Acts of gallantry unsurpassed in audacity and daring were performed by a sergeant and four men of the Durham Light Infantry who, after swimming twice over a canal, effectively silenced Germen snipers by throwing Mills bombs over the wall of the house from which they were operating. 

This plan of attack was one of the last orders given by Lieut. J.R. Gregson, then commanding "D" Company, before he was killed near St. Venant on May 27.
Having pointed out the route to be taken Lieut. Gregson told the heroic little party to leave their equipment and to go armed only with Mills bombs and five rounds in the magazines of their rifles, which were to be carried slung over the shoulder. When they had swum over the canal in the direction of their objective they discovered greatly to their chagrin, that owing to the winding of the waterway, the aquatic adventure would have to be repeated.

"We forgot all about the cigarettes in our pockets" one of the men told me. Apparently no more irrefutable evidence could be advanced to emphasise their earnestness in carrying out the expedition! As they once more reached the far side of the canal, however, they had a very disconcerting experience that was akin to a hideous nightmare. On the bank there suddenly reared up in air the black form of some mysterious animal---whether it was a horse or a bull or some other ferocious beast has not been established---which was apparently suffering from madness due to the gunfire and noise of the clashing armies.

"It reared up and charged in a most terrifying manner" Said Sergeant Robert Donaldson of Newcastle, who was in charge of the party. "We dare not shout, as it would have given our position away, so all we could do was to scatter and fling ourselves back into the water. We then made our way along the bank to find another landing place and, fortunately the animal took no more notice of us.
 

On reaching the roadway they saw a farmhouse about 400 yards away with a big white circle round one of the windows. "We guessed that was where the snipers were operating," Sergeant Donaldson told me. "We worked round concealed ourselves behind some bushes and rubble." "I said to the others" 'I am going to throw a bomb through the top window. As soon as I do that you make a dash for the door.' "One of the men--Private Batty--said he would throw the bomb which he immediately proceeded to do in the overarm style of a professional cricketer. Unfortunately he missed the window and the bomb exploded."

Machine-gun fire at once opened out from two houses standing on the left. They took shelter behind the farmhouse and sat for about half-an-hour wondering what to do next. They could not go forward and they could not go back. Eventually a plan of campaign was formulated and to put into action. They doubled across the open space and managed to get back to the road without casualty.

Having worked their way round the houses from which the machine-gun fire had come Lance-Corporal Whitely--who has earned fame as a boxer in the regiment--pulled himself up by his hands and peered over the wall of one of the backyards. "Instead of speaking he held up three fingers," said Sergeant Donaldson resuming the narrative. "I held up four fingers--one extra for luck"--and we threw four bombs over.

 "We then went into the yard and found that all the Germans hadbeen knocked out. They had an American Tommy gun and a mortar, which was much larger than those we were using. Mr Gregson afterwards told me that he had heard the noise of the grenades. When we got back to the road we heard a lot of motor vehicles approaching, so we hid in the ditch. We wondered what they were, but we had not long to wait. They pulled up at a house still inhabited by French people, and a number of Germans got out and entered the house. Two of them brought out bicycles which they had found there. "They rode past us as we lay in the ditch watching them. We doubled back and eventually reached our company. The French people in the farm opposite where we had our little trench were very kind to us and we soon
had dry clothes again."

We reported to Mr Gregson what had happened and about 10 minutes later he received wounds from which he died shortly afterwards." It was at this stage of the battle that C.S.M. N. Metcalf, of Stanley, took over the command of the company and as previously mentioned was awarded the Military Cross in recognition of the courage and qualities of leadership he displayed when all his officers had become casualties.
 

Sergeant Donaldson -- who previously served in the Durham Light Infantry from 1926 to 1933 and was recalled on the outbreak of the war--was wounded in the leg in subsequent operations. The thrilling story of how he survived the drama of Dunkirk after having laboriously crawled over fields and along seemingly endless ditches, expecting to be pounced upon at any moment by the advancing Germans, will be told in a subsequent instalment.  (see below)

      Himself

Following the heavy enemy attack at St. Venant on May 27 it became a case of "every man for himself'" In order to avoid being encircled. Sergeant Robert Donaldson of Newcastle -- whose daring exploit in swimming the canal and silencing German snipers was recounted in the previous instalment -- was wounded in
the leg shortly afterwards and was unable to walk. Private Batty was among those killed.

 "As I crawled across the field expecting to be pounced upon at any moment by the advancing Germans, it seemed as if everything was being fired at me" said Sergeant Donaldson in recalling his experiences. "I got into a ditch and when I  reached the road I had lost all sense of direction and did not know which way to go. "I saw a khaki figure on the edge of a wood and signalled to him. He was a machine-gunner and he helped me to the building, which was their headquarters. They gave me a hot drink and dressed my leg."

      Nobody in Front

When Donaldson told the officer in command that there was nobody in front of them he at once ordered his men to pack their guns on the vehicles. "I was put in a front seat with one of the drivers." Donaldson told me "When I heard the instructions given to the drivers as to the route to be taken it appeared to me that if we went that way we would be going back to the place that I had just crawled from." The officer in charge assured me that I must be mistaken, but as events proved, they ran into an ambush and lost their guns. We had only got about 450 yards when there was a sudden grinding of brakes and the lorries came to a standstill.

"The drivers then jumped out and started backing their vehicles away again. They did not know what was happening and all was confusion. Shells were bursting on the road right in front of them and a farmhouse was in flames." "About 200 or 300 yards away the Germans could be seen going in and out of the little trenches which we had occupied. "One of the drivers shouted to me 'Jump for it sergeant!' I managed to get out and as I was unable to walk I had to start to crawl again.

      Which Way To Go

'When I got back to the humpy-back bridge some of the machine-gunners were still there and we had an argument as to which way to go. One of the men said "The sergeant knows where north is We will stick to him" We got a ride in a 30-cwt truck and on the way I caught a glimpse of some of the Durham Light Infantry."

"A dispatch rider said he would get me something to relieve my pain and put me to sleep. I said I did not need anything. I did not want to run the risk of being left behind unconscious. They took me to the casualty clearing station, which was in darkness. I lay there about an hour, during which time the place was heavily shelled. I was one of the lucky ones who got moved away. For two days the ambulances were going backwards and forwards owing to general confusion and congestion on the roads. After being held up for two or three hours word would be received that they could move on another five miles or so."

 "We then came to a canal over which a temporary bridge had been thrown and the driver opened the door and shouted "You can either stay where you are or get out and crawl" "The two machine-gunners and I were giving a blanket each by French soldiers. They were both wounded, and the one who was holding me had more serious injuries than I had, but they were in the arm.

"Military police on motorcycle did good work in directing us, and eventually we reached Dunkirk." At Dunkirk we found that the hospital had just been evacuated so we went on to the sands and sat down and wondered what the next move would be. We then went back into the town, where we stayed for two days and French soldiers dressed our wounds. We had plenty food and cigarettes -- thousands of them -- which had come from abandoned canteens. An officer came along and took us to the car 'dump' where there were hundreds of vehicles of all kinds. He put us into one of the lorries and drove off. By this time I had acquired a walking stick and was not quite so helpless."

As we boarded a destroyer I saw C.S.M. Metcalf, who with other "Durhams' got back to England.

      The First Encounter

During the first encounter with the enemy on the River Dyle a fortnight earlier, Sergeant Donaldson was in charge of the mortar platoon and he had a birds eye view of the advancing Germans coming down on the opposite side of the hill. "I sent up an SOS and after we had used all our ammunition we retired" he told me "Our own artillery fired short and caused confusion but no casualties. To prevent us being fired on as withdrew we held up our handkerchiefs and kept waving them. We got back to battalion headquarters. Platoon Sergeant-Major P. McLane of Newcastle did great work. He had a motorcycle and he was whipping round doing odd jobs on his own. He saw we were never beat in carrying the mortar. Sergeant G. Jenkinson of Hebburn who was in charge of the other mortar detachment, also rendered valuable assistance."

"During the night the mortar was lost through the truck having been commandeered and the men had to manhandle the ammunition. It was pitch dark and there was no means of finding our way back to the mortar. We learnt later that they had however, taken the precaution of removing the sights from the gun."

      A Meal Ready

"We tossed up which company to go to. I went to 'D' Company, then commanded by Lieut. J. R. Gregson and Sergeant Jenkinson went to 'C' Company commanded by Captain R. H. Blackett.   When we retired we thought the whole battalion had been wiped out, but when we reached the main road we found all our trucks waiting for us and a hot meal ready." We lined up, turned to our front and numbered off.   In my group there were three officers, three sergeants and two privates, and we were expected to hold a line of 800 yards. Lieut J.H.H. Bonham was the senior officer in the group. Jerry 'Germans' caught us up again and we got a lot of mortar fire. We had no Bren guns and one man had no rifle. We had to stand the enemy fire and were not able to return it.

At 1a.m. We got orders to retire and C.S.M. who had 20 years service in the regiment,  went down with four men to hold up the German army.  He had a Bren gun and some boxes of ammunition.    As we went back the Commanding officer was standing on the road in the daikness and as each group passed he had a word of cheer and encouragement for them.   Later I saw C.S.M.  Burkitt  and he said he had got out "by the skin of his teeth."

It was after the further retirement to St Vweant  that Sergeant Donaldson and four men went forward with Mills bombs and silenced the enemy snipers who were the causing as much trouble.