Fighting on after Dunkirk
Looking back on part Argylls played in battle
Celebrations took place last month to mark the 75th anniversary of the Dunkirk evacuation.
Between May 30 and June 4, 1940, a flotilla of ‘little ships’ rescued almost 340,000 Allied troops, members of the British Expeditonary Force, from the beaches of northern France.
It was one of the most heroic actions of World War Two and and prompted the statement from Winston Churchill that the BEF had left France and France stands alone.
That was not true because 200,000 Allied troops were fighting an equally heroic rearguard action against the German Army as it swept across France.
Included among the remnants of the expeditionary force was the 51st Highland Division, of which the Stirling’s 7th Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders was part.
The 51st under the command of Major General Victor Fortune had arrived in France in January 1940 and in late March were deployed into the defensive line, relieving the French 21st Division between Bailleul and Armentières before moving to Saar in the area of HombourgBudange.
The division managed to avoid becoming trapped by the German advance at Dunkirk and pulled back to a new line, roughly along the River Somme, where it was attached to the French 10th Army and for some time was forced to hold a line four times longer than that which would normally be expected of a division.
The 51st Division was attacked heavily over June 5 and 6, with the major attack initially falling on the 7th Battalion A&SH before the other battalions of the 154th Brigade were enveloped.
The Argylls’ losses were heavy. It was the worst day for casualties in their history and in the skirmishes and fighting at and around that date the Argylls lost 23 officers, while 500 other ranks were either killed, wounded or missing.
One of the division’s brigades was able to escape the enemy but others became trapped with French troops under General Ihler, at SaintValéry-en-Caux, near Dieppe.
In his history of the 7th Argylls Ian Cameron wrote: “June 5 dawned to the accompaniment of a thunderous barrage of shell and mortar fire.
“It was a memorable day for the battalion – the day on which they made their last gallant stand against the overwhelming flood of the German Armies.
“The battlion was not in a position to conduct
It was exactly 75 years ago that the regiment most associated with Stirling suffered one of the worst days on the battlefield in their history. Despite numerous acts of bravery, more than 500 Argylls were either killed, wounded or missing as they tried to hold up the German Army as it swept across northern France. Here we tell the story of how, with inadequate equipment, members of the regiment“stood firm against the flood, only to be swamped in the end”.
a cordinated fight as its positions were too scattered and so the battle developed into a series of isolated actions with each company holding its own stronghold and fighting gallantly to the last.”
It had been hoped to evacuate the troops from the beaches of St Valery but full embarkation was impossible as the Germans occupied cliffs overlooking the town. Royal Navy ships sent to rescue the troops had to withdraw after coming under air attack.
With the remaining men exhausted, hungry and virtually out of ammunition, General Fortune decided at 10am on June 12 to surrender, which he did to the officer commanding the German forces, General Erwin Rommel.
Remnants of the battalion able to avoid capture or death returned to Britain on June 15 after promised reinforcements finally arrived.
More than 10,000 members of the 51st (Highland) Division were taken prisoner at St Valery. Although 134 managed to escape within 12 months, many remained in captivity until after the war.
Some sources say troops of the 51st faced overwhelming problems from the start of the operation. Soldiers were equipped with outdated rifles from 1914-1918, had no mortars or hand grenades, a shortage of spare parts and little to combat German tanks.
However, Ian Cameron believes the Argylls lived up to the proud traditions of the regiment.
He wrote: “The words \ impossible task’ and ‘overwhelming odds’ may have become monotonous with repetition in this account of the actions of the battalion but no other words can adequately describe these events.
“As a Highland river in full spate carries all before it so did the German armies surge over the obstacles placed in their path. For a brief moment islands of resistance stood firm against the flood, only to be swamped in the end.”