663's Story - One unit's experience of the sinking of the Lancastria
Part 1
Walter Hirst became an enlisted man in December 1939. Britain had declared war on Germany in September and the call went out for volunteers across the country. Walter was born and brought up in Dundee, Scotland. His Father, John Hirst, had served in World War I with the Royal Horse Artillery and like many who joined up in 1939 believed that they were going to finish the business that their fathers had begun during World War One.
 John Hirst 1916
Walter decided to join the Royal Engineers and was sent to Clacton-on-Sea in the South East of England for basic training around the 9th of January 1940. Due to the lack of proper military barracks the troops were billeted in chalet accommodation at a Butlins holiday camp. The two weeks basic training was no holiday however. Rifles and other armaments were in short supply and so the men of 663 Artisan Works Company, Royal Engineers were forced to train with 1914 weapons, possibly the weapons their father's had used during the first world war.
The truth was that in 1939 Britain was hopelessly unprepared for war, especially a war with German forces which had been preparing for years. There was little action in those first few months in what later became known as the phoney war. The first major blow against the British had come with the loss of HMS Royal Oak, at Scapa Flow, Orkney. 833 men were lost during the attack, in October 1939, by the German submarine U-47.
The billets at Clacton had originally been prepared to hold German POWs and the few U-boat crews that were there complained about it being too cold. The winter of 1939/40 was the coldest in fifty years. 663's Company Sergeant Major "Topper" Brown was regular army and his use of the English language left his men in no doubt what he wanted from them. The general lack of preparedness led one officer from the Duke of Wellington's Regiment to comment that the troops of 663 were "little more than civilians in soldiers clothing."
The majority of 663 finally departed for France on 26th January 1940. More than 90 of them would never return. An advance party from 663, the Headquarters staff, of around 30 or so men had left a few days before from Southampton and sailed to Le Havre. From there they were sent, via railway cattle wagons, on a three-day journey down to St. Nazaire. This group would prepare the ground for the rest of the company. Included in the group were Walter Hirst and Cyril Cumbes.
The rest of the company finally arrived at Calais and were marched into a Salvation Army hostel. The weather was abysmal and there was a heavy blizzard blowing. The next morning the company headed for Nantes in the Loire Valley. This was to become their home for the next four and a half months.
Nantes is a truly beautiful and historic French city; in the past it had been associated with the slave trade. 663 were quickly put to work on the construction of camps and buildings which were to service the airfield at Bougenais. Many of the locals must have thought it was a return to the "good old days" as the construction continued apace.
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Charles 'Chick' Napier and Percy Brown 1976
Another member of 663 was Percy Brown. Brown was one of the few men who held a driving licence and had therefore been selected to drive one of the Bedford Trucks. During basic training in Clacton CSM Brown (no relation) had singled out Sapper Brown during an inspection of the men's rifles:
"I can't see down your rifle, Sapper"
"Well you wouldn't..." replied Percy, "...it is full of grease".
In typical Sergeant-Major fashion, Sapper Brown was told exactly what to do about it.
663 settled in to a regular routine until about early June. Sapper Brown noticed an increase in the amount of traffic on the roads. Rumour was rife amongst the men that the "real" army was in full retreat. The rumours were not without foundation. The Germans were over-running the Armies of France, Belgium and Britain. During the German offensive, codenamed "Case Yellow", all three armies would be completely outflanked and out manoeuvred. For the British it would be their biggest military humiliation since the American War of Independence.
Sergeant Johnson, 663's Quarter Master, was told by the Wing Commander at Bougenais airfield that the RAF had received orders to move out and that the Sappers were to help themselves to anything left behind in the Belmont hangers. For Sergeant Johnson, the vast stocks of clothing and new kit made it a quartermaster's dream. Soon however, the company's Commanding Officer, Major R.G. Morgan, MC, called the men out on parade on Sunday morning, 16th June. He gave the men the news that France was about to capitulate and the company would have to prepare to leave at once for St. Nazaire, via Savenay. Apart from their newly issued Lee Enfield rifles, 663 had 4 Lewis guns and 30,000 rounds of ammunition.
A few days earlier Walter had heard a BBC world service broadcast saying that the British Expeditionary Force had been "completely and successfully evacuated from France". Things were not looking good. Most of the British Army had been taken out via the French port of Dunkirk two weeks earlier. Through the grapevine the men of 663 heard that the Germans had reached Le Mans and were pushing on through the rest of France. A sense of urgency set in.
Major Morgan gave his permission for the stores to be thrown open to the men in order that they help themselves. It seemed obvious that being Artisans the men would take the many valuable tools available but, human nature being as it is, the tools were completely ignored as the men clamoured for the supply of flutes and whistles! What was left was covered in creosote and burned on the spot.
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