THE BATTLE OF THE9 770306 154080

15

£3.25

MONS POCKET Number 115

NUMBER 115
Editor-in-Chief: Winston G. Ramsey
Editor: Karel Margry
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Vanwell Publishing Ltd., PO Box 2131, On August 31, 1944 to sever the German escape routes eastwards, General Omar
1 Northrup Crescent, Bradley turned the US First Army to the north. On the army left wing, though the
St. Catharines, Ontario L2R 7S2. town was within the zone of operations of the British 21st Army Group (British XXX
Telephone: (905) 937 3100 Fax: (905) 937 1760
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Corps), XIX Corps was directed to take Tournai. In the centre, V Corps was to cut the
E-mail: sales@vanwell.com Lille-Brussels highway at Leuze and on the right VII Corps was to take Mons. This
Australian Subscriptions and Back Issues: was the situation on the evening of September 2.
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FRAMERIES
CONTENTS HARMIGNIES

THE BATTLE OF THE MONS POCKET 2 GENLY

GIVRY
UK NATIONAL INVENTORY OF
WAR MEMORIALS 34 SARS QUEVY

Front cover: The scene in Aubencheul-au-Bac on

the morning of September 2, 1944 with US BOIS BOURDON
armour driving northwards past shot-up German GOEGNIES CHAUSSÉE
transport (see page 9). (Jean Paul Pallud)
Centre pages: In 1946 an M5 light tank nick-
named Fish and Chips was offered to the city of
Mons by the Americans and put on display in the
Mayor’s garden as a liberation memorial.
Restored by the Mons Jeep Club in 1984, it
became the star of the liberation parade organ- BAVAI
ised annually on the Sunday nearest to Septem-
ber 2. The tour always ends retracing the route of
the 3rd Armored’s CCA through Nouvelles, TASK FORCE
Mesvin and Hyon to enter Mons via the Avenue LOVELADY MAUBEUGE
Reine Astrid. (Yves Bourdon)
Back cover: Winston Ramsey, Editor-in-Chief:
‘When we sponsored the memorial at RAF North
Weald, it had to be designed to complement the TASK FORCE
Norwegian obelisk already in place since 1952. MILLS TASK FORCE Y
Also I wanted visitors to be able to take away a
tangible reminder so we compiled a Debt of Hon- TASK FORCE X
our listing the names of all those who had lost
their lives while serving at the airfield. It has been
very encouraging to see the interest shown, par-
ticularly by the younger generation, and I hope it CCB CCA
will give a better insight as to the true meaning of
the memorial.’
Acknowledgements: The Editor and Jean Paul
Pallud would like to thank Yves Bourdon and
Maurice Toubeau for enthusiastic support with
the Battle of the Mons Pocket story. As co-authors
of the book La Poche de Mons, they provided
many photographs from their collection and these
are credited in the captions as (YB/MB). Our The 3rd Armored Division drive on Mons on September 2. By evening, Task Force Love-
appreciation is also extended to Jean-Louis Roba lady of Combat Command B was at Ghlin with Task Force Mills well to the rear near
who took some of the comparison photographs. Sars. The two task forces of Combat Command A were at the southern entrance to
Photo Credits: CWGC — Commonwealth War Mons. (Not shown is CCR which was to the south near Harveng and Givry.)
Graves Commission

2
THE BATTLE OF THE MONS POCKET
In the first days of September 1944, the
US First Army surrounded a large force of
first great battle of World War I. Neither
the Americans nor the Germans expected it By Jean Paul Pallud
fleeing German troops in a pocket located to happen as it did, but Mons developed
around and south of the Belgian border into a very costly battle for the Wehrmacht. annihilated the pocket, destroying masses
town of Mons — the very battlefield of the In a matter of three days, the Americans of vehicles and matériel and capturing

Top and above: By September 1, 1944, all German hopes of hold- Normandy and those in the Pas-de-Calais started to fall back
ing the Allies at the Somme-Marne river line in France had been into Belgium, toward the Schelde estuary, the Albert Canal and
shattered; consequently Generalfeldmarschall Walter Model, the the Meuse river, trying to maintain an orderly withdrawal. The
commander of Heeresgruppe B, ordered a withdrawal to the roads were congested and Allied air attacks were a permanent
West Wall — the line of fortifications protecting Germany’s threat like here on a road south of Brussels where a convoy was
western frontier. The troops which had been extricated from caught in the open by fighter-bombers. (ECPAD France)

3
A German war photographer, Karl Müller of Propaganda-Kom- some of them seem to have lost their weapons. Above: On the
panie 698, happened to be in the Belgian city of Mons in the signpost in the centre of the roundabout, withdrawing units
first days of September. These pictures taken near the Place have added their own signs: Peiper (of the 1. SS-Panzer-
des Flandres show neither confusion nor haste although the Division), Telkamp (of the 9. SS-Panzer-Division), Holz,
men appear exhausted after days of continuous movement and Kreyling, the trident of the 2. Panzer-Division. (ECPAD France)

about 25,000 prisoners, remnants of some

20 disorganised divisions. Coming just two
weeks after the Allied victory at Falaise,
where 40,000 were captured (see After the
Battle No. 8), it received little publicity
even at the time, and most historians of the
1944-45 campaign have paid scant attention
to it. Yet, in numbers of troops and equip-
ment lost, Mons was the second-largest
German defeat of the whole campaign in
the West. The Allies would not see such
mass surrenders until the very final days of
the war.
The strategic background and the run-up
to the battle of the Mons Pocket were aptly
described by US Army historian Martin Blu-
menson in Breakout and Pursuit, the volume
of the US Army’s official history dealing
with the battle for France:
‘At the end of August 1944 the Allied
armies were like knights of old who set out in
quest of the Holy Grail but were not averse
to slaying dragons and rescuing damsels in
distress along the way. The Allies desired the
Channel ports to assuage their logistical
aches; the Pas-de-Calais coastal area to neu-
tralise the German V-weapons; the libera-
tion of north-west France, Belgium, and the Arriving from the west, a cart has reached Place des Flandres — a major crossroads in
Netherlands; and the destruction of the the south-east of the city — but the poor horse appears in the last stages of exhaus-
enemy forces remaining between the Seine tion. (ECPAD France)
and Germany. But their fundamental objec-
tive was the Rhine river.
‘Some Allied commanders believed that
an immediate crossing of the Rhine would
lead to quick capture of the Ruhr. The
apparently disintegrating German military
organisation then would collapse and carry
with it a tottering German political structure.
That would be the end of the war.
‘Threatened also by the Soviet advance in
the east, which had come to within 150 miles
of the German border, the Germans no
longer seemed to have sufficient forces to
make a stand anywhere short of the West
Wall — or Siegfried Line, as the Allies
called it. A complex of permanent-type for-
tifications of varying strength and depth
along the western frontier of Germany, the
West Wall extended from the Dutch border
near Kleve to Switzerland north of Basle.
To the Allies, the only sound military strat-
egy for the Germans seemed to be to rush
repairs on these fortifications and immedi-
ately withdraw from France to them, using
delaying action to retard the Allied
advance.
‘On the basis of this estimate, the overrid-
ing Allied goal became the desire to reach A tunnel had now been built to cross the roundabout and all the trees that used to
the Rhine before the Germans could organ- line Boulevard Dolez have been felled. On the other hand, most of the surrounding
ise an effective defence at the West Wall. buildings have stood the test of time.

4
Having crossed Place des Flandres, a Zündapp combination In left background the statue of Baudouin de Constantinople
bearing Luftwaffe personnel turns into the Boulevard d’Italie. stands in the middle of the roundabout. (ECPAD France)

The West Wall was no longer the impressive the north-west portion of France, in Bel- mans thought, would have led to the com-
shield it had once been. The Germans had gium, and in the Netherlands, could re-estab- plete destruction of the 5. Panzerarmee and
neglected and partially dismantled it after lish a stable front short of the German bor- 7. Armee and would have created an
their victories in 1940. They had stripped der. Only the overstrained Allied supply irreparable gap between the 15. Armee in
most of its armament for use at the Atlantic lines might stop a rapid Allied advance. In the north and 1. Armee in the south. The
Wall. Its works had fallen into disrepair and the face of the glowing opportunity for con- path to the north-east — to Germany —
no appreciable number of troops manned the tinued pursuit of disorganised forces, the would have been undefended, and further
line in the summer 1944. Yet the West Wall Allies decided to keep moving as long as pos- resistance in France would have been futile.
remained an important psychological barrier sible. The armies were to “go as far as practi- Since the Allies had not elected this course,
for both the Germans and the Allies. If the cable”, the commander of the US 12th Army the Germans continued to fall back toward
Allies could reach it before the Germans Group, Lieutenant General Omar N. the Schelde estuary, the Albert Canal, and
could man it (either with troops retreating Bradley, announced, “and then wait until the the Meuse river, trying to maintain a fairly
from Normandy or with others already in supply system in rear will permit further orderly withdrawal in the hope that a contin-
Germany), the Allies would probably be able advance.” The hope was to get at least uous front might be re-established there. The
to get through to the Rhine with little diffi- through the West Wall to the Rhine. ports of Calais, Boulogne, and Dunkerque,
culty. The pursuit east of the Seine was thus ‘If the German high command had any- about to be isolated, were to be held in com-
to display some of the aspects of a race. thing to be thankful for, as OB West staff pliance with Hitler’s fortress policy directed
‘Though the Albert Canal and Meuse river members later recalled, it was that the Allies against Allied logistics.
formed a natural obstacle favourable for failed to conduct an immediate and ruthless ‘If the Germans could maintain a defen-
defence far in front of the West Wall, it exploitation of the Seine river crossing at sive line at the Schelde, Albert, and Meuse,
hardly seemed possible that the remnants of Mantes-Gassicourt by an enveloping move- they would retain the Netherlands and its
the 7. Armee, the defeated 5. Panzerarmee, ment along the east bank of the Seine to Le naval bases, air warning service, and food
and the shrunken 15. Armee, all located in Havre. That kind of manoeuvre, the Ger- and war production; they would deny the

Left: Two hundred metres or so further on, Müller pictured street (off the picture to the left), now renamed Boulevard Ful-
these men pushing their transport which was seemingly out of gence Masson. The statue of Baudouin has disappeared from
gas for its generator. (ECPAD France) Right: The tunnel which the roundabout as it has been moved some 50 metres behind
has been dug to cross Place des Flandres emerges on this same the building on the right.

5
 Allies the port of Antwerp, preserve the ter-
ritorial integrity of Germany, and protect the
Saar and the Ruhr. Most important, they
would gain time to repair and re-arm the
West Wall.
‘The troops extricated from Normandy
west of the Seine and those in the Pas-de-
Calais tried to maintain a cohesive front
close to the northern coast of France. Screen-
ing their landward flank with mobile units,
they hoped by delaying action to blunt Allied
spearheads thrusting into that flank and
thereby to gain time to reach the Schelde—
Albert—Meuse line. German commanders
insisted that the Allied pursuit was hesitant
and that orderly resistance could be success-
ful despite inferiority in strength and
resources. Yet congested roads, traffic
bottlenecks, an insufficient number of
bridges and ferries, the fatigue of continuous
movement, Allied strafing from the air, and
the lack of information on the general situa-
tion created a depressing feeling of defeat.
‘Generalfeldmarschall Walter Model, the
commander of Heeresgruppe B, was no
longer master of his army group situation.
With hope of holding at the Somme-Marne
river line shattered, he found himself issuing
futile orders that were out of date before the
Karl Müller pictured soldiers from the Heer (Army); others of the Waffen-SS; lorries car- disorganised units received them. The 15.
rying paratroopers; horse-drawn wagons; men on bicycles; on motorcycles; and on Armee, in precarious command of the Chan-
foot. Many were minus their small arms, unlike these grenadiers who still retain their nel ports, was in danger of being cut off and
rifles and personal kit. The youngster appears to be utterly indifferent to the sight of isolated. The 5. Panzerarmee, which had
the German convoys incessantly passing by. (ECPAD France) moved inland to take command of the bulk
of the remaining armour, was unable to hold
around Soissons. The 7. Armee had scarcely
begun to resurrect its ghost divisions at the
Somme when it lost its commander, General
der Panzertruppen Heinrich Eberbach, who
was taken prisoner on August 31. Unable to
form a cohesive battle line, Model by Sep-
tember 1 saw no course open except with-
drawal to the West Wall. The Germans had
been routed and whatever resistance
occurred was to a large extent the product of
individual initiative on the lower echelons.
‘Whether the Germans in north-west
France could withdraw more quickly than
the Allies could advance was the important
question. To the Allies, the answer seemed
negative on the basis of comparative motori-
sation alone. More precise indications were
also available. The XIX Corps on the US
First Army left seemed to have outraced
enemy forces that were apparently moving
eastward in an attempt to block the Allied
pursuit. Various Resistance groups in north-
ern France were of the opinion that the Ger-
mans did not have enough men, matériel,
and mobility to establish and hold a strong
A hospital has since been built on Rue du Gouvernement on the corner of Place des defensive line anywhere short of the West
Flandres (note the ambulance in the comparison on page 5) and the characteristic Wall. Despite weather conditions that pre-
brick wall has disappeared. New buildings and trees now hide the house on the right vented extensive air reconnaissance during
in the picture above but it is still there. the last days of August, Allied pilots noted

Left: And the parade goes on! On Boulevard d’Italie, paratroop- seem to have lost their weapons in the hectic moves of the last
ers push on eastwards while a careful look-out is kept for days. Only one man is armed: a soldier of the Waffen-SS who
potential ambushes by the Resistance. (ECPAD France) Right: appears to be ‘riding shotgun’ with his MG42. In the back-
There were about 20 men on this SdKfz 10 prime mover and all ground, Place des Flandres. (ECPAD France)

6
Thirty kilometres south of Brussels, Nivelles was a major focus have already seen on page 3. The damage to the roof of the
of the road network and many German convoys converged Collégiale had still not been repaired following the German
there on their way east. Left: Müller, possibly riding with the raids in 1940. (ECPAD France) Right: Post-war rebuilding has
retreating troops, took this picture of the same convoy that we transformed this stretch of the Rue de Namur.

From his studio on Place Emile Lalieux, a local photographer, vehicles leaving Nivelles. Left: An SdKfz 251/1 half-track arrives
M. Octave Sanspoux, took these snapshots of the stream of from Rue de Namur followed (right) by an Opel Blitz truck.

large German groups in various stages of dis- 100 enemy armoured vehicles near Saint- Amiens. By September 1 only a few German
organisation drifting east and north-east Quentin, more than 300 miscellaneous vehi- tanks remained on the Second British Army
across the US First Army front — more than cles clogging the road net north-east of front.
‘Recognising that the Germans could hope
to organise resistance only at the Albert-
Meuse line, General Bradley temporarily
shifted his sights from the Rhine river in
favour of a manoeuvre to block the German
retreat and eliminate the major part of the
German forces in France. To accomplish
this, Bradley decided to turn Lieutenant
General Courtney H. Hodges’ US First
Army from a north-easterly direction to the
north. Hodges’ troops, by racing across the
Franco-Belgian border to cut the Lille-Brus-
sels highway, might sever the escape routes
of approximately two panzer and eight to ten
infantry divisions that appeared to be west of
a north-south line from Laon to Mons, Bel-
gium.
‘This projected advance resembled the
third envelopment that earlier Lieutenant
General George S. Patton, the commander of
the US Third Army, had tentatively planned
east of the Seine. In effect the manoeuvre
would reinstate the earlier boundary line that
had been drawn by the commander of the
British 21st Army Group, General Bernard
L. Montgomery, and then changed at
Bradley’s request. At the conclusion of its
northward drive, the US First Army would
This corner of Nivelles is timeless and the shop from where M. Sanspoux took these have compressed the British and Canadians
pictures still stands. This spot is only a little way from where Müller took the picture into a narrow zone ending at the Schelde
at the top of this page so he certainly must have passed by here as well. estuary. The British and Canadians would

7
Left: In Tongeren, 15 kilometres north of Liège, another Belgian drawn wagonry in front of Notre Dame cathedral. (US Army)
photographer took pictures of the retreat from a window over- Right: Unfortunately new buildings preclude taking an exact
looking the Grand Place as people watch the passage of horse- comparison.

then be facing out toward the sea. Apparently

without consulting higher headquarters, Gen-
eral Bradley ordered General Hodges to exe-
cute the manoeuvre.
‘The most important objective of the shift
in direction was the city of Tournai, Belgium,
and during the afternoon of August 31 the
First Army G3, Brigadier General Truman
C. Thorson, arrived at Major General
Charles H. Corlett’s XIX Corps headquar-
ters to outline the new plan. Instead of dri-
ving through Montdidier and Péronne and
turning gently eastward toward Mons, Cor-
lett was to go north beyond Péronne to Tour-
nai, 100 miles ahead of the corps’ leading
units, and then north to Ghent, 40 miles far-
ther. The immediate objective, Tournai, was
to be taken within 48 hours — at the latest by
midnight, September 2.
‘The precise deadline for reaching Tournai
reflected additional motives. General
Bradley thought that the British would
advance less rapidly than the Americans and
that the Germans holding Tournai would
consequently constitute a threat to the First
Army left flank. More important, an air-
borne operation (‘Linnet I’) was scheduled
to take place at Tournai against General
Bradley’s wishes. Bradley had consistently
opposed the use of airborne troops during
the pursuit because he believed that ground
forces alone could gain distant objectives and
because he felt that available aircraft would
be better employed to bring supplies to the From Nivelles, Karl Müller proceeded eastwards, taking en route the two photos seen
ground units rather than to transport air- on page 3 before he arrived in Tongeren. There, he pictured this medical convoy in
borne troops. Overruled by the Allied front of the cathedral. The statue is that of Ambiorix — a local Gallic leader who
Supreme Commander, General Dwight D. fought against Caesar’s armies.

Large numbers of German troops made good their escape before had managed to slip in between the American task forces. Among
the pincers finally closed around Mons. Many were from the them were sizeable battle groups from the 9. SS-Panzer-Division
I. SS-Panzerkorps, on the 5. Panzerarmee’s left wing which was and 10. SS-Panzer-Division and these started to assemble in the
already east of the American northward axis of advance. Others Maastricht sector from September 3. Here men of the latter
were from the LVIII. Panzerkorps and II. SS-Panzerkorps which division hand out delicacies to local children. (ECPAD France)

8
Leading the US XIX Corps drive north, the 2nd Armored kilometres to the north, and captured the bridge over the canal
Division crossed the Somme early on September 1, reaching intact. American tankers shot up any German vehicles that tried
Cambrai by evening. During the night, Company D of the 82nd to cross over and the following morning this burning half-track
Reconnaissance Battalion reached Aubencheul-au-Bac, 12 remained at the southern entrance to the village. (US Army)

Eisenhower, Bradley had warned that reach Tournai at the appointed hour. “Get a the corps had advanced against only the
ground units would secure the Tournai drop good night’s sleep and don’t worry”, the 2nd faintest kind of opposition. Even destroyed
zones before airborne troops could land Armored commander, Major General bridges had failed to slow the rate of
there. To insure the correctness of his predic- Edward H. Brooks, advised Corlett, “It’s in advance. In keeping with procedure that had
tion, he ordered General Hodges to get the the bag.” Nearby, the excited corps chief-of- become standard, engineers laid a treadway
XIX Corps to Tournai despite the fact that staff exclaimed, “Hot pursuit!” bridge first, then built a Bailey bridge
Tournai was within the British army zone. ‘Combat Command A (CCA) of the 2nd nearby. When the Bailey was completed, the
‘General Hodges was under another Armored Division crossed the Somme early traffic was diverted to it, and the treadway
impression. He thought that the reason why on September 1 after bypassing a pocket of was pulled up for the next crossing.
Bradley wanted additional speed on the dif- resistance at Montdidier, which the 79th ‘American incursion into the British zone
ferent axis was his desire to link up with the Division soon eliminated, and on September had begun to look like a habit, and one of
paratroopers scheduled to drop on Septem- 2 — two hours before the midnight deadline General Montgomery’s aides visited Corlett
ber 3. — reached Tournai. While a regiment of the on the afternoon of September 2 to protest.
‘To get to the Belgian border in the short 30th Division took the city, both infantry Montgomery wanted XIX Corps halted short
time allowed, Corlett used all his available divisions assembled in the objective area of Tournai so that American troops would
trucks, chiefly of artillery and anti-aircraft around midnight. Combat Command B not interfere with the British advance, but it
units, to motorise two regiments of the 79th (CCB) arrived after a two-and-a-half hour was too late to stop the columns. When
Division and one of the 30th — this in addi- engagement with an enemy column that Hodges informed Corlett later in the evening
tion to the organic transportation that resulted in the destruction of 96 German that a change in plans made a halt necessary,
enabled each infantry division to motorise vehicles and 28 guns. Combat Command the leading troops were virtually on the
one regimental combat team. With the 2nd Reserve (CCR) had just enough gasoline to objective.
Armored Division leading two almost com- reach the objective but instead assembled ‘The XIX Corps halted at Tournai, as
pletely motorised infantry divisions, the XIX about ten miles short of it to keep a small much because the units were out of petrol as
Corps set forth to bypass resistance and supply of fuel on hand for emergencies. because of orders. While British troops, who
make night marches if necessary in order to Except for these two instances of resistance, had reached the vicinity of Tournai shortly

Further down the road, Shermans of the 66th Armored Aubencheul-au-Bac, from then . . . to now. The orderly peace
Regiment thunder past those who have turned out to greet the and quiet of a summer’s day in 2001 contrasts with the hectic
Americans. A dead German lies at the roadside. (US Army) events of September 1944.

9
Left: At 9.30 a.m. on September 2, men of the 82nd Reconnais- through Saint-Amand, eight kilometres from the border, where
sance Battalion, 2nd Armored Division, crossed the Belgian crowds gathered on the Grand Place to cheer them on. (US
border near Rumes, ten kilometres to the south-west of Tour- Army) Right: Most of the buildings surrounding the square in
nai, thus becoming the first Allied soldiers to enter Belgium. 1944 still stand today and Jean Paul managed to gain access to
These M5 light tanks were pictured later that day, moving the same window on the first floor of the house on the corner.

after the Americans, swept beyond, XIX

Corps processed a disappointing total of only
1,300 prisoners. A small captured barge
loaded with German petrol enabled recon-
naissance units to mop up the area. Mean-
while, Corlett waited for further instructions
and fuel supplies.
‘The Tournai airborne operation had in
the meantime been cancelled. Awakened at
daybreak on September 3 by a complaint
from General Montgomery that American
troops were blocking the roads at Tournai,
Bradley was satisfied that they also blocked
the airborne drop. General Eisenhower had
tentatively decided on September 2 to can-
cel the operation on the announced theory
that the purpose of the drop — to bar Ger-
man escape routes to the east — had been
achieved by ground action. After conferring
with Montgomery, the Supreme Comman-
der confirmed his decision. In the mean-
time, the commander of the First Allied
Airborne Army, Lieutenant General Lewis
H. Brereton, had announced poor weather
conditions as the official reason for can-
celling the drop.
‘Like XIX Corps, US V Corps had
received instructions to advance north. It was
to cut the Lille-Brussels highway at Leuze
At Rongy, the first village across the border, the population turned out to cheer the (ten miles east of Tournai) and Ath. Using
Americans. This M8 armoured car belonged to the 113th Cavalry Group, the recon- artillery, tank destroyer, anti-aircraft, and
naissance unit attached to XIX Corps. (US Army) engineer transportation facilities, Major
General Leonard T. Gerow formed provi-
sional truck companies to motorise his
infantry. With the 4th Division, reinforced by
a 5th Armored Division combat command,
in the lead, and the remainder of the armour
and the 28th Division following, V Corps
accelerated its pace on the evening of August
31. The corps advanced continuously until
the morning of September 2 when, in the
vicinity of Landrecies, about 20 miles short
of the border, most of the units ran out of
petrol. Gerow received word from Hodges
later in the day to remain on the
Cambrai-Landrecies line, but his order to
halt did not reach all the elements of the 5th
Armored Division. By afternoon of the 3rd,
CCB was about eight miles south of Leuze
and its reconnaissance elements were on the
final objective. The only resistance, encoun-
tered near Landrecies, had been overcome
without difficulty. Relatively few prisoners
were taken.
‘Although most bridges in the V Corps
zone had been destroyed by the Germans, a
few had been seized intact and a few had
been saved by FFI (French Forces of the
Interior) action. Piles of destroyed German
We discovered that the picture had been taken in Rue de Ponceau. equipment along the roads attested to the

10
Left: The 2nd Armored Division reached Tournai at 10 p.m. on within the British zone’. The Jeep in the centre of this picture
the 2nd, two hours ahead of General Bradley’s deadline. It was belongs to the US 113th Cavalry Group but the vehicle in front
another incursion in the British army zone and at 2.30 a.m. on is a British Daimler armoured car. (US Army) Right: Peter
the 3rd, the 2nd Armored headquarters received a diplomati- Taghon matched the shot for us in the Chaussée de Douai —
cally worded message from the Guards Armoured Division no easy task when the original wartime caption stated that it
‘expressing hope that 2AD understands Tournai to be totally was taken in Couvin, over 100 kilometres to the south-east!

accurate fire from Allied aircraft. Ground

troops sometimes had to use bulldozers to
clear paths through the wreckage and the
dead horses, from which hungry civilians had
already cut steaks.
‘The US VII Corps, on the First Army
right, had also received orders on August 31
to change direction. Instead of driving north-
eastward from Montcornet and Rethel
toward Namur and Liège, Major General J.
Lawton Collins was ordered to turn north
and drive through the towns of Avesnes,
Maubeuge, and Mons. General Collins’ first
concern was for the gap that would develop
on the right between his corps and the US
Third Army. When he asked Hodges who
was to fill the gap, he learned that that was
his own problem. Though Collins thought at
first that he would have to leave a division
behind for the purpose, he decided instead to
cover the gap with the 4th Cavalry Group,
reinforced by a battalion each of light tanks,
motorised artillery, tank destroyers, and
infantry, three engineer companies, and a
platoon of a medical collecting company.
Even though he had been diverted to the
north to trap Germans, Collins still had his British troops also maintained the pressure on the retreating German forces, this
eyes fixed on the West Wall. Anxious to con- Sherman of the 2nd Armoured Battalion, Irish Guards, being pictured on September 3
tinue north-eastward across the Meuse, he crossing the Belgian border at Rumes. (IWM)
instructed the 4th Cavalry not only to main-
tain contact with Patton but also to seize a — which was moving toward Sedan and was to protect the right flank; the 1st Divi-
Meuse bridgehead near Mézières. Mean- Charleville — onto new roads to the north sion was to come up on the left to reinforce
while, he swerved the 3rd Armored Division toward Hirson and Vervins. The 9th Division the armour.’

Left: The Americans established a road-block five kilometres Division. This meeting took place about 10 a.m. on September
south of Tournai at Antoing where the crew of the same Irish 3. (IWM) Right: Such are the scenes of history: this is the same
Guards’ Sherman were greeted by men of the 30th Infantry level crossing in Rue Philippart.

11
In the centre of the First Army, V Corps also advanced north- the units were out of fuel. This Sherman is in the centre of Le
wards until the morning of September 2 by which time most of Cateau on what is now Place du Général de Gaulle. (US Army)

Left: German prisoners assembled in Pommereuil, four kilome- Nevertheless, Jean Paul recognised the wall with these typical
tres east of Le Cateau. (US Army) Right: It was very difficult to doors and windows on an aerial view taken just after the storm
trace this farm as Pommereuil was devastated by a storm in 1967 and so managed to establish that the picture had been taken in
and most of the houses were demolished before being rebuilt. the yard of M. Georges Carpentier’s farm at 8 Rue du Cateau.

Left: Fighting resumed near Landrecies on the morning of Sep- searching a corpse as villagers return to their homes. (US
tember 3 to try to reduce those German forces still holding out Army) Right: The picture was taken on the D959 at a
north of the Sambre river where this Marder III tank destroyer crossroads at the western end of the town. The house in the
(Panzerjäger 38 Ausf M) was knocked out. A US soldier is background was demolished some years previous.

12
 On August 31 VII Corps, on the right wing
of the First Army, also changed direction
and on September 1 six columns of the 3rd
Armored started towards Mons. They
comprised Combat Command A (Brigadier
General Doyle O. Hickey), Combat Com-
mand B (Colonel Truman E. Boudinot) and
Combat Command R (Colonel Louis P.
Leone), each of two columns. The advance
was maintained all day against moderate
resistance and by evening CCA was
bivouacked just south of Avesnes, with
CCB to its west. Resuming their drive next
morning, CCA’s Task Force X reached
Maubeuge that afternoon. Above: At Lou-
vroil, just south of Maubeuge, members of
the FFI boarded the leading tanks to guide
them through the town and across the
Sambre. The Resistance had previously
sabotaged the demolition charges so they
knew that the bridge was intact. (US
Army) Left: The picture was taken on the
Rue d’Avesnes, the N2, which is the main
south-north road through the town.

Just north of Maubeuge, Task Force X passed the Maginot The level of the Route de Mons has since been raised and new
line which failed to stop the Germans in 1940. US forces trees hide both the Maison Rouge blockhouse and the house in
crossed the Belgian border here around 4 p.m. (US Army) the background but they are still there.

13
Left: On CCA’s right wing, Task Force Y crossed the frontier near reached Mesvin. This Sherman of the 32rd Armored Regiment
Givry and advanced along the main road to Mons as far as stands at the crossroads at the point where the field track used
Harmignies where it turned left and set off across country. When by the task force joins the main road, the Chaussée Brunehault.
approaching the main Maubeuge-Mons road allocated to Task (YB/MT) Right: In memory of the entry of Task Force Y, this side
Force X, the leading elements turned north again and soon street in Mesvin is now named Voie Américaine.

Early on September 1, Major General

Maurice Rose’s 3rd Armored Division
started towards Mons, driving due northward
astride the Vervins—Avesnes—Maubeuge—
Mons highway in six parallel columns. On
the left was Colonel Truman E. Boudinot’s
Combat Command B with two task forces,
one setting out from Marle and the other
from Hary, six miles further east; in the cen-
tre was Brigadier General Doyle O. Hickey’s
Combat Command A with two task forces
starting out from north-east of Rozoy-sur-
Serre; and on the right was Colonel Louis P.
Leone’s Combat Command R with two task
forces moving out from Wadimont, three
miles east of Rozoy.
The advance was steady against moderate
resistance all day. CCB worked its way up
the N2 main road through Vervins and La
Capelle. On its left wing, Task Force Mills
captured a German convoy and 200 prison-
ers at Leschelles, six miles west of La
Capelle. North of that town, Task Force
Lovelady fought a tough battle with German
anti-tank guns and at least two Panthers, one
of which was knocked out. A number of
enemy columns were spotted from the air
and supporting fighter-bombers called in to
These three GIs from Task Force Y, their faces caked in dust from driving in an open bomb and strafe them. By nightfall, CCB’s
Jeep, stop in Mesvin to have their picture taken with enthusiastic individuals in the two spearheads were at Le Favril, just short
main street. Less than an hour before, German soldiers would have been drinking of Landrecies, and at Fontenelle, north-west
beer in the same village! (YB/MT) of La Capelle.
The centre force, CCA, was held up for
several hours by a blown bridge of the Thon
river north of Landouzy, and later by a road-
block of anti-tank guns and one Tiger tank
near Clairefontaine. By evening, its two task
forces had reached La Capelle and Roc-
quigny, north-east of there.
CCR spent most of the day trying to find a
crossing of the Thon river, finally building
one at Bucilly, just north of Hirson. Lagging
behind the other two combat commands, it
bivouacked for the night in that town. The
day’s advance had brought the 3rd Armored
forward some 30 miles. About 500 prisoners
had been taken, from units of many different
divisions.
During the night, CCB was cut off from its
service elements, a German attack cutting
the road behind it. Fuel, lubricants and other
supplies had to be ‘fought’ forward, and this
caused a delay in CCB’s resuming the attack
on September 2, but the other two combat
commands were able to start early. Again,
opposition was moderate. Only in little
strong points, which consisted of a few tanks
and infantry, the Germans persisted in trying
to slow the American advance. Stubborn
ones were bypassed by the armoured
columns, leaving them to be smashed by air
The group picture was taken on Chaussée Brunehault about 50 metres away from the power.
village church. When we returned to the spot, Marie-Françoise was disappointed not CCB’s Task Force Mills crossed the Sam-
to find any Americans on hand to greet her with a welcoming kiss. bre at Pont-sur-Sambre over a bridge

14
Left: Task Force Y spent little time celebrating before pushing perspective of Chaussée Brunehault. In the left background
on northwards in the direction of Hyon. (YB/MT) Right: This is stands Mont Panisel, the high ground to the south-east of
the same house in Mesvin although new trees now change the Mons that was one of the objectives of Task Force Y.

From September 3 other units moved up in the wake of Task 634th Tank Destroyer Battalion (note the 634TD marking on
Force Y. The crew of this M10 tank destroyer belong to the the bumper of the Jeep). (YB/MT)

secured by the FFI, but German resistance

on the road to Bavay forced it to switch to
the east, falling in behind Task Force Love-
lady. The latter force, after crossing the Sam-
bre at Hautmont, just west of Maubeuge, and
entering Belgium, shot up several German
columns — especially at Blaregnies and
Frameries, where their route crossed the
German escape routes from Bavay to Mons,
and further north at the crossroads of the
Valenciennes-Mons highway. Continuing on
past Jemappes and Ghlin, at 2045 hours,
Task Force Lovelady reached CCB’s objec-
tive, the high ground west of Mons. CCB’s
other task force, Mills, stopped for the night
at Blaregnies, five miles south of the city.
CCA’s Task Force X advanced up the
direct main road to Mons through Avesnes
and Maubeuge. Avesnes was defended by
elements of the 12. SS-Panzer-Division, and
not cleared by the armoured infantry until
after noon. Maubeuge, 11 miles further on,
was taken without a fight. FFI fighters had
sabotaged German demolition of the Sambre
bridges there, and FFI guides led the
columns through the welcoming crowds.
Task Force X crossed the Franco-Belgian Mesvin . . . then and now. The picture was taken in front of what was then the farm
border at Bois-Bourdon at 1610 and two of Madame Suzanne Lyon — No. 16 Chaussée Brunehault.

15
About 5.30 p.m. on September 2 the spearheads of Task Force A bring-and-buy market was taking place when we took our
Y reached Hyon, on the outskirts of Mons. Here, an M3A1 half- comparison. The street along which Task Force Y entered the
track stands on the Place de la Chapelle. (YB/MT) town is now named Rue des Américains.

hours later was approaching Mons. CCA’s

right-hand column, Task Force Doan, mean-
while had advanced on a parallel route,
crossing the Sambre at Assevent, just east of
Maubeuge, and entering Belgium near
Quévy. Both columns of CCA halted at the
southern entrance to Mons, with only recon-
naissance patrols penetrating into the town
itself. While the combat command took up
positions near Mont Panisel; on high ground
east of the town; and around the coal slag-
heap of Mont Eribus to the south, road-
blocks were set up on all crossroads.
Although the Americans now held the
outer fringes of Mons, the town itself was still
held by Waffen-SS troops. That very same
afternoon (September 2), SS-Panzerjäger-
Abteilung 9 of the 9. SS-Panzer-Division,
newly-equipped in East Prussia, had arrived
by train in Mons, unloaded a dozen SP guns
and taken up a hedgehog position in the
town. They were awaiting link-up with the
rest of their division, now named Kampf-
gruppe ‘Hohenstaufen’, about 3,500 men
who at that moment were assembling at the
Mormal forest, 15 miles to the south-west,
after having defended Cambrai. In the
evening, the unit at Mons was reinforced by In the evening of September 2, two Piper Cubs carrying out artillery spotting for CCA
another battle group, Kampfgruppe ‘Frunds- landed in a nearby field. Over the last 50 years, this area has been developed with
berg’ of the 10. SS-Panzer-Division, which many new houses so that only the electricity poles now remain to indicate where the
had detoured out of the forming pocket via makeshift airstrip once lay making any comparison meaningless. (YB/MT)
Tournai. The following morning, harassed
only by French and Belgian Resistance into CCA’s zone. Continuing after dark, the just north of the crossroad hamlet of Bois-
action, Kampfgruppe ‘Hohenstaufen’ man- lead column reached a position near Har- Bourdon. Their perimeter was protected by a
aged to reach Mons as well (having passed veng, four miles south-east of Mons, at 2330 circle of seven road-blocks.
right between CCA and CCB). This com- hours. The tail of the other column missed a As the 3rd Armored advanced on Mons on
bined SS force would hold the city and the turning and bumped into a German force at September 2-3, closing the trap for the
road to Soignies until the early evening of Harmignies, losing a tank destroyer and retreating Germans, higher headquarters
the 3rd, escaping in good order before the three half-tracks. were actually already thinking of the next
Americans entered in strength. Division headquarters established itself in battle. It was only the difficulty of communi-
CCR spent the morning of September 2 the Château de Warelles at the village of cation between commanders that saved the
clearing up Hirson. Its further progress dur- Quévy-le-Grand, five miles south of Mons. Americans from inadvertently re-opening
ing the day was slowed by strong German CCA’s supply columns, escorted by a recon- the trap door again. General Hodges had
opposition, so at 2000 hours its two columns naissance company, set up camp nearby, notified Corlett and Gerow on September 1
received orders to disengage and switch west astride the Maubeuge-Mons main road and that there was talk of swinging eastward

Left: This half-track has pulled up in a field at the western end accurate comparison but this picture of Rue des Canadiens
of Hyon. (YB/MT) Right: New buildings again prevent an shows the same two houses visible in the wartime shot.

16
 Left: Advancing on the right of CCB, Task Force Lovelady
crossed the border about 4.30 p.m. on the 2nd and reached
Frameries an hour later. They continued northwards in the
direction of Jemappes leaving a road-block at this crossroads
just east of the town. At about 6.30 p.m. a horse-drawn column
of five wagons and some 50 German soldiers approached from
the west. (YB/MT) Right: The crossroads today with the Rue
Ferrer in the foreground and Rue de Genly off to the right.
again toward the Rhine, but he was unable to Corps short of Mons and hold because of to Charleroi; and the 1st Division was push-
reach Collins by telephone that day. Thus, he fuel shortages. But again he was unable to ing into Avesnes, on the tail of the 3rd
did not transmit news that might have acted get word to the leading elements of the Armored units.
as a brake on the VII Corps drive to the corps. Thus, by the morning of the 3rd, the Few prisoners had been taken by XIX and
north. Then, on September 2, Hodges 3rd Armored had reached the gates of Mons; V Corps, but this apparent absence of Ger-
received instructions to ‘curl up’ the VII the 9th Division on the east flank had moved man forces in the Avesnes-Mons area was

Left: The Germans halted at the road-block which was being Resistance. After conferring, the Germans surrendered peace-
guarded by an M5 light tank of the 83rd Armored Reconnais- fully. (YB/MT) Right: A vendre! The house on the corner had
sance Battalion, some GIs, and a few men from the Belgian just been sold when we took our comparison.

17
deceptive. Actually, the VII Corps north-
wards thrust had cut off those large German
forces that were moving into the area south-
west of Mons, generally along the axis Cam-
brai—Valenciennes—Mons and Le
Cateau—Bavay—Binche. As Blumenson put
it: ‘Blocked on the east by the 3rd Armored
Division, pushed on the west by the XIX
Corps near Valenciennes, hemmed in on the
south from Cambrai to Landrecies by the V
Corps, about to be cut off on the north by the
British advance beyond Tournai, and jabbed
on the south-east by the 1st Division, a large,
amorphous enemy group was pocketed’.
These troops mainly belonged to three
corps — the LXXIV. Armeekorps, the
LVIII. Panzerkorps and the II. SS-Panzer-
korps — that were under the control of the 5.
Panzerarmee. To the west, they were being
separated from the army’s right wing —
LXXXI. Armeekorps — by XIX Corps’
northwards thrust and to the east, VII Corps’
advance was severing the army’s left wing —
the I. SS-Panzerkorps. Out of contact with
the 5. Panzerarmee, the three corps com-
manders — General der Infanterie Erich
Straube of LXXIV. Armeekorps, General
der Panzertruppen Walter Krüger of LVIII.
Panzerkorps and SS-Obergruppenführer
Willi Bittrich of II. SS-Panzerkorps — con-
ferred on August 31 near Saint-Quentin. Above: Frameries on September 2 — an American medic treats two wounded prison-
They decided to form a provisional army ers. (US Army) Below: We traced M. Alphonse Daniel (on the right in the picture) who
among themselves and General Straube, the showed us exactly where the photo had been taken — outside No. 147 Rue Ferrer.
senior of them, assumed command.
They were in the dark on what was hap-
pening outside their immediate area but,
from Allied radio broadcasts and occasional
reports by subordinate headquarters, they
knew that their forces were in imminent dan-
ger of encirclement. They agreed to with-
draw as quickly as possible to the north-east
in the direction of Mons and Nivelles.
The forces under their control were rem-
nants of the 6. Fallschirmjäger-Division,
about two battalions strong, and of the 18.
Feld-Division (L) in one battalion strength;
elements of the 3. Fallschirmjäger-Division,
almost insignificant in number; the remnants
of the 47., 275. and 348. Infanterie-Divisions;
a mixed formation known as Divisions-
gruppe von Aulock; Kampfgruppe ‘Hohen-
staufen’ of the 9. SS-Panzer-Division and
Kampfgruppe ‘Frundsberg’ of the 10. SS-
Panzer-Division; and dispersed elements of
the 49., 271., 344. and 352. Infanterie-Divi-
sions. Around these forces had gathered
fragmentary units, stragglers, depot person-
nel and a host of miscellaneous troops.

Late on September 1, the three corps com-

manders discussed the situation by tele-
phone: enemy armoured forces were advanc-
ing from Avesnes in the direction of Mons
and other armoured formations were moving
from Bapaume and Douai in the direction of
Cambrai. There was no contact with
5. Panzerarmee and, from 1945 hours, orders
to withdraw were sent by radio to the divi-
sions. At 2030 hours, Straube went to the
LVIII. Panzerkorps command post to coor-
dinate, orders were confirmed and reports on
the movements undertaken were sent to
Heeresgruppe B and 5. Panzerarmee.
During the night, Straube moved his com-
mand post to Preux-au-Bois, while Krüger
and his staff fell back to nearby Hecq, both
of them villages on the south-western edge of
the Mormal forest. The II. Panzerkorps
moved its command post back to Villereau,
six miles to the north.
On the morning of September 2, a fuel
supply convoy of the Luftwaffe was reported
in the Mormal forest, with 50 cubic metres of
fuel, and the precious liquid was sorted out
between units of the LVIII. Panzerkorps: 15
cubic metres were allocated to the 348.
Infanterie-Division, 14 to the 18. Feld-Divi-
In their drive for Mons, the two combat commands of the 3rd Armored Division inched sion (L), ten each to the 3. and 6. Fallschirm-
ahead at a walking pace, stopping frequently. Here the people of Cuesmes cheer as a jäger-Divisions and the last cubic metre went
Sherman of CCB passes through on September 2. (US Army) to the corps headquarters.

18
Reaching Mons, the 3rd Armored Division’s three combat com- to the west at Ghlin and CCR to the south near Harveng and
mands did not try to enter the town itself but remained on the Givry. These pictures of Shermans of Task Force Mills
outskirts and waited. In the evening of September 2, CCA (Company I, 33rd Armored Regiment) attacking at Ghlin were
bivouacked to the south-east, on both sides of Hyon, CCB was taken next morning. (US Army)

At midday, a staff conference was held at

Straube’s command post in Preux-au-Bois,
with Krüger and Bittrich and some of their
staff officers. In the morning, an order from
the 5. Panzerarmee had arrived by telephone
instructing that the 348. Infanterie-Division
be moved to the sector south of Cambrai.
Obviously, the army staff had not received
any of the reports sent earlier that morning,
nor even the ones sent the previous evening,
and this order was completely out of touch
with the real situation. Straube decided to
discard it, as he did with another order from
5. Panzerarmee received by radio at 1630
hours which stipulated that LXXXI. and
LXXIV. Armeekorps hold a line between
Douai and north of Caudry; LVIII. Panzer-
korps from that point to the Sambre river;
and II. SS-Panzerkorps from there to Bail-
ièvre, while on the left I. SS-Panzerkorps was
to prolong the line as far as the junction with
1. Armee at Charleville.
The threat of encirclement became clearer
in the evening when enemy armour was
reported advancing on Maubeuge, another
armoured group moving towards Mons and
more armour to the south-west of Bavay.
The withdrawal orders to the sector between
Nivelles and Charleroi were speeded up, the Arriving from the south, the spearheads of Task Force Mills outflanked the strong
II. SS-Panzerkorps holding the right flank, German force that was making a last stand in Ghlin in front of the infantry of Task
LVIII. Panzerkorps the left. At 1800 hours, Force Lovelady and Belgian partisans. The approach of a US armoured force led the
Generalmajor Hubertus von Aulock, former Germans to quickly fall back east in the direction of Nimy. Smoke rises in the back-
commander of the Paris outer defences and ground from the Château Milfort, hit by tank fire. (US Army)

This area between Jemappes and Ghlin is marshy. The has progressively collapsed and the new road subsided to such
Quéwette river was canalised in the early ‘fifties, the road fol- an extent that it is now closed to traffic. M. Toubeau took this
lowing it has been completely rebuilt and the houses visible on approximate comparison (right) on Rue de la Quéwette on the
the 1944 pictures all domolished. However, the marshy ground southern outskirts of Ghlin.

19
Left: Elements of CCB were passing through Frameries at about a side road (Rue Jean Volders) whereupon the US tankers
11 a.m. on September 3, moving along Rue Léon Defuisseaux opened up at point-blank range. This picture was taken only a
before turning right, northwards, at the Quatre Pavés cross- few minutes later. (YB/MT) Right: Rue Léon Defuisseaux,
roads. Suddenly, two German horse-drawn carts emerged from looking in the direction from where the Americans came.

now of the divisional battle group named

after him, arrived at the LVIII. Panzerkorps
headquarters and returned with a written
order to withdraw his formation.
With little ammunition, fuel or communi-
cations left, the units of the provisional army
struggling to withdraw to the north-east were
in complete confusion. Harassed from the air
and ambushed by Resistance groups, they
soon blundered into American road-blocks.
The trek and escape of General Krüger and
his LVIII. Panzerkorps staff may serve as a
representative example. At 2030 hours on
September 2, the HQ troops started north-
wards from Preux-au-Bois in cars and trucks.
At Le Quesnoy, their rearguard was sur-
prised by an FFI attack and suffered some
losses. Via Bavay, they moved throughout
the night and by 0700 hours on the 3rd, were
approaching the Belgian border just north of
Malplaquet. There, they came across US
armour and had to detour southwards by
way of Feignies. About 0830 hours, in a
sharp firefight in the village, they brushed
aside a strong party of FFI. One hour later,
they broke through at Mairieux, just north of
Maubeuge, one of the last open passages
through the 3rd Armored Division’s line. A quarter of an hour later, an SdKfz 8 prime mover from Eugies arrived at the Quatre
They continued along secondary roads, push- Pavés crossroads. It had a 150mm gun in tow with some 20 men riding on top. At the
ing aside the many destroyed vehicles that junction, it ran straight into another column of CCB. The people standing on the
stood on their way. In the afternoon, they street cheering their liberators immediately dropped to the ground or ran for cover as
passed through Binche and were just leaving the Americans swiftly brought a 57mm anti-tank gun into action. The prime mover
to the north-east when they saw US armour was hit and immediately caught fire and those Germans who were not killed in the
entering the town. By 1900 hours, the group conflagration were cut down by machine-gun fire. (YB/MT)
had reached Mellery, six miles west of Gem-
bloux, where they re-established the LVIII.
Panzerkorps command post. There was no
contact at all with any of the subordinate
divisions. Oberst Gerhard Triepel was sent
to find the 5. Panzerarmee HQ, then at
Noville-les-Bois, six miles north-east of
Namur, to report on the corps situation.
The main escape route out of the pocket
was the diagonal road running north-east
from Bavay via the Bois-Bourdon crossroads
to Binche and Charleroi. Thus, it was the 3rd
Armored’s forces located nearest to Bois-
Bourdon — Division Headquarters, CCA’s
maintenance and supply force, and the light
forces defending it — that were to feel the
strongest pressure of the flood of German
troops struggling to get out.
The battle started in the early hours of
September 3, while it was still pitch dark.
The lone reconnaissance detachment of the
32nd Armored Regiment guarding the Bois-
Bourdon crossroads gave the first alarm of
the approach of a long German column
(probably of the 348. Infanterie-Division),
knocking out the lead vehicle, a PzKpfw III.
However, other panzers and German
infantry soon forced it to pull back 300 yards
to the north, enabling the rest of this German The Quatre Pavés crossroads as it appears today. Task Force Lovelady approached
column to pass through unharmed. Shortly down the road on the right, with the intention of proceeding left to Cuesmes.

20
In their drive northwards, the US combat
commands left behind only light forces to
guard the route just taken and the
trapped German troops exploited any gap
found in the American rear lines. At Bois-
Bourdon, where CCA had cut across the
road running diagonally north-east from
Bavay to Binche, the GIs stationed near
the crossroads felt the pressure of Ger-
man troops struggling to get through
from the early hours of September 3.
Above: At Quévy-le-Grand, just north of
this crossroads, a captured German offi-
cer knocks at the window of a house to
call his men out. (US Army) Right: Rue de
l’Epinette at Quévy-le-Grand. Below: The
same officer (a Hauptmann commanding
a company according to the wartime cap-
tion) later led the Americans to this
nearby wood: ‘Nazis respond to surrender
call of their captain’. (US Army)

21
 Left: Escorted by four GIs of the 3rd Armored Division, three
German prisoners are marched to the POW cage which had
been quickly set up in the yard of a factory near Hyon. (YB/MT)
Above: The picture was taken at the level crossing near the
railway station between Ciply and Hyon. This is the Chaussée
de Maubeuge, looking northwards.

after, at 0145, the road-blocks protecting fire from 100 yards, they set a dozen vehicles At daybreak, with German troops pouring
CCA’s supply perimeter heard a second ablaze. The rest of the German force veered headlong into the 3rd Armored road obsta-
enemy column moving towards the same to the right, escaping across country in the cles everywhere, the crews of tanks and tank
crossroads over a secondary road. Opening darkness of the night. destroyers had a field day. At 0630 hours
near Blaregnies, two tank destroyer platoons
of Task Force Mills intercepted a German
artillery column moving up the Mons road
from Malplaquet and in a short battle
knocked out 40 of its 50 vehicles, including
one 88mm, three 105mm and three 155mm
guns. However, rather than stay in position
to catch more enemy columns, at 0730 Task
Force Mills withdrew northwards to join up
with Task Force Lovelady west of Mons.
(This enabled several German groups to
sneak through to Mons and escape from the
pocket.)
At 0400 hours, the tank crews at one of the
CCA road-blocks on the southern edge of
Mons spotted a German column passing in
front of it at 100 yards distance. Within sec-
onds, four 37mm flak wagons and eight other
vehicles were destroyed or set ablaze. At
0830, another tank road-block nearby shot
up two trucks pulling 88mm guns of
Fallschirm-Flak-Abteilung 3, killing eight
men and rounding up 34 prisoners.
Before dawn, three German tanks seized
Cheval-Blanc, the next crossroads further
south, in an attempt to open the Givry road
for other escape columns. However, those
that got through ran straight into CCR’s
This field south of Mesvin in front of the Bélian brewery was surrounded by walls and blocking position at Harveng. The CCR
thereby provided a suitable location for a temporary POW camp. Machine guns were tanks were on the crest of a hill looking down
set in position at each corner to guard more than 3,000 prisoners. The Mont Eribus on the Germans coming towards them, and
slag-heap can be seen in the left background. (YB/MT) few of the enemy managed to break past
their road-block. In the nightly battle, the
Americans knocked out two of the three
panzers and some 20 vehicles. A German
artillery convoy with three 75mm pieces
stumbled into the firing position of CCR’s
67th Armored Field Artillery Battalion and
was captured.
In this confusing battle, there was no front
and rear for the 3rd Armored. Supply and
maintenance troops, signalmen, medics and
other rear-echelon personnel found them-
selves in the middle of the action, many of
them fighting alongside the combat troops.
The medical aid post established by Com-
pany A of the 45th Armored Medical Battal-
ion between Cheval-Blanc and Warelles
found itself positioned right between the fir-
ing lines. As the morning wore on, the aid
post was flooded by hundreds of wounded
from the battle on the Givry road, most of
them German. Unable to evacuate the over
380 patients due to the fighting and shelling
all around, the medics treated and guarded
them until relieved in the afternoon.
The Division Command Post in the
The Bélian brewery has since closed its doors and many of its old buildings have Château de Warelles at Quévy-le-Grand was
been pulled down. Now cows graze in the same field but Yves Bourdon, who was protected by a tank company and an infantry
with us when we took this comparison, told us that as late as 1990 it was still possi- company, but these were not strong enough
ble to pick up items — such as identity discs, empty cans, spoons and forks — aban- to prevent German troops from infiltrating
doned in this field by the German prisoners in 1944. into the command post perimeter. The

22
Altogether, about 25,000 Germans were taken prisoner in the commander, and General Rose of the 3rd Armored, were more
Mons pocket. However the total might have been much higher if interested in resuming the advance eastwards to the Rhine than
the Americans had been more expedient in closing the trap. The in cleaning up the situation at Mons. As a result, large German
3rd Armored Division had advanced on Mons quite slowly and forces were able to slip through on September 2 and more fol-
had not left adequate forces behind to secure the roads. Also, VII lowed during the night and the next day. All told, at least 40,000
Corps was slow off the mark in ordering the 1st Division to fol- German soldiers managed to escape from the pocket. Left: The
low and many escape routes were left open for another 12 prisoners in this GMC are booed by boy scouts as they are evac-
hours. It would appear that both General Collins, the VII Corps uated from Mons. (YB/MT) Right: The Grand Place today.

divisional Chief-of-Staff, Colonel John H.

Smith, organised all headquarters personnel
that could be spared from duty — clerks, dri-
vers, signalmen — into an ad hoc defence
force to throw the enemy back. Dubbed
‘Combat Command Smith’, this force in a
battle lasting 36 hours captured 600 prisoners
and neutralised 69 vehicles.
Nearby, at the divisional POW cage in
Quévy’s old sugar refinery, Major Charles H.
Kapes, the Division Military Police Officer,
his 16 enlisted men and 27 attached infantry-
men of the 1st Division fought a pitched bat-
tle, in which they captured 300 Germans
while guarding 4,000 prisoners at the same
time. The story goes that, in the confusion, a
CCA military policeman, directing traffic at
night, calmly motioned a German Panther
tank into an American bivouac area. The
tank continued on in and the crew surren-
dered.
Yet, throughout the morning of the 3rd,
the Germans continued to exploit any gap
left in the four-mile stretch between
Maubeuge and the Bois-Bourdon crossroads.
Many groups managed to squeeze through,
using either the main road through Bois-
Bourdon or the network of smaller roads fur-
ther south. Then, in the afternoon, P-47
fighter-bombers of the IX Tactical Air Com-
mand picked up the closely-packed Wehrma- The prisoners came from at least 20 different divisions and a multitude of units and
cht columns, jammed nose to tail on the services. Judging by their uniforms, some of the men being searched here at Ciply on
Bois-Bourdon road. As the aircraft swooped September 3 are paratroopers, either from the 3. Fallschirmjäger-Division or from the
down, all occupants jumped down from the 6. Fallschirmjäger-Division. Note the woman seemingly acting as interpreter. The
vehicles and horse-drawn wagons, seeking picture was taken outside No. 548 Rue de Maubeuge. (YB/MT)

Among the prisoners were three generals, Generalmajor Rudi- near Ciply with many of his staff on the morning of September 3.
ger von Heyking, Generalmajor Carl Wahle and Generalmajor On his left stands Major Constantin von Quardt. Right: General-
Hubertus von Aulock. Left: Generalmajor von Heyking, comman- major Wahle of the 47. Infanterie-Division was caught with his
der of the 6. Fallschirmjäger-Division, was captured in a quarry staff near the Hyon-Ciply railway station on the 4th.

23
At Goegnies-Chaussée, CCA cut one of
the main escape routes and, although
many groups of Germans had succeeded
in avoiding capture during the night and
morning of September 3, hundreds of
vehicles — tanks, trucks, guns, horse-
drawn transport — had remained
jammed nose to tail on the road. From
midday on the 3rd, Thunderbolts of the
395th Fighter Squadron bombed and
strafed the endless columns of closely-
packed vehicles and by evening, over
five kilometres of the road was choked
with some 600 wrecked vehicles, 400
dead horses and 300 mangled and
burned corpses. In the process the vil-
lage of Goegnies suffered badly, with at
least 30 houses destroyed and 50 more
badly damaged. Bulldozers were soon
brought up to clear the road pushing
everything aside with scant ceremony.
Above: On September 5, GIs of the 18th Who would recognise this as being the same spot today? Our comparison was taken
Infantry Regiment, 1st Division, sur- looking eastwards, the left-hand side of the road lying in Belgium and the right-hand
veyed the carnage from their Jeep. side in France. The Bois-Bourdon crossroads lie just two kilometres further on.

Left: German material losses were at least 40 armoured vehicles, in tow was disabled at Frameries on September 2. (YB/MT)
100 half-tracks, over 200 artillery, anti-tank and flak guns, and Right: It had been photographed on Rue Ferrer, looking east-
about 2,000 vehicles. This SdKfz 7 prime mover with its 150mm wards in the direction from where the Americans had arrived.

24
Left: The Valenciennes-Mons road was another main escape with burning vehicles, dead horses and wounded or killed
route until 6.20 p.m. on September 2, when the vanguard of soldiers. This was how Avenue Foch — the road to Mons —
Task Force Lovelady advancing from the south opened up a appeared on the following morning. (YB/MT) Right: But for the
devastating fusillade at the German convoy they surprised at cobblestones now replaced with macadam, little has changed.
Jemappes. In a matter of minutes the main street was covered In the centre, Saint Ferdinand school.

shelter in buildings, ditches and woods lining

the road. Amid the chaos and panic, a few
brave flak gunners stayed at their guns to fire
back at the aircraft, but to little avail. Soon,
the road was choked with hundreds of burn-
ing vehicles, wrecked guns, dead horses,
mangled corpses.
All day, the M7 guns of the 54th and 67th
Armored Field Artillery Battalions, from
firing positions south of Mons, wrought
havoc and destruction among the German
columns, their fire directed by an observa-
tion officer on top of the Mont Eribus slag-
heap.
Meanwhile, further south, Major General
Clarence R. Huebner’s 1st Division had
begun to strike the retreating German
columns full in their right flank. The division
had started out from Avesnes in the morn-
ing, but it had taken a while for the attack to
come under steam, as VII Corps had given With the main road to Mons cut, the Germans turned to side streets to try to bypass
no indication of the urgency of the situation. the road-block. There were numerous clashes with Belgian partisans and many civil-
At 0830, the 1st Battalion of the 26th ians were killed. This Tiger II of schwere SS-Panzer-Abteilung 101, positioned on
Infantry had set out northwards by truck Avenue Foch some distance to the west of the road-block, fired throughout the night of
with orders to relieve the 3rd Armored at September 2/3 to defend the western part of the town. (J-L. Roba)
Mons. Then, at 1000, it received word that
the 3rd Armored’s divisional headquarters units in that area. And the 16th RCT was to secutive attacks. The battle lasted till mid-
was under enemy attack. At the same time, follow the 26th to Avesnes but then carry on afternoon. When it was over, 200 Germans
reconnaissance aircraft reported large con- northwards to occupy Mons in force. had been killed and 2,400 taken prisoner.
centrations of enemy columns making their The division’s lead unit, the 1st Battalion Meanwhile, the five tanks and four tank
way from Bavay north-eastward through the of the 26th Infantry, motored through destroyers attached to the battalion fired at
corridor between Maubeuge and Mons. Maubeuge without any enemy contact but, the Bois-Bourdon crossroads to the north,
Alerted by this, at 1135, the 1st Division having dismounted just north of there, ran destroying nine vehicles and interdicting fur-
issued orders for the attack to be speeded up. into a sharp battle with a German force ther traffic there. At 1700 hours, the 1st Bat-
The 18th Regimental Combat Team (RCT) crossing the highway from west to east near talion occupied the crossroads, putting the
was instructed to swing to the west, going the village of Bettignies. The battalion final lid on that escape route too.
around the Mormal forest, to intercept the formed a box position on the road, facing The rest of the 26th RCT had similar
German columns at Bavay. The 26th RCT west, and opened withering fire on the Ger- experiences. To move more quickly, the
was to move up to Avesnes and then fan out mans moving towards them. Doggedly the infantry used all available transport: tanks,
to the west to break up and eliminate enemy Germans kept coming, launching five con- tank destroyers, Jeeps, supply trucks, even

Left: The crew abandoned the Tiger in the early hours of Sep- — possibly it was knocked out while trying to move to a safer
tember 3. Its gun remained pointing eastwards, towards the location. Right: We found that the picture had been taken on
Americans although the tank itself faced the opposite direction Avenue Foch, near the junction with Rue de l’Industrie. (YB/MT)

25
Left: At about 4 a.m. on September 3, a German convoy, trying the 703rd TD Battalion. As soon as the Germans were spotted
to extricate itself northwards from Ciply, arrived at the T-junc- turning left and approaching the road-block, the Americans
tion with the Chaussée de Maubeuge. The American road- opened up. This SdKfz 7/2 half-track, armed with a 37mm Flak
block was situated near the railway station, some distance to 36 gun, was one of the vehicles hit. (YB/MT) Right: In front of
the left of this junction, and comprised four tank destroyers of the Saint-Joseph chapel today.

captured German vehicles. Advancing west-

wards from Maubeuge, the lead company of
3rd Battalion drove into a German regiment
at La Longueville, and the surprised German
soldiers just moved aside and surrendered to
the companies following behind. Two miles
further on in the direction of Mons,
approaching Malplaquet from the south,
these companies spotted another German
column moving across their front on the
diagonal road from Bavay to Binche. Their
machine guns and supporting armour poured
devastating fire on it from 900 yards, after
which the infantry attacked. Several hundred
Germans were taken prisoner, countless oth-
ers lay dead or wounded. The German col-
umn was in fact only one part of the endless
stream of convoys making its way from
Bavay to Bois-Bourdon and beyond. Miles of
double-rowed vehicles — tanks, trucks, guns,
horse-drawn transport — could be seen
stretching both to the west and east. Like at
Bois-Bourdon further up the road, P-47
fighter-bombers completely smashed these
trapped convoys in the afternoon. By the end
of the day, the 26th RCT (minus its 1st Bat-
talion) had reached Frameries, to the south-
When day dawned, the junction showed up littered with blown-up vehicles and badly west of Mons, where it dug in.
burned and mutilated bodies. Across the road, a Ford truck had been driven down The 16th RCT had numerous clashes with
into the By river. The body of M. Emile Dehon, a Belgian whom the Germans had enemy groups as it moved up the main road
impressed as a guide, lay nearby. He had been sitting on the front of the leading half- to Mons, rounding up hundreds of prisoners,
track when American fire blew the vehicle to pieces. (YB/MT) sometimes in areas already passed through
by the 26th RCT. By the evening, the 1st
Battalion was in Mons and the 3rd Battalion
in position beyond the canal to the north of
the city. The 2nd Battalion meanwhile had
orders to clear the La Lanière woods, north-
west of Maubeuge, but these proved to be
chock-full of German troops, fugitives from
the air-pummelled columns on the Bavay—
Bois-Bourdon road just to the north of it. A
stiff firefight erupted in the woods, with
fighting at very close quarters, which lasted
all through the night. At 0400, a German
captain requested a cease-fire to evacuate
the wounded. The American battalion com-
mander, Lieutenant Colonel Herbert C.
Hicks, refused, insisting that the Germans
surrender. The Hauptmann accepted. From
0630, the Germans came out of the woods in
groups of 50. When the final count was
made, a total of 3,256 men had surrendered
(700 of them wounded), the largest number
of prisoners captured by a single US infantry
battalion in the entire European campaign.
The 18th RCT reached Bavay in the early
afternoon of the 3rd, clearing the town and
blocking all enemy traffic through it.
Another endless German column was now
bottled up on the road stretching ten miles
Chaussée de Maubeuge, looking in the direction of Mons from the bridge over the By back to Le Cateau. The road was systemati-
rivulet. The Saint-Joseph chapel (see top of this page) lies just a few metres beyond cally and mercilessly shelled, bombed and
the curve of the road. strafed until it too was choked with wrecked

26
and burning vehicles. Many Germans took
refuge in the Mormal forest, the large forest
lying directly east of the road, hoping to
escape on foot during the night. But the 18th
Infantry had left its 2nd Battalion to seal off
the eastern side of the forest. Several times
during the night, groups of Germans tried to
break out. Some succeeded, others did not.
In this battle, Pfc Gino J. Merli of Company
H, 18th Infantry, feigned death after his
machine-gun section had been overrun, but
re-opened fire as soon as the Germans had
left. He remained at his weapon throughout
the night, repeating the same ruse twice
more; at dawn 52 enemy dead were found
around his position. (Merli was awarded the
Medal of Honor.)
The 3rd Armored Division played little
part in the fighting on September 4. CCA’s
road-blocks at the southern outskirts of
Mons captured several isolated German
vehicles during the morning, and two compa-
nies of the 83rd Reconnaissance Battalion,
aided by two tank platoons of CCR, helped
relieve the 33rd and 957th Field Artillery
Battalions of the 1st Division which had
become surrounded near Malplaquet, but
that was all. From 1400 hours, the 3rd
Armored units began leaving the Mons sec-
tor, having been ordered to resume the Having taken the picture that appears in the centre of the page opposite, the photog-
advance to the east. One tank battalion of rapher turned left and crossed the road. Looking in the direction of Ciply from where
CCR (the 3rd Battalion of the 33rd Armored the German convoy had arrived, he then took this shot of Rue Emile Vandervelde,
Regiment) was left behind to support the 1st with two disabled vehicles: an SdKfz 10 light prime mover with a Citroën just behind.
Division. It looks as if some resourceful individuals have already made good use of the two
By then, the situation in the pocket had front wheels of the half-track! (YB/MT)
become more stabilised. The 1st Division
was systematically rounding up thousands of
prisoners, liquidating remaining enemy
pockets with the help of Belgian partisans.
Most of the encircled Germans were in no
mood to fight and surrendered easily, but
there were still some who carried on till the
end. The morning battle around the threat-
ened artillery position near Malplaquet, in
which both the 18th and 26th Infantry partic-
ipated, bagged some 900 prisoners. One of
the last major actions took place at Sars-la-
Bruyère, five miles south-west of Mons.
Around midnight of September 4/5, a Ger-
man horse-drawn artillery column tried to
break through a road-block established there
by the 2nd Battalion, 18th Infantry. The
Americans responded with artillery and mor-
tars. The battle lasted all night. When the
Germans finally gave up and surrendered on
the morning of the 5th, 52 of them had been
killed and some 160 wounded. The Ameri-
cans took 483 prisoners, six 105mm guns and
over 200 horses.
Mopping up continued. Throughout the
5th, isolated groups of Germans were
weeded out, particularly from the Mormal
forest, and as late as 1700, the 26th Infantry
accepted the surrender of a group of nearly Rue Emile Vandervelde remains just as it was half a century ago. The By river runs
3,000 Germans at Wasmes, a village three just out of the picture on the left, and the T-junction where the German convoy was
miles south-west of Mons. shot to pieces lies just behind the photographer.

Left: This camouflaged Hummel (a 150mm SP gun built on a but it was soon bulldozed aside by US engineers. (YB/MT)
PzKpfw IV chassis) was abandoned by its crew right in the mid- Right: Rue Grande has seen little change with the Paris-Brux-
dle of the road in Genly, five kilometres south-west of Mons, elles main railway line still crossing the village.

27
It was 5.20 p.m. on September 2 when
the point of Task Force Lovelady
reached Frameries. They continued
northwards, leaving only a small force
behind to hold the town, so for a few
hours at least German troops, with
tanks and vehicles, were able to squeeze
through and escape eastwards. The trap
was more firmly closed from about
8 p.m. and the Germans caught there-
after just abandoned their transport to
try to escape on foot in the darkness.
Before they left, they placed explosive
charges along the column of vehicles on
the Rue Ferrer which detonated at
10 p.m. Ammunition in the vehicles
exploded and a chain-reaction set the
whole street ablaze. Above: The detritis
of war on Rue Ferrer . . . as seen on the
morning of September 3, with only a
Citroën lorry and car recognisable amid This picture was taken between the crossroads seen on page 17 and the wounded
the wreckage. German being treated on page 18.

As soon as the smoke of battle cleared at Ghlin, local people began cutting steaks from the carcasses of dead horses. (US Army)

30
At a conference on September 2 at Chartres, General Eisen- tember 4, General Collins, the VII Corps commander, pulled up in
hower agreed with Generals Bradley, Hodges and Patton that his M20 armoured car in the Grand Place of Beaumont (30 kilo-
the First Army was to shift from its northwards course to an metres south-east of Mons) to check his map. A mother and her
eastward axis and head towards Koblenz and Mannheim. The son stood watching him but to give more punch to this picture
reorientation was begun on the 3rd but fuel was in short supply when reproduced in the Press, the caption writer described
and only V and VII Corps were able to move on that day. On Sep- them as standing ‘in fixed admiration’. (US Army)

By the evening of September 5, the battle claims by air forces are to be regarded with tude of miscellaneous units and services.
of the Mons Pocket was over. The Germans caution). Total German material losses in the These potential defenders of the West Wall
had suffered tremendous losses. On Septem- pocket were some 40 armoured vehicles, were thus wiped off the field of battle.
ber 3 alone, the 3rd Armored and 1st Divi- tanks and SP guns, 100 half-tracked vehicles, Among the prisoners were three generals:
sions had taken between 7,500 and 9,000 120 artillery pieces, 100 anti-tank and flak Generalmajor Rudiger von Heyking, com-
prisoners. The IX Tactical Air Command guns, and nearly 2,000 vehicles. An estimated mander of the 6. Fallschirmjäger-Division,
claimed the destruction of 851 motor vehi- 3,500 Germans had been killed. In three days captured in a quarry near Ciply on the morn-
cles, 50 armoured vehicles, 652 horse-drawn about 25,000 had been taken prisoner, rem- ing of September 3; Generalmajor Carl
vehicles, and 485 persons (as always, these nants of 20 different divisions and of a multi- Wahle of the 47. Infanterie-Division, caught

Left: Meanwhile, a batch of prisoners rounded up in Beaumont, the same spot on the Grand Place, the photographer having
most of them from the Luftwaffe, was being marched across merely turned around to make his second exposure. The build-
the square by members of the Resistance. (US Army) Right: ing on the right is just off to the left in the picture at the top of
Both pictures were taken at the same time, from more or less the page.

31
Left: The 9th Infantry Division began operations to seize a waiting for fuel. It started eastwards in the afternoon of the 4th
bridgehead over the Meuse near Dinant on September 3 but the with Namur and Liège as its objectives. (YB/MT) Right: The
3rd Armored remained immobilised throughout the next day picture was taken on the Rue des Capucins in Mons.

Left: An M7 — a 105mm M2A1 howitzer mounted on an M3 with Combat Command B on the right in two columns and
medium tank chassis — of the 54th Armored Field Artillery Bat- Combat Command A on the left in a similar formation. (YB/MT)
talion exits Mons as part of Combat Command A. Once on its Right: Avenue Reine Astrid, the main road out of Mons . . .
way, the 3rd Armored Division advanced east in four columns then and now.

with his staff near Hyon-Ciply railway sta- Though nearly 30,000 men had been killed korps and II. SS-Panzerkorps; the battle
tion on the 4th; and Generalmajor Hubertus or captured, an estimated 40,000 had groups of the 9. and 10. SS-Panzer-Divisions;
von Aulock, commanding the divisional bat- succeeded to slip out of the pocket, among parts of the 275. and 348. Infanterie-
tle group carrying his name, who was cap- them General Straube and his staff; the Divisions; and small detachments of the 3.
tured that same day at Ciply. headquarters personnel of LVIII. Panzer- and 6. Fallschirmjäger-Divisions.

Left: That same afternoon at Strépy-Bracquegnies, 12 kilometres Right: M10 tank destroyers of the 634th TD Battalion in the Rue
east of Mons, M. Yves Empain pictured Combat Command Florence Coppée. By the morning of September 6, the Meuse
A advancing eastwards. This is Rue Tombou. ‘Cheering Belgians was bridged at Namur but the 3rd Armored Division was still
urged the armour forward. There was sun and dust and short of fuel and only a task force could be despatched south-
victory in the air’, recorded the history of the 3rd Armored. wards to help the 9th Division (see After the Battle No. 98).

32
 Compared with the German ones, Allied
losses at Mons were minute: between Sep-
tember 2-4, the 3rd Armored had lost 57 men
killed, the 1st Division 32 killed and 93
wounded (the number of wounded for the
3rd Armored is unknown). Material losses
were just two tanks, one tank destroyer, and
about 20 other vehicles.
Although the battle for the Mons Pocket
was a clear US victory, the gains could have
been much higher if the Americans had
acted with more speed and coordination.
Though by early September 3, the Ameri-
cans had gained control of the escape routes
through Mons, they had displayed little effi-
ciency in closing the trap. The 3rd Armored
Division had closed on the city at a slow
pace, taking two days to advance from Mont-
cornet to Mons, a distance of only 50 miles.
(In comparison: the 2nd Armored Division
had covered the 65 miles from Péronne to
Tournai in less than one day.) All local wit-
nesses describe the 3rd Armored’s spear-
heads as moving at walking speed, halting
again and again for long periods of time.
Reaching Mons, the division’s three combat
commands did not try to take control of the
town but stopped in the south-eastern out-
skirts (CCA), to the west (CCB at Ghlin)
and to the south (CCR near Harveng and
Givry) and mainly waited there. They had
left no adequate forces along the way to con-
trol the area between Maubeuge and Mons. Awaiting fuel, XIX Corps remained out of action near Tournai for another day and only
VII Corps was slow in ordering the 1st Divi- moved out on September 5. Here in Soignies, which lies 15 kilometres north-east of
sion forward and, in consequence, several Mons, children greet the men of the 41st Armored Infantry Battalion. (US Army)
vital escape routes remained open for
another 12 hours. As a result, large German
forces that should have been caught were
able to escape on September 2 and more fol-
lowed during the night of September 2/3.
Though many German officers had been
captured with maps that clearly showed the
withdrawal in progress, the 3rd Armored
remained as if unconcerned about it. Like his
superiors Hodges and Collins, the division
commander, General Rose, was apparently
more interested in resuming the advance
eastward to the Rhine than in cleaning up
the situation at Mons. Indicative of this atti-
tude is that, late on the 2nd, when the main
stage of the battle was yet to begin, he
instructed his troops to leave Mons next
morning and advance to Namur. It is clear
that neither Collins nor Rose appreciated
how large an enemy force was coming
towards Mons from the south-west.
Blumenson: ‘The head-on encounter at
Mons was, from the tactical point of view, a
surprise for both sides. Neither Americans
nor Germans had been aware of the
approach of the other, and both had stum-
bled into an unforeseen meeting that To widen the square which lies in the centre of the town, one house has been demol-
resulted in a short, impromptu battle.’ ished and the statue moved to a new position.

Left: At Nivelles, 15 kilometres to the east, German air attacks Cavalry Group. (US Army) Right: Although the left side of Rue
in 1940 had destroyed the centre of the town, leaving an open de Mons has been rebuilt, this is the same spot. Compare these
space in front of the Collégiale. The troops belong to the 113th pictures with those on page 7 showing the German retreat.

33
Daily Mail, August 5, 1914:‘The Bank Holiday aspect of the Lon- The Times, July 21, 1919: ‘The crowds gathered to watch had
don streets had gone yesterday. Monday’s subdued excite- fought; and they also were but representatives of all the mil-
ment gave place yesterday to a grim determination. When ten lions that have fought and suffered for the day that is to be.
thousand people were in front of Buckingham Palace at about One could not watch the procession without feeling that a
eight o’clock last night, the King and Queen, the Prince of whole world was present in thought; there was the prophetic
Wales, and Princess Mary came out on the centre balcony. soul of the wide world dreaming on things to come. More than
After frantic cheers of loyalty the crowd sang with great fer- a triumph, it was the march of mankind through the ages for a
vour the National Anthem. Later the King, the Queen, and the moment made visible, a multitude which no man can number,
Prince of Wales again appeared amid acclamation.’ of all nations and peoples and tongues.’

THE UK NATIONAL INVENTORY OF WAR MEMORIALS

By Jane Armer, Judith Beresford, Nick Hewitt and Lorraine Knight
On Thursday, November 8, 2001, the The database contains a wealth of informa- genealogy. Supporting the database is an
Imperial War Museum was delighted to tion which will be invaluable to a wide archive of around 50,000 survey forms,
announce the launch of a new database and range of researchers, pursuing the history of together with photographs, postcards and
archive, the UK National Inventory of War art or social history, military history and other ephemera.
Memorials. UKNIWM, established in 1989,
has been a ground-breaking and successful
partnership between major public institu-
tions, a dedicated nationwide network of vol-
unteers and generous sponsors, and is jointly
administered by the Imperial War Museum
and English Heritage.
Almost every community in the United
Kingdom has a war memorial. Most memori-
als were erected after the First World War
and usually the names of Second World War
casualties were added after 1945. Some com-
munities have memorials to the dead of ear-
lier or later conflicts, for example the
Crimean or Boer Wars, or the Korean or
Falklands Wars.
Since 1989 UKNIWM’s volunteers have
carried out thousands of detailed site sur-
veys, taking photographs and delving into
their local archives, in order to put together
as comprehensive a picture as possible of
how their communities remembered their Of over 45,000 war memorials now recorded on the UK National Inventory, the
war dead. Cenotaph (from the Greek meaning an empty tomb) is undoubtedly the most well
About 45,000 of these records are on a known. Designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, it was originally a temporary structure
computer database which is accessible to erected for the Peace Procession on Saturday, July 19, 1919. However, popular
the public in the museum reading room. demand led to its replacement with a permanent stone memorial a year later.

34
The Cenotaph proper. Following the same design, save only for flagstaffs, it was erected on the same spot and unveiled on
minor amendments like the victor’s laurels added to the Armistice Day in 1920. It is now Inventory No. NIWM 104.

THE FIRST WORLD WAR During the war, communities made lists of subscription. A committee would be formed
The First World War was a traumatic local men and women who were serving and which included representatives of local gov-
event during which some three-quarters of a as news of casualties reached home these ernment and other prominent individuals.
million British subjects died, and most were lists of those serving became revered objects. Their task was to oversee the funding and
buried near where they fell or have no Constantly amended with news of deaths, construction of a memorial. Many commit-
known graves. Exhumations and the repatri- promotions, wounds or awards of decora- tees held public meetings where the views of
ation of the dead were banned for the dura- tions, they were often placed, decked with local people could be heard and when deci-
tion of the war in March 1915, and commem- flowers, outside churches and other conspic- sions about the type and site of the memorial
oration on the battlefield became the uous sites. could be made. There was no legislation
responsibility of the Imperial (now Com- After the Armistice, decisions were made about the building of memorials so the
monwealth) War Graves Commission. The to build permanent memorials (although impetus and methods employed were ad hoc
principle of non-repatriation was a long some were built during the war years). The and varied from place to place. At some
established tradition imposed on the British best known is the Cenotaph in Whitehall unveiling ceremonies a memorial was for-
Army by circumstances, as distance alone erected as a temporary structure in 1919 and mally passed from the care of the organising
had made it impossible to bring back the rebuilt during the following year as a perma- committee to the local council, the latter
dead from places like India, South Africa or nent tribute to the fallen of the Empire. It agreeing to preserve it in perpetuity. A few
the Crimea. The IWGC therefore reiterated remains the national focus of annual com- committees actually organised trusts for
the ban at the end of the war. As a result, memoration. maintenance costs. In many cases, however,
millions of the bereaved at home were left Local memorials took many forms. The the future upkeep of the memorial was taken
with no tangible focus for their grief. most usual method of funding was public for granted.

‘To the members of the parish of Loughton who died on active erecting local memorials. This was an early one unveiled by
service in the Great War 1914-18.’ Very soon after hostilities Lord Lambourne, the Lord Lieutenant of Essex (formerly
had ceased, towns and villages all over the British Isles were Colonel Mark Lockwood), on June 24, 1920 (NIWM 22469).

35
Local memorials were usually erected in a prominent place in dedicated by the Bishop of Stepney in July 1922 (NIWM 18101).
the parish — like this obelisk (left) commemorating the dead of Right: Sizes and styles varied enormously, the Celtic cross
Leyton and Leytonstone beside the High Road (A11) unveiled being a popular design which was not just confined to those
in November 1926 (NIWM 12547). Others were placed in local regions as demonstrated by this memorial in East London
cemeteries like that (centre) in All Saints Churchyard, Poplar, Cemetery (NIWM 12373).
In 1923 a War Memorials (Local Authori- sented the memorial as a gift. It was unveiled style is Robert Tait McKenzie’s memorial to
ties’ Powers) Act enabled ‘local authorities by Lord Plumer on October 4, 1924. the men of Cambridge, unveiled by the Duke
under certain circumstances to maintain, The memorial did not meet with universal of York on July 3, 1923. Entitled The Home-
repair and protect war memorials vested in approval: the soldier and self-appointed art coming, it depicts a young soldier striding for-
them’. This act empowered, but did not critic Sir Edward Gleichen described it thus ward, a German helmet slung from his pack,
oblige, local councils to take responsibility in his book London’s Outdoor Statuary: a wreath over his rifle barrel and holding a
for memorials at their own discretion. ‘That limited group of people who admire rose. Although in the uniform of a private
Amendments under the Local Government “futuristic” art will doubtless highly approve soldier, he is, as the Australian historian Ken
Acts of 1948 and 1972 did not materially of this monument. It represents in stone Inglis has pointed out, ‘every inch the leg-
affect the situation. The problem was not three tin hatted figures. . . crunched together endary public schoolboy or university stu-
helped by the variety of memorials. Their and looking straight to their front, while a dent’, who it is difficult to visualise as ‘a man
location, type and funding have all con- serpent disports itself among their legs . . . who has been through the Great War’.
tributed to the complexity of maintenance the fore-end of one man’s rifle has had to be Of course, most communities could not
problems. cut away in order to get it under his hat; and afford the luxury of figurative art. Simple,
Eric Kennington’s ‘modernist’ war memo- their are no folds to their clothes anywhere.’ rough hewn crosses, often of the Celtic style
rial in Battersea Park is in many ways not He does however have one positive com- ‘wheel cross’ variety, are one of the most
truly representative, being a military memor- ment: ‘the cylindrical pedestal,’ he says, ‘is common styles of monument to be seen, as at
ial to the men of the 24th Division. Kenning- pleasantly low.’ home in the soft lowlands of the home coun-
ton has been described as ‘a major figure in Figures of soldiers were typically more ide- ties as true Celtic communities. The most
the history of British 20th century Art’, and a alised than those of Kennington: classically common of all were mass produced plaques
major collection of his work is held at the beautiful and far removed from the horrific and tablets fixed to the walls of churches, or
Tate. He served with the division and pre- reality of the trenches. A fine example of this plain rolls of honour inscribed on parchment.

More elaborate were those memorials designed to commemorate the fallen of a

division or of a city. Left: Eric Kennington’s memorial to the 24th Division stands in
Battersea Park (NIWM 12486) and Robert McKenzie’s monument (NIWM 887) to the
men of Cambridge (right) in front of Cambridge station.

36
Nearly 15,000 men of the Guards Division lost their lives and Right: The Artillery Memorial at Hyde Park Corner provoked
this impressive monument (left) was erected on the western much controversy as Mr C. S. Jagger’s representation of a
side of Horse Guards Parade. The figures of the five Guardsmen 9-inch howitzer was deemed by some to be neither accurate
were cast from captured German cannon (NIWM 11359). nor in good taste (NIWM 128).

Yet guns and tanks were used as memorials. This ceremony dedicated as memorials can be seen at Redman Park, Beamish
was held at Artillery House, Stratford, in 1924. Both house and (NIWM 10162) and on a hilltop at Twyn-y-Garth, Llandeilo
gun have since disappeared but other artillery pieces, Graban, Powys (NIWM 37231).

Left: The government also donated surplus tanks to towns Right: Of the 265 Mk IVs delivered, only this example presented
and cities in recognition of their efforts in buying War Bonds to Ashford on August 1, 1919 survives today. Most were
and War Saving Certificates. No. 148 is a male Mk IV with scrapped as unwelcome reminders of the horrors of war before
57mm guns although female types, i.e. those armed solely or during the Second World War. No. 245 can still be seen
with machine guns, were usually selected because there were parked next to a pub in Park Street although it is now protected
more of them! against the elements by an overhead canopy (NIWM 43725).

37
Some communities chose to spend money subscribed by the Left: This example in the Borough of Islington, stood on
public for a local war memorial on more practical purposes, Tollington Way in north London. Right: When the building was
particularly on the establishment of War Memorial Hospitals. demolished, the entrance was preserved (NIWM 12057).

In addition, a whole array of utilitarian

memorials appeared: hospitals, parks gar-
dens, playing fields, halls, almost always with
the names of the fallen displayed promi-
nently. Many communities were divided by
quite bitter arguments about the relative
merits of monumental and utilitarian memo-
rials, the latter quite often being favoured by
returning veterans.
Hospitals present unique problems as,
although ‘useful’ by 1920s standards, many
have now reached the end of their useful life,
and it is hard to strike a balance between the
utilitarian and commemorative functions of
the memorials. Many are now threatened
with demolition. A particularly creative solu-
tion was arrived at for the Royal Northern
Hospital in Holloway, North London.
Although the hospital itself was demolished
in 1997 and replaced by housing, the arch
was retained and sympathetically integrated were models of egalitarianism, in keeping well as on the local war memorial. Nearly
into the new development. The names of with the spirit of the Imperial War Graves 11,000 of these individual memorials have
1,337 Islington men who lost their lives are Commission and the mood of the time. So, at been recorded by the Inventory to date, com-
inscribed on the walls within the arch. The Burwash, Rudyard Kipling’s son John is listed pared to over 32,000 ‘community’ memorials.
memorial, actually the whole casualty in the alphabetical nominal roll, between Pri- Perhaps the most extravagant example of an
department, was unveiled by HRH The vate William Keeley of the Northumberland individual memorial commemorates Lieu-
Prince of Wales (the future King Edward Fusiliers and 16-year-old Boy William Lan- tenant Edward Horner of the 18th Hussars,
VIII) on November 27, 1923. gridge, who died at the Royal Navy’s training who died of wounds at Noyelles on Novem-
Perhaps the most significant element of any establishment for boy seamen, HMS Ganges, ber 21, 1917. Located in the parish church at
memorial was the nominal roll, the element in 1918 (NIWM 10059). Mells, Somerset, it is a full-size equestrian
which made every war memorial unique, how- Many affluent families ensured that their figure by Sir Alfred Munnings, with a lengthy
ever pedestrian its design. Some memorials offspring were commemorated separately as Latin inscription (NIWM 1386).

In an outpouring of national grief in an attempt to assuage the mounted horseman in Somerset . . . or a simple mantlepiece
loss of a million men, both rich and poor remembered their display in a terrace house. All served . . . and all paid the
loved ones according to their station . . . be it a life-size supreme sacrifice.

38
But of all those who were lost, no death touched the heart of aroused and they were both arrested. In October 1915 they
every single person in the nation like that of Edith Louisa were brought before a military tribunal together with 25 col-
Cavell, executed by the Germans on October 12, 1915. Trained leagues who were implicated in the organisation. Edith did not
as a nurse at the London Hospital, the outbreak of the First deny her guilt and she, Phillipe Baucq and three others were
World War found her in the post of Matron of a new, large sec- sentenced to death. Early on October 12 she was driven from
ular hospital and training school in the process of being built in the prison at St Gilles to the Belgian National Shooting Gallery
the Brussels suburb of Uccle. Violation of Belgium’s neutrality on the eastern outskirts of the capital and lined up in front of a
on August 13, 1914 led Britain to declare war on Germany the firing squad. Although Edith had admitted her guilt, the execu-
following day. All the British nurses in Belgium were ordered tion of a woman — and a nurse at that — aroused profound
home but Edith and a few colleagues stayed behind to care for anti-German feelings around the world, fuelled by reports in
the wounded . . . of both sides . . . but when she helped two the Amsterdam De Telegraaf that she had first been forced to
British soldiers return through the lines in September, the witness the execution of Phillipe and that the firing squad had
emphasis of her caring changed. With the help of her architect all deliberately shot to miss her so that the officer in charge
friend Phillipe Baucq, Edith built up an escape organisation had had to administer the coup de grâce. Above right: In April
which eventually helped over 200 Allied soldiers cross the fron- 1919, a memorial was established on the site where a total of
tier into neutral Holland. However, German suspicions were 35 persons had been shot during the First World War.

Above: The memorial was destroyed by the Germans in 1940

when the range was once again used for executions, over 260
bodies being identified after the war. Although the shooting
gallery has since been demolished to build a Belgian television
studio complex, a Cemetery of Honour — complete with the
old preserved stop-butt and a replacement WWI memorial
plaque — has been retained on what is now Rue Colonel
Bourg. Below: Edith Cavell’s body was returned to Britain in
May 1919 and buried in the shadows of Norwich Cathedral.

Memorials to Edith Cavell were established around the world.

Apart from one in Brussels outside her former hospital, the
people of Canada named a mountain after her and New Zealan-
ders, a bridge. There are seven Cavell entries on the database,
her memorial in London being this imposing statue by Sir
George Frampton (NIWM 11538) standing at the junction of
Charing Cross Road and St Martin’s Lane. It is inscribed with
her immortal words: ‘Patriotism is not enough; I must have no
hatred or bitterness for anyone’.

39
THE SECOND WORLD WAR 4,619
The war memorials of the First World War
were a unique phenomenon reflecting a
unique war. No equivalent spontaneous mass
commemoration took place in the country Number of Unveilings
either before or after, despite the fact that lit-
tle more than 20 years after the signing of the
Treaty of Versailles, Britain was once more 700
at war with Germany.
The armed forces of 1939-45 were as
extensive as those of 1914-18, and casualties, 600
although lower, still ran to around a quarter
of a million. Nevertheless, the commemora- 500
tive activity which followed the Second
World War was much more muted, perhaps 400
due partly to an increased cynicism, a sense
that the memorials of 1919 had utterly failed
to prevent a repeat catastrophe. 300
One such cynical view was recorded for
the Mass Observation Bulletin of 1944, a 200
kind of 1940’s ‘focus group’:
‘Most of the last war memorials bear 100
inscriptions to the effect that those of that
day were satisfied that it was “the war to end
war”. We of this day will, I am sure, be alive 0
to the necessity of putting our hopes into 1850 1870 1890 1910 1930 1950 1970 1990
words. Therefore I would suggest that on — — — — — — — —
each memorial there should be placed a neat 1859 1879 1899 1919 1939 1959 1979 1999
plaque saying — “this sacrifice was not
enough. Another was called for — and was
made”. Care should be taken to leave room The compilation of the National Inventory has produced some remarkable statistics.
for the plaque that will be necessary about 30 This chart shows the proportion of unveilings split up in decades: 1900-09, 202; 1910-
years hence’ 19, 617; 1920-29, 4619; 1930-39, 90; 1940-49, 400; 1950-59, 293; 1960-69, 66; 1970-79,
Almost as an afterthought, many commu- 58; 1980-89, 191; 1990-99, 438 and 2000 to date 44.
nities simply added the new names to exist-
ing First World War memorials; some did to ‘a civil servant’: ‘Anything but monu- memoration, the nation settled for simply
nothing at all. ments. Memorial funds for scholarships or adding the years ‘1939-1945’ to the Cenotaph
The Second World War generation were charity, memorial utility buildings, but not in Whitehall.
also far more passionate supporters of utili- absolutely useless and often ugly memorials’. In addition the now-renamed Common-
tarian commemoration, as shown again by As far as a national war memorial was con- wealth War Graves Commission accepted
anonymous comments recorded for Mass cerned, the Government’s decision reflected responsibility for constructing new cemeter-
Observation. The 1944 Bulletin opens with a the mood of the nation. Arguably the most ies and Memorials to the Missing, such as the
paragraph headed ‘No Stone Memorials’ and significant memorial created after the Sec- magnificent Royal Air Force memorial to
goes on to argue that ‘most people wanted a ond World War turned out to be the Land the missing at Cooper’s Hill, Runnymede.
memorial which would be useful or give Fund, which was created from surplus war The cloister was designed by Sir Edward
pleasure to those who outlive the war’. funds in 1946 as a memorial to the dead of Maufe and it was unveiled by HM Queen
Typical of the comments is this, attributed both World Wars. In terms of symbolic com- Elizabeth II in 1953 (NIWM 23270).

‘If I climb up into heaven Thou art there: If I go down to hell, overlooking the historic fields of Runnymede form an evocative
Thou art there also. If I take the wings of the morning and theme for the Air Forces Memorial opened by HM The Queen on
remain in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there also shall October 17, 1953. The memorial was quickly awarded the
Thy hand lead me and Thy right hand shall hold me.’ The words Bronze Medal of the Royal Institute of British Architects for the
from Psalm 139 etched on the beautiful north-facing window best building erected in the south of England since the war.

40
 9
8

8
1
7 1
7

6 6

5 5

4 4

3 3
2
2

FIRST WORLD WAR SECOND WORLD WAR

[1] [1]
[2] [2]
[3] [3]
[4] [4]
[5] [5]
[6] [6]
[7] [7]
[8] [8]
[9]

Throughout the country, local commemo-

ration of the Second World War was much
more practical and understated than that of
the First, reflecting the sentiments expressed
in the Mass Observation Bulletin. In
Appleby, Cumbria, for instance, the Second
World War memorial (NIWM 3062) is a
swimming pool. The ‘Names of the Fallen’
were still important, but were often quietly
added to existing First World War memori-
als. These additional inscriptions were muted
and often confined to a simple addition: ‘and
also the World War 1939-1945’.

The question has been argued many

times for and against the view: should
memorials be useful . . . or decorative?
Above: Appleby-in-Westmorland chose
the former and built their local swim-
ming pool as a memorial whereas the
Polish Air Force followed traditional
thinking with their formal tribute at
Northolt (left).

A few new free-standing outdoor mem-

orials were constructed after the Second
World War. However, in most cases these
could be loosely categorised as official or
semi-official projects sanctioned and paid for
by the nation or the military. Very few were
spontaneously erected by communities. One
of the best-known examples is the Polish Air
Force Memorial at RAF Northolt, the work
of the exiled Polish sculptor Mieczyslaw
Lubelski, which was unveiled on November
2, 1948 by Lord Tedder (NIWM 2276).
Practicality and understated restraint
remained the dominant characteristic of Sec-
ond World War commemoration for many
years. However, the 1980s and 1990s saw an
unprecedented desire to construct more per-
manent and obvious memorials relating to
the Second World War, and a wave of new
construction has taken place during the last
20 years.

41
 REPORT No. 1 REPORT No. 3

The many different types of memorial which exist in the UK can These two examples show breakdowns, first by type, and then
now be analysed using a variety of reports from the database. split between the First and Second World Wars.

An ideal location for many new war

memorials has been the National Memorial
Arboretum at Alrewas in Staffordshire, a
150-acre area of woodland set aside for a
wide range of commemorative projects (see
After the Battle No. 114).
Although largely the results of local cam-
paigns and fund raising initiatives, these
memorials tend to be the work of veterans
groups and other interested parties rather
than a broad cross-section of a community.
The war in the air, bombing, war work, and
the elaborate preparations for the Second
Front, meant that the Second World War was
fought in (or often over) Great Britain to a
far greater extent than was the First, and con-
sequently many of these more recent memo-
rials commemorate locations such as airfields,
camps or aircraft crash sites, or specific
events and operations, rather than the names
of the fallen. Rather than providing a link
between British communities and distant bat-
tlefields in foreign countries, these more
recent memorials therefore often provide a
direct link between the reader and history — The memory of the Desert Rats remembered in this very appropriate memorial
to a very great extent they represent a tangi- beside the A1065 a mile north of Mundford, near Thetford in Norfolk (NIWM 19590).
ble symbol of what comes ‘after the battle’.
For instance, on October 23, 1998, a ‘Desert Rats’. The memorial marks the loca- The following case studies have been pre-
restored Cromwell tank was unveiled at tion of High Ash Camp, where the division pared by UKNIWM staff to illustrate in
Thetford Forest, Norfolk to commemorate spent the first months of 1944, preparing for more detail how war memorials can enable
the 7th Armoured Division, the famous D-Day. the visitor to touch the past.

42
COMMANDO WAR MEMORIAL
On top of a barren hill, 600 feet high just
outside Spean Bridge, on the main road from
Fort William to Inverness, Highland, stands
the simple yet striking memorial to the Com-
mando Forces of the Second World War. It
commands a magnificent view of the valley
of the River Spean, Ben Nevis to the south
and the whole western end of the Great
Glen.
The memorial was subscribed for by the
people of Scotland as a tribute to the exploits
of Commando soldiers of all nationalities
and for those who gave their lives in the war.
The site for this memorial was chosen
because it is in the area where 35,000 officers
and men of the Commandos trained during
the Second World War.
The memorial consists of three Com-
mando figures in bronze, each nine foot tall,
standing on a plinth of Scottish Whinstone,
and in full battle dress with rifles slung across
their shoulders. Great strength is portrayed
in the figures by size and by deliberate care-
lessness of clothes, baggy battle dress, enor-
mous boots and battered untidiness of bala-
clava hats. The faces are those of tired, but
purposeful men, rough-hewn and deter-
mined.
The memorial was designed by Scott
Sutherland of the Dundee School of Art and
made by the firm of H. H. Martyn Ltd, a
company of art craftsmen founded in 1888
which made fine items in wood, stone and
marble carving, decorative plaster work,
wrought iron, stained glass, cast bronze,
sculpture, furniture and cabinet making,
including many memorials commemorating
the casualties of the First World War. Unfor-
tunately, as taste changed and pressure grew
to reduce the cost of new buildings and deco-
rative items, the demand for work of the
quality produced by H. H. Martyn Ltd
declined, and the firm finally closed in the
1970s. The figures were cast in bronze, with
sand used as the moulding material, and the
memorial took 12 months to complete in the
foundry.
The memorial was unveiled on September
27, 1952 by HM Queen Elizabeth, the
Queen Mother. Among those present was
Lord Lovat, Major-General R. A. Laycock,
former Chief of Combined Operations,
Colonel C. E. Vaughan, former Command-
ing Officer of the Commando Basic Training
Centre, and military representatives of the
Allies. It was estimated that 5,000 spectators
were present, including many former Com-
mandos, the largest gathering in the district
since Prince Charles Edward Stuart raised
the Standard in nearby Glenfinnan in 1745. Overlooking much of the barren landscape over which many of the Commandos
In his speech Lord Lovat said that the men trained, their memorial (NIWM 5894) was unveiled in September 1952 ‘In memory of
represented by the skill of the sculptor were the officers and men of the Commandos who died in the Second World War 1939-
just the sort of men he would like to have 1945. This country was their training ground’.
with him on a beach-head. He said that the
first Commandos were raised from volun- After the Fall of France Churchill insisted Centre. The commandant was Lieutenant-
teers and were ill-equipped, without boats or on maintaining the offensive spirit and called Colonel Vaughan and from then on all Com-
aircraft, but they had skill and determina- for the creation of raiding forces of, say, mandos passed through the Achnacarry
tion. He continued: 1,000 up to no less than 10,000 men, follow- course where they learnt the skills of
‘They ended the war as possibly the most ing this up two days later by demanding unarmed combat, weapons usage, assault
formidable striking force in the Allied ‘Enterprises . . . with specially trained troops courses, field survival, how to construct a
armies, fighting in Europe and the Far East. of the hunter class, who can develop a reign rope bridge, endured the Speed March, and
The names of those who fell can be traced of terror first of all on the “butcher and bolt” practised opposed landings, rock climbing,
from the Arctic Circle down into the steam- policy’. From this emerged the Commandos abseiling and night attack as well as many
ing jungles of Burma and Malaya’ ‘hit and run’ hand-picked guerrilla forces, to other skills.
The name Commando was originally given be dropped by parachute or landed by boat As well as the Army and Royal Marine
to groups of Boer raised on electoral districts or submarine to strike at the enemy on their Commandos, Royal Naval Commandos
to fight the British army during the South own ground. The first Army Commandos (sometimes known as Beachhead Comman-
African War (1899-1902). Their actions were were formed in June 1940, followed by the dos) also learnt many of their skills at
marked by lightning guerrilla raids that first volunteer Royal Marine Commando Achnacarry. Scotland was also the site for
helped prolong the war. At the beginning of Units in February 1942. the Commando Mountain and Snow War-
the Second World War the British adopted Until 1942 each Commando was responsi- fare Training Camp established at Braemar.
these ideas with the formation of guerrilla ble for its own training, which inevitably pro- Achnacarry was also used as a training site
companies which later came to be known as duced wide variations in kind and standard. for US Rangers. It was officially disbanded
Independent Companies recruited from vol- For this reason, in February 1942, training once the war was over.
unteers, designed as a self-contained ship- was standardised and centralised with the Here the Army, Royal Marine and Royal
borne unit for amphibious operations. Sev- creation at Achnacarry House (some miles Navy Commandos received the much cov-
eral ICs fought in Norway 1940 and had the to the north-west of the site of the Com- eted green beret along with the famous F-S
order by demolition and harrying tactics to mando Memorial), the home of Cameron of dagger from Colonel Vaughan at a special
impede any German advance. Lochiel, of the Commando Basic Training parade.

43
Lieutenant-Colonel Geoffrey Keyes lost his life in a vain attempt The Germans incorrectly accorded him the rank of major on his
to kill or capture Erwin Rommel in November 1941. On Rom- battlefield grave, the ‘VC MC’ being added by his brother Roger
mel’s orders, he was buried with full military honours alongside when he visited it in the autumn of 1943. The small cemetery
the four Germans killed during the raid on Beda Littoria. lay on rising ground about a mile from the village.

LIEUTENANT-COLONEL GEOFFREY Once he had arrived to take up his new post,

KEYES VC, MC Auchinleck spent time building up the army
Whilst the archive has records of many which had been defeated by Rommel and
regimental memorials, there are also numer- insisted, despite Churchill wanting immedi-
ous memorials that have been erected to ate action, that no offensive should be under-
individuals. Some are quite basic with just a taken until everything was ready.
few lines of text whilst some, typically those The new offensive was planned meticu-
of the 19th century, are more prosaic. In lously and the attack, named ‘Crusader’, was
some cases, they can be quite unusual and planned for November 1941. Its intention
this is shown in this example – the memorial was for the Eighth Army to outflank Rom-
for Lieutenant-Colonel Geoffrey Keyes VC, mel and then go north and link up with the
MC which takes the form of his battlefield Australian forces in Tobruk. In addition to
cross. What is unusual about it is that it is a this, Auchinleck also planned two ambitious
Second World War battlefield cross, one of special assignments. In the hours before the
only six recorded on the database by com- offensive began a group of Commandos
parison to the 345 recorded for the First would land by submarine on the Libyan
World War. coast and then attempt to reach Rommel’s
Geoffrey Keyes was the son of Admiral Sir headquarters and either kill or capture him.
R. J. B. Keyes, both of whom died during the It was felt that if Rommel was killed or cap-
Second World War. Admiral Keyes was the tured at the same time as the ‘Crusader’
first Chief of Combined Operations who attacks commenced, the German command
died on December 26, 1945 as a result of system would be thrown into chaos to the
injuries received on active service in the Far benefit of the main British offensive. At the
East. His son, Geoffrey Keyes, predeceased same time, another unit would be parachuted
him when he was killed whilst leading the in further east to infiltrate a key German air-
raid on what was believed to be Rommel’s field and destroy as many of the planes
headquarters in Libya. His father at that time parked there as they could. Once their job
was in charge of directing all Commando was complete, members of the Long Range
operations from the headquarters of Com- Desert Group would collect them, as well as
bined Operations. any members of Keyes’ unit who could not
The raid itself was just one part of a plan make it back to the submarines, from a pre-
code-named Operation ‘Flipper’. Through- arranged point.
out 1941 the German army in North Africa The Commandos chosen for the job to kill
had achieved considerable success. The or capture Rommel had been part of a con-
British forces under Wavell had failed to tingent named Layforce under the command
beat the Germans and relieve Tobruk which of Lieutenant-Colonel (later Major-General)
led to increasing exasperation on the part of Laycock. Whilst the contingent had been dis-
Churchill. He eventually relieved Wavell of banded soon after landing one of its units,
command and replaced him with Lieutenant- No. 11 (Scottish) Commando, had continued
General Sir Claude Auchinleck in July 1941. to train and practice night landings from

44
In August 1944 Geoffrey’s body was reburied in Benghazi War marked his grave was sent to England to be placed in the family
Cemetery. At the same time, the wooden cross which had church at Tingewick, three miles west of Buckingham. (CWGC)

submarines. Lieutenant-Colonel Keyes was who did make it to shore headed inland to ing up a generator and some vehicles. How-
in charge of these folbotists (so called Beda Littoria, around 12 miles south of the ever, most of the party were captured and
because the light-weight canvas boats they coast. They spent the next two days hiding in the raid became an unmitigated failure. The
used to reach the shore from the submarine the rough country north of the village, their other raiding parties also achieved little suc-
were called folbots). Keyes, then aged 24, concealment helped by the foul weather cess and the whole action achieved negligible
was a well-regarded and competent officer which had made landing so difficult. gains at a high cost, mirroring the eventual
who had been educated at Eton and Sand- In the early hours of November 18, they failure of ‘Crusader’.
hurst and had served in the Royal Scots launched their attack but it soon turned to When Rommel returned to North Africa
Greys and he had insisted that he should lead disaster. After killing a German sentry, they and found out about the attempt on his life
the raid on Rommel’s headquarters. burst through the door of the Prefettura. he saw to it that Keyes, who was posthu-
However, unbeknown to everyone, the Their opening fire killed the duty officer but mously awarded the Victoria Cross for his
mission was doomed to failure. By the time the noise roused the German troops asleep actions, was buried with full military honours
the decision had been made to carry out the elsewhere in the building. As he ducked next to the four German soldiers who had
attack intelligence believed that it had been aside to allow one of his men to throw a been killed in his raid. The cross that was
able to pinpoint Rommel’s headquarters grenade, Keyes was shot just above the heart placed above Keyes’ grave is now in Tinge-
beyond a shadow of a doubt. Captain J. E. and by the time his comrades could get him wick Parish Church, along with a memorial
Haselden, one of the most successful British outside he was dead. His second-in-com- tablet commemorating both him and his
intelligence agents in the desert, had been mand was also wounded so the rest of the father. Keyes himself is now buried in Beng-
parachuted behind enemy lines in October to party decided to retreat, but not before blow- hazi War Cemetery, Libya.
find Rommel’s HQ. Radio intercepts of Ger-
man traffic had led British intelligence to
believe that it was located close to a village
called Beda Littoria so Haselden kept watch
on the village. His observations showed that
the village was full of German troops and he
seemed to have struck gold when Rommel
emerged from the Prefettura, the official
building in the village. Haselden then ren-
dezvoused with vehicles of the Long Range
Desert Group and took the information back
to Cairo.
Little did they know that, whilst the
Prefettura had temporarily been Rommel’s
HQ, it was now occupied by the Afrikakorps
Quartermaster General’s department. When
Haselden had spotted him, Rommel was only
on a routine visit to the staff group and his
headquarters were now much closer to the
fighting. Also, Rommel himself was not even
in North Africa. He had actually flown back
to Italy two weeks earlier for a rest and to
celebrate his 50th birthday.
The British, however, knew nothing about
this and so the Commandos continued with
their mission. Four days before the start of
‘Crusader’, two submarines from which they
would be landed had taken up position off
the Libyan coast. T2 patrol of the Long
Range Desert Group had already dropped
off Haselden, two British officers and their
group of Arab agents to both guide the Com-
mandos to Rommel’s headquarters and carry
out sabotage missions of their own. When
they sent out the signal to say they were in
position the Commandos began to launch Sir Roger Keyes, whose leadership in the St George’s Day raid on Zeebrugge in 1917
their folbots. However, the sea had grown was an inspiration for the combined operations carried out in World War II, died on
rough and only a fraction of the force could December 26, 1945. The Glider Pilot Regiment provided a Guard of Honour for the
leave the submarine before launching had to coffin as it lay in Tingewell church; nearby, fixed to the wall above his seat, was the
be suspended. Plans were adapted in the cross removed from Geoffrey’s grave, now recorded in the Inventory as NIWM 8096.
light of the smaller attacking force and those (Admiral Keyes was buried in the ‘Zeebrugge Plot’ in St James’s Cemetery at Dover.)

45
WOMEN’S TRANSPORT SERVICE HMS Paladin (above) and HMS Petard (below) were both Onslow class destroyers
(FANY) MEMORIAL built under the war construction programme and launched in 1941. Petard gained the
The vast majority of memorials under- unique distinction of being involved in the sinking of submarines from three
standably commemorate men owing to their countries Britain was at war with. These were the German U-boat U-559 in October
greater involvement on the front line but 1942; the Italian sub Uarsciek which sank whilst under tow December 1942 following
there are occasions when women feature on its capture, and the Japanese submarine I-27.
a memorial. One example is the regimental
memorial to the Women’s Transport Service escorts including HMS Hawkins, departed relatively peacefully. The three escorting
(WTS, but more commonly known as on February 3, 1944. Captain R. C. White- ships, HMS Honesty, HMS Sennen and HMS
FANY) who, out of all the arms of the man, commodore on board the Khedive Lulworth, left the convoy in the early hours
women’s services, were involved more Ismail, decided not to plot a zig-zag course of February 9 as they did not carry enough
directly in combat through their role with the as, not only would it would have meant an fuel for the whole journey but replacements,
Special Operations Executive. This fact is extra night at sea owing to the greater dis- HMS Petard and HMS Paladin, were on
reflected in the memorial erected at St Paul’s tance the course would create but the port of their way from the east. They arrived on the
Church, Knightsbridge, London (NIWM 40). Colombo was closed at night so timing was morning of February 12 and took up their
To look at, this memorial seems very much everything. In the subsequent Board of stations within the convoy. The only scare
like all the others. Unveiled on May 7, 1948 Inquiry blame was placed on this decision for came when the Commodore made a signal
by HRH Princess Alice, Countess of the sinking of the Khedive Ismail. But to the convoy to say that oscillations had
Athlone, it is simple in design with a dedica- throughout the war different strategies had been heard from the south-east on a wave-
tory inscription at the top and a list of names been adopted, for example ships in convoy length of 600 metres. However, the signal
of the fallen below. But upon closer inspec- using zig-zag or else ships travelling without grew weaker as the ships moved in a north-
tion it reveals a much more interesting story. convoy so his decision was not unusual. Cap- westerly direction so any potential trouble
In fact, there are a number of stories with tain John William Josselyn of HMS Hawkins was avoided.
familiar names like Violette Szabo GC (see had recommended an alternative strategy The arrival of the new escorts on the
After the Battle No. 86), Y. E. M. Beekman but had backed down, not before insisting morning of the 12th lifted morale amongst
and A. R. Borrel commemorated on it. But that if it became advisable at any time during the convoy as it gave a certain reassurance
what can easily be overlooked are the names the voyage, zig-zag numbers 12 and 38 for everyone’s protection. Indeed, something
of eight women who were members of the should be used. akin to the feelings of a cruise had developed
WTS (East Africa). Their presence on the The first few days of the convoy passed with a concert party arranged for lunchtime.
memorial marks the worst Allied disaster
involving servicewomen in any war to date
when a total of 76 female personnel died
when the transport ship they were on, SS
Khedive Ismail, was sunk by torpedo on Feb-
ruary 12, 1944.
The SS Khedive Ismail was sailing in con-
voy KR8 from Mobasa, Africa to Colombo,
Ceylon. She had been requisitioned as a
troopship on October 6, 1940 whilst she was
docked in Bombay and was being used exclu-
sively in the Indian Ocean, the Red Sea and
the Persian Gulf areas for the movement of
troops to and from India and East Africa.
For convoy KR8 she was carrying 1,511 peo-
ple, approximately six times the number she
was initially designed for. Those on board
included 996 officers and men of the 301st
Field Regiment, East African Artillery; 271
Royal Navy personnel (including 19 Wrens);
178 ship’s crew; one matron with 53 nursing
sisters and nine members of the FANY,
including Lance-Corporal Gloria West.
Their unit was being assigned to help the
hospital services at the Royal Navy shore
establishments in Ceylon.
The convoy, consisting of the Khedive
Ismail, four other troop ships and four

46
Just names on a simple memorial tablet yet behind each one Sergeant Sonia Hook, Sergeant Barbara Kentish, Sergeant
lies a story of heroism and self-sacrifice. And below the names Florence Fairburn Moojen, Sergeant Beatrice Dunbar Thomp-
of eight personnel of the Women’s Transport Service who lost son, Sergeant Patricia H. Le Poer Trench. All lost their lives
their lives in the worst single incident to befall Allied service- when the SS Khedive Ismail was torpedoed. In this picture, the
women in the Second World War: Sergeant Barbara Mary, memorial has just been unveiled by Princess Alice, the Count-
Corporal Anne Calisher, Sergeant Constance H. Camerer, ess of Athlone, on May 7, 1948.

On the deck a game of Tombolo (Bingo) had SS Khedive Ismail had been sunk by the sions. Soon though, contact was lost and Pal-
begun and it too had attracted a large crowd. Japanese submarine I-27. It was under the adin was given permission to collect sur-
However, this calm was soon shattered command of Captain Toshiaki Fukumura, vivors and the whalers were lowered to res-
when, at 1433 (0903 GMT) there was a deep Japan’s top U-boat ace who was responsi- cue them.
explosion in the centre of the ship followed ble for previously sinking 13 Allied ships. As the last of the survivors were being
seconds later by another, more violent explo- However, their attack on the Khedive plucked from the sea, the submarine sud-
sion — the ship had received two torpedo Ismail was unusual as the Japanese com- denly and unexpectedly surfaced. However,
hits, one in the engine room and one in the manders were under orders not to risk their initial jubilation turned to realisation that the
boiler room. The Khedive Ismail immedi- boats. As a result, they rarely attacked Japanese were preparing to attack on the
ately started to list to starboard and within well-armed convoys, preferring instead surface and Petard and Paladin turned to
less than a minute the ship was on her beam isolated unarmed merchantmen. Yet, either attack the submarine. Paladin attempted to
ends, deepening by the stern and she began through over-confidence or the failure to ram it but she was ordered not to. However,
to break in half with the bow and stern lifting see the full size of the convoy, they made the order to turn was delayed when it was
out of the water independently. It is esti- their attack, firing four torpedoes, two drowned out by the noise of the guns firing
mated that it took only 1 minute 40 seconds of which narrowly missed the bows and the on the submarine. Consequently, the for-
for her to sink below the waves taking 1,297 stern of the Khedive Ismail. One of these ward hydrophone of the submarine struck
of her passengers and crew with her, includ- loose torpedoes almost struck HMS the starboard side and tore a huge gash in
ing Captain Whiteman. Hawkins but evasive action to port ensured her side leaving Paladin in danger of sinking.
Gloria West was one of the lucky ones and that it missed. With one ship disabled a decision was made
she was also the only member of the WTS Those who had been lucky enough to to launch a torpedo attack on the submarine
(East Africa) to survive. When the torpedo abandon the ship were now left to their own as it was felt to be the only way to sink it.
struck she was sitting on the starboard side of devices as the convoy was understandably Each attempt failed but they finally got lucky
the promenade deck with a good friend of dispersing from the scene as quickly as possi- with the seventh torpedo to be fired as it
hers, ‘Tommy’ Dunbar Thomson. The music ble. Hawkins sailed away with the troop struck home and split the submarine in half.
from the concert had been drifting across the ships whilst Petard and Paladin moved in to She followed the SS Khedive Ismail to the
deck but it stopped abruptly after the first deal with the submarine. Part of the events bottom of the sea three hours after the initial
explosion. This was followed by absolute that followed are said to have inspired part attack.
silence and then the second explosion which of Nicholas Monserrat’s novel The Cruel Sea. Those of the FANY who did not survive
threw Gloria against the handrails. As the ship A series of contacts were reported and it and are commemorated on the memorial
began to heel over she hesitated, wondering soon became clear that the submarine was include Sergeant Barbara Kentish, the
what to do but the appearance of a man next hiding under a small number of the scattered daughter of Edgar and Clara Kentish who
to her galvanised her into action. She shouted survivors who were on the outer fringes of lived in Kemsing, Kent; and Sergeant
to him ‘What shall I do?’ and he told her to flotsam. But the priority lay in attacking the Florence Fairburn Moojen, the daughter of
jump, setting an example by doing so himself. submarine rather than rescuing survivors so Mr and Mrs E. Moojen of Cobham, Kent.
Gloria put her lifejacket on and shouted to Petard had to carry out its depth charge They are both commemorated on their local
Tommy who was still sitting in the same posi- attacks despite the risk to those in the water. memorials and their additional presence on
tion. The sea was now about 25 feet below her Those in the water did not realise what was the regimental memorial illustrates how
and as she realised she had no other choice she happening until it was too late and they did many people who are commemorated can be
jumped. Once in the turbulent water she swam not have time to get away. Dan Docwra was on more than one memorial.
away from the ship as fast as she could but her one of those in the water. ‘When the depth These examples are just some of the many
progress was constantly slowed by ropes and charges went off, if you were facing them it memorials that commemorate operations
debris. She eventually managed to clear the felt as if you had been hit by a train; the same abroad but the advent of ‘Total War’ created
sinking wreckage and watched as the ship if you had your back to them, it felt like a a significant number of Second World War
turned upside down and disappeared. Her kick in the spine.’ Consequently, some were memorials which commemorate events
friend Tommy did not survive. killed as a result of the underwater explo- which occurred in the UK.

47
CRASH SITE MEMORIALS
The massed air attacks of the Second
World War brought the front line to many
British communities for the first time, and it
is perhaps not surprising that the UKNIWM
collection includes several hundred memori-
als marking aircraft crash sites. They serve to
illustrate many aspects of the air war, from
the desperate fighting of 1940 to the bomber
offensive on Germany. However, they also
illustrate the dangers of simply taking to the
air at a time when flying was a far more haz-
ardous occupation than it is today: many
crash site memorials mark deaths caused by
weather, night flying or training accidents.
The unifying factor is that, almost uniquely
amongst British 20th century war memorials,
they provide a direct link between the
memorials and the historical events they
commemorate. Some crash site memorials
are even constructed from the remains of the
aircraft involved, like the lonely memorial on
the summit of Great Carrs in Cumbria,
commemorating the crew of Halifax LL505
of No. 1659 Heavy Conversion Unit (NIWM
13028).
It is also probably no surprise to discover
that many crash site memorials are sited at
some of the most remote and lonely loca- The database indicates that there are 222 memorials in the United Kingdom marking
tions on the inventory database. Perhaps the aircraft crash sites. This is one of the most remote — and unusual — in that pieces of
loneliest of all is the memorial tablet in the Halifax LL505 have been utilised in its construction (NIWM 13028).
little church on the island of St Kilda, the
remotest part of the British Isles, located An eyewitness to the crash apparently costly and too late to be much more than the
some 40 miles west of the Outer Hebrides reported (PRO AIR14/3052) that the aircraft swansong of Luftwaffe operations over
(NIWM 6047). It commemorates the crews ‘was seen only a few hundred feet up, blaz- Britain.
of three lost aircraft: Beaufighter LX798, ing. There seemed to be an explosion and the The crash site memorials exemplify one of
Sunderland ML858 and, perhaps most burning part crashed almost vertically’. Most the most important features of war memori-
poignant, ‘unidentified aircraft believed to of the wreckage was again buried in a deep als: most have always been informal projects
be a Wellington’ (see After the Battle No. 30). hole. The memorial takes the form of a tree initiated and paid for by small groups of local
A few of these memorials even commemo- struck by the aircraft when it crashed. people. Each of the crashes commemorated
rate the enemy. At Linstead Parva, Suffolk, a Simon Parry’s book Intruders over Britain, by these four memorials is presented as a
simple scroll records the names of ‘the last of together with After the Battle’s own The Blitz local incident of relevance only to the com-
sixty airmen of the Luftwaffe to die over Suf- Then and Now, Volume 3, solved the mys- munity in which it took place. There is no
folk during the Second World War’ (NIWM tery. Night ‘intruder’ raids on the UK began sense of the ‘big picture’, no indication that
5341). Oberfeldwebel Leo Zimmerman had as early as 1940. The purpose of these opera- the four events were related and were in fact
attacked an American B24 which was land- tions was to catch RAF aircraft when they part of a single action.
ing at nearby Metfield airfield. In attempting were at their most vulnerable, in the skies Those on the receiving end of the raiders
to fly his Ju88G-6 night fighter beneath the over their own airfields, and they were usu- were the civilians. Without any choice in the
bomber and bring his vertically-firing 20mm ally carried out by lone aircraft operating matter the front line was brought to them
cannon to bear, his wing clipped the ground independently. The early operations were leaving a trail of destruction throughout
and he crashed, killing himself and his three relatively small scale, and targets included many cities in the UK.
crew. The intriguing aspect of this memorial not only operational bombers but also night
was the late date of the incident in question: fighters and aircraft on night navigational PEABODY ESTATE WW2 MEMORIAL
March 4, 1945, just two months before the training flights.
end of the war, with Allied troops across the Intruder sorties were called off as a result
Rhine and Russian forces nearing Berlin. of a direct order from Adolf Hitler in Octo-
A search of the inventory database led to ber 1941, the Führer having decided that all
the discovery of another Ju88 crew lost on efforts should be concentrated on Allied ‘ter-
the same night. Ju88G-6 D5 + AX, flown by ror bombers’ being brought down in front of
Hauptman Johann Dreher, crashed into the German civilians they were terrorising
Dunnington Lodge Farm whilst turning to i.e. over Germany itself. The material success
make a low-level attack on RAF Elvington, of these early operations seems debatable;
North Yorkshire, killing the crew and three according to Parry 91 Allied aircraft were
members of the Moll family who lived in the shot down or damaged during the early
farmhouse. On June 19, 1993 a small cross period, but 78 intruders were also lost or
was erected at the site, commemorating the damaged, either on operations or during
airmen and Richard, Ellen and Violet Moll training. However, the effect on British
(NIWM 30971). This memorial described the morale of being attacked so close to home
aircraft as ‘believed to be the last Luftwaffe may have been considerable.
aircraft lost over the UK on a night sortie’, a Intruder raids resumed and expanded in
claim which the Linstead Parva memorial mid-1943, in response to the parallel expan-
proves inaccurate. The inscription also illus- sion of RAF and American bombing opera-
trates an element of reconciliation perhaps tions over Germany. Plans for a large-scale
only possible with the passage of time: ‘the operation were laid down as early as October
futility of war . . . now safe in God’s hands’. 1944, but it was not until the night of March
The database also revealed memorials 3/4, 1945 that the Luftwaffe launched Opera-
commemorating RAF aircraft lost on the tion ‘Gisela’, an intruder raid of unprece-
same night. Lancaster PB476 of No. 12 dented scale, involving 142 Ju88G aircraft.
Squadron, flown by Flying Officer N. And- The aim was to intercept around 500 Allied
sell, was shot down at Ulceby Cross, Lin- bombers returning from operations. The
colnshire, ‘the victim of a Luftwaffe intruder’ night fighters caused chaos; according to
(NIWM 43140). The incident report is brief Parry 34 Allied aircraft were shot down,
(PRO AIR14/3052): ‘Burnt very extensively. crashed or seriously damaged.
Crew all killed. Buried 10ft down. No infor- However, ‘Gisela’ was also very costly: Most crash site memorials are informal
mation.’ although only three Ju88s were lost over and funded by private individuals who
Lancaster III ME442, flown by Pilot Offi- Britain (including the two referred to above), have researched the particular incident.
cer J. J. Ryan, was ‘shot down in flames by a more than 30 irreplaceable night fighters This is memorial NIWM 30971 at Dun-
Ju188’ at Brocklesby Park, Lincolnshire, at were lost or badly damaged either en route nington Lodge Farm where a Ju88
0115 hrs (NIWM 43049). Surviving wreckage or on landing. The hoped-for strategic vic- crashed during a low-level attack on RAF
here made the incident report more detailed. tory over Bomber Command was thus too Elvington.

48
Peabody Buildings in John Fisher Street . . . then and now. This was one of the worst single incidents in the London Blitz.

The Peabody Trust was established by was due on duty at 10 p.m. and, not wishing a consequence the Trust was unable to
George Peabody, described by some as ‘The to deviate from his routine, wanted to visit include her on this memorial. The Trust still
founder of Modern Philanthropy’, and his local pub for a pint first. His mother has access to these records, and is always will-
moved to London from the United States in begged him to return to the shelter, he told ing to help those tracing their family history.
1837 to direct his business from the financial her he would return soon. For Francis Tar- Grateful when the commemorative tablet
heart of the Victorian world. Peabody gett, this was a snap decision that saved his was erected, many of the survivors discov-
financed many projects in America to help life. That was the last time he saw his family, ered for the first time where their relatives
educate and house the poor. His most dra- as six members including his mother, were buried. This allowed many to grieve for
matic benefaction in London was the estab- brother, sister-in-law, niece, younger brother their family members for the first time in 55
lishment of the Peabody Trust to house the and brother’s girlfriend were killed. Mr Tar- years and showed again that commemora-
city’s poor, which exists to this day, now gett remembered that he and his father had tion, even after so many years, is important
housing over 27,000 people. to deliver the bad news to the family of his to those who lived through a time of conflict
The Peabody Trust was advanced for the brother’s girlfriend, but he could not remem- and lost as a consequence.
time in planning social housing and improved ber the woman’s full name. A simple, unadorned black granite tablet
greatly on the slum dwellings which were pre- The memorial (NIWM 39889) was erected with white lettering was unveiled on Decem-
sent all over London throughout much of the in conjunction with the bi-centenary of the ber 21, 1995 by an 80-year-old tenant living
19th century, although many of the estate birth of George Peabody in 1995, when each on the Peabody Estate. The memorial is par-
buildings were still quite densely packed. The of the Peabody housing estates in London ticularly poignant as it lists not only the
Peabody Estate in Whitechapel, located on were given a monetary award to celebrate or names but also the ages of those who died,
what is now called John Fisher Street (for- mark the occasion in any way they saw fit. the youngest being just two months old, the
merly Glasshouse Street), consisted of 12 The caretaker of the Whitechapel estate at eldest 78 years old. As a memorial to the
blocks, A to L, and was opened in 1881. Fam- the time thought that a suitable memorial for fallen of the Second World War, it is perhaps
ilies were able to rent one room for three the civilian victims of September 1940 would in contrast to those memorials that record
shillings and three rooms for six shillings. The be fitting. There had never previously been those who were killed in the service of their
Trust’s buildings in Whitechapel survived the any scene of commemoration to mark the country. Yet it demonstrates the far-reaching
First World War, but the Blitz of the Second tragedy. Archivists for the Peabody Trust effects of wartime in London, and the
World War was a different matter. The sus- were able to find many details of those killed tragedies that civilians suffered. The tablet is
tained bombing of the capital city from Sep- through the trust’s own records, not least mounted on the external wall of the estate
tember 1940 until the summer of 1941 detailed rent books. These held details such office. The area itself has changed little over-
changed the face, and skyline, of London for- as names of head of household, occupations, all since the war, perhaps the housing now
ever. The bombing was intense from the start previous addresses and so on. Eyewitness less dense. The memorial serves as another
and much damage was sustained during that accounts of survivors were also vital to the reminder of the civilian casualties of the
September. research. The only unresolved query arose as Blitz, and records an event which was
In preparation for the Second World War, a result of Mr Targett’s brother’s girlfriend. repeated many times over before the war
provisions had been made on the Peabody As this woman was not a tenant of the ended. It is, however, an usual memorial in
Estate for air raid shelters for the forthcom- Peabody Trust, their records held no details. its recording of so much detail of the victims.
ing attacks from the enemy, as was the case Mr Targett did not know her full name and as
all over London. On the evening of Septem-
ber 8, 1940, the Peabody Estate suffered
severe damage in one of these air raids.
There were 78, possibly 79 victims, who had
been sheltering within the air raid shelter of
Block K of the estate. The concentrated dev-
astation had been so great that it had been
difficult at the time to identify bodies, or
indeed body parts, so an exact number of
dead was not possible. Seventy-two of the
victims, all but six of those killed, were
buried in a mass grave in the City of London
cemetery. Many of the families or family
members who survived the raid were not
informed of what had happened to their fam-
ily, a common story during the chaos of the
Blitz. Children orphaned as a result of that
incident were sent away to live with relatives,
elder children perhaps joined up at this time
and moved away also. Often they were not
told what had happened to their families.
One eyewitness account report was
included in the Peabody Times coverage of
the unveiling of the memorial, by Mr Francis
Targett, who himself lost six members of his
family in the raid. He escaped death when he
decided to visit the local pub with his father,
that evening. His father, a hospital worker,

49
FAULD CRATER EXPLOSION
In the late 1930s the Air Ministry needed
to locate somewhere safe to store bombs for
the RAF as part of wider preparations for
war, a war which many realised would come
sooner rather than later. The hills around
Hanbury have been mined for gypsum and
alabaster for centuries and had an extensive
existing network of tunnels. As gypsum is an
inert substance, the mines were an ideal
place to store high explosives. The existing
caverns were enlarged and reinforced with
concrete, enough, it was thought, to with-
stand any blast.
Hanbury, the nearest village, was situated
well out into the countryside and was close to
major rail networks, which made transporta-
tion of supplies and bombs relatively easy.
RAF Fauld, as it became known, was eventu-
ally used not only as a bomb dump but also
as a bomb repair depot. At first, safety pro-
cedures at the base were carefully monitored
and administered. Strict guidelines included
using only certain types of metal tools and
wire wool. It has been well documented that,
through the early 1940s as the war drew on,
conditions at RAF Fauld deteriorated, as
personnel changed and safety procedures
slipped. The bomb-store conditions, by 1944,
amounted to a disaster waiting to happen.
Inadequate training and bad working condi- The disaster at RAF Fauld on November 27, 1944 was highlighted in After the Battle
tions were tolerated. The Ministry of Labour No. 18 published in 1977 but it was not until 1990 that moves were made to erect a
and National Service were at the time experi- memorial to those killed in the largest explosion to occur in the United Kingdom
encing difficulty in selecting persons for during the Second World War. (English Heritage/RAF)
manual labour, as, of course, the most
healthy, physically fit men from the area had described as a ‘Security Silence’ was appropriate. The memorial service was
already been called up to serve. Staffs were imposed. Journalistic reporting of the event attended by around 400 people, including
overworked and nearly 200 Italian POWs was delayed until as much information as those who had travelled from Italy. The
from a nearby camp were brought in to help. possible had been passed to the Air Ministry. memorial carries 70 names in all, the first 18
(As Italy had signed an armistice in May The devastation to the village of Hanbury of which are to those who have no known
1944, POWs were then members of a co- and the surrounding area was immense. The grave.
operating country.) In the months around D- topsoil from 1,000 acres of land had gone and
Day in 1944, 20,000 tons of bombs were was scattered throughout the countryside.
being moved in and out of the mines each Twenty-six men had died instantly in the
month. blast, many more died above ground. The
On November 27, 1944, just after 11 a.m., earth literally opened up and swallowed
two explosions occurred, one small one, fol- Upper Castle Hayes Farm and a cement
lowed by one huge explosion. Many reasons works, situated just above the mine, taking
have been suggested over time: perhaps the the lives of farm owners Mr and Mrs Good-
accident was caused by a worker using a win and more of the farm and cement work-
brass tool, strictly forbidden and highly dan- ers. As the reservoir burst its dam wall, a fur-
gerous as it may have released a spark which ther 27 men drowned when part of the mine
in turn ignited the explosives. Theories was flooded. Further casualties still included
ranged from this to the more ridiculous, that some miners who had survived but been
German fighter planes had been seen over- trapped when the blast initially occurred. As
head and had bombed the area. they made their way through the maze of
Whatever the cause of the accident, agree- tunnels, at least five succumbed to carbon-
ment is certain on the extent of the damage. monoxide poisoning, as did a number of the
The mine was large, with 22 miles of railway rescue workers who arrived at the scene with
track within, with its caverns housing thou- no breathing apparatus.
sands of tons of high explosives. When the Interestingly, the BBC issued an appeal to
explosions happened, some of these bombs the general public for information on where
travelled two miles across the Staffordshire the explosions had been audible. Those loca-
countryside. The mine was usually tions logged included Gosport and Worthing
approached by two entrances, but these were on the South coast, Criccieth near Pwhelli in
both blocked with debris. The Principal Fire North Wales, Gallashields in Scotland and
Officer, Mr Youll, wrote in his report of the Kingston upon Hull.
incident that ordinary rescue efforts, such as It has been said that the RAF Fauld explo-
tunnelling, were useless. A reservoir close to sion is a forgotten tragedy and indeed it is an
the mine had burst its defence walls in the event not often remarked upon. It is, in phys-
explosion and the water had run into the icality if not in the psyche of a nation, one
mine. This created what was described by the that changed the landscape of Britain. It is The site is now a nature reserve of sorts,
Inspector General of the Ministry of Home one which was initially suppressed, even sub- with trees and plants growing there again
Security, upon visiting the site on December ject to an official cover-up, much to the frus- after the earth recovered to the extent it
1, as ‘a vast sea of mud’. tration of the local people who had to be could again support life. The local authorities
Eyewitness accounts of the event, and the content with a verdict of ‘Accidental Death’ tried for a number of years to convert the
hours immediately afterwards, were for their loved ones. crater into a landfill rubbish site, but protests
recorded and are now kept at the Public The memorial (NIWM 13566), erected on from local people reminded Staffordshire
Record Office. Reports from the ARP con- the edge of the crater, is made of a rough- County Council that the crater was, in
troller and the Rescue Depot Superinten- hewn block of Italian white granite, provided essence, a mass grave. Since the erection of
dent at Burton on Trent, the nearest large by the Italian government as a mark of the memorial, and possibly through subse-
town, and one of the ambulance drivers doc- respect for the victims, which of course quent coverage in the media, there has been
ument confusion at the scene. Not only were included seven Italian POWs. Relatives and an increased interest in this long forgotten
the entrances to the mine blocked with local people raised £2,000 to erect the memo- episode in Britain’s wartime history. It is a
debris, the roads to and from the mine were rial on the site, which was unveiled on good example of how war memorials are still
soon blocked with vehicles, making it virtu- November 27, 1990, 46 years after the event. being erected to the same effect and to serve
ally impossible to get casualties away from Although a memorial hall was built in the vil- the same purpose as those erected soon after
the scene without some difficulty. lage, the relatives of those killed in the explo- a time of conflict: that of remembrance and
Eventually, organisation of the site was sion felt that a memorial on site, to those of recognition of a need for a physical focus
undertaken by the military and what was who had been killed in this one event, was for grief.

50
THE UNITED KINGDOM NATIONAL Searches of the database can be called for using many different criteria. This is an
INVENTORY OF WAR MEMORIALS excerpt from the report on all memorials commemorating the Korean War but
In 1921 the Imperial War Museum equally one could have searched by artists, place, regiment, etc.
appealed for photographs of war memorials
but little attempt was made by any organisa- At the same time, work began on the physical appearance and condition of the
tion to record the unparalleled programme development of a specialised computer data- memorial. In addition, the Inventory hoped
of construction throughout the United King- base. The merits of various software packages to discover the historical background – such
dom following the First World War. Over the were assessed by computer staff from IWM as who designed, sculpted or constructed the
years, as time took its toll, it became appar- and RCHME and eventually Oracle was memorials, how they were funded and who
ent that some memorials could disappear selected. As a relational database, Oracle unveiled or dedicated them. The intention
and that no comprehensive record existed. enabled a series of reference tables to be used was to make the database available as a
On March 5, 1988, The Times published a and the screens mirrored the recording forms. research tool to as wide a public as possible.
letter from Dr Alan Borg, Director General By the end of May 1990 the database was Dr Catherine Moriarty left the project in
of the Imperial War Museum at the time, operational and recording forms were being October 1996 and in December Nick Hewitt
pointing out that there was ‘an urgent returned in increasing numbers. The forms was appointed as co-ordinator. Under the
national requirement for an inventory of war were often accompanied by photographs, chairmanship of Robert Crawford, who suc-
memorials’ as many were ‘suffering from the newspaper cuttings and other ephemera. The ceeded Dr Borg as Director-General in 1995,
ravages of time and pollution, with inscrip- Inventory was also presented with a number the IWM confirmed its long-term commit-
tions becoming illegible and details of sculp- of independent surveys and other outstand- ment to the project. As a result, the scale of
ture destroyed’. ing contributions such as three collections of the Inventory has grown considerably. The
Following an enthusiastic response, a vintage postcards, largely dating from the National Heritage Memorial Fund provided
meeting was convened at the museum on years immediately following the First World a generous lottery-funded grant to enable
June 10, 1988 at which a number of represen- War, amassed by Graham Farthing, A. E. O. two additional full-time staff to be appointed
tatives of organisations sharing Dr Borg’s Carter and Jenny McWhirtter. and Lorraine Knight and Jane Armer joined
concerns agreed to the founding of the then The aim of the Inventory was agreed as to the project in November 1997. With their
‘National Inventory of War Memorials’. (In record all physical objects in the United arrival, the primary aim was to increase the
January 2001, to reflect the changed circum- Kingdom created or installed to commemo- speed of computerisation of the paper
stances brought about by devolution, it was rate those who died as a result of military records, but with the team increased to three,
decided that the title of the project should be service. This did not include individual plus office volunteers helping on each day of
changed to the ‘United Kingdom National graves, the purpose of a memorial being the week, many other areas of the project
Inventory of War Memorials’, and appropri- defined as to reunite those who were sepa- have been expanded.
ate heritage organisations from Northern rated by a conflict, who left their homes, col- The Inventory would not be possible with-
Ireland, Scotland and Wales were invited to leagues and friends to serve in a war – many out committed volunteers. Without their
join.) of whose bodies were never recovered or enthusiasm, nothing would have happened.
From the outset a full-time project co- who were buried overseas. Currently the number stands at over 450,
ordinator was seen as essential and in June Despite the temptation to attempt to spread throughout the United Kingdom.
1989 Dr Catherine Moriarty was appointed include all names on the database, it was Strong links have been formed with many
to the post. Her task was to establish a decided that this would be too large a task groups with an increasingly wide range of
recording system and to oversee the many and beyond the capacity of the initial com- interests. Keeping in touch with the volun-
volunteers contributing records. In conjunc- puter system and available man-power, teers is essential in order to ensure the flow
tion with the Royal Commission for Historic although volunteers were encouraged to of information to the archive, to direct volun-
Monuments in England (RCHME), Dr record the lists of names on memorials. teers to under-represented areas and to let
Moriarty devised a standard recording form Structured information was seen as the key people know that, although based in Lon-
for use by the wide range of volunteer field to a successful inventory and the primary aim don, the Inventory is a national project. A
workers. was to record the geographical location, the Newsletter is distributed four times a year,

51
As one of the decisive conflicts of the
Second World War was actually fought in
the skies over the United Kingdom,
inevitably the Battle of Britain features in
a great number of memorials. One of the
first to be unveiled after the war — by
Marshal of the Royal Air Force Lord Ted-
der on January 11, 1949 — was the mag-
nificent stained-glass window in the
front hall of the Rolls-Royce factory at
Derby dedicated ‘to the pilots of the
Royal Air Force who in the Battle of
Britain, turned the work of our hands into
the salvation of our country’. It was a
marvellous occasion with guests arriving
by special train from London. No. 620
(Rolls-Royce) Squadron ATC provided the
Guard of Honour and music was played
by the Rolls-Royce Works Band with a
contribution from the Rolls-Royce Male
Voice Choir. The memorable day ended
with a conducted tour of the factory.

which includes details of progress, as well as

information on events and conferences
where the Inventory has been represented.
The Inventory hopes, if funding can be
found, to make information available on the
Internet. Cintra, one of the leading compa-
nies in digital asset management, designed
and manages the current system. The data-
base was designed specifically for the Inven-
tory and ensures that information can be
manipulated and retrieved in many ways to
suit the researcher. There is increasing use of
the data on the Internet and enquiries for the
Inventory are received by E-mail from all
over the world.
As it has grown, the Inventory has become
recognised as the pre-eminent source of
information relating to war memorials in the
UK and project staff are called upon to rep-
resent it in various ways, from addressing
international conferences to speaking to
local history groups or branches of the West-
ern Front Association. Project staff and vol-
unteers have been asked to contribute pieces
in the local and national media as well as
writing articles for specialist journals. Media
interest always reaches a peak around the
time of Remembrance Sunday in November.
Volunteer field workers have often used
their local newspapers and radio as a
medium through which to appeal for further
assistance, and so the flow of information is
often reciprocal.

The Inventory records the details: designed by Hugh Easton with the help of Robert Hendra and Geoffrey Harper (NIWM 14202).

52
And the great majority of the airfields from which the RAF and (NIWM 43519). Right: Ross and Cromarty Enterprise 2001
the Allied air forces flew now have their own memorials. Some joined forces with the Aircrew Association with help from the
have been erected by squadron associations but, because so Novar Windfarm Community Fund to erect this memorial
many of the wartime units no longer exist, many are the prod- (NIWM 43726) beside the Cromarty Firth flying boat base at
uct of altruistic local enthusiasts. These are some recent addi- RAF Alness, formerly known as Invergordon. It was from here
tions. Left: The Detling Airfield Millenium Project Group led the that the Duke of Kent left on his fatal flight to Iceland (see After
way for this memorial to be unveiled in September 1998 to the Battle No. 37), whose crash site memorial on Caithness is
commemorate the airfield’s long history from 1915 to 1945 now inventorised as NIWM 6051.

The Kenley Tribute — a joint project by the Kenley and Cater- August 2000 (NIWM 38916). It was from Kenley that Douglas
ham Branch of the RAF Association and the local residents’ Bader took off on the day which ended in the crash which was
association — refurbished one of the blast pens on the western to cost him his legs (see After the Battle No. 35) and where he
side of the airfield to site their memorial which was unveiled in re-opened the Memorial Hall (NIWM 770) in 1975.

And at RAF North Weald, After the Battle sponsored a The new memorial (NIWM 43729) is unique in that copies of a
memorial to complement the existing granite obelisk (NIWM printed Debt of Honour are always available from a bronze
43728) which had been unveiled by Princess Astrid of Norway cabinet in the wall for visitors to take away with them. This
in 1952 ‘in gratitude to the Royal Air Force, to the RAF station lists the names of 262 airmen, women and civilians who lost
North Weald and to the people of the district’. The new their lives while serving at North Weald, from whatever
memorial was dedicated on September 3, 2000 — the 60th cause, in peace and in war, from 1916 when the airfield first
anniversary of the heaviest German raid on the airfield. opened to when the RAF departed in 1964.

53
‘Unique’ however, is a word which could
really be used to describe every single
memorial, as all are different in their
own way, but the Stanier ‘8F’ has to be
in a class of its own, as Britain’s only
working memorial locomotive! It was
built in Glasgow in 1940 and given the
LMS number 8233 before being sent
with over 140 similar engines for military
duty in Persia. After the war she served
in Palestine and the Canal Zone before
being sold to British Railways in 1957
(where she was given a new number
48773). When BR decided to phase out
steam, 8233 was bought by the Stanier
8F Locomotive Society which decided
that she would form an appropriate
memorial to the men of the military rail-
way units of the Royal Engineers and she
was so dedicated at Highley Station on
September 27, 1986 (NIWM 40116). The
society now want to take this a stage
further with the compilation of a Book of
Remembrance recording the names of
over 300 military railwaymen who lost
their lives while serving with the Corps
of Royal Engineers.

The launch of the UK National Inventory At time of writing, the archive and data- World War. Thus, it remains important for
of War Memorials to the public in November base contain records relating to around the Inventory to continue its work of record-
2001 brought to completion the tremendous 45,000 war memorials, but field work still ing and maintaining an up-to-date picture.
efforts of the staff and volunteers. A new continues and new material arrives at the Readers of After the Battle who are inter-
phase began, making available the informa- project office on a daily basis. It is interesting ested in becoming involved with the project
tion which has been collected and answering to note that new memorials have been would be advised to contact the office at the
the widening range of enquiries about the erected more frequently in recent years than address below before commencing any
nation’s memorials. at any time since the end of the Second recording work as with around 45,000

During Angela Raby’s work on The Forgotten Service, which Mews (above left) where her aunt had been the senior officer
we published in November 1999, she felt that it was important and which was largely unchanged since wartime days. Right:
that recognition be given to the largely forgotten volunteer After much hard work the great day — June 13, 2001 —
ambulance drivers who served in the London Auxiliary Ambu- dawned when the Lord Mayor of Westminster, Councillor
lance Service during the 1939-45 war. Her research had concen- Harvey Marshall greeted her at the entrance to the mews for
trated on Station 39 which had been located in Weymouth the unveiling of an official green plaque (NIWM 43727).

54
Memorials come . . . and memorials go. What is revered by one as my sister and I watched in utter bewilderment. I noticed
generation is sometimes all too soon overlooked — yet missing there was blood on the pavement but did not realise my mother
memorials are also noted on the database. On December 13, had been struck in the leg by a piece of shrapnel. Some neigh-
1940 a bomb disposal squad under Captain Michael Blaney was bours came to help us. Mother was put onto a stretcher and
blown to pieces where the bomb they were defusing detonated later taken to Aldersbrook Hospital at Wanstead. My father was
as it was hoisted from the excavation at Manor Park, London serving in the Royal Navy but fortunately his ship was in port
(see After the Battle No. 3, page 43). Terence Trimmer remem- and somehow a message was sent to him. He obtained com-
bers that day: ‘I witnessed the explosion when the UXB blew up passionate leave and came home to make arrangements for our
at 590 Romford Road that Friday. My mother, Mrs Bertha Trim- care. I have never forgotten this terrible incident nor have I for-
mer, was injured by the explosion when returning home from gotten, on the following day, noticing a soldier’s metal button
shopping. My sister, who was six years of age and myself — embedded in the door frame of the off-licence opposite the
I was only eight — were with her. The road had been cordoned bomb site.’ Left: After the war, the County Borough of East Ham
off at the junction with Salisbury School, adjacent to the site of named a street on a new estate Blaney Crescent where the
the UXB. We lived at 22 Manor Park Road so had to make a Royal Engineers (Bomb Disposal) Old Comrades’ Association
detour to get home and as we approached our house from the erected a memorial (NIWM 43730) to the nine men killed (a
opposite end of the street there was a tremendous explosion. police officer standing on the opposite side of the road also lost
Dust and debris hurtled towards us and black smoke filled the his life). Right: However, when we went to photograph it during
air; we were only some 500 yards away from the centre of the our research for The East End Then and Now we were horrified
explosion. My mother suddenly collapsed onto the pavement to discover that it had been demolished.
memorials already surveyed, field work is
now really an exercise in filling gaps and
there is a very real risk of duplicated effort.
The database is available for public consul-
tation by appointment (0207 416 5344) in the
Reading Rooms of the Imperial War Museum
Department of Printed Books. A variety of
searches can be carried out including:

a) Simple lists of all memorials in a given

geographical area.
b) Memorials related to specific wars or
religious denominations.
c) Those unveiled by particular individuals
or in certain years.
d) Memorials which were the work of par-
ticular artists.
e) Particular memorial types or materials
used and their present condition, or any
combination of the above criteria.
f) A detailed report for a specific memorial.

Not all of the material submitted to the

archive has been suitable for assimilation on
to the Inventory database, so researchers are
welcome to visit the project office by
appointment, Monday to Friday between
10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Here they can access the Robert Strong, Chairman of the local branch of the Royal British Legion, was equally
original survey forms completed by field horrified when he read the account and he set the wheels in motion for a memorial
workers, the project’s small library of locally plaque (NIWM 43731) to be erected at the scene of the explosion. It was unveiled on
published commemorative books, a number May 10, 2001 by the Mayor of the London Borough of Newham, Councillor Bryan
of unpublished research projects, and the Collier. Here, Robert tells the children of Salisbury Road School what happened.
three collections of war memorial postcards. Behind the railings on the left stands the original Air Raid Precautions post, and the
UK National Inventory of War Memorials old school air raid shelters, which had been built in the playground.
Imperial War Museum
Lambeth Road Tel: 020 7416 5353 website: www.iwm.org.uk
London SE1 6HZ Fax: 020 7416 5379 E-mail: memorials@iwm.org.uk.

And when is a memorial not a memorial?

In the sense that we normally look for a
tangible object when thinking of memo-
rialisation, Peterborough, despite being
a sizeable city and the largest in north
Cambridgeshire, has no formal war
memorial . . . that is until David Gray set
up his memorial website in cyberspace!
‘Well over 1,000 men from Peterborough
were killed in the First World War’, says
David, ’and there is no memorial record-
ing their names. The only list has been
held in Peterborough Memorial Hospital ‘The website (www.pboro-memorial.com) is my attempt to record those people in
(NIWM 8482) but this is incomplete.’ full on a memorial for all to see.’

55