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World War 2 Two II WW2 WWII 1939 1945



Remembering those who died this day.

  • Brett George Frederick. Pte. (d.16th June 1940)
  • Gristock George. CSM (d.16th June 1940)

The names on this list have been submitted by relatives, friends, neighbours and others who wish to remember them, if you have any names to add or any recollections or photos of those listed, please Add a Name to this List



The Wartime Memories Project is the original WW1 and WW2 commemoration website.

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  • 28th March 2024 - Please note we currently have a huge backlog of submitted material, our volunteers are working through this as quickly as possible and all names, stories and photos will be added to the site. If you have already submitted a story to the site and your UID reference number is higher than 263784 your information is still in the queue, please do not resubmit, we are working through them as quickly as possible.
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Want to know more about the 16th of June 1940?


There are:25 items tagged 16th of June 1940 available in our Library

  These include information on officers, regimental histories, letters, diary entries, personal accounts and information about actions during the Second World War.




Stories from 16th June 1940





Capt. Richard Wallace Annand. VC. Army, 2nd Btn. Durham Light Infantry.

Richard Annand was the first soldier of the Second World War to be awarded the Victoria Cross, in Belgium in May 1940.

His obituary was published in the Times in December 2004:-

The Action in which Dick Annand fought on May 15, 1940, was the first to result in the award of the Victoria Cross to a soldier in the Second World War. As a second lieutenant with no previous operational experience he displayed resolution and personal courage of the highest order. When the battle was over, his first thought was to get his wounded batman to safety. Belgian neutrality in the early months of the war left the British Expeditionary Force and the French Army with an open flank from the northern end of the Maginot Line to the Channel coast. But, forewarned of a German attack through the Low Countries by a Wehrmacht plan which had fallen into Belgian hands and been handed over to the French, the Allied armies were ready to cross the frontier and occupy a defensive line along the River Dyle, east of Brussels, as soon as Belgian neutrality was breached. Germany launched her attack on May 10, 1940.

Annand was a platoon commander with 2nd Battalion The Durham Light Infantry in the 2nd Division sent to man positions on the Dyle, near the village of La Tombe. The ground on the west bank could hardly have been less suitable; trees and undergrowth made observation of the approaches to the opposite bank difficult and, to the rear, open ground rose steeply to the village. Annand was with D Company covering the road bridge over the Dyle, across which another company of the Durhams had been forced to withdraw before the advancing German Army on the afternoon of May 14, when the bridge was blown.

At 11.00 the next day the enemy launched a violent attack to cover the move of a bridging party into the sunken riverbed. Annand led a group of men from his platoon in a counterattack and, when their small-arms ammunition was exhausted, went forward alone to throw grenades from the edge of the ruined bridge on to the enemy bridging party working below, inflicting some 20 casualties. The enemy was thus prevented from crossing the river in continued fighting, but the situation remained grave, and the company commander had been badly wounded. During the evening of the same day, the enemy launched another attack under cover of intense mortar and machinegun fire. Annand again went forward armed with all the grenades he could carry and attacked the German troops attempting to repair the bridge.

Reporting on the action afterwards, the company sergeant-major said: “They came with a vengeance and were socked with a vengeance. They seemed determined to get that bridge but Jerry could not move old D Company. For two hours it was hell let loose, then they gave up and withdrew.”

But elsewhere the Allied line had broken and at 23.00 the Durhams’ commanding officer gave the order to withdraw as part of the general move back to the line of the River Scheldt. As Annand led the survivors of his platoon away from the bridge in the early hours of May 16, he discovered that his batman, Private Joseph Hunter, from Sunderland, had been wounded in the head and legs and was unable to walk.

Despite his own wounds sustained in the day’s fighting, he found a wheelbarrow, lifted Hunter into it and wheeled him to the rear until their way was barred by a fallen tree. Leaving Hunter in an empty trench he set out to find help but collapsed from exhaustion and loss of blood shortly after finding his company HQ position abandoned.

Hunter was captured by the advancing Germans and sent to a Dutch hospital, but he died of his wounds a month later. The award of the Victoria Cross to Second Lieutenant Annand was gazetted on August 23, 1940. This followed the announcement of the same award to another officer and a Guardsman, but for actions later in the withdrawal of the BEF to Dunkirk.

Richard “Dickie” Wallace Annand was born in South Shields in 1914, the son of Lieutenant-Commander Wallace Moir Annand, who was killed with the Collingwood Battalion of the Royal Naval Division at Gallipoli in June 1915. He was educated at Pocklington School in the East Riding of Yorkshire. He joined the National Provincial Bank in 1933 and became a midshipman in the Tyne Division of the RNVR in the same year.

He applied for a commission in the Royal Navy but was told he was over the age limit for application, so he joined the Army. After a period with the Supplementary Reserve he joined the 2nd Durham Light Infantry.

Although he recovered from wounds received at La Tombe, he was severely deafened in the action and was never again fit for active service. He was invalided out of the army in 1948 and thereafter devoted his life to helping the disabled, taking particular interest in the welfare of the deaf.

He was personnel officer of the Finchdale Abbey Training Centre for the Disabled near Durham until his retirement at the age of 65. The Borough of South Shields had made him an honorary freeman in 1940, and he was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant for Co Durham in 1956. He was president of the Durham branch of the Light Infantry Club until 1998.

He married Shirley Sefton Brittain Osborne in November 1940 and had cause to rescue her from drowning almost 40 years later, in 1979. The couple had attended dinner aboard the frigate HMS Bacchante anchored in the Tyne as guests of her captain. Turning from the foot of the gang plank on leaving to admire the ship, Mrs Annand fell off the quayside into the river. Without hesitation, Captain Annand plunged in and supported her until both were hauled to safety by the ship’s crew. Neither was much the worse for the incident, although Mrs Annand said her fur coat would never be quite the same.

His wife survives him. There were no children. His death leaves only 13 surviving VC holders.




Harry Dalby. Army, 1st Battalion The Black Watch, 51st Highland Division.

My late grandfather Harry Dalby was a POW in Stalag XXA. I have had his prisoner of war records translated and they give 2.K Batlingen, Batlingen 20 and Reigersfeld as work camps.

My grandfather, while in one of the camps, had what can only be described as a large hankie or part of a sheet with his Battalion's badge and two soldiers in highland dress on either side of it. This was drawn in ink we were told. It also has HE YDEBRECK written on the top of it which I believe is Batlingen. We have no idea who made this for him so if anyone has any idea or info I would be very greatful.

He was in the 1st Battalion The Black Watch, 51st Highland Division captured St.Valery 16/6/40.

Michele



Pte. Walter Flanders Standage. British Army, Black Watch.

My father, Walter Standage, never spoke of his time as a POW and sadly he died in 1978 before I became interested in genealogy and discovered the information I now have on his life and his war years. From research I do know he was captured on 16th June 1940 (uncertain yet exactly where captured or the circumstances - maybe someone can enlighten me) and was in Stalag XXa 35 - Torun and released after VE day 1945.

My mother was notified in August 1940 of his capture and there is a press cutting from the South Wales Echo of this information as apparently another POW in the same Stalag, one Private Hughes was in the same regiment and from the same street back home.

I found the reading of this web page very interesting, enlightening and helpful to understanding some of what he may have endured. I enjoyed reading others memories and viewing the photo's - sadly my father did not seem to be amongst them. I have many photo's of my father's army days but they appear to be more from his time at various postings / camps rather than anything remotely 'Stalag' - only one seems feasible, a group in front of a large wooden hut.

Yvonne Flanders










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