The 10th Hussars early on the morning of Monday, May 27 1940, prepared for their advance to their start line:
“Those men of the tank crews, who had been free to try and get some sleep during the night, had only slept fitfully, rolled in a blanket on the ground beside their tanks. However, all the tank crews were soon on their feet for the “stand-to” and busied themselves with the various essential tasks and last minute checks.”[i]
The Regiment started its move on time for the 0500 hours start. Lieutenant-Colonel J.D. Hignett was aware of issues with the rear-link wireless communications, and so was not in direct contact with Brigade Headquarters. The Regimental War Diary records:
26 May
The Tanks left at 0200 hrs for Ramburelles. Major C.B. Harvey leaving his tank and going on in advance; this tank broke down in Camps L’Amenois at 0400 hrs with 2/Lt F.R. Govett and the R.S.M. who were acting as Bde Rear-link and was not recovered until the next evening.[ii]
The Regiment crossed the start-line on time;
But owing to the absence of the rear-link set, and the failure to install a No.9 set in a Light Tank in time, the rear-link (Major C.B. Harvey) was not in communication with the Bde.[iii]
The Regiment advanced in a two-up formation “B” Squadron (Major J.P. Archer-Shea) on the right, and “C” Squadron (Major D. Dawnay) on the left: “A” Squadron (Major C.K. Davy, M.C.) were in reserve at Ramburelles. The 10th Hussars were to receive artillery support from a battery of French 75 mm guns and to be followed as quickly as possible by French infantry: to assist in the “mopping-up”[iv] and consolidation of positions as the Hussars progressed.
As the 10th Hussars advanced into the sun, the French artillery support did not occur, and the Queen’s Bays on their right not seen[v]. The advancing tanks came under fire from small arms and anti-tank guns from the orchards approximately 700 yards ahead:
As we topped the rise, anti-tank guns hit us from the right flank and four tanks were ablaze before they had gone ten yards. The Squadron Commander was trying frantically to rally the tanks, but engines had stalled, men were struggling to get out of blazing tanks, amd some men were dragging their mates away from the burning tanks.[vi]
The rising sun made it challenging for the gunners of the Hussars to pinpoint targets. Sergeant Barry Ross later said:
As I looked through my gun sight, the rising sun blinded me and no doubt all the crews suffered the same.[vii]
Attempts were made by Brigadier McCreery to inform the Commanding Officer of the Hussars of the delay, due to the French artillery not being ready, via the Bays who were unable to make contact, and via a dispatch rider who was killed trying to reach the Hussars.[viii]
It was “C” Squadron, on the left of the attack, with the main Abbeville Road on its left, that made the first contact with the Germans: coming under fire from 37mm PaK 36 Anti-Tank guns. Any light tanks hit by this fire were easily penetrated, due to half the Squadron’s tanks being of the MarkVIB type, “they began to suffer casualties and moved off across the road to the left into close cover. Trooper James Palmer later remembered:
It all happened so quickly. As we topped the rise, anti-tank guns hit us from the right flank and four tanks were ablaze before they had gone ten yards.[ix]
“B” Squadron, which had advanced further than “C” Squadron, on an open forward slope, came under intense long-range fire from the Huppy-Doudlenainville area, also sheered left across the attack’s centre line towards the potential cover on the west side of the Abbeville road.
Lieutenant Colonel Hignett, advanced in his A13 cruiser towards Huppy to improve his view of the proceedings: the tank was fired upon, hit twice in quick succession[x], putting the wireless set out of action and damaging the gun mount. The operator, Captain Morley, said later:
I think we were hit four times by a 37mm gun, probably the same gun each time. I remember the first one hit us on the off side in the spare track box and the spare track link stopped that. The next one, however, was below the track but did not penetrate. The third hit the gun mantle in the side, and I can remember Lt Col Hignett leaning out of the turret with a crowbar and levering the pieces of broken armour which had jammed the mantlet. The fourth one hit slap on the turret ring, bulged the ring and of course, permanently stopped any more traversing, it also blew the fuse for the turret lights, and we were in partial darkness.[xi]
The tank was driven into cover in an attempt to regain control of the situation: there were several tanks on fire close to the road. Once undercover Hignett and his crew attempted repairs on the gun mount.
At approximately 0540 hrs, a scout car from Brigade Headquarters, with Brigade Major John Anderson of the 5th Skins arrived. Anderson ran across the open ground to Hignett’s tank, which was hiding in the smoke of a burning haystack: Anderson returned to his scout car through the thick smoke and “tracer of all calibres”.[xii] With Twenty minutes to go before the attack by the Bays and 3rd Armoured Brigade was now to occur, it was decided that the Hussars would continue: it was considered unwise to stand still, as the German artillery was “beginning to register likely cover” for the tanks.
By this time “B” Squadron had moved so far across the attack centre line that it had joined “C” Squadron across the main Abbeville road. In so doing, the Squadron suffered a large number of casualties: “there was a trail of blazing tanks across the countryside”.[xiii] Having got his gun functioning again, after resorting to the use of a crowbar, the Commanding Officer “made a dash to join the two squadrons across the road”[xiv], his tank hit three more times, without “vital damage”[xv].
Patrols were dispatched, to find a weak spot on the left flank, and were met by heavy anti-tank fire. “A” Squadron were brought up from Ramburelles and made a determined effort to get around the left flank to meet with the same result. At this stage, the Regiment had suffered heavy casualties in both tanks and personnel.
Second Lieutenant S. C. Trevor Moorhouse, the commander of No. 2 Troop, “A” Squadron, had been ordered to take the right of any advance the Squadron would have, should it be called out of reserve.[xvi] He, and his troop, inflicted severe casualties on the German infantry and anti-tank guns but they were frustrated, the Regiment also took casualties.
The cruiser, commanded by Second-Lieutenant Moorhouse, managed to destroy what had been a “particularly deadly 37mm gun”, was hit four times and set on fire after on pierced the fuel tank. Sergeant Ron Huggins of “A” Squadron reports:
Just as we were passing Lt. Moorhouse’s tank, which was burning furiously and billowing black smoke, to my utter amazement, he came out of his turret with blood streaming down his face. I slowed my tank down a little, and he ran the few yards and climbed onto the side and crouched down behind the rear of the turret, which was now over the driver’s hatch. We had just got moving again when, looking back, I saw Corporal “Ginger” Hartnell scramble out of his driver’s compartment. I slowed down again as he ran and caught up. However, instead of attempting to climb aboard, he waved me on and clung onto one of the towing eyes at the rear of the tank. Hanging on like this, we then towed him behind us on the ground and through the grass of the field.[xvii]
During this run, Huggins’ tank was hit:
At the rear of the tank and sparks flew up. The tank shuddered, and the engine cut out with a screech. I quickly realised that we had been hit in the rear with an anti-tank projectile fired from back across the field…the anti-tank shell had penetrated into the engine and wrecked it, but the tank had not burst into flames.[xviii]
The tank crew disabled the guns by removing the firing mechanisms, and with the two passengers, ran to a farmhouse next to the immobilised tank.[xix]
Second Lieutenant Samuel Cecil Trevor Wardell Moorhouse was recommended for and received the Military Cross. His citation reads:
On 27th May, 1940, at Huppy 2/Lt. Moorhouse was ordered to carry out a turning movement against enemy machine gun nests and anti-tank guns. He went forward with his troop and cleared several machine gun nets when he came under heavy anti-tank fire from his right flank. Without hesitation, he swung his tank towards these anti-tank guns and killed the crew of at least two. While carrying out this action, other enemy anti-tank guns opened fire on him from his rear and left flank. These he also tried to engage, but in so doing his tank was hit and set on fire. His operator was killed and his gunner badly wounded but displaying conspicuous coolness and gallantry 2/Lt. Moorhouse extricated his driver and wounded gunner. In getting his crew out of action, both he himself and his driver were wounded by machine gun fire.
Throughout the operation 2/Lt. Moorhouse displayed conspicuous gallantry, coolness and determination.[xx]
Captain J. Wyndham-Malet, the “A” Squadron second-in-command, was killed by a gunshot wound to the head, Trooper D.F. Covill remembers:
I was a gunner at the time, of a tank, and the commander of the tank had his red hat on, instead of wearing a tin helmet, they didn’t think of those things in 1939-40, and his head, unfortunately, was shot.[xxi]
A second eyewitness reported:
Captain Malet went half right across the field towards the nearby copse and where we expected more enemy to be in position. I was following his tank to his right. We both opened up with our tank machine guns and sprayed the copse at ground level as we approached it. Suddenly Capt. Malet, who had been standing with just his head showing, disappeared from view and his tank slowed to almost a standstill. As I caught up with the tank, and with my gunner still firing, Capt. Malet’s wireless operator, obviously shaken, put his head out of the tank and shouted across to me, “Captain Malet has been shot dead, we can’t function the turret.”[xxii]
According to Trooper Covill, the driver of their tank got it out of the situation saving their lives; he also says that for this, the driver received a Distinguished Conduct Medal.[xxiii]
Second Lieutenant J.S. Rowell, “C” Squadron and his driver were also killed when their light tank was hit, Troop Sergeant Major Dunk, of “C” Squadron, remembers:
My Troop, with 2nd Lt. Rowell in command, was advance guard to “C” Squadron. On passing through a small hamlet and across a field, there was an orchard, which as leading point I made for to get under covers. As the Troop skirted the orchard, we came under fire from some concealed anti-tank guns. Lt. Rowell’s tank was hit, and he was killed. The driver got out and made a break for it, but the gunner operator was never seen or accounted for again.[xxiv]
On the left flank, Second-Lieutenant Milbanke, “B” Squadron, made two efforts to find a weak spot in the German defences, when he:
Ran across the road to us, brandishing his revolver. He was bareheaded, and he jumped down into an enemy slit trench almost under the tracks of my tank, and which I did not know was there because it was so well camouflaged. The excavated earth had been covered with turf, and fresh branches had been placed over the top. It was occupied by a German infantryman who was lying “doggo” or feigning death. Lt Milbanke was fighting mad, shot the German, and I heard the man cry out. I also heard Lt Milbanke say, “That’s for my father” and he proceeded to remove the German’s Army Record book from his pocket for intelligence information.[xxv]
Milbanke’s second effort was once again in the German slit trenches:
There were many more slit trenches along the grass verge, and Lt Milbanke continued to jump in and out of them, killing the occupants with his revolver. He seemed to bear a charmed life, for here we were tank men involved in hand to hand fighting with German infantrymen. This was the job for the French infantrymen who should have been following us up in the mopping-up process.[xxvi]
The recommendation for his Military Cross reads:
On 27th May, 1940, near HUPPY and his tank damaged. He endeavoured to get the tank under cover, but having failed to do this he at once transferred to another tank and again came into action. Having got separated from his troop, he carried out a series of individual actions as Liason Officer for his Commanding Officer. Many times he went forward with messages to troops and tanks which were in danger of being cut off, and on more than one occasion he dismounted from his tank and closed with German machine gun crews with his revolver. He killed several Germans in this way.
His courage and total disregard of personal danger had a great effect on all those with whom he came in contact, and he inflicted several losses on German anti-tank gun crews in the area South-West of Huppy.[xxvii]
Squadron Sergeant Major C.F. Canning, “A” Squadron, also found his tank in the middle of a series of slit trenches, and unable to depress the guns of his tanks to fire into them, dismounted from his tank, and ordered his gunner to cover him and, armed with his 0.38-inch revolver, started shooting the trench occupants. When his pistol jammed, he produced his penknife and unjammed it by removing the empty case which had slipped under the ejector, reloaded and continued to clear further trenches.
S.S.M. Canning’s recommendation for the Distinguished Conduct Medal reads:
On 27th May, 1940, at Huppy S.S.M. Canning was attacking enemy machine-gun nests in position. S.S.M. Canning’s tank was having great difficulty manoeuvring on heavy plough, and was unable to engage machine gun nests which were very well sited on reverse slope positions. Without hesitation, S.S.M. Canning dismounted from his tank and destroyed an enemy machine gun team with his revolver. S .S.M. Canning’s action was responsible in destroying an important enemy machine gun position and was a splendid example to his men.[xxviii]
Sergeant Edward A. Maile attacked a German machine-gun position armed only with his revolver and later volunteered to return to an abandoned tank under fire, which he repaired it and then brought out of action, for this, he was recommended for and received the Distinguished Conduct Medal. His recommendation reading:
At Huy on 27th May, 1940, Sgt. Maile found his tank unable to be manoeuvred to attack enemy in position. He therefore dismounted and on his own initiative engaged an enemy machine gun post with his revolver, killing and scattering its crew. Subsequently Sgt. Maile volunteered to return to an abandoned tank which had its starting equipment damaged. He returned to it under fire, repaired the damage, and brought the tank out of action.[xxix]
The thrust by “A” Squadron penetrated approximately six hundred yards: the concentration of German fire was so heavy that the only recourse to prevent the complete loss of the Regiment was to withdraw. Lieutenant-Colonel Hignett, therefore, ordered the withdrawal and indicated that a rendezvous near St Maxent for those remaining tanks: all wounded who could be located were collected, and the withdrawing tanks retired to take up a defensive line between Cerisy and St Maxent. Orders were received later to withdraw further to Ramburelles: at which time Captain Wyndham Malet was buried, before a further withdrawal by the Regiment, to Hodeng au Bosc.[xxx]
[i] Price, Wayne, The 10th Royal Hussars (PWO) At The Battle of Huppy Monday May 27th 1940, p.11 (https://www.krh.org.uk/battle-of-huppy-monday.html)
[ii] WO 167/446 War Diary 10th Hussars May-June 1940 The National Archives (UK)
[iii] WO 167/446 War Diary 10th Hussars May-June 1940 The National Archives (UK)
[iv] WO 167/446 War Diary 10th Hussars May-June 1940 The National Archives (UK)
[v] Plant, John 1st Armoured Division, New Generation Publishing, 2013, p.14; Plant, John Cruiser Tank Warfare, New Generation Publishing, 2014, p.43; Plant, John British Tank Warfare, New Generation Publishing, 2015, p.96; The 10th Royal Hussars in the Second World War 1939-1945, Gale & Polden, 1948, p.13; Sebag-Montefiore, Hugh, Dunkirk: Fight to the Last Man, Penguin, 2015, p. 272; L.F. Ellis, The War in France & Flanders, 1939 – 1940, HMSO, p.261; Pallud, Jean Paul, Blitzkrieg in the West: The and Now, After the Battle, 1991, p.402; Robert Forczyk, Case Red: The Collapse of France, Osprey, 2017 p. 244; War Diary 2nd Armoured Brigade Headquarters, WO 167/419 The National Archives (UK)
[vi] Kershaw, Robert, Tank Men: The Human Story of Tanks at War, Hodder & Stoughton, 2009, p. 130
[vii] Kershaw, Robert, Tank Men: The Human Story of Tanks at War, Hodder & Stoughton, 2009, p. 131
[viii] Sebag-Montefiore, p.272
[ix] Kershaw, Robert, Tank Men: The Human Story of Tanks at War, Hodder & Stoughton, 2009, p. 130
[x] Price, Wayne, The 10th Royal Hussars (PWO) At The Battle of Huppy Monday May 27th 1940, p.13 (https://www.krh.org.uk/battle-of-huppy-monday.html)
[xi] Price, Wayne, The 10th Royal Hussars (PWO) At The Battle of Huppy Monday May 27th 1940, p.13 (https://www.krh.org.uk/battle-of-huppy-monday.html)
[xii] Price, Wayne, The 10th Royal Hussars (PWO) At The Battle of Huppy Monday May 27th 1940, p.14 (https://www.krh.org.uk/battle-of-huppy-monday.html)
[xiii] The 10th Royal Hussars in the Second World War 1939-1945, Gale & Polden, 1948, p.14
[xiv] The 10th Royal Hussars in the Second World War 1939-1945, Gale & Polden, 1948, p.14
[xv] The 10th Royal Hussars in the Second World War 1939-1945, Gale & Polden, 1948, p.14
[xvi] Price, Wayne, The 10th Royal Hussars (PWO) At The Battle of Huppy Monday May 27th 1940, p.9 (https://www.krh.org.uk/battle-of-huppy-monday.html)
[xvii] Price, Wayne, The 10th Royal Hussars (PWO) At The Battle of Huppy Monday May 27th 1940, p.15/6 (https://www.krh.org.uk/battle-of-huppy-monday.html)
[xviii] Price, Wayne, The 10th Royal Hussars (PWO) At The Battle of Huppy Monday May 27th 1940, p.16 (https://www.krh.org.uk/battle-of-huppy-monday.html)
[xix] Price, Wayne, The 10th Royal Hussars (PWO) At The Battle of Huppy Monday May 27th 1940, p.16 (https://www.krh.org.uk/battle-of-huppy-monday.html)
[xx] WO 373/16/48, Recommendation for Award for Moorhouse, Trevor Rank: Second Lieutenant, The National Archives
[xxi] Covill, Douglas Frederick interview, 18023 Reel1, IWM Sound Archive (https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80017668)
[xxii] Price, Wayne, The 10th Royal Hussars (PWO) At The Battle of Huppy Monday May 27th 1940, p.15 (https://www.krh.org.uk/battle-of-huppy-monday.html)
[xxiii] I believe this to be Trooper S.W. Powell. No citation is available online, but I shall be conducting further research to find if this is correct.
[xxiv] Price, Wayne, The 10th Royal Hussars (PWO) At The Battle of Huppy Monday May 27th 1940, p.12 (https://www.krh.org.uk/battle-of-huppy-monday.html)
[xxv] Price, Wayne, The 10th Royal Hussars (PWO) At The Battle of Huppy Monday May 27th 1940, p.15 (https://www.krh.org.uk/battle-of-huppy-monday.html)
[xxvi] Price, Wayne, The 10th Royal Hussars (PWO) At The Battle of Huppy Monday May 27th 1940, p.15 (https://www.krh.org.uk/battle-of-huppy-monday.html)
[xxvii] WO 373/16/49, Recommendation for Award for Milbank, R. Rank: Second Lieutenant, The National Archives
[xxviii] WO 373/16/52, Recommendation for Award for Canning, Oliver: Rank: Serjeant Major, The National Archives
[xxix] WO 373/16/54, Recommendation for Award for Maile, Edward Rank: Serjeant, The National Archives
[xxx] WO 167/446 War Diary 10th Hussars May-June 1940 The National Archives (UK); The 10th Royal Hussars in the Second World War 1939-1945, Gale & Polden, 1948, p.16
The 1st Armoured Division (UK) 