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The Welsh Guards
The Welsh Guards was raised on 26 February 1915 by order of King George V, seeing action in France during the Great War.During the Second World War, the 1st Battalion was part of the British Expeditionary Force and later fought in all the campaigns of North West Europe. The 2nd Battalion was formed in 1939 and in 1941, a 3rd Battalion was raised and fought throughout the Tunisian and Italian Campaigns. The 1st and 2nd Battalion formed part of the Guards Armoured Division working together and were the first troops to re-enter Brussels on 3 September 1944, after an advance of 100 miles in a single day.
Battalions during the Second World War.
- 1st Battalion
- 2nd Battalion
- 3rd Battalion
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List of those who served with The Welsh Guards during The Second World War
- 2nd Lt. C. N. Jenson 1st Btn.
- John Jones
- Frederick Lewis Read his Story.
- L/Cpl William Evan Phillips 1st Battalion. Read his Story.
- Sgt. Emrys Williams Read his Story.
- CSM A R "David" Lewis. Read his story
- Thomas Edwin Peedle. Read his Story
- Capt Percival R. J. "Dai" Tilley Read his Story
- Major Clixby Fitzwilliams. 2nd btn. Read his Story
Frederick Lewis Welsh Guards
I'm wondering if anyone out there knows of a man called Fredrick Lewis. He served with the Welsh Guards in Italy (Casino) and in Africa. Please contact me by email if you knew him at all, many thanks.
Sgt. Emrys Williams Welsh Guards
I'm writing about my Taid who served with the Welsh Guards during WW2. I know very little about his unit or the date that he joined up. What I do know he was captured at Dunkirk and spent the rest of the war as a pow. Unfortunatly he passed away when I was eleven years old so I never asked him about the war not that he would have told me anyway. I've since found out that he used to escape along with 3 or 4 others and lead the German guards off one way while his comrades went another and got away, then he would give himself up and get taken back beaten up, then do it all over again. All in all about 15 escapes or so I'm told. I would like to know more about his unit or what happened to him if anyone could help. One of the pictures on this site, top right looks very much like my Taid Emrys Williams
L/Cpl William Evan Phillips 1st Battalion. Welsh Guards
This is a letter recived by my late mother from the father of Second Lieutenant C N Jenson 1st Battalion Welsh Guards, about the capture of my late father Lance Corporal W.E. Phillips 1st Battalion Welsh Guards.
Letter dated 25.06.1940
The following account of the events of Wednesday 29th May 1940 leading up to the time when my son Second Lieut. C.N.Jenson, 1st Battalion Welsh Guards and the nine men with him at the end were last seen is the result of exhaustive enquiries which I have personally made from all officers and men whom I was told were likely to be able to throw any light on the subject.
I am satisfied that I now know all that I shall ever know unless either my son or any of his men survive as prisoners of war. I consider that there is a fair chance of this but I cannot say that there is any evidence of it. I may say that I have heard from various sources that the Germans are treating their prisoners and the wounded well. I understand that both the Government and the Red Cross have found great difficulty in finding out about prisoners up till now. So we do not expect to have further news for some time.
The action in question took place in Flanders half way between West Cappell and Vyfweg 12 miles inland from Dunkirk about 5 oclock in the afternoon. My son's platoon based on a farmhouse was the right platoon of his company on the flank from the enemy attack was expected and it was covering the rest of the company with which the remainder of the battalion was fighting a real guard action. My son's orders were to hold onto his position until things got too hot and then retire to the rest of the company.
His position in the afternoon became serious as his platoon was attacked by four tanks followed by infantry estimated by a survivor as a good deal more than a company. My son then decided to evacuate the position and to fall back on the company. He ordered his platoon sergeant to retire in a motor vehicle with all the platoon except nine men who were then engaging the enemy to cover the retreat of the rest of the platoon.
The sergeant with his party managed to rejoin the company without serious loss although two or three men were slightly wounded by machine gun fire from the ground and from enemy aeroplanes. Some of this party are returned to England I am afraid that the rest of this party were either killed or wounded in the main attack on the battalion which occured shortly afterwards in whcih some officers and 250 men were lost in the subsequent evacuation from Dunkirk.
None of those remaining with my son are returned. My son saw the sergeants party safely off in their motor vehicle and was last seen entering the farmhouse to get the rest of his men away in the other motor vehicle.
Nothing more is known except that from a distance it was seen that the farmhouse was being hit by shells mortars, which I understand always follow the German tanks who send for mortars if they encounter serious opposition. Subsequently it was seen that the farmhouse was on fire but it does not at all follow that my son and his men had not withdrawn from the house before this happened. We must just hope for the best.
My wife and I were comforted by the thought as I know you will be that if that was the end it was a gallant one and that our son and his platoon carried out successfully the important task they were entrusted with and worthily upheld the honour of their regiment and the brigade of guards.
The last man got away with the sergants party who I liked very much gave me an account of their last afternoon which it would interest you to hear. The platoon arrived at the farmhouse at about 2:30pm their put out sentries and everyone washed and shaved and had a good meal. My son then found an abandoned motor vehicle full of clean underclothes and battle dress and as they were all rather dirty by then they changed out of their old clothes into new ones. They then turned on a small wireless set and waited for the enemy.
These simple facts helped my wife and I very much to visualise the whole thing and I thought you would like to hear them although they do not add anything very material to the story which I already told you.
My father Lance Corporal W. E. Phillips sadly passed away on September 3rd 1978. He never spoke much about events in the war but he was a prisoner of war for five years in Stalag XXA, POW number 10744. Any information about this camp would be appreciated.
Grandfather with two Welsh Guard Friends
These photos are of my grandfather, Thomas Edwin Peedle, in the Welsh Guards, between the years of 1930 and 1945, approximately. I can't give you any names as I don't know who they are. I am hoping that someone will be able to identify some of them. There is a photo that has SAS Concentration camp, Polygan Camp, stated it on the back of it, that was taken in the desert in Egypt. My grandfather, died in December, 1980, he was 68 years old. Sorry I can't tell you any more about the pictures, hopefully someone can help more. Thanking you muchly.
I was born in 1919,in a small mid wales village Caersws Powys. Took the Kings shilling in 1938, serving in Gibralter at the outbreak of WW2. Transferred to British Expeditionary Forces, took part in the Battle of Arras Belguem, then Dunkirk, and later in the Guards Armoured Division in Normandy etc. I was discharged after serving 8 years and 88 days.
All day the sounds of gunfire,exploding shells, screaming planes, exploding bombs, all causing death and destruction. Long lines of Soldiers leaving the flimsy safety of the sand dunes, the lucky ones boarding boats, and being rowed out to larger ships and survival. This was the scene on the beach at Dunkirk, with the British Army, and their French allies desperately trying to escape from the approaching German Army.
After dark the sounds of warfare gradually decreased, with just the movement of solitary soldiers standing on watch for incoming boats, leaving their comrades to try to sleep up on the sand dunes. As one of the watching soldiers, I remember that strange feeling of a complete lull from all the noise, as though all the world had been stilled. Then as I looked around seeing the ships on fire,the smoking town behind me, the only sounds that of the hissing and sighing of the waves at my feet, with bits of equipment, and dead bodies of Soldiers and Seamen being washed ashore.
In that brief spell just before dawn when all is silently awaiting that first burst of life, amongst all that death and destruction, I suddenly realised that I was also looking at an incredable scene of indescribable beauty. The effervesant sand sparkled like a field of diamonds,with the ebb and flow of the tide along the shoreline. The bodiesof the dead lying at the water's edge,all encased in effervesence, as though annointed with a HALo of reverance.
The quietness, the effervesence, the smoke and flames, all combined to give a feeling that just for that brief time some unseen hand had created a picture of intense beauty, and i was left with the feeling that I was privileged to experience something very special, even in that time of great stress. Then suddenly a shout,as more boats appeared, the vision vanished, and the mayhem started again.
A.R.Lewis
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