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Arthur Gregory
- Family History
- Military history
- Extra information
- Photographs
Son of Josiah and Mary Jane Gregory
The Casualty Lists have him as Wounded & Missing, then Wounded and then Died.
British Soldiers were offered French Hospitalisation/Medical care because it was quicker, rather than await casualty evacuation to a British Facility. Gregory effectively 'died in captivity'; the occupying authorities would not have had time to make him POW officially before his death. Gregory's death was reported in the Casualty Lists in mid/late 1941 which is consistent with the above.
22 May, the British troops had established roadblocks outside Calais and French rearguards skirmished with German armoured units, as they advanced towards Calais. British tanks and infantry had been ordered south to reinforce Boulogne but were too late. They then received orders to escort a food convoy to Dunkirk but found the road blocked by German troops.
23 May, the British began to retire to the old Calais walls.
24 May, the siege began. The attacks by the 10th Panzer Division were mostly costly failures and by dark, the Germans reported that about half their tanks had been knocked out and a third of the infantry were casualties. The German attacks were supported by the Luftwaffe and the Allied navies delivered supplies, evacuated wounded and bombarded German targets around the port.
Night of 24/25 May, the defenders were forced to withdraw from the southern enceinte, to a line covering the Old Town and Citadel; attacks next day against this shorter line were repulsed. The Germans tried several times to persuade the garrison to surrender but orders had been received from London to hold out, because an evacuation had been forbidden by the French commander of the northern ports.
26 May, more German attacks failed and the German commander was given an ultimatum that if Calais was not captured by 2:00 p.m., the attackers would be pulled back and the town leveled by the Luftwaffe. The Anglo-French defences began to collapse in the early afternoon and at 4:00 p.m. the order "every man for himself" was given to the defenders, as Le Tellier, the French commander surrendered. Died from wounds in a French hospital received in the fighting around Berthoult 23/24/5/1940.