Map showing position of Courcelles in relation to
Charleroi
On the afternoon of the 8th June, 1940, the Battalion
crossed the River Seine between Courcelles and Gaillon.
At about midnight orders were received from Battalion
Headquarters to the effect that Capt. Carey-Thomas
and three tanks of B Squadron would proceed to the
Courcelles bridgehead and would hold it, at all costs,
until it was either blown up by the French or until he
was relieved. One scout car and the R Squadron liaison
agent were attached to this force for the purpose of
reconnaissance and to facilitate inter-communication between
the French and ourselves.
It was anticipated that the Germans would attack and
attempt to force a crossing at dawn on the following
day (9th June) and, with this fact in view, Captain
Carey-Thomas and his composite Troop, consisting of
one Cruiser Mk.I and two Cruisers Mk. III, was ordered
to be in position on the bridge by 3 AM.
At 12:50 AM Captain Carey-Thomas ordered his force
to advance, but having gone only some 500 yards toward
Gaillon the A Squadron Cruiser (commanded by Sgt.
Urry) became a casualty due to a mechanical breakdown.
The road from Gaillon village to the bridge itself
was blocked by every conceivable type of vehicle-refugee
carts, cars and lorries, French Army lorries and
French troops, who were retreating over the Seine. Our
drivers, already tired out, performed the seemingly impossible
as they wound in and out of this struggling, mobile mass.
We arrived at the bridgehead at about 2:45 AM and,
after getting the tanks under cover from the air, Captain
Carey-Thomas and myself went forward to liase with
the French officer in charge. of the demolition party and
bridge defenses.
This officer was a lieutenant in the artillery. He had under his command one 75-mm. field
gun (later reinforced by another one of the same caliber), one 47-mm. A/T gun, and a battery of dual purpose
light A.A.-A/T guns.
The 75-mm. was dug in extremely well on the bridge itself, covering the approaches
to it from the northern bank, while the A / T
gun enfiladed the bridge and its approaches from an
excellent position on the right of the bridge.
The A.A. battery was split in half-three guns being mounted immediately right of the bridge and three more situated
about three-quarter mile back toward Gaillon in a field
on the left of the road.
The French officer asked Capt. Carey-Thomas to get
into a position from which he could cover the bridge-
head and support the detachment there.
We made our way back to the tanks through the mass
of refugees that was still pouring over the river, and
Captain Carey-Thomas gave his orders. I was to take
my tank, a Cruiser Mk. III, forward to a line of trees
some 500 yards behind the bridge on the right of the
road, and to cover and support the French position. He
himself was going to take up a position on the same side
of the road about 400 yards behind me, from whence he
could support us. Both tanks were in position at 3 AM.
Now began a long period of waiting for a dawn attack
which never materialized.
The road from Gaillon to Courcelles was almost dead
straight and there was little or no cover on either side,
with the exception of the two belts of trees in which we
had our positions. Some 400 yards in front of the forward
belt of trees a railway line ran parallel to the
river, and in front of this a row of houses flanked the
road almost up to the river and on either side of the
bridge. It was in the last of these houses on the right
that the French officer had his H.Q. Between the railway
line and the line of the river, flanking the road,
were two deserted factory buildings. All around, on our
bank, the ground was very flat and featureless and fairly
boggy within 50 yards of the Seine.
On the opposite bank a cluster of houses- around the bridge marked
Courcelles itself, while a densely-wooded ridge above
entirely commanded our positions. To the right of the
ridge a line of about six or seven houses stretched away,
ending in a lone flagpole
The morning passed slowly and we found time to
wash and shave, and also to eat some stew from the container
that we had brought with us. This worked wonders,
and we eventually managed to get a few moments
of sleep by working a system of relief’s on the gun and
in the driver's seat. The men, though nearly worn out
after three days and nights on the move, were In the
best of form and determined to stop "Jerry."
By 1 o'clock our, number had increased by four, for
some lost and weary British soldiers had been gathered
together by Captain Carey-Thomas.
About this time Captain Carey-Thomas and I went forward to the bridge
to find out from the French what news they had of the
enemy advance. While we were talking to the lieutenant,
orders arrived by land line for him to close the
bridge to all traffic. This made us much happier, for it
meant we could sight our guns to defend the obstacle
without the fear of having to fire into the mass of
refugees should the enemy attack. But, for an hour
after this order, the line of people was still moving along
the road-faster now, for we had been bombed twice
that morning, and the enemy's forward elements were
reported to be only seven kilometers away.
At 3.05 PM an enemy armored car pushed its way
boldly up to the bridgehead and was promptly put out
of action by the "75" on the bridge. A volunteer picquet
of six artillerymen armed with rifles, which had been
posted on the northern side of the bridge and whose task
it was to spot and report any advance by forward elements,
sent back a message to say that they had seen
some enemy tanks advancing towards them.
At 3.15 PM the bridge was blown, and this picquet (their numbers
now reduced to four] volunteered to remain on the
German side until they could hold out no longer, when
they would attempt to swim back to us across the Seine.
This gallant little band was not seen again.
As soon as the bridge was blown the French officer in
charge signalled us up to him. On reaching his rendezvous
he told us that, as far as he knew, the Germans
had established some machine gun posts on the left and
right of the bridge itself-both in Courcelles and on the
wooded ridge above it. He told us also that some infantry
had swum across the river and were endeavoring
to work round his flanks under cover of the factory
buildings. This very gallant officer, armed only with his
revolver, directed operations from a most exposed position
on the river bank throughout the action.
Captain Carey-Thomas made up his plan rapidly. As
the enemy appeared to be established on both sides of
the bridge, we were to adopt independent tactics-he
would take the right and I the left.
The enemy infantry that had got across to our side of
the river were by now round on each flank-they did not
apparently expect us, for they were not making a great
attempt to conceal themselves. Machine-gun fire from
Capt. Carey-Thomas's tank quickly mopped them up.
While this was going on his tank had been moving off
the road to the right and getting into a position by the
French H.Q. As the nose of the tank swung to face
the bridge again Capt. Carey-Thomas saw an enemy
light tank in a stationary position on the bridge. Its
crew were dismounted and apparently making an inspection
of the damage done to the culverts, etc., of the
bridge. This tank he put out of action with one round
of two-pounder; he machine-gunned the crew, and then
destroyed the tank with another round of two-pounder.
Immediately after dealing with this tank he spotted another
one (medium or heavy) approaching the bridge
from among the trees which lined the road.
Three two pounder shells hit it like a machine gun and the
crew tried to get out, but were dealt with.
In the meantime my tank had advanced up the road
towards the edge of the break in the bridge and, having
got within 50 feet of it, had been fired on by a heavy
machine gun, which appeared to-be in position in a house
on the left of the road across the break. The gunner
silenced this with three bursts from his co-ax gun, and
almost immediately afterwards another heavy machine
gun opened up on the troop commander from the region'
of the flagpole on the ridge above. He replied to this
with all three machine guns; my tank reserved fire until
it could also bring fire to bear on this target, and supported
him until the machine gun sheered its recoil pin
and jammed. While the loader tried to repair this and
improvise a pin I ran into a field on the left of the
bridge and endeavored to pick up another target. It
was not long before we found one.
Moving from left to right across our front and apparently seeking cover
in the trees that flanked the shore there appeared what
was probably the other half of the enemy section of
tanks - a medium (or heavy) and a light. The gunner
took the big one first and hit it with five two-pounder .
shells-no one got out of it. One more two-pounder
stopped the light and two more finished the job completely.
Again we were fired on by a machine gun from
among the trees. As my co-ax was out of action I could
only use the Q.F. gun, and the first shell fell slightly
left and short. An anxious few minutes followed, for
we got three shells in quick succession which would not
allow the breech mechanism to close, owing to slight enlargement
of the cartridge cases. As the loader was
getting rid of these, machine-gun fire from our right
rear made me look sharply round, and I saw that our
scout car had come up from the rear and was supporting
us with his Bren gun. The gunner, who was a trooper
in a cavalry regiment, was one of the worn-out men we
had gathered around us that morning. Despite his condition
he kept the gun going all the time--raking the
factory building in front and mopping up the remaining
Germans on our side.
A good round was now in the breech of the two-pounder and this time the gunner was
dead on. Three shells completely silenced the machinegun nest and three more demolished one side of the
factory wall.
The enemy had now opened up on Capt. Carey Thomas with HE from a mortar. He put the mortar
out of action with a round of two-pounder and then his hull guns settled the matter.
We on the left were suddenly subjected to this fire as
well, but, in addition, the Germans had got either a field
gun or an infantry gun somewhere on the heights above
us and were searching for us with that also.
Running to and from the bridge to the far side of the field, we
plastered the mortar and put it out of action, but during
this shoot the boggy ground caused the near-side track
to run half off the sprocket, so it was traveling round a
portion of the final drive box. The driver, by very fine
driving, kept the tank going throughout the whole rest
of the action. The infantry gun was still shelling us,
and so, moving very slowly and cautiously, we went back
towards the road. I told the gunner to put maximum
range on his drum and to rake the top of the ridge with
his two-pounder. This he did, and after the seventh
shot that gun stopped firing, so we put another five
shells into the same place, and as he did not open again
we ran straight back onto the road in time to see Capt.
Carey-Thomas completely smothering another heavy
Machine-gun post, which had opened up on him. While
he was doing this I demolished the wall of a suspicious looking
house in Courcelles which the French said held
an A/T rifle.
After this last salvo quiet reigned everywhere, and the
French officer led some of his spare numbers down to
the river banks to reconnoiter. He came back to say
that the enemy appeared to have withdrawn from the
bridgehead completely, and that he was now going to
try to reorganize his own defenses and await reinforcements.
So, down to the last of our ammunition and with
repairs to be carried out, we went back to the nearest of
our two original positions.
At about 6 PM we withdrew to try and find the battalion
and rejoin it.
During the action both tanks were hit by heavy machine-
gun (and it is thought) A/T rifle fire, but no ill
effects were observed on the armor.
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