Posted on 05/17/2020 12:01:14 PM PDT by Berlin_Freeper
May 20, 1940
6am. Railway embankment overlooking “Fishaw village”.
I could see the boys fighting like hell with tanks all around them simply going over the men, and what a terrible sight. A German machine gun opened out on my left flank on us - did he do his stuff. He simply raked us with machine gun fire and to complete his work, 2 tanks came up behind us and positioned themselves about 20 yards away. They opened out with their 2lb shells and simply blasted us out of the embankment.
(Excerpt) Read more at thenorthernecho.co.uk ...
Pte John William Bowron, 21, whose mother, Bertha, lived in Shildon. He had the same initials as his father who was killed in the First World War in September 1918 before he was born. The two men are buried where they fell about 15 miles apart in northern
To the enormous surprise of the British, the Germans had brought up three columns of light tanks, led by General Erwin Rommel, and backed up by Stuka divebombers, they ambushed the foot weary Durhams.
In an hour, the regiment lost 134 men, including Piper L-Cpl Frederick Laidler of Gosforth, 20. His nephew, guitarist Mark Knopfler has dedicated a song to him called Piper to the End.
here’s the background of this WWII battle:
THESE edited words are from the diary of Company Sergeant Major Charles Baggs, and they describe one of the darkest days in North-East military history which occurred 80 years ago this week.
CSM Baggs was in charge of the 1st Tyneside Scottish, a regiment that had been recruited from the north of County Durham and which started out as the 12th Durham Light Infantry.
On that dreadful day, it was fighting alongside the 11th DLI, which had been recruited from Durham City and Chester-le-Street and included Pte John Cook whose love letters featured in our VE Day supplement. With 11DLI was 10 DLI, whose members came largely from south Durham towns like Bishop Auckland, Crook and Spennymoor.
The untrained and ill-equipped Durhams had been sent a month earlier into northern France as part of the British Expeditionary Force. Armed largely with First World War rifles and without proper communications equipment, they came up against a surprisingly agile German force.
On May 19, 1940, the regiments got the orders to withdraw back towards the coast, but because they lacked proper transport, they had to do so on foot. And the Germans were hot on their tails.
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I had no idea what this story was about or why I should read it so I post this excerpt to encourage others.
I can’t say I’d relish the thought of being within 20 yards of two German tanks pointed my way.
When possible I like to post a hook and excite natural curiosity.
I’m a Mark Knopfler fan, but I never knew that. Thanks for posting.
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