1 Royal Horse Artillery, May 1940 until capture

Discussion in '1940' started by Hengiste, Jul 15, 2011.

  1. Matthew Elbro

    Matthew Elbro Member

    Here goes
     

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  2. Sheldrake

    Sheldrake All over the place....

    John Goschen.jpg One of O Battery's officers also escaped capture. John Goschen is still a Regimental figure. He gets a place at dinner nights and goes on expeditions with the subalterns. He died aged 23 on 5th Dec 1941 as a captain MC and bar at an age when many modern officers are still at Sandhurst.

    Account of the Escape of 2nd Lt JA Goschen RHA and 2nd Lt RE Brook-Fox RHA 1 Regiment RHA attached 51 Division

    Captured 12 June 1940, escaped 16 June 1940

    Arrived in England by air from Lisbon at Poole airport on 4 August 1940

    Story narrated by Mr Goschen

    “I arrived in France on the 23 September with the 10 Field Regiment RA and Brook-Fox on the 19 September with the 18 Field Regiment RA. Both regiments were with the 2 Division. In April, we were both transferred to the 1 Regiment RHA who were GHQ troops. When the 51 Division went down to the Maginot Line, the 1 Regiment RHA were attached to them. From then until 12 June, when we were at St Valry-en-Caux, we fought with the 51 Division. We arrived at St Valry-en-Caux on 11 June. A bridgehead was being thrown round the harbour. We were to be evacuated on 12 June. We had drawn a very close perimeter round the town and were under the orders of the French Corps Commander who wanted to surrender as we were completely cut away from all supplies. On 12 June, our Divisional Commander - General Fortune- decided that the only thing to do was to surrender. This news was heard at about * pm. Having discussed with Brook-Fox, 2nd Lt Freeman Jackson, of a different Battery in the 1 Regiment RHA, the possibility of escaping, I, being on HQ staff, approached the CO for permission for permission to get away independently. The CO said he thought it was our duty to try to do so. We went down to the harbour and found a canoe and four bits of wood which we could use as paddles and started out towards the sea. After we had got about 500 yards out, a German machine gun opened fire on us from the cliff and sunk the boat. We tried to go on swimming out but 2nd Lt. Clarkson had been hit and so we started to swim back to the shore. The Germans continued to shoot at us for about 5 minutes, then stopped, and we got to the beach and decided to give ourselves up to them as they could have killed us if they wanted to do so.

    Capture
    When we reached the beach, we tried to change our clothes, having found a dry shirt or two, but the Germans on the cliff wanted us to hurry so they threw a brace of bombs at us. We tried to get up the cliff and all succeeded in doing so except Freeman Jackson who, we heard afterwards from a prisoner called Rae who was in the same Battery, had been subsequently killed. When we got up on to the cliff, we saw French ships taking off some of their men and these started shelling the part of the cliff on which we were. The Germans had one anti-aircraft gun which they were shooting at the Frenchmen and they made a direct hit on a paquebot. The rest of the day was spent on the top of the cliff and it was very cold. That evening we were taken to a camp about five miles outside St Valery. It was a big farm and only partly organised. We were given something to eat. The next day we were taken to a place near Rouen which was more organised. It was a field surrounded by barbed wire. There we met the rest of our Regiment and there were approximately 160 officers there and several thousand men and more than several thousand Frenchmen. The field was commanded by machine guns at each corner. We were given English food which the Germans had captured. The following day we went to a camp near Forges Les Eaux, the officers being transported there in lorries away from the men who were marched. After Forges Le Eaux the officers also marched. The only search had been a cursory one made by the Germans who captured us. The first night at Forges Les Eaux we slept there and next day decided to escape. After the swim in the sea before capture, we had no dry clothes and had both had a fever and had not been really fit enough to attempt to escape before. It was rumoured that we would be moving on the next day and we thought the earlier we could escape the better. No names had been taken up to this time and we thought, therefore, that if we escaped and then got as far as much as five miles away from the camp, we could make out a perfectly good case for it being our first capture. We had noticed a small hole in the fence and outside it was a house in the shadow of which we thought we would be able to hide. The camp was surrounded by wire, had machine guns mounted at corners and sentries along the fence. It appeared to be safer to get away in daylight rather than at night.

    First Escape
    At about 9 pm that evening we got two officers in our Regiment to engage the guards in conversation. Brook-Fox went through the hole first and I followed immediately. We went round in cover of the house outside the camp and stayed in the shadow of the wall crouching down until 10.15 pm. It was a moonlit night and as we did not think it would get any darker, we started off across country. We had a prismatic compass and steered NNE which direction we subsequently found to be wrong. We marched all night and got into cover at about 3.15 am in the Forest of La Fontaine. We were aiming for Criel as we had fought there and knew it. During the day we got into a house and an old French woman was very kind to us. The house was a poor farmhouse and in the middle of the forest and we gave the woman 50 francs as we had plenty of French francs, and some German marks, with us. At about 10 pm we started off and, marching all night, reached Aumale. We found an empty house which had been evacuated - on the main road - and spent the whole of the next day there. We found a departmental map and realised we were going too much East. We had been marching across country during this time. At this house we obtained some civilian clothes - trousers, sweater and beret - and these we carried in a sack when marching by night as we thought we would not be treated so severely if caught in uniform. When dressed as civilians, I wore corduroy trousers and a brown sweater with a large collar and Brook-Fox had corduroy trousers, a beret and a blue polo sweater of his own. We had Army boots. That night we marched across country again and got just past Foucarmon where we slept in a farm until about 7 am when we were turned out but given food. Whilst marching the following night, we met a Captain Burn, of Royal Northumberland Fusiliers, who was also escaping, and we made a rendezvous at Criel in two night’s time as we thought that three people might be able to manage a boat better than two. The rendezvous decided upon was the beach at midnight which was very silly. That night we reached a farm near Presville. Still marching across country, the next night we arrived at Septmeules and the following night we reached Criel. We could not find anywhere to go in Criel until about 10 am we met a first class woman who gave us food and slept us in her barn. The next night we went down to the beach to meet Burn but instead we met a German sentry who was marching up and down. However, we met Burn on our way back and he came and joined us in our barn. That night our hostess went out to look for boats for us but she could not find any at Criel and she reported that three German officers were coming to her house. They (the Germans) spent the whole day there and one of them took a room in which to work and was going to come every day. We decided to leave and our hostess found a boat at Resnilval so went there that night and down to the beach where she had said this boat was but only found a canoe and were rather disappointed. We slept the night in a barn in the village and next day we changed our quarters to an empty bungalow a little further away from the main town where we were very comfortable.

    During the day we went down to the Casino on the beach to talk to the barman about finding some boats and a German patrol came in whilst we were there. We were in civilian clothes and got away after having a drink with the Germans who spoke French very badly. We got some information from the barman who said there was a boat along the beach on the left but we could not walk along the beach because of the Germans in the Casino so we went back and walked along the cliff and saw the boat which looked absolutely right for us so we started making a sail for it out of an old mattress and some sticks found in our bungalow. That day we met a Private in the Black Watch - Pte Ramsey - who had been washed up at Criel from St Valery, all his comrades having been shot. He had settled down with a French officer who had escaped. Both were fed up and had no intention of leaving at that time (as Ramsey had been wounded). We went on making the sails and got three oars from a small boy and decided to make the attempt with the boat that night. During the day we had been trying to get down to the boat to see it in close quarters but with the Germans in the Casino we could not do it until at 8 pm. Brook-Fox went down and reported that it was a ship’s lifeboat, 32 feet long, and full of about 3 tons of stones, so we gave up the idea of using it unless we could get more men. By that time it was dark so we slept and in the morning tried to persuade Ramsey and the French officer, and two other French officers who were supposed to be in the neighbourhood, to join us in the lifeboat but they would not do so. Ramsey had been wounded and had had a bad time in addition to losing three of his friends. We decided to try the canoe and made four paddles; two sets of doubles paddles and two of single paddles; and to go that night. The first time I went down to the beach was at about 10 p.m. and when I had got right down on to the beach I was stopped by a whistle from the others who were behind who had seen a German motor car in the Casino. This turned out to be a German officer who was flirting with the belle of the beach and went on doing so until about 12 o’clock. Afterwards we launched the canoe which was much too small and we were doubtful if three people would be able to get in it at all. We put Burn in front and ourselves in the back and had only got about 60 yards out when the boat submerged and all our stores were sunk with the boat and we swam back to the beach.

    The next morning we got up at 5 o’clock and went down to the beach where we salvaged what we could and got back all the stores except Brook-Fox’s boots and the paddles. We put the boat back and no-one suspected it had been moved. During the day we heard reports that the Germans were sweeping up all the young able-bodied people for labour gangs and Burn and Brook-Fox had been spotted by a German officer in a house, while wandering round. A German car came along the road which was our bungalow, looking for billets, so we decided that we would have to go fairly soon. Brook-Fox and Ramsey thought we might be able to get a boat out of Le Treport harbour but we found it was impossible as there were three Regiments of Cavalry there. We decided that if the wind stayed down, Brook-Fox and I would have another effort in the canoe that night and, if we got to England, try to come back for Burn and Ramsey, but a very big storm broke out and it was useless and we had to give up the idea. It was decided to split up into two parties – Brook-Fox and myself and Burn and Ramsey. We were to move that night and the other two the following night and we would make for Dannescamter, near Boulogne. We started off the following night and that was the last we saw of Burns and Ramsey. We continued to walk at night in uniform carrying our civilian clothes. The first night we got a bit lost as it was very tricky walking owing to the number of Germans about and found ourselves at Le Treport. We wanted to cross the river between Le Treport and Eu so we spent the day in a farm on the outskirts of Eu. The following night we decided to walk straight through Eu which we did at about 10 pm, still in uniform. We met one German who stopped us but luckily he was dead drunk and thought we were two women. After that we decided to walk always along roads and we made very good progress that night. We marched during the next night parallel to the coast and reached a village where there were no Germans. During the day we found some bicycles in a bicycle shop and bought them. Having repaired them as best we could, we decided to cycle. The next night we made very good progress and reached the Somme Canal where the bridge was blown up so we knocked up a Frenchman and asked him if there was a bridge before Abbeville and he said there was one about three miles South East of where we were. We found it and crossed it as there was no guard. It was a wooden bridge built by the Germans. That night we finished our march at Sailly Flibancourt and spent an uncomfortable day as nobody would have us. Again the next night we made good progress and reached a place called Le Pine where we were very well looked after. The following night we wanted to cross the river between Etaples and Montreuil and, having crossed it, my bicycle broke down. Brooke-Fox towed me for a bit and we eventually stopped in a hut on the outskirts of the next village - Brexent - which had been occupied by the Germans.

    Recapture
    In the hut we went to sleep and at 8 am next day we were woken up by six Germans knocking on the door. We realised that we could not get away and it was obvious who we were as our uniforms were lying on a chair. A delightful German Private who could speak French very well told us he was sorry we had not been able to get away. He marched us to his officer who was very unpleasant. From there we were sent by truck to Montreuil barracks where there was an Infantry unit. When we got there we were shown into a sort of school-room in the barracks where there were some beds and we met six Gunners from the 23 Regiment who had been caught at Berck Plage. During the day a Sergeant-Major and a Sergeant Artificer from the 1 Gordons came in, caught at Meudelot Plage on the same day. Later three Scotsmen in the Black Watch, caught at Hardelot Plage, came in dressed in civilian clothes. We were all put in the same room and a very unpleasant Corporal was in charge. During the day we were told that that we would be interviewed which we were, separately by an officer. He tried to get our regiment out of us, but we said were not entitled to give it to him and he said if we behaved like that he could make things unpleasant for us. We again said we could not give him the name of our regiment and he said we could not write any letters. We complained to this officer because he gave the men a printed form, which looked very plausible, asking for name, number, regiment, battery, squadron, troop, company, division, where caught, and every sort of information which the men were not meant to give him, including the names of their officers. Some of the men had filled in the form and we were very angry with the German officer and told the others not to fill it up and they obeyed which made the German officer more angry. Three more Gunners from the 23 Regiment came in civilian clothes, and were told “If we can prove that you have been in contact with any of your comrades in England, things will go hard with you.” We presumed “contact” meant to light signals to ships as the Germans were looking (illegible), but the sentence referred to communication in any way. Later on we were all lined up and an officer inspected and searched us for arms and razors etc. He came to one soldier in civilian clothes and said “Ah, British soldier in civilian clothes” and made a signal with his finger that the man would have his throat cut. We were the only officers in that place and the Germans tried to make us peel potatoes but we refused. As they continued their efforts to make us do so, we demanded to see an officer, and the Corporal said we could not. We insisted on seeing an officer, and on sleeping away from the men as there was plenty of accommodation there and it was very crowded in the room. Eventually we saw the officer and he granted both our requests which made the Corporal more angry. In the same barracks there was an Infantry Battalion which spent most of the day drilling in the square. They drilled very badly and appeared to be a sloppy and, untrained unit but we were told that it was an ordinary Infantry Battalion and not a training unit. The figure “16” appeared on the button on the shoulder strap. The CO was rather old and only appeared about once a day, and he smoked cigars on parade. We saw one rather nice young officer and were rather surprised at the familiarity between the NCO’s and the officers, but both shouted at the men and there was no familiarity with them. The Germans were very confident and kept saying so. They told us they had dropped some parachutists in England but it turned out to be in the Channel Islands. We saw a lot of our own equipment being driven around by the Germans – Bedford trucks - and they were very bombastic about it. The next day we were all moved in lorries to Hesdin where we were put in an extremely filthy French barracks. The food was deplorable and all the British people got very bad diarrhoea which they had the whole time they were there. The Germans again tried to make us work and we were searched three times and our civilian clothes were taken away; also razors, knives and cigarette lighters. We managed to hide our compass in the toe of a boot.

    The Germans had a lot of spoil which they were sorting out in one of the outbuildings and they got French civilians to work three days a week to sort the stuff out. We went over and they gave us a knife, fork, spoon and French mess tin and we managed to pinch a French cut-throat razor. Here the food consisted of cold coffee at 5 am, dried haricot soup and four French biscuits in the middle of the day and coffee again at night. Everyone had the same food. The Germans were quite pleasant. We looked to see if we could escape but it was not possible. The Germans had an Army Field Workshop there. They had collected all the British broken lorries and were extracting parts and repairing other lorries. There were at least 30 lorries there - Bedford lorries. We had a talk with two Germans and a good sort of Private about their leaders and they had nothing but admiration for both Goering and Hitler but were rather tired of the war. One of them had fought in Spain, Austria and Poland and had had no leave during the whole time- he was in the Infantry. The next day we were taken to Lille in lorries and there were a lot of wounded men there as well - French and French Colonial troops. The French Colonials insisted on being paraded with the English rather than with the French. We were given more food there and we thought we were going to be moved on the same day but were not. Civilians were allowed to enter this camp to see the wounded and we heard that the next place to which we would be sent was Tournai and that was a proper prison camp from which it was very hard to get away, so we decided to escape. We met at this camp a Sgt. Simmonds who was on HQ Staff of the Rifle Brigade in the defence of Calais. He had been in Calais for 5 ½ weeks and looked terribly ill. He had not had anything to eat and had refused to give up but was finally caught. He told us that Calais was barren and we knew it was impossible to get away south of Boulogne so we decided to make for Spain or Switzerland. During that day we also met two Privates – Pte Herbert of the Warwickshire Regiment and Pte Walker of the Gloucester Regiment – who were very anxious to escape so we said they could come with us. We decided to go to Landas where we had been billeted for six months and knew we had good friends. That was to be our jumping off place. The camp had a very high wall round it and a moat the other side. The wall was a drop of about 40 feet to the moat. There was a rope round a tree and we thought we could drop it down and shin down it and get across the moat but on making further investigations we discovered a tunnel which the Germans had not discovered and, on further investigation, found that this went right under the moat and came out the other side. There were sentries on the wall but there were many people walking about and it was fairly easy to look round. I bartered some civilian clothes from a Sergeant Major in the Black Watch who gave them to me in exchange for two blankets which I had managed to pinch before. Brook-Fox had a pair of blue trousers which he had managed to pinch back again and he still had his blue polo sweater. We decided to wait until after dinner and the plan was to go to the tunnel in our uniform, change in the tunnel and go out the other side in civilian clothes. It was also decided that we would go first and that Walker and Herbert should follow half an hour afterwards and that we should all make for Landas. Walker and Herbert had not managed to get any civilian clothes and their idea was to slip into the tunnel and wait the other side until it was dark; whereas we could walk out straight away. Actually they went into the tunnel first and when we got there they were in the further mouth of the tunnel but said they could not get away as they were being watched. We had had to take into our confidence a Frenchman in the Chasseurs Alpin who proved to be a very useful man as a rear guard.


    Second Escape
    We changed in the tunnel, put our uniform sin our sack and walked out the other side; then we circuited the camp and that day we walked right round Lille and by the night we had got to Seclin. We were stopped twice by men wearing red and white armbands – apparently something to do with the Customs – and we said we had got washing in the sack. Outside the town we went into a café to get some water or something to drink and the lady immediately spotted we were English and insisted on our staying the night. We were then in a part of France which had been occupied for a long time by the English and the French people were all extremely friendly. Next day we set off and at about 5 o’clock arrived at our friends. We each went to the people who had billeted us before and they were delighted to see us, fed us extremely well and did everything they could for us. They bought maps for us, got us bicycles and Brook-Fox’s host who was the Maire of the little town, although rather scared, got some empty papers for us – identity cards – which we filled up with French names and, with some purple ink, made an official mark of the Maire of Orchies which had been destroyed by shell fire and the Maire killed. We waited there until Tuesday night and then as the others had not turned up, stayed until Wednesday. We were given plenty of food. We decided to take food with us on our journey in order to avoid having to go into houses, and to sleep in the open so that there would be no chance of our being given away. On 10 July we started off from Landas and that day our route lay through Marchiennes, Somain, Haspres, Wassigny, down to Guise. We spent the night under a haystack near the River Oise. We had made up our minds that, however long it was going to take, we were not going on a main road unless we had to, and certainly not through any big town. However, any village through which we passed always contained Germans and they paid very little attention to us. The next day we went from the Oise to Marle, Oiseueme, La Maim and ended up on the wrong side of the Aisne at Asfeld La Ville. Much of the country was still evacuated and there were very few civilians. In the evening and during the night we could hear a bridge of the Aisne being mended and we were rather worried about how we could get over it but thought we would take the bold course and go over early the following …(the account in the medal citation ends here)
     
    Drew5233 likes this.
  3. Mark Warburton

    Mark Warburton New Member

    Thanks for the info guys. Very much appreciated and also great to read about some of the other stories on here.
     

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