Veteran Stories

Alf George

Evacuation from Dunkirk

Written by Peter Cook

TO THIS day Alf George is not certain if it was the burst of Bren gun fire he put up, that was responsible for an attacking German aircraft bursting into flames.

Photo left: Alf before the outbreak of war

Alf from Ashford, Kent, was with a Royal Artillery anti-tank gun team in a French orchard when enemy planes swooped down with their machine guns blazing. "The chap with the Bren gun let a couple of rounds go then dropped it and ran," said Alf. "I thought I'd have a go. Other men were also firing at the planes. As one went by smoke began pouring from it, so one of us must have got it."

Alf had crossed to Cherbourg as part of the BEF in October 1939 as driver of a Morris 15cwt truck that towed the two-pounder gun. He and his team had already been attacked by aircraft up by the Albert Canal in Belgium, but now they were pulling back towards Dunkirk providing cover for the retreating infantry. "Eventually we got to Vimy Ridge," he said. "You could see the Canadian Memorial up there. We heard the German planes come over and we scattered. They machine gunned the civilians and dropped a few bombs on the way."

Photo above: Alf as a young soldier in 1941

"Finally we set the gun up in a churchyard. I was sitting behind it. Nothing much was happening. Then I heard a crack and a whoosh and a sudden thud behind me. I realised a sniper was having a crack at me. The bullet can't have been more than six inches from the side of my head."

Eventually Alf and his team came to La Panne where a civilian woman told him that the British army was leaving. It was the first inkling they'd had that an evacuation was in progress. The woman pleaded with them to take her little daughter with them, but of course that was impossible.

About half a mile from the beach at La Panne, Alf's team had to abandon their Morris truck.

"We reached the dunes and sheltered there, watching men on the beaches scatter as the Stukas attacked," said Alf. "By now it was June. The long queues stretching out to sea had disappeared. We were among the last to be evacuated. As we marched along the beach an officer ordered a soldier to pick up an abandoned rifle. He did so, and there was still a man's hand attached to it. He dropped it quick."

"We got to the Mole and there were stretchers all along it with bodies on. There was a queue which came to an end at the wooden part of the Mole. When we reached that we were given a tin of bully beef and a big pack of hard biscuits and told to share it among five of us. We hadn't eaten or slept for two days. We were beyond caring really. Then I looked down the side of the Mole and there was this little paddle steamer the Medway Queen. I climbed over and a sailor helped me down."

Alf found a seat in the ship's after cabin and dropped off to sleep. "Next minute there was an airburst of shell fire that woke me up," he said. "I looked out of the window and there were all these flashes. I noticed that now the floor of the cabin was covered with wounded men on stretchers. I fell asleep again, aware of the rumbling of the engine. Then there was a rattle and it went quiet. By now it was daylight. Someone said: 'I recognise that town over there - it's Margate'."

"At that stage we still thought we were going to be taken back across to France. The anchor was got up and the ship moved again and someone recognised Ramsgate Pier. We came alongside and disembarked through a door by the paddle box. At the end of the Pier was a crowd of people cheering us."

"Coaches were lined up and we were taken to Ramsgate Station. Wounded men were seated on this bench seat there. One bloke I'll never forget. He had shell shock and was shaking uncontrollably. That seat remained at Ramsgate Station long after the war. It always reminded me of the day I came back from Dunkirk."

Alf George has since become an active member of the Medway Queen Preservation Society which is working to restore the vessel. He was at the War and Peace Show when the Society mounted a display. For more information on the ship visit www.medwayqueen.co.uk

Photo above: Alf George with a picture of the Medway Queen presented to him by the MQPS

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