James White was born in 1916, the son of William James White and Mary Jane White [nee Chrisp]. His parents were living at 13B High Market, Ashington when they heard the sad news of James’ death.
James joined the 1st Battalion of the Tyneside Scottish, The Black Watch [Royal Highland Regiment] his service number being 4459525. He left for France as part of the British Expeditionary Force, but never made it home from Dunkirk as he was killed in action on 20 May 1940.
His name doesn’t appear in the war diaries, but this is what happened to his battalion on 20 May 1940. The battalion arrived at Neuville by 03.00. At dawn, enemy spotter planes had been seen and full concealment was ordered with no movement allowed. At 06.50 refugees had reported that they had seen tanks, but different groups stated that they had been seen in different directions so this was ignored as unreliable. By 07.00 orders to march had been received the route taken was to be Mercatel – Ficheux- Beaumetz – Saulty.
At 07.45 RAF Hurricanes were spotted machine gunning enemy positions some 2 kms north of Neuville. It was reported again at 09.05 that enemy tanks had been spotted, but again the information was sketchy. There was to be a rolling withdrawal, company by company, starting with ‘A’ company’s move to Mercatel. Enemy Armoured Vehicles were slowly being spotted and companies began to be fired at by light machine guns. ‘A’ company took cover within a coppice, but were heavily shelled by tanks and eventually had to surrender. ‘B’ company was overrun by tanks and sustaining heavy casualties. They were ordered to break up into smaller groups and head north. ‘C’ Company took cover in a number of houses, but were attacked by armoured vehicles sustaining heavy casualties. With no ammunition left the survivors could only do one thing – surrender. A small group managed to escape, but were captured some three days later. ‘D’ Company split into small groups after being attacked by tanks and light machine gun fire, some succeeded in escaping. The Headquarters Company took refuge in farmhouses, which they fortified. However, they took heavy fire and were forced into the open where they were captured.
In the engagement the battalion was able to disable two enemy tanks. Their organised resistance lasted from 0830 at Neuville and 0915 from Ficheux, till 12.30. Even so, small arms fire by the smaller groups could be heard until around 16.00 in the afternoon. The battalion held the Germans up for five hours. It has been recorded that a German officer expressed his admiration and surprise at the resistance the battalion offered as they were lightly armed and poorly trained. These troops were only armed with rifles, a scattering of Bren and Lewis Machine guns, and a few Boys anti-tank rifles. Many had not even received full training and were exhausted, not only with the marching, but also wearing full equipment in the boiling sun. We don’t know what company James was in, but the battalion suffered many casualties, 100 soldiers paid the ultimate sacrifice. James was one of these.
James is buried in Bucquoy Road Cemetery, Ficheux which is 9kms from Arras. It also contains soldiers of the Great War. There are 136 World War Two soldiers buried in this cemetery plus 26 unidentified servicemen and a memorial to 39 who can not be found. According to Hugh Sebag-Montefiore’s book ‘Dunkirk – Fight to the last man’ he suggests from reports that only 80 of 450 Tyneside Scottish soldiers escaped”
Information obtained from: – Find My Past, Commonwealth War Graves Commission
and the Battalion War diaries on Wikipedia written by North East War Memorial
Project [NEWMP].
Commemoration scroll
Information obtained from: – Find My Past, Commonwealth War Graves Commission
and the Battalion War diaries on Wikipedia written by North East War Memorial
Project [NEWMP].