EPIC OF HEROISM

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21188, 10 August 1940, Page 2

EPIC OF HEROISM

TRIBUTE TO BRITISH LAST STAND AT ST. VALERY FOUGHT TO THE END The last stand of a British regiment at the little harbour town of St. Valery-en-Caux is described as an epic of heroism unequalled by anything in the last war, writes the London representative of the Wellington Post.

Completely surrounded by the enemy, they fought all night at barricades in the midst of the blazing town after driving the enemy back at the point of the bayonet. The full account of these grim last hours was given by one of the few men who escaped by sea from the town of fire and death, a French liaison officer attached to the headquarters and found in hospital, gaunt-faced and hair streaked with grey. His praise for the British troops was beyond words. “It all happened suddenly,” he said. “The men had fought theiir way back magnificently right to the coast and at last we reached St. Valery. British and French were there. French and British generals gathered at a conference. The next day I was asked to pass certain instructions to the French artillery. The town was so packed with cars and people that I had to break through doors and pass through houses to reach the point. On the way back a German aeroplane circled over the town three times making observation. Then it all began. “As I walked back to British headquarters heavy shelling started. We helped to free some mules from their harness; then a shell burst on a house beside me and I was wounded in the leg. This was bandaged and I went on. An hour later there was heavy bombing and many parts of the town began to blaze fiercely. Desperate Fighting “Then to my surprise, I heard heavy machine-gun fire, and British troops began to rush up the streets with fixed bayonets. The Germans were beginning to come into the town. The battle became terrific, 1 with fierce machine-gun and shel l fire among the blazing buildings. “The Germans were on the west cliff and the west side of the harbour. 1 joined some Englishmen on the east side of the harbour entrance and fired at the Germans only a few hundred yards away. Then things suddenly quietened down, and I understood that the British had driven the Germans from the west cliff. As night fell the battle began again. The British were magnificent. They manned the baricades set up in the streets. First the enemy shelled and then machinegunned. I saw one sergeant making his men laugh and leading them in songs as they took cover against the shelling in the light of the flaming buildings. The moment the shelling stopped they were at the barricades. Bullet-swept Beach “Next morning we went off to the beach under heavy machine-gun fire The nearest boats were at Veules les Roses, some miles away. The beach was swept by machine-guns. Every few yards was a dead or wounded man.

“Along this beach I saw another example of supreme coolness by the British. To make more rapid progress a whole platoon walked along the beach in a widely-spaced line side by side instead of in file—just as if they were on parade. “I reached the boats. One was aground, but overloaded. I stripped my clothes and swam to a small boat and eventually was taken aboard a small trawler. Men were pouring down to the beach. What happened to them I do not know. “I only know that your British troops fought and fought and fought and never gave in.”