99801 2nd Lt W R Cresswell MC and a Blockhouse

I stumbled on this gem of a first hand account by Lt Cresswell MC in another file by accident this week.

Pages are taken from WO 217/9 Personal Diary of Col. E M B Gilmore

 

Love the bit about boiling the eggs on the fire created by the German petrol\grenade attack.

 

Looking at his date of death he would have survived the Blockhouse and taken a PoW. He would have died at the German Casualty Clearing Station at St. Omer.

CWGC :: Certificate

 

Why do the real heros never look like Superman?

Here is a photo of Lt Cresswell.

 

Thanks for sharing that Andy. Amazing story and some truly amazing people.

 

Mistaken entry.

 

Hello and welcome to the forum. Your Grandfather was quite a man.

Do you have any further info or pictures you can share with us? I would love to see/read his Military Cross citation as it appears to be missing from the National Archives online records.

Have you been to the Blockhouse above, its still there today. I always drive past it when I visit Cassel and give it a nod.

Regards
Andy

 

Andy - great stuff.
Electrictel, welcome to the forum, glad you found this thead.
You can be proud of your Grandfather. Look foward to seeing any other info you can post about him.

 

Just found this piece about Capt Lorraine who was the injuried British officer forced to try to get Cresswell to surrender.

Nice bit of courage to keep a cool head whilst badly wounded.

 

I liked the bit about their appreciation of the fire set by the Germans, keeping them warm. Great Post again Andy. Cheers.

 

Most of 2 Glosters Company positions and Cresswell's Platoon to the North. I don't think this map has ever been published in any books covering the fighting at Cassel.

 

Here is the latest development in the history of this blockhouse:

http://www.lavoixdunord.fr/region/hardifort-le-bunker-et-ses-heros-sortent-de-l-oubli-ce-ia18b47649n1272491

 

Are the images changing for anyone?

Here's a rough English translation -It looks like Dominique hasn't seen this thread

http://translate.google.co.uk/translate?sl=fr&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.lavoixdunord.fr%2Fregion%2Fhardifort-le-bunker-et-ses-heros-sortent-de-l-oubli-ce-ia18b47649n1272491

 

Very interesting, great post Andy thank you.

 

my Dad was one of the platoon that was in the blockhouse and spent 5 years as a POW

 

Gordon, the local tourist board now own the Blockhouse and were hoping to open it this month but COVID put a stop to that!
I did manage to get access last year with some guys from work.
Maybe when things get back to normal they will invite you to a rescheduled opening as a direct descendant.