O. A. BROWNE - XXX Corps - Eighth Army

Omar Alfred Browne (Lance Corporal No. 6912447) - 2nd Battalion The Rifle Brigade - 7th Armoured Division - XXX Corps - Eighth Army

At the time Omar was born, on February 26th 1916, his father Alfred was serving on the Western Front with 2nd Battalion, Grenadier Guards. In fact Alfred was destined to be killed the following year and it is unlikely that he ever saw his baby son. When he had married Esther they made their home in Violet Villas, Boveney Newtown. He was killed on July 31st 1917 during the Third Battle of Ypres in Belgium and left a widow with an infant daughter named Hetty and baby Omar. Esther married again and as Mrs Wicks had another daughter, Gladys, in 1922.

Omar attended the Eton Wick Infant School when he was five, and on April 10th 1923 he registered for school at Eton Porny. Because his father had been a professional soldier Mrs Wicks decided he should complete his education at an army school. He left Eton Porny on January 21st 1927 and six days later, one month short of his 11th birthday, he went to the Duke of York School in Kent. It was here Omar joined the band, and it was here he developed a dislike of brass buttons. The band was to result him becoming an accomplished musician and able to play six different instruments. With his stated dislike of brass polishing he decided against a career in the Grenadiers, as his father had chosen, and instead joined the Rifle Brigade as a bandsman. On April 1st 1931, when he was 15 years three months, he reported to Devonport, as number 6912447, 2nd Battalion, Rifle Brigade.

Omar Browne (foreground, centre) in a funeral party at Halm between the Wars.

In September 1933 the Battalion sailed from England for Malta where they served for more than four years, until in December 1937 they embarked for Meerut in India. In 1939 they sailed to the Middle East, and as part of the 23rd Infantry Brigade served in Palestine and Trans Jordan. By this time Omar had grown from a, boy into a fine soldier, who loved many sports, including football, hockey, cricket and swimming. With the threatening upset of war the Battalion moved to the Egyptian frontier. Italy entered the war with Germany against the British, and with possessions in Libya, immediately struck east toward Egypt and the Suez Canal.

To counter these moves the British entered Libya, and the important harbour of Tobruk, situated along the strategic coast road, fell to Australian forces in January 1941. Cyrenaica fell to British troops, and Tripoli itself was threatened. With the rapid collapse of the Italian army the Germans dispatched strong armoured units under the command of Erwin Rommel, to halt the British advance. At this time a political decision was taken in London to send many of the much needed troops from the Middle East in support of Greece and Crete. The German drive to take Tobruk and ultimately the distant prize of Suez was sustained and very determined. The harbour garrison held out against the enemy although the Germans did become established in the desert and along the coast at distances as advanced as up to 70 miles east of Tobruk, effectively isolating the British garrison there other than by sea.

Omar was now in the Support Group, with the 7th Armoured Division, XXX Corps, of the Eighth Army, and as a bandsman was almost certainly serving as a stretcher bearer or other medical service assistant. On November 19th 1941 the 7th Armoured Division and Support Group struck north from the desert to take Sidi Rezegh, approximately 30 miles south east of Tobruk, while other Eighth Army units attacked Sollum and Bir el Gobi. Sidi Rezegh was captured a couple of days later but changed hands yet again the following day. Fighting was particularly fierce, involving tank battles and many casualties, as the Germans strove to take Tobruk and the British strove to relieve it. The 21st and 22nd November was perhaps the climax of the battle, when the XXX Corps was obliged to disengage, having lost two thirds of its armour.

Omar died in the Sidi Rezegh battle on November 21st 1941 at the age of 25 and is buried in the Knightsbridge War Cemetery, Libya, which is situated 15½ miles west of Tobruk and a few miles from Acroma. The cemetery contains 3,649 burials, including 10 soldiers whose graves could not be positively identified. The Knightsbridge War Cemetery was so named because a strategic point of the "box" desert defences in the area had been known as Knightsbridge. Graves and small battlefield burial places were concentrated at Knightsbridge after the war.

At the time of researching Omar (1995) the cemetery was not very accessible on account of strained diplomatic relations between our respective countries. Consequently a recent photo of the grave obtained through the C.W.G.C. looks tidy but lacking the customary beauty of plants.

Omar Browne was the only serviceman of W.W.II from Eton Wick whose father had been killed in the previous world conflict. Both were professional soldiers, and both are commemorated on the Eton Wick Memorial. Omar also commemorated on the W.W.II plaque on the wall of the Village Hall. In each instance his name is spelt as Browne (with an "e"). His father, Alfred, is commemorated as Brown (without an "e") except at Eton where he Browne.

Omar Browne's page on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website.

This is an extract from Their Names Shall Be Carved in Stone  

and published here with grateful thanks to the author Frank Bond.

STANLEY BOND - Royal Engineers

Stanley Walter Bond (Lance Corporal No. 1910662) - 138 Mechanical Equipment Company - Royal Engineers

Stan was born on June 26th 1917 and had six brothers and four sisters. His father, known as Roll, had moved to Eton Wick as a young single man in the late 1880s, together with an older married brother from their parents' home at the Queen's Head, Hazlemere, High Wycombe. Roll met and married Charlotte (Lottie) Deverill of Chalvey and, like his brother Thomas, raised a sizeable family spread over many years. The family home was at No. 1, Palmer Place and the road along the side of No. 1, leading to Common Road, was always referred to as Bonds' Lane. It came as a local surprise in the mid 1930s when the Eton Urban Council erected a name plate as Browns' Lane. It is now all part of Common Road.

The father, Roll, earned his living as a refuse collector, as a cabbie (horse) and a jobbing carter. Stan went to the Eton Wick Infant School until he was nearly seven and then attended Eton Porny between April 1st 1924 and July 29th 1931, when he left school to work in the expanding family business. His brothers were older than himself and, by the early 1930s, were road haulage contracting with horses and tip carts. They secured a large contract connected with the expansion of Cippenham and soon replaced the horses with lorries. The large family had known days when the next meal had to be earned but now the situation was much improved.

Unlike the short Bond stature, the offspring were of Lottie's build, big and robust. Roland (Junior), William, Robert, Cyril and lastly Charlie, had all married in the 1930s and early 1940s and left home. Their parents moved into a new detached home in the Boveney end of the village, and named it “Rollot". Stan courted and married Brenda Elsia Allen of Dorney and made a home at Taplow. His sister Florence had married Norman Lane of Eton Wick. Norman was to play a significant role in the future post war expansion of the family business.

The war clouds broke in September 1939 and different priorities affected business, and more importantly the work force. Many men voluntarily joined the forces rather than wait uncertainly for conscription into a unit not of their choice. Roland had served in the Royal Navy throughout the Great War at a time when his brothers were not old enough. In a very short while Bill, Cyril and Stan were in army uniforms. All had chosen to serve with the Royal Engineers. It was probably in early 1941, while Stan and Cyril were working in the same unit, when Stan expressed boredom and his decision to volunteer for a posting nearer "the action". This was a fairly common wish among young men throughout the services. It is not known whether he was already in North Africa, but certainly by the summer of 1941 he was serving in the Levant.

Wavell had limited resources under his command which consisted of the 7th Australian Division, the 5th Indian Infantry Brigade, part of the 1st Cavalry Division, six Battalions of the Free French forces, and a company of tanks, together with 70 aircraft. Opposing them were Vichy French forces (35,000 men), 18 Battalions, 90 tanks and 90 aircraft. The initial advance was held up 10 miles from Damascus, but by June 21st 1941 fresh reinforcements were becoming effective and on this day the Indian troops captured Damascus. On July 12th Vichy forces surrendered in Syria.

Unfortunately Stan was killed five days earlier, on July 7th 1941. His death was not directly caused by enemy action. At the time he was with comrades riding on the rear of a tank transporter. The side of the vehicle left the track, and the men were thrown off with the transporter rolling onto them. Stan is buried in the Damascus Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery in Syria. His grave is number 44 in Row L. He was 24 years old and left a childless widow. The Damascus War Cemetery contains 1,173 Commonwealth graves. Stanley is commemorated on the Eton Wick Memorial in the churchyard and on the tablet attached to the Village Hall.

The first cross above marks the grave of Corporals Bond and Smart and the second of Stanley Bond alone. It is believed that the double grave was the roadside grave dug by their comrades. Later they were buried separately in Damascus and the second cross was a temporary measure pending an official post war C.W.G.C. headstone.

Stanley Bond's page on Commonwealth War Graves Commission Website

This is an extract from Their Names Shall Be Carved in Stone  

and published here with grateful thanks to the author Frank Bond.

Further information: The 1939 Register records that Stanley Bond was a excavator driver (Heavy work) before he joined up. His widow, Brenda married Frederick Usher, a Canadian serviceman in 1943 and moved to Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Canada after the war had ended.

Frank Bond, author of Their Names Shall Be Carved In Stone was one of Stanley Bond’s second cousins.

World War 2 Eighty Years On - April 1941 - Incendiary Bombs Fell On Eton Wick School.

German aircraft continued to fly over the district most nights throughout the months of April and May to raid the cities of Birmingham, Coventry, Leeds, Sheffield, and London.

Len Downs, now residing in Dorney, was serving with 273 Bty. H.A.C. A.A. equipped with 3.7" mobile guns, machine guns and searchlight and he recalled that the troop were frequently called to action whilst stationed on Dorney Common during this time. 

Whenever the guns were in action there was always a danger of injury and damage from falling shrapnel but sometimes no air raid alert sounded and with no warning the guns would commence firing. My experience of falling shrapnel was whilst using the public phone situated near the village hall, when the firing began and odd pieces that fell onto the road ricocheted hitting the phone box with a loud frightening bang. The intense gunfire rattled doors and windows, greenhouses and garden sheds also suffered from the explosions. At night, even if the guns did not fire, those living close by the camp were awakened from their sleep as commands of range, height and bearing were shouted to those manning the guns.”

(Joan Ballhatchet)

April 14th

Fortunately, the local schools were on holiday as bombs and incendiaries fell in the district. Two incendiary bombs fell on Eton Wick school, one falling on the roof whilst the other fell through into the infants’ room where a cupboard was set on fire doing slight damage.

“A number of incendiaries had dropped across the allotments below the school in Sheepcote Road. Searchlights were sweeping the sky in search of the enemy planes whose dull drone seemed to be continual. I rushed about the allotments piling soil on the burning bombs. Within minutes the flames would burn through the soil and the operation was repeated. It was on this night my father became Eton Wick's only air raid casualty. The school like most public buildings had a wall of sandbags about six feet high along the old buildings main wall. 

My father, an Air Raid Warden, was on duty near the school and could see the incendiaries burning inside the building. Realizing that the blaze had to be tackled immediately he climbed onto the protective wall of sandbags and using one of the bags broke the window to gain entry. He then climbed through to extinguish the fires. On getting through the broken glass, he cut his hand. After the fire was extinguished it was pointed out to him that all his effort to affect the entry was unnecessary as the school door was always left unlocked for just such an emergency."
(Frank Bond).

This is an extract from Round and About Eton Wick: 1939 - 1945. The book was researched, written and published in 2001 by John Denham. 

World War 2 Eighty Years On - February 1941

Wednesday February 19th

During the night the Germans carried out the first of three consecutive raids on the city of Swansea and throughout the night the local anti-aircraft sites engaged any stray bomber that came within their range. About 9pm an enemy bomber evading the gunfire dropped bombs on Windsor causing damage and casualties at Gardeners Cottages and Duke Street. A family from Vansittart Road sitting at supper together with an Air Raid Warden died in this attack.

The ever-mounting demand from Eton Wick residents for air raid shelters in the village had met with some visible success. Blast walls at the village hall to give protection for the L.C.C. school children had been completed and air raid shelters for the village were nearing completion. Fifty years on some older residents had fond memories of the shelter in Common Road, near the Greyhound public house, as being a good place to do one’s courting. Design, construction, and location of brick-built surface shelters had to comply to certain specifications. Upon inspection a number of surface shelters built in Eton were condemned by the Ministry for having been built with lime mortar; it fell upon the contractors to rebuild them at their own expense to the required standard.

This is a report that appeared in the Daily Telegraph about the air raids that hit London and Swansea on February 19th 1941.

ALL-NIGHT RESCUE WORK

London and Swansea were the main targets of German air attack.

When a London hospital was hit by a high-explosive bomb, nurses attending a staff dance ran out in their evening dresses and worked throughout the night helping to rescue the trapped patients.

The bomb scored a direct hit on a block in which there were sixty-nine patients. The building collapsed in a mass of woodwork and masonry, and beds and patients were flung in all directions.

Rescue work was carried out by the light of torches.

"I have never seen such marvellous work," one of those present stated. "I think a member of every Service was there. There were sailors, policemen, A.R.P. workers off duty, and some Army officers. The nurses did not seem to mind about their evening dresses, although by the morning many of them were torn to shreds."

From the part of the block still standing injured patients were carried across an iron bridge to another part of the hospital.

An orderly who was on duty as a fire spotter said:

"We were standing against a wall opposite the block waiting for incendiaries to drop. We could hear the music from the dance, and then suddenly there was a tremendous explosion, and we were flung into the air. When we got up, we all went and fetched blankets and hot drinks for the workers, and also helped the doctors throughout the night.

 " The last man to be brought out was a patient whose legs had been pinned down by a heavy piece of masonry for several hours. Although in severe pain, he laughed and joked with him rescuers all the time. A doctor gave him morphia, and another man gave him a cigarette."

The hospital chaplains, one Church of England and the of her Roman Catholic, ministered to the dying and comforted the injured. They had the highest praise for the medical superintendent, doctors, and nurses who worked amidst the chocking dust and fallen debris, giving hypodermic treatment to sufferers.

This was the second time this hospital had been bombed, Another London hospital - a children's hospital - was hit by two bombs, but, though the damage was fairly considerable, there were no casualties.

The German bombers which raided Swansea apparently flew in from the direction of Brest and Cherbourg. At the same time British 'planes were themselves raiding Brest and Calais.  The German bombers came over in continuous waves. The first arrivals dropped thousands of parachute flares and firebombs. So numerous were the incendiaries that the whole town was lighted up as if by an enormous firework display.

This report appeared in the Daily Telegraph Story of the War volume 1 that covered the period from war being declare don 3rd September 1939 to 2nd September 1941. John Denham was given the series that runs to five volumes by his brother.

This is an extract from Round and About Eton Wick: 1939 - 1945. The book was researched, written and published in 2001 by John Denham. 

World War 2 Eighty Years On - January 1941

The new year opened with a raid on Cardiff by 100 German Bombers on the night of January 2nd, this was followed the next night by a raid on Bristol with 170 aircraft. The following week, January 10th, Portsmouth was Blitzed, and stray bombs fell over Surrey, Berkshire and parts of Buckinghamshire.

Eton College having acquired Manor Farm offered the tenancy to James Kinross Snr., who having been a long-standing tenant farmer of the College with no farmhouse, took possession of the farm. Until then the farm base had been a double Dutch Red barn on the Slough - Eton Road. This barn was also known as the ‘Tramps Hotel’ and had the stabling for all the farm motive power, which at that time was twelve horses. The enclosed part of the barn was commandeered by a Government Department for the storage of supplies which at various times included such items as onions and confectionery, which was not a good idea given the rodent population. Military stores consisted of such things as Air Force blue shirts and foot powder, a medicated talc for feet, soldiers for the use of!!.

Clothes rationing made the shirts a desirable item on the Black Market and a temptation to thieves. One night, shortly after the end of the war in Europe, using a lorry, thieves smashed through the barn doors and made off with a quantity of shirts. The shirts, all one size, bore the size mark 22. German P.O.W.'s arriving for work the following morning at Manor farm espied the shirts lying around and proceeded to kit themselves out. Although Manor Farm must be over a mile from one end to the other, the news that Police CID and Military SIB had arrived at the scene of the crime spread like a forest fire. The P.O.W.'s aware of the consequences if caught in possession of stolen property, immediately set about disposing of their loot putting shirts down the toilet, into buckets and in any other suitable place. One German prisoner working out in the field had no alternative but to bury his shirt and carry on working stripped to the waist on a very chilly day. When questioned by the investigating officers, everyone swore that Willie never wore a shirt or coat when working.

The fate of the Dutch barn was sealed in 1958 when it was sold to the Slough scrap merchant W.N. Thomas, demolition being in the capable hands of Andy Skeels of the Wick.

Having learnt to drive one of the new-fangled Fordson tractors, James Kinross Jnr. set about ploughing up the hallowed turf of Agars Plough, Eton. Other recreational areas were ploughed and prepared for cereals including the recreation ground at Eton Wick. By September 1943 the Bucks War Agriculture Executive had designated many acres of grass land around the district including 150 acres of the Dorney common for cereal and vegetable cultivation.

Doris Bentley, Barbara Trimmings and Margaret McIntosh, to name three capable members of the Womens Land Army, worked at Manor Farm and Barbara became very skilled at driving the Fordson tractor. On cold mornings the tractor could be difficult to start, the engine needing to be cranked overusing a starting handle; this operation require a certain amount of strength and knack, both of which Barbara had acquired. Petrol used for starting was contained in a small section of the fuel tank, the larger section containing the vaporising oil on which the engine ran when suitably warmed up. Once her precaution of covering the engine with sacking against frost and damp almost ended in disaster; a leak having  developed in the petrol section of the tank dripped onto the sacking during the night. When endeavouring to start the beast the sacking ignited, and a jet of flame shot up; those around beating a hasty retreat whilst Barbara coolly extinguished the fire.

Harvest time.

Many P.O.W,s were sent to work on local farms and were available on a daily basis from the prisoner of war camp at Maidenhead, being generally allocated at the farmers request in gangs of eight. Max Schattke, a German prisoner of war came to the Manor farm during the summer of 1946.  He was an aerial photographer in the Luftwaffe who had been shot down over Caen in 1945 and captured by the Americans. Having been in captivity for some time on the continent Max arrived in England in late January 1946, going into the large POW camp at Reading; from whence he transferred to the camp at Ascot commencing work at Manor farm. Upon being discharged from his POW status in January 1948 he voluntarily stayed and worked on the farm for another year as a free man. During his stay Max was encouraged to converse in English with help from Mrs Kinross Senior and after having spent some time exploring England Max returned to Germany in 1951.

 “My daughter and I visited Mr and Mrs Kinross at Manor Farm in 1998 and have  memories of Doris Bentley who left in late 1945 to marry a Canadian Police Officer, Barbara who left the farm in 1946, and Margaret McIntosh who married Peter French”.

(Max Schattke)

For the first weeks of January there was no enemy activity in the sky over Slough - Windsor to disturb local residents but the Cities of Cardiff, Bristol and Portsmouth suffered from attacks by the Luftwaffe. This respite did not last, for on the morning of February 3rd., a dismal morning with snow falling, a German aircraft dropped bombs on Upton and Ditton Park, Slough. The sound of machine gun fire sent Eton Wick village school children to seek shelter under their desks and although the. damage was slight but the blast from the exploding bombs caused two panes of glass to crack at the school.

This is an extract from Round and About Eton Wick: 1939 - 1945. The book was researched, written and published in 2001 by John Denham. 

A list of Prisoner of War camps in the UK can be found on the WW2 P.O.W. Camps in the UK website.