Thursday, January 31, 2013

What were those destroyers of the Royal Navy in 1940 that evacuated many British subjects from Calais and Boulogne?

The escape of the West family from Calais aboard HMS Venomous on the 21 May 1940

Sidney West, a distant relative of Pierre Ratcliffe, also left Calais that day aboard a Royal Navy destroyer, possibly HMS Venomous. He and his elder brother, Robert, were born in Calais the sons of Frederick West, a staff Sergeant in the Royal Engineers, from Gillingham in Kent. In 1918 Frederick married Marguerite Louise Prudhomme, a bank clerk in Calais, and left the army to work as a maintenance engineer at Brampton Brothers. Sidney describes the family's escape to England and their mixed fortunes on arrival in England. They never returned to France.... Read... More on HMS Venomous

Les anglais de Calais arrêtés en juillet 1940, après l'armistice du 22 juin, et déportés à Tost; le journal de George Arthur Gregson

Ce journal de George Arthur Gregson est celui d'un homme qui a consigné scrupuleusement pour ses enfants et les générations futures son vécu des évènements depuis mai 1940 jusqu'à sa libération du camp de Tost en juillet 1944 à cause de maladie. Mon oncle Harold Ratcliffe est juste sous lui à sa gauche. Ernest Dutnall est juste sous lui. À part Gregson, les autres de la photo furent libérés après la capitulation allemande le 8 mai 1945... Suite...

Les oubliés de 39-45, par Frédéric Turner - Le blog des Amis du Patrimoine Saint-Martinois



Auteur du livre "Les oubliés de 39-45", "La rafle des Britanniques" civils résidant en dans le Nord - Pas-de-Calais, Frédéric Turner nous adresse une description de l'ouvrage qu'il publie à compte d'auteur. La présentation du livre a été faite sur plusieurs sites des journaux de la région. Pour les consulter, "Les oubliés de 39-45 Frédéric TURNER". Suite...

Perfume from Provence. Another Riviera secret uncovered - Author, Lady Winifred Fortescue

This site has developed from a love of Lady Winifred Fortescue's books, France, and in particular, Provence and the Alpes-Maritimes. At the height of their popularity, in the 1930's - 40's, her books sold many thousands of copies making Winifred Fortescue a best selling author and bringing overnight fame. Concerned that interest in her books and her amazing life might fade with the passage of time, it was a delight to find that when Black Swan re-published some of the books in the 1990's they became best sellers once again. Perfume from Provence was serialized for BBC Radio 4 and released on a BBC audio cassette tape in the 1990's. The reader was the well known British actress Stephanie Cole. Winifred Fortescue was a woman ahead of her time who, faced with various forms of adversity, would turn her hand to anything, make a go of it and generally succeed - usually but not always with a touch of laughter. I hope the web site will help to keep her work alive and allow you to enjoy some of the locations and personalities that Winifred knew and, in addition, introduce new generations to the delights of Perfume from Provence... Read...

> More on Lady Fortescue

Fleeing Hitler Hana Diamond's website

Dr Hanna Diamond set up this website in response to the large number of people who contacted her about her book Fleeing Hitler (OUP, 2007) indicating that they had family stories of their own that wished to share. Her ambition is that this website should provide a place for people to upload their own or their family stories of the period and make them available to other interested users. It should also provide a forum for discussion about these stories, about the process of collected and preserving these testimonies as well as other aspects of the history of the period... Read...

More about Hanna Diamond

Maureen Emerson tells the moving story of Hélène Vagliano

Hélène Vagliano : Née le 3 juillet 1909 à Paris (16e, 75). Fille de Marino Vagliano et de Danaë. Elle est issue d'un milieu privilégié. Lorsque la guerre éclate en septembre 1939, Hélène rejoint les associations caritatives. Avec sa mère, elle rejoint la cantine militaire de la gare de Cannes. La famille Vagliano reste à Cannes malgré la défaite française en juin 1940. Hélène devient l'organisatrice locale de la Maison du prisonnier (aide et soutien aux familles des soldats décédés et des prisonniers de guerre français). En 1943, elle est attachée au service de renseignements du Général de Gaulle, le Bureau central de renseignements et d'action (BCRA) et fait partie du réseau Tartane-Masséna. Son pseudonyme est « veilleuse ». Le 29 juillet 1944 à 11 heures 30, Hélène se trouve au « centre d'entr'aide pour les familles et pour les enfants de prisonniers » situé rue Teissere à Cannes. Elle est arrêtée par cinq agents de la Gestapo, membres de la Légion des volontaires français contre le bolchevisme (LVF), commandés par un officier allemand. Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur à titre posthume, Médaillée de la Résistance, Croix de Guerre avec palme. Le 15 août dans l’après-midi, à Cannes, les anciens combattants se retrouvent à l'église Russe Saint-Michel Archange, située Boulevard Alexandre III, pour rendre hommage à Hélène Vagliano. Présente sur une plaque commémorative dans l'école Saint-Georges d'Ascot. Il existe une école et une rue Hélène Vagliano à Cannes.... Read...

Histoire d'Hélène Vagliano en français
More on Hélène Vagliano
Les fusillés de l'Ariane 22 July and 15 August 1944

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Maureen Emerson writes about the history of Franco British friendship in the French riviera

Maureen Emerson, from an Irish-Austrian background, grew up in London - for which she is eternally grateful. She brought up her family in North Africa, Lebanon, Dallas and Singapore, before settling in Provence for twenty-two years. There she worked as a local co-ordinator for CBS and NBC at media festivals in Cannes. During her years in Provence Maureen became enthralled with the stories of those expatriates who lived on the Riviera in the 1920s and 1930s and how the Second World War affected their lives. Her second book on the subject is now in progress. While still harbouring a strong affection for Provence, Maureen has now settled in Sussex with her husband.

Here is a sample of here book 

If you like it,  "Escape to Provence", is published by Chapter & Verse Books; it is also available in Kindle format... Read...

More about Maureen Emerson

Saturday, January 26, 2013

Évacuation de troupes britanniques et de civils par HMS Venomous de Boulogne sur Mer le 22 mai 1940

Le 22 mai 1940, l’armée allemande est aux portes de Boulogne. Le destroyer  Venomous a pour mission d’évacuer les troupes britanniques du Welsh and Irish Guards. Il embarque aussi des enfants confiés à la responsabilité des Soeurs de la Charité de Boulogne sur Mer... L'historien Bill Forster a cherché à retrouver ces enfants.

Voici trois articles de la Voix du Nord édition de Boulogne sur mer, sur l'évacuation de soeurs et d'enfants de l'orphelinat de la communauté Saint-Marie, 21, boulevard Daunou, par le destroyer  HMS Venomous le 22 mai 1940:

> La Voix du Nord 16 Juin 2011
> La Voix du Nord 19 Juin 2011
> La Voix du Nord 14 Sept 2011

Thursday, January 24, 2013

The evacuation of British citizens from Calais in May 1940 by HMS VENOMOUS and its sister V&W Class destroyers

As German forces swept eastwards and then north to Abbeville encircling the channel ports British citizens living in Belgium and northen France desperately sought ways of escaping before it was too late. There were several British firms in Calais employing British citizens. Courtaulds viscose rayon factory extruded molten rayon through spinnerettes to produce multi filament fibres and Brampton Brothers made drive chains for bicycles and chain driven machinery. Their senior managers were often British and some employees were former "tommies" who had married French girls and stayed in France after the Great War.

Alors que les forces allemandes avancent vers l'est et vers le nord jusqu'à Abbeville encerclant les ports de la Manche des citoyens britanniques résidant en Belgique et dans le nord de la France ont désespérément cherché des moyens de rentrer chez eux avant qu'il ne soit trop tard. Il y avait plusieurs entreprises britanniques à Calais employant des citoyens britanniques. Viscose rayonne Courtaulds usine de rayonne extrudé fondu à travers des filières pour produire des fibres à filaments multiples et les Frères Brampton produisant des chaînes pour les vélos et les machines entraînées par chaînes. Leurs dirigeants étaient souvent britanniques et certains de leurs employés étaient d'anciens "tommies" qui avaient épousé des Françaises et étaient restés en France après la Grande Guerre.... More...

The life and death of Lt Cdr Colin G.W. Donald RN, CO of HMS Vimy, while evacuating the Welsh and Irish Guards from Boulogne on the 23 May 1940



HMS Vimy "The Hell that was Boulogne" L'enfer que fut Boulogne...
 Le navire de guerre britannique Vimy participait  aux opérations d'évacuation de troupes britanniques et de civils, sous le feu de tanks allemands et de snipers. Le commandant du navire et son second furent tués  dans ce combat. Le fils du commandant raconte cette histoire.
 Lire..

Opération Dynamo - Cinquantième anniversaire 1940-2010


Soixante dixième anniversaire de l'opération DYNAMO, Dunkerque 1940-2010... Suite...

En savoir plus. Collectif France 1940
Chacun a un père ou un grand-père qui a participé à cette période tragique.
 Mais connaît-on le prix du sang que paya la France :
124.000 tués;
 + de 200.000 blessés;
1.900.000 disparus ou prisonniers... ...une souffrance et une hémorragie comparables aux plus durs moments de la Grande Guerre, en 44 jours de violents combats.

La longue histoire de l'amitié franco-britannique

forum pour toutes les personnes qui s'intéressent à l'histoire de l'implication britannique dans le nord de la France au cours des 19e et 20e siècles. Il sera d'un intérêt particulier pour les descendants français et britanniques de soldats qui sont restés dans le nord de la France après la première et la deuxièeme guerre mondiales. Il sera également d'intérêt pour les descendants français et britanniques d'individus qui sont venus de Grande-Bretagne dans le nord de la France, pour diverses raisons économiques, en particulier le transfert de savoir faire lié aux chemins de fer, aux mines et à la fabrication de textiles, et non des moindres, les dentelles mécaniques, pour lesquelles Calais est devenu mondialement célèbre. Ce site sera aussi d'intérêt pour les descendants français et britanniques des familles qui, en Mai et Juin 1940 se réfugièrent en Angleterre, des hommes qui furent arrêtés et déportés en Allemagne nazie parce qu'ils n'avaient pas quitté la France et de leurs épouses qui furent soumises à des contrôles humiliants des autorités allemandes. J'ai moi-même un intérêt personnel à ce qui est un petit-fils d'immigrants anglais qui ont vécu en France depuis 1889.... Suite...

The Ratcliffe family's escape from Calais to England on HMS Venomous, 21 May 1940

Pierre Ratcliffe was only five years old when he left Calais on HMS Venomous with his parents, Albert and Renée Ratcliffe, his sixteen year old half-sister, Gisèle, and their young cousin, Jack Ratcliffe. Albert was born in Calais in 1891; he was the son of a colliery engineer from Doncaster who came to France with his company in 1889. Albert was one of eight children and served in the British Army with the Machine Gun Corps during the First World War. He worked in Calais for an American company exporting lace. Albert's first wife died of tuberculosis leaving eight year old Gisèle without a Mother. Renée's parents had emigrated to America and she was born there in 1911, but they returned to France in 1933 during the Great Depression and she married Albert in 1934. The family had British passports... More...

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

The life and wartime service of Greg Clarke in the Royal Navy: in memoriam by Bill Forster

Greg Clark joined HMS Hecla on Boxing Day 1940 as the "Schoolie" while she was being fitted out in John Brown's shipyard on the Clyde. Sixty years later on Boxing Day 2000 he was recorded by his son Nick talking about his wartime service on destroyers and the destroyer depot ship, HMS Hecla. He survived her sinking and after the war became the first Curator of the Royal Navy Museum at Portsmouth, the museum entrusted with the care and upkeep of Nelson's flagship, HMS Victory, and was 95 when he died. Nick transferred his VCR recording onto a DVD and sent it to me with scans of some of his father's photographs. This together with notes of a conversation I had with Greg two years before he died in October 2012 forms the basis of this brief account of his long life... Read...
More:
In memory of those who died seventy years ago when HMS Hecla sank on Armistice Day 1942

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

A HARD FOUGHT SHIP The story of HMS Venomous

A HARD FOUGHT SHIP
The story of HMS Venomous


OfficersRatingsV & W Class destroyersWhat's NewBuy the BookLinksHome

Eric Arnold Pountney
Wireless Telegraphy Operator on HMS Venomous, 1939-43

Eric Pountney was born at Harborne in Warwickshire, a few miles south of Birmingham, on the 6 August 1918 and  lived there all his life apart from his wartime service in the Royal Navy. He was the youngest of five children and his father abandoned the family shortly before he was born. When he volunteered for the Royal Navy on the 28 September 1938 during the Munich crisis "for the period of hostilities" he gave his trade as apprentice salesman (showroom assistant) and his next of kin as his mother, Dora Mary Pountney. Photographed at Londonderry in 1941 (left) and at HMS St George, Douglas, Isle of Man, in 1944.... Read...

HMS Christchurch and other boats, including a small Armada of trawlers and yachts sailed from Dover at 21:30 on 25 May

Hello Bill You might like to take a look at the file below. It recounts the movements of HMS Christchurch and other boats, including a small Armada of trawlers and yachts that sailed from Dover at 21:30 on 25 May in case an evacuation was ordered. By 16:00 hrs the following day Nicholson had been taken prisoner and it was all over bar the shouting. There were more ships involved in and around Calais than I realised and I propose to compile a list of these ships and what they did prior to the fall of Calais on the 26th, for my family history project. Regards Philip... More...