PURPOSE

To compile the known facts and then describe scenarios that may explain the death and disappearance of Gunner Walter Messenger. Finally, to offer a reasoned opinion on what most likely happened to him.

FACTS

Identity: Walter Henry Messenger (“Sonny”), born 14 August 1918.

Service: Enlisted 15 July 1939; 57th Anti‑Tank Regiment, Royal Artillery; Rank: Gunner; Service Number 1491432.

Role: No. 3 (Layer) on a 2lb Anti‑Tank gun in a three‑man crew (No.1 Commander; No.2 Loader; No.3 Layer). The Layer traversed/elevated and fired on the No.1’s orders.

• Deployment: Initially in NE France; advanced into Belgium at the outbreak of hostilities, then withdrew back into France with the British Expeditionary Force BEF.

• 26 May 1940: His gun and others took up positions on the South‑West corner of the Forêt de Nieppe (Northern France) to form a gun line covering the open approaches. Vehicles were likely parked facing NE for rapid withdrawal.

• Battalion HQ: La Motte‑au‑Bois (“The Mound in the Woods”), 7 km NE of the gun line.

• Context: The BEF was under severe pressure, falling back toward the Channel coast; the forest was a designated strongpoint to delay the German advance and buy time for the rest of the BEF and the eventual Dunkirk evacuation.

SONNY’S LOCATION — MORNING OF 27 MAY 1940

From his Military Medal citation he was on the SW corner of the forest. While the Regimental diary does not give exact map refs, a reasonable reconstruction places the gun line along the forest edge facing the open fields to the SW (see Map 01: 1:50,000 Forêt de Nieppe, 1937–38).

Map 01

Map annotation: Yellow = gun line; Black Arrows = German Advance; Red line = track to the D916; Red arrow = BHQ; Orange Line = Route to Hazebrouck

THE ACTION

• Enemy approach: German infantry advanced from the SW in column, flanked by machine‑guns. Battle commenced at approximately 0800 and roughly 200 yards.

• Wounds: Gnr Messenger was immediately wounded in the hand and leg. As No.3 behind the gun’s shield, frontal fire was unlikely to hit him directly; oblique flanking Machine Gun fire (e.g., MG34, 7.92×57 mm) could reach an exposed left limb around the shield edge.

• Effect of wounds: A significant hand wound with blood loss is disabling but not usually fatal in the short term; a thigh/calf strike could be catastrophic through bony fragmentation and arterial/venous damage, even without complete femoral transection.

• Continued fire: Despite wounds he kept firing, which is consistent with the gun’s controls (traverse/elevation by right hand only is possible; firing with right foot pedal was normal) and with adrenaline under fire.

• Withdrawal: When nearly surrounded (≤100 yds), the crew abandoned the gun and withdrew by vehicles (plural). Gnr Messenger was alive when last seen getting on a vehicle.

• Time in contact: From first fire (200 yds) to withdrawal (≤100 yds) likely 2–5 minutes depending on the German tempo and the anti-tank guns delaying effect.

EXTRACT FROM: FINAL REPORT INTO THE

DISAPPEARANCE AND DEATH OF

GUNNER WALTER HENRY “SONNY” MESSENGER.

Gunner Walter Messenger

Sgt Maurice Eve

Research Examples