Page 46 - Bugle Autumn 2023

7 RIFLES
The Defence of the Dunkirk Pocket:
7 RIFLES BATTLEFIELD STUDY TO CASSEL AND CALAIS
If the experience of the British Army in the summer of 1940 could be summarised in one word, that word would be Dunkirk. The image of lines of khaki-clad Tommies strung out along the beaches, awaiting rescue,
is one of the most iconic scenes from the Second World War. It evokes the drama of a defeated army doing all it could to hold on in the face of Hitler’s apparently unstoppable Blitzkrieg, whilst also feeding the British national myth of a plucky little island nation fighting against all odds to defy continental tyranny yet again.
Far less well known in the popular imagination, however, is the drama of the series of battles fought to preserve the Dunkirk Pocket from annihilation.
Among the many such actions fought in the desperate days of May 1940, two stand out as of particular interest to The Rifles Regiment. The Battle of Cassel (26th-29th May) saw elements of two antecedent
regiments, 2nd Battalion The Gloucestershire Regiment and 4th Battalion The Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, form
the backbone of a brigade area defence that held up a panzer division for three days. The Defence of Calais (22nd-26th May) similarly witnessed the immolation of 1st Battalion, The Queen Victoria’s Rifles, 2nd Battalion The King’s Royal Rifle Corps, and 1st Battalion The Rifle Brigade, to allow others to escape from the beaches.
These engagements are of particular interest to 7 RIFLES, as the 4th OXF &
BUCKS and the 1st QVR were Territorial Army formations that recruited from areas that are our home turf today. It was both to pay our respects, as well as to learn from the past, that an all-ranks group from 7 RIFLES crossed a choppy Channel in February to explore the battlefields of French Flanders.
Battlefield studies are invaluable opportunities for conceptual development. By
It was both to pay our respects, as well as to learn from the past,
CWGC cemetery at Cassel
that an all-ranks group crossed a choppy Channel
tracing the contours of past actions, we can evaluate contemporary doctrine in a historical context, try to understand how modern technology would shape a very different fight today, whilst gleaning timeless lessons of leadership and learning what we can from the unchanging, intensely human nature of war.
46 RIFLES The Bugle