprised if there isn't more 1940/Dunkirk stuff which I can send your way.