A Hero To Me - Part Two

After Gramps received his orders to report to the nearest barracks, he was sent from there to Aldershot and formed into the first army known as the B.E.F - British European Forces. By the end of September 1939 he was on his way to France.

The B.E.F were ordered to take up positions alongside the French army, along the borders of Germany and Belgium. The war hadn't really started then and wouldn't for almost 12 months. This became known as the "phony war." Belgium was still neutral and the B.E.F. couldn't move unless Germany attacked, which they did after Christmas.

Gramps was an HQ runner at this time and carried secret messages to various battalions. He was also on guard in the map room and was also required to sleep there. It was important that the maps were guarded, they held the positions of all the First Army British troops on all fronts. Gramps was granted a brief two week leave for the birth of his son. He arrived home on December 21st 1939.

When he returned to France, Gramps was transferred to the Royal Army Ordinance Corp where he used his welding experience to repair and build tanks. Germany invaded Belgium and that was their signal to move, their convoy moved off 2 days later to Laval. After two weeks at Laval they moved towards Brussels. As they traveled, refugees were fleeing from the Germans. The road became impassable and they had to try and organise these fleeing people so that they could reach their destination and get into position before the Germans appeared in force. Also, while they were stationary they were bombed and machine gunned by the Luftwaffe.

All the way to Brussels, Gramps saw refugees leaving their homes to be robbed or destroyed. These areas became battlegrounds for both sides and doors and windows would be booby trapped. Carefully they would use their bayonets to check for trip wires.

On arrival in Brussels, Gramps was billeted in a car battery factory. The British and French armies were holding back the Germans from further advance. Gramps battalion was being bombed every night and they discovered that their positions were being given away by spies and quislings (local people sympathetic to the German army). The spies and quislings would signal the German planes with a flashing light and the bombs would fall night and day.

After a month of this the Germans broke through and Gramps battalion had to retreat rapidly. The French army were beaten and ready to surrender, they had to move fast or be surrounded. They sped off towards Dunkirk and reached a town called Torne. Torne was ablaze and bodies lay out in the street and hung out of windows. Gramp's remembers that the Leicesters were guarding and defending the town as he and others made for a huge iron bridge. They had five minutes to get across as the British Sappers were about to blow it to delay the German advance.

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