The London Gazette of TUESDAY, the 2Ist of MAY, 1946 by Fiufyttity Registered As a Newspaper WEDNESDAY, 22 MAY, 1946 the War Office, May, 1946
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ttumb. 37573 2433 SUPPLEMENT TO The London Gazette Of TUESDAY, the 2ist of MAY, 1946 by fiufyttity Registered as a newspaper WEDNESDAY, 22 MAY, 1946 The War Office, May, 1946. OPERATIONS OF THE BRITISH EXPEDITIONARY FORCE, FRANCE FROM I2TH JUNE, 1940 TO igTH JUNE, 1940. The following Despatch was submitted to the sage to say that he would see me at 0830 Secretary of State for War on 22nd June, hours on i4th June. 1940, by Lieutenant-General Sir ALAN 4. I had left my staff at Le Mans to get in BROOKE, K.C.B., D.S.O. Commanding II touch with the situation as it was known by Corps, British Expeditionary Force, France. General Karslake and Major-General de I have the honour to report that, hi accord- Fonblanque The general inference of the ance with the Instructions of loth June, 1940, enemy's intention seemed to be that, after received by me from the Secretary of State for crossing the Seine south of Rouen, the bulk War, I duly left Southampton by ship at 1400 of the troops engaged would move South in hours on I2th June, and reached Cherbourg order to encircle Paris. at 2130 hours the same evening. The situation on the front that evening, so far as it was known, was that the Tenth French For reasons connected with local French Army, which included the I57th Infantry orders, it was not possible to disembark until Brigade of the 52nd Division, Armoured 0030 hours on I3th June, when Brigadier G. Division (less one Brigade) and Beauman Thorpe (Base Commandant) came out to the Force*, was holding a line from the sea West ship in a tug and took me ashore with my of the Seine to Neubourg and thence to staff. Conches. Between the Southern flank of the 2. At 0800 hours I3th June I left Cherbourg i57th Infantry Brigade and Damville, there by car, and reached Le Mans at 1400 hours was a gap of some 8 miles, which was only after a journey much hampered by the crowds lightly held by elements of the 3rd D.L.M. of refugees on the roads. South of this area the Army of Paris was sup- There I was met by Lieutenant-General Sir posed to be holding a line from Dreux to Henry Karslake, Major-General P. de Bonnecourt on the Seine, but there was no Fonblanque, G.O.C., Lines of Communication confirmation that this Army was actually in Troops, and Brigadier J. G. des R. Swayne. position. I at once took command of all British troops I4th June. in France from General Karslake. I instructed 5. At 0830 hours I saw General Weygand. him to return to England, which he did by He spoke most frankly and explained the situa- plane that afternoon. tion to me. He said that the French Army 3. At 1500 hours I left Le Mans with was no longer capable of organised resistance, Brigadier Swayne for an interview with that it had now broken up into four groups— .General Weygand and, after a journey of * The Beauman Division was an improvised forma- some 170 miles, reached the Headquarters of tion which on i3thjune, was organised as follows: — No. i Mission* (Major-General Sir Richard " B " Bde.—formed of personnel from auxiliary military Pioneer Corps. Howard-Vyse) at 2000 hours that evening. " C " Bde.—Formed of personnel from infantry General Weygand was away at a Cabinet base depots. meeting, but, on his return, .he sent a mes- 4 Provisional Battalion—Formed from reinforce- ment personnel. * No. i Mission, under Major-General Sir Richard " E " Anti-tank Regiment (improvised). Howard-Vyse, represented British interests at the " E " Field Battery (improvised). French Army Headquarters (Chief of Staff, General 21-2 Army Troops Company, Royal Engineers. Weygand) in Paris. 213 Army Troops Company, Royal Engineer!. 2434 SUPPLEMENT TO THE LONDON GAZETTE, 22 MAY, 1946 one of which was the Tenth Army (General nothing of the Brittany plan, and that all Altmayer), with which the B.E.F. was operat- arrangements were to start for the evacuation ing—and that considerable gaps existed between' of those elements of the B.E.F. which were the groups. at that time not under the orders of the Tenth The Armies, he explained, would continue French Army. to fight under the orders of their own Com- As H.M. Government had not been con- manders, but co-ordinated action of the force sulted with regard to the Brittany scheme, and as a whole would no longer be possible. the withdrawal of the B.E.F. had been ap- Reserves were exhausted and many formations proved, I considered that I was no longer hi worn out. a position to carry out the dispositions settled He then informed me that, in accordance with Generals Weygand and Georges. I there- with a decision taken by the Allied Govern- fore requested the C.I.G.S. to inform General ments, Brittany was to be defended by holding Weygand, and I understood this was to be a line across the peninsula in the vicinity of done. The instructions which I received later Rennes. He suggested that we should proceed (see paragraph 10 below), stating that I was to General Georges' Headquarters to discuss .no longer under General Weygand's orders, with him the details of this project. confirmed this opinion. We then went to General Georges' Head- Orders outlining the arrangements for the quarters, at Briare, where we continued -the dis- evacuation were at once issued, and an officer cussion. I pointed out that the length of the pro- was dispatched to Lieutenant-General J. H. posed line was some 150 kilometres which would Marshall-Cornwall requesting him to come to require at least fifteen Divisions. I gathered my Headquarters. from both General Weygand and General 9. The C.I.G.S. telephoned again at 2015 Georges* that they did not consider the hours and said that it was most important that Brittany project to be a feasible pro- everything should be done to ensure good rela- position with the forces that now tions between ourselves and the French, and to remained available in the Tenth French avoid, in every possible way, giving the im- Army including the B.E.F. General pression that the B.E.F. was deserting them. Weygand referred to the project as " roman- I replied that I would most certainly see that tic," and said that it had been adopted with- this was done, that I was moving no troops out military advice. General Weygand engaged with the Tenth Army/ but that I' was stated, however, that, since the Allied Govern- arranging to move back all other troops and ments had issued instructions for the defence material towards the ports. of Brittany he must carry out their orders. At this stage the Prime Minister himself spoke Consequently, in consultation with General and asked about the employment of those ele- Georges, he had drawn up instructions for the ments of the 52nd Division which were hot participation of the B.E.F. in the scheme. under the ozders of the Tenth French Army. Being under the impression that H.M. Govern- I assured him that I considered that no use- ment had approved this plan, I signed the ful purpose could be served by adding them document which prescribed the rdle of B.E.F. to the forces already with that Army. They in it. (Copy attached at Appendix ' A '). could not possibly restore the situation on that 6. In view of the gravity of the situation front, nor could they close the gap of some 30 which General Weygand had described to- me, miles which now existed between the Tenth I immediately sent a telegram to inform the French Army and the Army of Paris. C.I.G.S. I also requested Major-General Sir The Prime Minister then agreed to my pro- Richard Howard-Vyse to proceed to the War posal that the troops under orders of the Tenth Office 'as soon as possible to report more fully to French Army should remain fighting with that the C.I.G.S., and to take to the C.I.G.S. a copy army for the present, whilst the withdrawal-of of the document reproduced in Appendix the remainder of the B.E.F. should, proceed. "A". Moves to ports of embarkation were therefore 7. I then returned to my Headquarters at continued, Canadian forces moving on Brest, Le Mans, arriving at 1615 hours. I spoke to corps troops on St. Malo/ 52nd Division. (less the C.I.G.S. by telephone at 1630 hours and elements with Tenth French' Army) on Cher- explained the situation. I asked whether the bourg, L. of C. troops and material- on St.' Brittany scheme had H.M. Government's ap- Malo, Brest, St. Nazaire, Nantes. and_ 'La proval and told him that both Generals Pallice. Finally those elements 'with Tenth Weygand and Georges appeared to consider it French Army were to embark at 'Cherbourg impracticable with the force available. The when the situation admitted of their withdrawal C.I.G.S. informed me that he knew nothing of from that Army. -, • . the Brittany scheme, but said he would refer 10. At 2235 hours I spoke to" the "C.I.G.S. the matter to the Prime Minister. and told him of the-Prime Minister's approval I told the C.I.G.S. that, in view of the for evacuation. The "C.I.G.S. informe'd me that general state of disintegration which was -begin- I was no longer under the orders of General ning to spread in the French Army, I con- Weygand, and that the B.E.F.