Comments on: World War II: Defending Calais

By: Logan

Logan — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 15:57:37 +0000

lauren.

By: John Prince

John Prince — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 12:09:28 +0000

My late father was also captured in May 1940 and marched to the German/Polish border where he was imprisoned in various German POW camps including , I think, Stalag V111B. He was Battery Sergeant Major in the Royal Artillery. Any info you have I would be very grateful as I am starting to trace back his life. Dad served for 25 years before he was declared "unfit to serve" after his experiences in the war.

By: Jim Parker

Jim Parker — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 16:50:12 +0000

My late Father Trooper William Parker 'A' coy 3rd Battalion Royal Tank Corps took part in the defence of Calais. He didnt say much about his time there but he did once tell me that when his unit arrived the tanks, had not , when they did arrive they spent a good day cleaning of 'gunk' from the factory before the tanks were servicable, he also told me that they had little amunition and fuel and when they ran out of both the crew captained by a corporal, wrecked the insides and set it on fire.
They were soonrounded up and my Dad spent the war in Poland. He eacaped 3 times the longest time on the road was 2 weeks and each time he was given a flogging. I offen wonder why these men are'nt given the 'Front Page' they deserve.
Some one said" The German Forces were like a scythe through Europe but the tip was blunted at Calais"!

By: John Jay

John Jay — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 17:56:54 +0000

My late father, Alec Jay, was a Queen Victoria's Rifleman who was captured at Calais on 26th May 1940 and spent five years in various German POW camps including Stalag VIIIB. I am interested in tracing any veterans who knew my father and could relay any information both about his experience of action at Calais and his subsequent POW experiences.
Many thanks
John Jay

By: James A Fox

James A Fox — Sun, 10 May 2009 16:50:48 +0000

Age 5, a little British boy from English colony of YPRES escaped on last boat CITY OF CHRISTCHURCH from Calais,we were families from Belgium and N.France whose WW1 fathers worked for the Imperial War Graves Commission.My co authored book THE CHILDREN WHO FOUGHT HITLER (John Murray Publishers) will be published early November this year.Nine years of research tells the lives of the WW1 veterans and later how many of them and their families were captured and taken to German detention camps.In YPRES we children were educated at the British Memorial School and I recount how I found many of them 35 years later and tell of their Services, both in the Resistance and behind enemy lines.I am interested in tracing families of British service personnel who would have been in Calais around the 22/23rd May 1940 and learn of their versions.
Many thanks.James A Fox (Paris).

By: K Scotcher

K Scotcher — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 20:59:54 +0000

My father, Arthur John Scotcher, fought at Calais aged 25, having been a regular with the Green Jackets since 1936. By May 1940 he was a sergeant. He was located on the Old Town side of the canal below the Hotel de Ville with his men when machine gun fire hit his unit, killing several of the young men under him. Believing fire to be coming from the clock tower he racked the top of it with a Bren gun. Having received a bullet through an arm himself he was eventually evacuated with the wounded on possibly the last ship out. Though not seriously wounded the experience affected him greatly,especially seeing the young menunder him killed before his eyes, and he was treated for mental trauma in hospital, by eating potatoes(!) a form of starch shock treatment, before he was discharged from the army and returned to civilian life in Croydon, working at Reeve's furniture store, where the owner employed former soldiers

By: John Howlett

John Howlett — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 11:13:08 +0000

There used to be (still is?) a monument to the QVR on the quayside at Calais. I believe many of them fought their final resistance in the Wagons Lits parked on the sidings at the Gare Maritime.