I recently went on my fourth Leger Battlefield Tour and this time it was to visit Dunkirk and the various rocket launch sites in the area.
Following the coach trip from home to Dover, the ferry crossing and the short journey to our hotel in Lo, a borough of the Belgian municipality Lo-Reninge, it was time for dinner, a refreshing pint and then a nights sleep before our busy schedule began.
Our second day looked at the fighting during the Battle of France in May 1940 and our first stop was in Saint Venant. It was here that we were told the story of the Durham Light Infantry and The Royal Welch Fusiliers .
Forced back towards the coast they formed a perimeter along the canals and both the Royal Welch Fusiliers and Durham Light Infantry were ordered to defend and hold Robecq, Saint Floris and Saint Venant.
This first stop was an opportunity to see the canal area at Saint Venant defended by the Royal Welch Fusiliers and Durham Light Infantry and the memorial. We also visited the Communal Cemetery where many of those killed in Saint Venant are buried.
Moving on to Cassel Hill we examined the last stand of the Gloucestershire Regiment and the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry. They had reached Cassel on 25th May and were ordered to hold the western and eastern halves of the town. The plan was to hold the line to allow the BEF to be evacuated from the Dunkirk beaches.
Despite early success in holding the Germans back, continuous heavy air and ground attacks reduced much of the town to ruins. Most of the regiments men were either killed or taken prisoner. However, they had succeeded in delaying the German advance giving the troops in Dunkirk the much needed time to get off the beaches.
Following lunch in Cassel it was time to move on and our visits to Le Paradis and Wormhoudt, where two massacres took place, were the saddest parts of the whole trip.
At the end of May the Royal Norfolk Regiment were protecting the Battalion headquarters at Duries Farm in Le Paradis and the close hamlets of Le-Cornet Malo and Riez-du-Vinage.
On 27 May, outnumbered, isolated from the rest of their unit and low on ammunition the 99 men, under the command of Major Lisle Ryder, surrendered. Stepping out with a white flag, German SS Officer Fritz Knoechlein ordered that they were stripped of their weapons and marched to another building at Creton Farm. They were lined up against the wall of a barn and two machine gunners opened fire followed by bayoneting and pistol shots to finish of any soldiers still alive.
Left for dead the Germans were unaware that there were two survivors, Privates William O'Callaghan and Albert Pooley. They managed to crawl towards a pig-sty where they survived for three days before being found by the owners of the farm but were eventually captured and taken prisoner.
Albert Pooley was repatriated and returned to England while O'Callaghan remained a prisoner until the end of the war.
In October 1948 both Pooley and O'Callaghan gave evidence in the trial of Fritz Knoechlein who was found guilty of war crimes and sentenced to death by hanging in January 1949.
Major Ryder was killed on 2 October 1940 and was buried at Le Paradis Cemetery and, following our visit to the farm, we had the opportunity to visit his grave during the trip.
This was not the only atrocity committed by the SS as, on the day after the Le Paradis massacre, 80 men were killed at Wormhoudt.
As part of the BEF retreat to Dunkirk the 48th Division was defending the road which ran from Bergues through Cassel and Hazebrouck to slow down the German advance. At Wormhoudt they were finally outnumbered and with little or no ammunition, surrendered. Rightly so, they assumed they would be taken prisoner according to the Geneva Convention. However, this was not the case.
Following the surrender, soldiers from the Royal Warwickshire Regiment, Cheshire Regiment and Royal Artillery were taken to a barn near Wormhoudt. Concerns were raised during the trip as to the SS conduct which included shooting some of the wounded stragglers. When they arrived at the barn Captain James Lynn-Allen protested but to no avail.
With almost 100 men crammed into the barn soldiers from the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, threw grenades into the barn. Many were killed instantly, but many survived this first attack when Sergeant Stanley Moore and CSM Augustus Jennings threw themselves onto the grenades to protect their comrades. Realising this the SS ordered five at a time to leave the barn where they were then shot. Deciding it was too slow they eventually just opened fire on the barn killing 80 men. A few managed to escape but were eventually captured and taken prisoner.
Hauptsturmfuhrer Wilhelm Mohnke was in command but never faced trial, claiming he had nothing to do with the massacre.
Following the emotional visits to Le Paradis and Wormhoudt it was time to head back to Dunkirk. Bastion 32 was the headquarters of the French and Allied forces during the fighting in and around Dunkirk and during Operation Dynamo (the codename for the evacuation). It is now the Dunkirk War Museum we had the chance to spend a couple of hours looking around.
The museum houses a fascinating collection of uniforms, weapons, models, maps and photographs. Well laid out and with information boards it increased the understanding of what had happened during those dark days in May and June 1940. There was so much to see and photograph.
The day closed with a walk along the East Mole in Dunkirk harbour. The structure allowed ships to moor against the side and allow troops to board and return to England. Despite heavy bombing which destroyed much of the harbour it was from this important structure that 239,465 British and French troops were evacuated back to England.
An early start on day three found us back in Dunkirk and a visit to the Dunkirk War Cemetery and Dunkirk Memorial. Unveiled in June 1957 the memorial stands at the entrance to the Commonwealth War Graves section of the Dunkirk Cemetery.
The memorial commemorates the 4,505 missing of the BEF and features memorial panels and a shrine with an engraved glass pane which was designed by John Hutton and showed scenes of the evacuation. The Cemetery also has sections of First World War and Second World War graves.
Moving a short way along the coast we stopped at Bray Dunes where we learned more about the evacuation and the 'little ships' that will forever be associated with the evacuation. It was from these beaches that 98,761 troops were evacuated.
Unfortunately the tide was in so it was not possible to see the wreck of the two ships that were sunk by German air attacks, The Crested Eagle and The Devonia, which remain on the beach as a reminder of what happened over those few days in May.
Following lunch in St. Omer it was time to start looking at the history of the German V-weapon sites. Our first stop was at Eperlecques where we took a look around the massive Blockhaus.
Work began on building the V2 launch site at Eperlecques in March 1943. Used to construct and launch the V2 rocket it was planned to launch up to 36 rockets a day. Bombing by the allies between August 1943 and August 1944 prevented the German using the facility to launch the V2s.
Now preserved as a museum that presents the history of the site and V-Weapons programme it was interesting to walk around the site, much of which still remains. As you walk around the site you can't but be impressed by the structure and as you continue the walk you can see inside where images of a V2 give you an idea of what it would have been like had it been used as a launch site.
Outside there is a V1 on its launch ramp and a V2 and throughout the site are other items of military interest.
Near Morbecque, and hidden in some woods, was the site of another V1 ski-ramp launch site. Although only various ruins remains it was an interesting walk through the woods where various structures stood.
The original launch ramp no longer exists but you could see where it once stood as the banked earth, trees and remaining brickwork are an indication.
In the evening I took the optional tour to Ypres for the Last Post Ceremony. Held at the Menin Gate the ceremony has taken place every night at 8pm since 1928, with the exception of the six years between 1939-1945. I had attended the ceremony back in 2015 during a previous tour and it was good to be among the hundreds of people who had once again, like every night, congregated around the Menin Gate to witness this emotional event.
Unfortunately due to work being undertaken there was scaffold around the Menin Gate which prevented you from seeing what an impressive structure it is. Fortunately last time I was there I managed to see it in all its glory.
Day four began on the Belgian coast at Raversijde where we visited a section of the Atlantic Wall. Originally the World War One Aachen Battery it was turned into a section of the wall by the Germans in World War Two. The Atlantic Wall stretched for more than 2,000 miles from the Spanish border to the tip of Norway.
Now a museum, you can walk through the many tunnels and bunkers viewing the original fortifications, trenches along with displays of uniforms and equipment used by those who occupied the defences.
A brief stop for some lunch then it was across the border into France for a visit to the Batterie Todt. Another impressive structure that was part of a series of four massive gun casemates or Turns as they were known.
Our visit was to Turn 1 which houses a museum with a detailed history of the Batterie Todt. This series of casements was named after Fritz Todt who was the Reich Minister of Munitions and head of Organisation Todt, a civil and military engineering group.
The batterie housed a 380mm calibre gun built by Krupp that was capable of a range of up to 55 kilometres, well within the reach of the British coast.
Inside you can view where the gun was located along with various military items on the three levels.
The site is also the permanent home of a Krupp K5 280mm railway gun. A second gun is preserved at the United States Army Ordnance Museum in Petersburg, Virginia.
Having already seen the V1 and V2 launch sites at Eperlecques and Morbecque it was now time to visit the V3 super-gun system at Mimoyecques. Consisting of a network of tunnels constructed under a chalk hill with inclines to launch the rocket it was intended to launch up to a hundred missiles a day on London, only 168km away.
Although never fired in anger as the site was bombed by the allies with Tallboy bombs on 6 July 1944 you could still walk through the tunnels built to house this incredible weapon.
Our day ended with a look at the liberation of the coastal region in Northern France during September 1944 and a visit to the Calais Canadian Cemetery.
Our guide pointed out several graves of interest and one was unusual in the fact that the inscription listed the full name, Margaret Campbell of the Women's Auxiliary Airforce, which I believe is one of the few graves in any of the commonwealth cemeteries that has the full name. Other graves always showed the initials and surname only.
It was an early start on our final day for the drive back to Calais and our journey home. Our guide had one more visit planned, which was not on the original itinerary.
Earlier in the tour we were told the story of Major Angus McCorquodale and Lieutenant Jimmy Langley, of the Coldstream Guards, who were defending the Dunkirk perimeter. A Border Regiment officer informed McCorquodale that he was going to pull back and that the right flank would be exposed. Told to get back into line and fight he replied that he had no right to tell him what to do as he had been ordered to retreat. McCorquodale pointed to a tree and informed him that if he or any of his men passed it he would order his men to shoot. Langley was told to pick up a rifle and ordered to shoot the officer if he passed the tree. Later the Border Regiment officer was seen passing the tree and apparently both McCorquodale and Langley both fired and the officer fell to the ground.
Angus McCorquodale, who was killed on I June 1940, is buried at Warhem Cemetery and we had the opportunity to visit his grave and hear more about the story.
Another informative, enjoyable and at times very sad and emotional tour that I am pleased I went on.
This article only covers my trip and a brief overview of events in and around Dunkirk in May and June 1940. There are many books, DVDs and on-line sites that give a more detailed account and are worth checking out.
I have already booked another for next year, once again with my good friend Brian, and will be visiting and travelling on the steam railways that ran on the Somme during World War One.
I met a great group of people on the Dunkirk and Fortress Europe tour and especially want to mention Heather, Helen, Ellen, Ruth, David, Margaret and Colin. I must also thank the two John's whose company I enjoyed every evening in the village or hotel bar enjoying a few pints of beer, and on one evening, enjoying watching the hundreds of people who filled the towns square for what is apparently a yearly event... a fair, music and an impressive firework display!
Finally thanks go to our knowledgeable tour guide Niall Cherry and our excellent drivers Anthea and Steve.
