Page 62 - Ranger Demo

The most unrepresentative example of the portrayed hardships was the uneventful return journey of the most substantial part of 1st Survey Regiment R.A.
Following Germany's invasion of Belgian and Holland on May 10, 1940, the unit advanced into Belgium as far as Waterloo. While after Wednesday, May 15 the War Diary narrates a continuous withdrawal back to the North Sea ports.
One survivor, J.P. Cronin,1 who worked in the Q.M. stores, remembered not hearing any talk of evacuation until the night of 25th, after the C.O., Lieutenant Colonel C.T. "Joe" Beckett had returned from a night meeting at the Corps H.Q., in Lille. What stuck in his mind then that something was wrong was his violent manner he attacked his driver, found asleep, shouting for all to hear. The CO stated he would personally "shoot him like a dog" if he had cause to lose any of his men.
When they were within a couple of miles from Dunkirk, the C.O. ordered the unit to be up washed and smartly dressed at 06.00 sharp, on Sunday 26th, to march to the docks, while five lorry loads of equipment drove off into the centre of the town. HRR "Tubby" Walters, of 5th Survey attached to the 1st, was nominated ESSO to assist in the smooth running of the evacuation of the unit.
It is for this useful, thankless operation, against unforeseen difficulties and dangers both on the ground and from the air that Walters received the MC. All the personnel sailed on the Mona Queen, an Isle of Man packet steamer, at 21.30, after first loading and unloading all men and equipment in the afternoon from the quay amidst two bombing attacks.
The voyage itself was uneventful, and the ship sailed safely into Dover harbour at 23.15, where trains were waiting. The whole unit was lucky in not becoming dispersed and arriving the following morning at Camberley. 2
The captain of the steamship, Captain Holkham, correctly allowed for the packing of all available space. An observer on board, with the pseudonym of "Eurocyldon" (the few articles signed by this person are included among the papers of Colonel Beckett himself and points him as the likely candidate of the pseudonym), 3 could not help noting that together with General Mason MacFarlane of Macforce, the ship's Captain had allowed room even for less essential baggage. As soon as he and his friend Sgt Robb had made themselves comfortable on deck, they fell fast asleep. Tiredness was due to two weeks of physical exhaustion and continual sipping the entire contents of his rum-filled water-flask acquired from 4 stone jars of the G1098 stores usually kept for medical purposes. What he did recall was on his return the makings of a reception committee had formed to help walking wounded down the gangway, and at most stations volunteers were seen providing certain basic comforts, such as cigarettes, apples, and sandwiches to the troops.
Also, as the train was entering his hometown of St Mary Cray, in Kent, he was able to inform his young spouse of his safe return by scribbling a few words onto the back of a cigarette packet and throwing the message out of the window.
Furthermore, he still remembers with pride the words pronounced by the same Colonel Beckett at a morning inspection, in Camberley, when he justified his decision of making the Regiment wake up and get itself ready for a rapid march on the 26th.
I know you called me a bastard, and all the words you could think of. I know it quite well, but had I let one man go unshaven, go scruffy; the feeling would have gone through the Regiment like a cancer... You can see when you look around you, that you are not the remnants of a defeated army at all. You have come out, you have come out well, and it has only been brought out by discipline.
On the other hand, the experiences of the other two Survey Regiments come closer to the norm. The unit history of 3rd Survey, which only arrived in France seven weeks previously on the S.S. Amsterdam has similar features to the story of both the 1st and 2nd because it returned in three groups: the main group, consisting of the CO, Lieutenant Colonel E.R.C. The middle-sized group made up of the Survey Battery under 2i/c, Major J.H. Norman "T.T." Drinkwater and Moss Woods leaving on May 28. The smallest group, known as the 46 Div. detachment, under RSM Bob Scotcher, plus 90 others for sailing during the afternoon of May 29 on various much smaller vessels, the largest
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