Free French, Egypt, 1940.

Not too much in my collection of books and magazines about the French in WW2 even though I an interested in their roles with the LRDG, Eritrea/Abyssinia, Lebanon/Syria, and the Western Desert in general.

The following two Newsweek magazines I have carry little information about the French units depicted on the covers sadly. Both units however have good stories behind them, both deciding Vichy France was not for them and crossing to British lines.

On the left, troops of Captain Paul Jourdier's 1st Moroccan Spahis squadron who arrived from Lebanon/Syria via Palestine On the right, troops of Captain Raphael Folliot and Captain Charles Jean Lorotte de Banes 24e Regiment d'Infanterie Coloniale (24th Colonial Infantry Regiment. Renamed 1st Marine Infantry Battalion aka 1st BIM, and then later merging to form the Marine and Pacific Battalion, BIMP).  

350 men of the 24th based in Cyrpus under Captain de Banes joined 150 men of the 24th in Lebanon/Syria under Captain Folliot in Egypt. About 40 men followed Captain Jourdier from Lebanon/Syria. The two units were based at Moascar Camp, Ishmalia in Egypt in October 1940 when the photos on the magazine covers were taken.

The voice on this film clip is irritating but the film shows the two units depicted above.

British Pathe : Free French Forces In Middle East (1940)

No sound on this longer clip hosted by the Imperial War Museum

IWM AYY 59-1 Free French Troops in the Middle East 1940

The film contains a Vickers Wellington fitted with a Directional Wireless Installation for anti-mine work flying overhead. Interesting but not sure how it fits in with the Free French story.

The 24th had been inspected and awarded a banner in August 1940, with some of the Spahis providing an escort for the visiting dignataries.

Ambassador Review 26th August 1940

Imperial War Museum hosted film clip WPN-4 shows the British Ambassador in Egypt, Sir Miles Lampson, inspecting the 24th. The troops appear to have French rifles and machine guns.

IWM WPN-4 film re Inspection by British Ambassador August 1940

The IWM also hosts a set of photos relating to the inspection :

E-489 https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205542163

E-490 https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205542164

E-491 https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205542165

E-492 https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205542166

E-493 https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205542167

E-494 https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205542168 

E-495 https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205542169

E-496 https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205542170

E-497 https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205542171

E-498 https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205542172

E-499 https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205542173 Spahis

E-500 https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205542174 Spahis

A few months later the 24th and the 1st Moroccan Spahis were photographed and filmed by Captain Geoffrey John Keating, 17th October 1940. War Office Assignment No 56, with two of his photographs (E-765 and E-775) being used on the magazine covers above.

E-753  https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205542421 French rifles and bayonets

E-754   https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205542422

E-755   https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205542423

E-756   https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205542424

E-757   https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205542425

E-758   https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205542426

E-759   https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205542427 Unit officers

E-760   https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205542428

E-761   https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205542429

E-762   https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205542430

E-763   https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205542431

E-764   https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205542432

E-765   https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205234061 Magazine cover

E-766   https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205542433

E-767   https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205542434

E-768  https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205542435 Bugler and flag

E-769   https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205542436

E-770   https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205542437 Soldier eating on a sand dune

E-771   https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205542438

E-772   https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205542439  Spahis

E-773   https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205542440  Spahis

E-774   https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205542441  Spahis

E-775   https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205542442  Spahis (magazine cover)

E-776   https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205542443  Spahis

E-777   https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205542444  Spahis

E-778   https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205542445  Spahis on dune slope

E-779  Nothing found

E-780   https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205542447 Spahis

E-781   https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205542448 Spahis

E-782   https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205542449 Spahis

E-783   https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205542450 Spahi

E-784   https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205542451 Spahi

E-785   https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205542452  Spahi

Both units would evolve from their small beginnings and become Companions of the Liberation after much hard fighting. 

The Marine and Infantry Battalion (BIMP) would form after the fighting at Bir Hakkim/Hakeim in May/June 1942, both battalions having suffered large casualties.  The newly formed BIMP would serve in Tunisia, Italy and Southern France. 

The 1st Moroccan Spahi Marching Regiment would become an armoured reconnaissance unit after fighting Italian troops in Eritrea/Abyssinia and Vichy French in Syria. They would later serve in Tunisia and Normandy. The Moroccan symbol can be seen on the side door of this armoured car and the text "Spahis" appears on the engine cover in this IWM hosted film in Egypt dated 15th to 17th September 1942 :

Fighting French Flying Column

Some of the Men

Captain Raphael Folliot. Companion of the Liberation. Commanded the 1st Company at Moascar.

Captain Charles Lorotte de Banes 

Captain Girod (?not sure of the spelling and if real name) commanded the 2nd Company at Moascar.

Paul Jourdier. Companion of the Liberation

Captain Jacques Savey, posthumous Companion of the Liberation, commanded the 3rd Company at Moascar. Fought in the Eritrean/Abyssinian Campaign and later killed at Bir Hakkim/Hakeim. 

Amongst the original members of the 24th who travelled to Moascar was Polish born Sigismond Blednicki. He appears to have transferred to the Moroccan Spahis and to have served in Eritrea with them.

Hervé Coué

Other Resources

Forgotten Fights: The Free French at Bir Hacheim, May 1942

Cédric Mas speaking on WW2TV, YouTube : The Battle of Bir Hakeim 1942

Bir Hakeim: Seventy-Five Years Later

The Marine Infantry Battalion

Fighting a coalition war: the experience of the Free French soldier in the British 8th Army

Archibald Wavell and irregular soldiers - Harley Fox-Davies

Quite a bit of work this year on Wavell and Allenby as part of on going studies/course, that lead to an essay on Wavell.

Wavell credits his grandfather as having been an irregular soldier who he seems to have thought highly of. He appears to have enjoyed working with and encouraging soldiers with thoughts on irregular warfare. The minor story of one soldier caught my eye as he would later serve in the Western Desert..

Harley Fox-Davies is an officer Wavell alludes to when discussing Bernard Fergusson in the foreword to Fergusson's book "Beyond the Chindwin" but does not give his name.

Fox-Davies is mentioned by name in Fergusson's book "Wavell. Portrait of a Soldier"

Gott and Wavell appear to have signed off on a Military Cross for Fox-Davies following a raid on Sallum (Sollum) on the 14/15th April 1941, probably against an infantry element of the newly arrived 15th Panzer Division (Gruppe Knabe) who reported an attack at Solum at 5:30am on 15th April 1941, noting the attack was initially unseen and about company strength.

Fox-Davies would be killed shortly afterwards and later buried in Sollum.

Radley College appears to have a photo of Fox-Davies and a write up that seems to suggest he wrote an unpublished book called "Guerilla". I can't help but think this may have been the paper Fox-Davies presented to Fergusson to pass to Wavell.

Fox-Davies is listed as being involved with 50 and 52 Middle East Commando and to have led one LRDG patrol. I've not come across Fox-Davies yet in any of the LRDG books I have or archives viewed to date.

https://www.specialforcesroh.com/index.php?threads/fox-davies-harley-edmond-fitzroy.852/

https://www.commandoveterans.org/HalfayaSollum

As an aside, Robert Pipon, a Royal Fusiliers officer approached alongside Gordon Shephard to crew the Asgard in 1914 but who turned down the venture, appears in Victoria Schofield's excellent book re Wavell.

Wavell was working in London for Henry Wilson at the time of the Curragh Mutiny.

Beggars Bush Barracks : NLI Photographs and Military Archives maps

The National Library of Ireland has a very nice set of early 1900's photographs by Robert French available to view on its website. I was particularly interested in one of the NLI photos of an early Vickers machine gun loaded on a cart used on the Mount Street Bridge site but was taken in by the following photo which (zooming in) has a laundry cart and horse :

NLI photograph of Beggars Bush Barracks Dublin

The zoom feature on the NLI site is fantastic and allows easy zooming in and out. 

The ghost like figure of a soldier and a dog walking towards the two soldiers at the back, and the detail on the laundry cart :

a. the advert on the back of the cart re "Dublin's Most Progressive Laundry" and 

b. the little sign at the front of the cart "Pioneers in Modern Methods"

I half expected to find the cart belonged to the Swastika Laundry Company which opened around 1912 in  nearby Ballsbridge. A search on FindmyPast newspapers though delivered a similar text for the Inchicore based Metropolitan Laundry, with the adverts appearing in the 1911-1912 timeframe.  May need some help in checking the Irish newspaper archives.

The Irish Military Archives site has a nice map showing the layout of the buildings in the barracks but no context to it sadly. I think the route being marked may be the route taken by Captain Gerrard and CQMS Robert Gamble went they ventured from the barracks to attack members of the 3rd Battalion Irish Volunteers during the Easter Rising.

The archives also have a map showing the electrical layout of the barracks giving the building letters. This means we can position the NLI photos as they carry some of the building letters e.g. the laundry horse and cart is outside the back of building U. The soldiers on parade and the Vickers machine gun crew stand in front of the large building that contains U, and are between it and building D. My rough labelling below (let me know if you think this is right or wrong) :

Behind the left most man in the machine gun photo, by zooming, in L can be seen just above his head on the building doorway behind him

Machine Gun Section photo

D Block building photo

Modern photo of Block D on Wikipedia

Additional Resources

British Pathe Film Clip. National Army soldiers march in and parade in front of Block D.

British Pathe Film Clip. The Tricolor is hoisted above Block D. Lines of men in a civilian clothing and uniform are lined up with their backs to the entrance/guard room/detention room and facing towards Block D.

Sudan Defence Force Armoured Vehicles and a Vickers Apprentice to a REME Brigadier

One of the pictures that grabbed my attention when looking in the UK official Abyssinian Campaign publication was a picture of an armoured vehicle with an odd registration number, a structure above an open turret, and a radiator cover that looked a bit like it is from a 1920 Pattern Rolls-Royce armoured car.

The picture is not too high a resolution but there is enough to make out a few details and to grab my interest. It turns out that the vehicle is from the Sudan Defence Force contingent operating in the campaign.

A copy of the picture appears in W E Crosskill's book "The Two Thousand Mile War" which I recently acquired. Sadly not much information re the cars or the SDF.

The Sudan Defence Force was formed after unrest in the 1920's, at which point Sudan was separated from Egypt and its own armed forces created under British control. The SDF inherited two 1914 pattern Rolls-Royces from No 3 Armoured Car Company, Tank Corps that had originally been part of the Duke of Westminsters armoured car quadron during WW1. The cars had likely been involved in the 1916 Tara Rescue.

It appears that 45 of the armoured vehicles were constructed during the 1930s by Charles Gordon Stewart, then responsible for Motor Transport in the Sudan Defence Force.

The cars don't have wheel arches/fenders but do appear to have storage at the rear, an open top turret fitted with a Vickers .303 inch machine gun and a Boys .5inch anti-tank rifle. The Boys rifle only came into service in 1937 so probably not part of Stewart's development.

Together with a number of Sudan Defence Force Scout Cars, the armoured cars appear from about 2minutes 5 seconds onwards in a film clip hosted by the Imperial War Museum, reference WPN 283.

Having participated in the Abyssinian campsign, the some of the cars were moved to Kufra to take over  garrison duties from the Long Range Desert Group (LRDG).

LRDG commanding officer Guy Prendergast had previously served with the SDFs No 2 MMG Company and had learnt to fly in the Sudan.

A couple of photos that feature the armoured cars appear in a 1964 album prepared for the President of Sudan and former member of the Sudan Defence Force Ibrahim Abbood, available to view at the UK National Archives in Kew, reference CO 1069/15.

An inside view of the turret can be seen on the Imperial War Museum website where there are several SDF and Sudan related photos, films etc

IWM ref E 3764 1941 photo inside an SDF armoured car turret

Charles Stewart Gordon (1891-1964) was born in London to parents from Ireland, his father an engineer. In the 1911 census of Ireland he is at the house of an uncle (James Stewart, age 60) and two aunts (Rachel age 59 and Rebecca age 57) at Northland Road, Derry. The record transcription gives his occupation as : 

"Engineers Apprentice at Vickors Sons and Mariens Ltd (at Barrow in furnise] at present in Turner Shop"

which should say "Engineers Apprentice at Vickers, Sons and Maxim Ltd (at Barrow in Furness) at present in Turner Shop".

The most surprising snippet for me in looking into the background of Charles Gordon was that another uncle, Reverend Harvey Stewart (1859-1939) was rector at St Stephen's Parochial Hall during the Easter Rising in Ireland. Never expected to find any Easter Rising link on this bit of work.

Charles Stewart started the First World War as a Private in the Royal Army Medical Corps. Transferred to the Army Service Corps and later commissioned into the Army Service Corps. He would be in Turkey in the 1921 census. Seconded to Sudan in 1927, he was there until 1937.  On return to the UK, he transferred to the RAOC, with whom he stayed until the creation of REME where he became a Brigadier. Quite a remarkable progression.

There is an exceptional photograph album of Stewarts that was donated to the REME Museum at Lyenham that is worth a look if you are interested in interwar vehicles and/or the Sudan. 

The Bodleian Library has a good copy of  "Tales of the Sudan Defence Force" by John Orlebar, carrying the same picture as used on the cover of the Abyssian Campaign publication.

For general interest in the Sudan, the archive at Durham University is the place to go. Check their Special Collections site. 

MilitaryArchive.ie - Release 20 now live

 Good to see another batch of records released by the Military Archives team. Another excellent job.

The offical details of the release are at 

Military Archives Release 20 

with a list of names available at

Release 20 Names and addresses

plus there is a brief synopsis of some interesting bits at :

Release 20 Highlights Part 1

Good to see some names with addresses in Harold's Cross and one person with a Knocklong address. Will have to delve into them soon.

Interesting to see a bit re John Pidgeon. His father Sylvester died a few months after being wounded at the Bachelors Walk massacre. His sister Eileen died just before his father (she wasn't injured at Bachelors Walk).

There is mention of a Hugh Mehlhorns father (Dresden born Viktor Hugo Mehlhorn aka Peter, 1869-1954) being interned in Odlcastle. This was used as an internment camp for people living in Ireland who were born in Germany, Austria etc and deemed "Enemy Aliens".

A couple of Mehlhorn references in Poor Law Guardian minutes :

Graphic - Answers

Having posted the following graphic on Twitter and BlueSky on the 26th July, time for the anwers.

1. The first image, The Asgard Legacy, is a reference to the yacht The Asgard that sailed into Howth on the 26th July 1914 with a consignment of arms and ammunition for the Irish Volunteers.

2. Gladiator was the name of the German tug that carried the arms and ammunition out to sea and from which the Asgard and Kelpie were loaded.

3. Riddle of the Sands was a reference to the owner of the Asgard, Erkine Childers.

4. Aces High was a reference to Asgard crew member Gordon Strachy Shephard. A member of the British Army/Royal Flying Corps, Shephard would be in France the following month as war broke out on the continent. He would be killed in a flying accident in January 1918 and would be the highest ranking member of the RFC to die during the war.

5. The Festival of Remembrance image is a reference to crew member Mary Spring-Rice. Her relative Cecil Spring-Rice wrote the words that would be used in I Vow to Thee My Country, regularly used at the annual UK Festival of Remembrance. 

The words not used in the song :

I heard my country calling, away across the sea,
Across the waste of waters, she calls and calls to me.

appear to be apt for the Asgards and its crews exploits (and the other boats and crews involved).

Collen Brothers, Clanwilliam Place, Dublin

A well know photograph that many in Ireland and those that study the Easter Rising would recognise instantly. The burnt out remains of Clanwilliam House, held by Irish Volunteers against Sherwood Foresters.

At the far end, generally ignored, sits a small building housing the offices of Collen Brothers, a building company operating in Dublin and Portadown. They would submit a claim to the 1916 Property Losses Committee for damage to the houses sitting between their office and Clanwilliam House, as well as damage to their depot in the East Wall area of Dublin.

The Property Losses Committee records have been digitized by the National Archives of Ireland but the site is currently down for maintenance.

The Collen Brothers lost a son/employee during the first day of the landing at Suvla Bay, Gallipoli a few months before the Rising :

William Stewart Collen, killed August 1915

The landings at Suvla Bay would be followed by intense fighting around Hill 60 and Scimitar Hill as attempts were made to join up the position at Suvla Bay with that of Anzac Cove.

In the early 1950s the company constructed a terrace at the Canal End of Croke Park - looking across to what had been dubbed "Hill 60", a terrace that had acquired the name of the Gallipoli hill. The Hill 60 "terrace" was a simple mound and in wet weather it took on the look of a WW1 battlefield - the name wasn't meant as a compliment or as a remembrance of events in Gallipoli. Today much of what was Hill 60 forms part of Dineen Hill 16 and the Cusack Stand.

GAA photograph of the mound after Bloody Sunday, 1920

UCC stylised map of Croke Park, Bloody Sunday 1920

The Collen Brother archives were acquired by Trinity College, Dublin who have made some photographs and information available online. Amongst the snippets - if a location in Ireland has a Bailey bridge installed post WW2 nearby, it was probably put there as a result of Collen Brothers.

Collen Brothers archive on Google Culture

At least two cousins of William Stewart Collen from Portadown were also killed during the war :

John Collen was killed in 1916 while serving with the Royal Flying Corps

https://menbehindtheglass.co.uk/the-men/john-collen

Thomas Graham Shillington was killed in 1917

https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/140473/thomas-graham-shillington/

Thomas Shillington's Victoria Cross winning cousin Geoffrey Cather was killed in 1916

https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/1542737/geoffrey-st-george-shillington-cather/

In the newspaper clipping mentioning the death of Wiliam Collen, the wounding of Captain Robert Stevenson of Dungannon is mentioned. The following blog entry mentions that Stevenson was saved by the Machine Gun Sections Rangetaker, Private David Barras Smith. Smith appears to have been killed on the 27th August 1916 :

https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/685569/david-barrass-smith/

A video on YouTube gives a background to the life of Captain Stevenson, including distribution of guns from the Ulster Volunteer Force Larne gun running operation. Sadly Collen doesn't get a mention in the small piece touching on Suvla Bay.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55vw0tGVC7o