6078669 RSM Edward William BACON, 2/5th Queens Regiment: 20/05/1940

Discussion in '1940' started by GeorgeMog, Jul 6, 2011.

  1. Queensman3348

    Queensman3348 Junior Member

    Glad i've checked back on the forum, i've been out of the loop with alot of things recently but really glad i've caught up with this post.
    Some great info on here which is linking the info i've got together.
    I go out to Bellancourt twice a year for the May and November remembrance parades and last May was very honoured to be involved with the parade in Abbeville. So like i said, this is great info. But would you lads mind if i pinch it from here for info and to forward to the mayor of bellancourt?
     
  2. Wendy Wilkin

    Wendy Wilkin New Member

    It's been a long time since you posted these messages. However I just wanted to let you know that my Dad, Edward John Elkins (Ted) was a private with the 2/5th Queen's West Surrey Regiment. He too had to swam across the river and tried but swam back to try to save his friend Tommy Denyer who couldn't swim. He wasn't able to reach him and thought he had drowned. Dad made it across but was captured by the Germans on 20 May at Pont Remy. He spent the next 5 years in Stalag XXA at Torun (or Thorn as he knew it) and was one of thousands of soldiers who were forced to join the Long March across Europe as the war was ending in 1945.
     
  3. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

    Welcome to the forum
    I have sent a private message to George to make him aware of your post
    Regards
    Clive
     
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  4. Rhoda

    Rhoda New Member

    This is fascinating reading.
    My father, Henry (Harry) Charsley was in the RAOC attached to the 2/5 Queen's West Surrey Regiment. Like the Gentleman mentioned above he was captured at Abbeville, was a POW at Stalag XXA and was then marched to Stalag 383.
    As was common Dad said very little about his experiences so I am trying to piece it all together. This site has been really helpful. Thank you.

    Does anyone know if there is any way in which I can find out which Company he would have been attached to?
     
  5. Wendy Wilkin

    Wendy Wilkin New Member

    Hello Rhoda,
    My father, Edward John Elkins, was also with the 2/5 Queen's West Surrey Regiment. He also told us that he had to swim across the river. He tried to save his friend, Tommy Denyer, who found himself in difficulty but was unable to reach him. It wasn't until after the war that Dad found out that Tommy had survived and returned to England. My Dad did make it to the other side but, I understand, it was every man for himself. He was reported missing on 20 May 1940 was captured at Pont Remy on 21 May 1940. He was taken to Stalag XXA Fort 13 and later worked on a farm where he spent the rest of the war. He was one of the thousands of POWs on the Long March and arrived back in the UK on 20 April 1945. He was 19 when he left and nearly 25 when he came home.
     
  6. Rhoda

    Rhoda New Member

    Thank you Wendy for your reply to my post.


    I have now managed to obtained a better idea of my Dad's whereabouts on those eventful days in May but because I do not know which, if any company he was assigned to I cannot be sure of the exact place where he was captured.

    Like your father he was marched to a railway somewhere and transported to stag XX A. Do you know where your father boarded the train?

    Amongst the very few things he ever said about his WWII experiences was that on the march through French villages the British soldiers were spat upon by the French and that the wells were chained up so that they couldn't drink.

    He also mentioned the lack of food and said that the German soldiers escorting them were in a similar predicament.

    On one occasion he and his friends managed to catch a piglet which they slaughtered and ate almost raw because if they had cooked it the smell would have attracted the guards and they would have been shot! Did your father give any details about his experience of the march to the trains?

    As a family we are lucky to have a number of postcards and letters that Dad sent from Stalag XX A and later Stalag 383 to his family.

    His first postcard is dated 13 June 1940. In it asks for "some chocolates and margarine .. also any old books".

    They mostly concern family matters and, because of censorship, he gives very little detail about his life in the camp.

    I have included some details here as they may mirror your father's experience. Please let me know if you can add anything about life in Stalag XX A.

    8 August 1940: "letters are beginning to arrive now ..."

    4 April 1941: parcels sent by his family and the Red Cross "are coming in fairly regularly now".

    20 April 1941 "the weather "Is now beginning to get warmer after a pretty hard winter".

    In the same month his mother received a letter from the Secretary of the "British Prisoner of War" informing her that in January her son had received his first "Capture Parcel" containing "Novel, Bible, Pack of Cards & Pocket Chess."


    [​IMG]
    Christmas 1941 "One more Christmas Day has come and gone, the 2nd spent as a P.O.W. Wherever a British "Tommy" may be in barracks, dugout or even a gefangener [prisoner] you can rely on him to enjoy himself. This Christmas was no exception. My present camp consists of 200 P.O.Ws and there is no shortage of talent for concerts etc amongst them. We finished off a day of eating yesterday with a show that ran for three hours and believe me, for amateurs, it was excellent. For breakfast I had (?) fish on toast, jam, cocoa etc. Dinner roast pork, potatoes, beans, stuffing and Xmas pud. Tea was cake, choc biscuits, jam and tea etc. Of course we have to thank the Red Cross for all this. You know they are doing wonderful work for us chaps."





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    By 30 November 1942 Harry had moved to Stalag XX A 151 {Does anyone have any information about this?]

    He says that he has been a wheelwright, has done threshing with horses and mowing but no ploughing. "Shall certainly not take up farming when I return".

    The winter of 1942/43 was "very mild"

    Sometime between 25th July and the 23 August 1943 Harry moved from Stalag XX A to Stalag 383 in Bavaria.. Did your father say anything about his experiences on the Long March?
     

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