Harrowing tales of occupied France
Guernsey people played a full role in the British armed forces during both the world wars, joining up in their thousands to do their bit for the country. Herbert Winterflood tells a few the stories of just a few of the brave volunteers.
Guernsey people played a full role in the British armed forces during both the world wars, joining up in their thousands to do their bit for the country. Herbert Winterflood tells a few the stories of just a few of the brave volunteers. AS ALDERNEY-born sapper James Le Maitre became closely involved in the final stages of the First World War 85 years ago, he snatched time in a shell-holed landscape to write his memoirs.
He called them 'Notes on the War' and they are contained in a field message book for the use of dismounted regimental officers of cavalry and infantry.
The book has a waterproof cover for protection against harsh weather conditions. It has survived the storms and has now been loaned to me by Rodney Le Maitre, James's son. Rodney took over from his father in running the Northern Motor Works in Grandes Maisons Road, St Sampson's.
James joined the Army on 15 January 1915 at the age of 18 and went to Alderney, where he became involved in training with searchlight units.
He later returned to Guernsey and joined the 245 (Guernsey) Army Troops Company RE. The unit was sent to Chatham and then to France, arriving there on 10 April 1918.
The men soon found themselves preparing a reserve line of trenches, with some hard digging involved. There came some relief for James as he was provided with a bicycle and instructed to run messages between the fighting units in the area of St Marie Capel and later, further afield.
'On 27 May 1918 the enemy shelled very well our camp and we had to take shelter in dugouts,' James records.
At 8pm that day he was ordered to fetch a group of engineers from their work site. Although he does not mention the type of vehicle he was using, it was probably a horse-drawn cart.
'As I was passing through a township a house fell into the street in pieces, having been hit by a shell just behind me. I was dreading to pass back, but to my surprise the enemy had then stopped shelling.'
On his return to his billet he was told that the Germans were advancing along the River Aisne and had crossed at one point.
Things were now hotting up for the Guernsey Company. James found himself in a sidecar with Corporal Kenny Bell, another Channel Islander, well known in Guernsey. They were entrusted with an urgent dispatch. 'Rode under shellfire most of the way,' James wrote. On the return journey they encountered more heavy shelling.
The company was ordered to retreat from its position. James and others followed their colleagues, ensuring that vehicles were not trapped.
'As soon as we moved we were fired on by machine guns and with the planes overhead it was awful.
'In the excitement our officer took the wrong road, taking us within 200 yards of the enemy lines. Here one driver was killed, one wounded, two horses were shot dead and two more wounded.
'We then had to leave behind the cooks' cart and a wagon. Pushing forward at the gallop through fields and ploughed ground, we came to the foot of a steep hill, which was impossible for the horses to mount. The officer gave the order to unhook the horses - every man for himself.'
James notes that Corporal A. J. Rabey was killed and nine men were wounded. This was not surprising, as the Guernseymen were now in the front line.
One shell threw James to the ground, but he survived without a scratch.
The Royal Engineers walked for seven hours and James records that there were some pitiful sights: 'Women and children refugees walking along the roads carrying what they could from their homes.
'We had to camp in a wood. Having no blankets or overcoats, we nearly got frozen.'
On 30 May after much marching, 80 men were asked to volunteer to put a pontoon bridge across the Marne River. The whole of the company stepped forward.
'I was among the 80 picked and we were well on the way to the site, when orders were cancelled,' James notes.In July 1918 James was engaged with others in draining the first reserve line of trenches. 'I was shelled out. We returned three times, but it was no use. Every time we went we were driven out.'
One note in this diary concerns a German shell having a direct hit on a British ammunition dump. James described it as 'a great explosion'.
The war was constantly on the very doorstep of the Royal Engineers and their American allies. James writes of seeing many wounded troops being withdrawn from the fighting. Bombs fell close to a nearby railway station and a British warplane crashed near the billets of the engineers. One of the aviators was killed and one seriously injured.
He also witnessed many German dead as he led a group of men across land from which the enemy had retreated. There were also corpses of British and French troops.
When James was working on the construction of a heavy bridge across the Escault Canal, he saw many refugees walking through the area. He suggested that most of them were suffering from gas poisoning.
Even at this late stage in the war the German aeroplanes were active. 'While working on the bridge, shells fell within 200 yards of us and enemy planes came over during the evening and dropped bombs near our billets,' wrote James.
While in Belgium he and his colleagues witnessed civilians searching for all the women who, it was claimed, had been giving the Germans information during the Occupation.
'Taking them into the streets, all their hair was cut quite short. Bricks were flung in all directions. Other women joined the mob of men, directing where the disgraced women lived', was one entry in the notebook.
There was a serious loss to the company, as James explains: 'Sapper Niles, who went to the billets to fetch my breakfast, brought back the news that all our cooks had been suffocated by keeping a charcoal fire going during the night. Two of them were found dead and two were taken to hospital, one of these dying later. The other is expected to live.'
Before closing his story, which mentions the return to Alderney and Guernsey of his company, James relates a drinking incident, which occurred during the last Christmas on the Continent. A rum issue was ordered to keep out the cold, but most of this in store had run out. The jar was therefore well topped-up with petrol.
'We had petrol and rum for our issue on Christmas Eve. Those who drank the mixture had very little Christmas dinner the next day as we were all ill,' he remembers.
This RE Company received some honours from Belgium.
Major J. R. N. Kirkwood and Corporal E. W. Oliver were awarded the Croix de Guerre, while the Order of the Crown of Leopold went to Major Kirkwood (Officer) and Warrant Officer F. Robin (Chevalier). James adds another name to this list of awards: T. Robilliard receiving the Belgian Croix de Guerre.
This memory notebook gives some idea of life on the ground in France during the Great War, which was hailed as the war to end all wars. The land had been laid low by the guns of destruction from both sides of the armies in conflict.
Added to this was the emergence of the tank and the increasing use of aircraft for bombing.
There are incidents in this wartime picture that have not been preserved in writing. Rodney Le Maitre remembers his father relating the time when, on the way to the front line, he and his mates glanced through a gap in two buildings to see an open railway truck piled high with the bodies of soldiers who had died while fighting for King and Country.
On returning to Guernsey, James and Kenny Bell went into partnership in the motor trade.
Rodney recalls that his father gained a diploma from the Institute of the Motor Industry.
The two enthusiasts traded from part of a property named Sea Breezes at Richmond Corner, before moving to Stanley Road, where an agency was obtained for Dodge trucks, which came from America in parts and had to be assembled in the island.
They established the Northern Motor Works, later to be taken over by Rodney, who, before his father's retirement, was successful in 1962 in securing the Saab agency. Mr Bell took a separate but successful path in the motor trade.
The plane that Herbie built
THE story of how Spitfires were shipped out from the UK to Gibraltar in sections and assembled there during the Second World War is told by Corporal Herbie Snell. He served in the Royal Air Force as a fitter and played an important part in providing air defence for the battered island of Malta.
Although he was London-born, Herbie, who also responds to 'Bill', comes from a well-known Guernsey family, his uncle also being Herbie Snell, who ran the Foresters Arms at St George's Esplanade.
The reason that his nephew was born in London was because his father was serving in the Merchant Navy in the capital.
'Dad joined the Merchant Navy during the First World War as a Marconi wireless operator,' explains Herbie.
In August 1942 Herbie was with a small group of RAF tradesmen who were sent to West Kirby where they were kitted out with tropical equipment. This included a large toolbox, which was found to be difficult to handle, together with a backpack and kit bag. Finally they ended up at Greenock, in Scotland, where they joined the Irish ferry vessel, Leinster. This ship sailed into the Atlantic to join a convoy for the journey south. Two days before the ship was due to arrive at Gibraltar it left the convoy to complete the journey alone.
Once settled on The Rock the RAF men awaited the arrival of large boxes, which contained sections of Spitfires.
Once the parts had been removed from their containers, they were employed as workshop furnishings as the fighter planes were made war-worthy.
'We were told by our officers that we would be worked until we dropped. Then the sergeant added that we would be picked up to work again,' remembers Herbie, who writes that this nearly did happen.
Lights were provided to the group members to be worn on their heads so they could continue assembly even in the dark.
'We had an aircraft carrier at our disposal to enable us to send some of the assembled Spitfires to Malta. This island was being defended from the German Air Force by three bi-planes christened 'Faith, Hope and Charity,' recalls Herbie.
Later the RAF tradesmen fitted overload fuel tanks under the belly of the fighter 'planes to enable them to fly non-stop from Gibraltar to Malta.
The first fighter to be delivered by this method was flown by a pilot who had been badly burned in an aircrash. Before taking off he commented: 'If I don't make it I won't be missed with a face like this.'
Well, this pilot did make it to Malta and from then this was the accepted method of delivery.
After doing an excellent job in Gibraltar, the RAF tradesmen travelled to North Africa where Corporal Snell helped in the instruction of French airmen in the maintaining of Spitfires.
This project was known as FTLU or, in full, flight technical liaison unit.
It was sited at Blida, about 20 miles from Algiers.
Herbie continues to love Guernsey and pays visits whenever the opportunity arises. He has family members still residing in the island and he still is very much a Sarnian, despite his birth being in the UK.
His work during the Second World War illustrates the many varied ways in which members of the armed forces combined to gain final victory for the allied cause.
