1939-45 Star, War Medal (mentioned in despatches) and Defence Medal, paybook and documents of 2735607 Guardsman Alfred Logan, 8 Platoon, 3rd Company, 2nd Welsh Guards.
A former railway storeman from Swansea, Alf Logan was called up, aged 19, on 5th February, 1940. He was shipped to Boulogne as part of 20 Guards Brigade on the 22nd of May, 1940. By the following morning, he was manning a slit trench at the apex of the Boulogne defence line west of Mont Lambert. At 7.30am, the defence line came under intense attack from 2nd Panzer Division. Lacking sufficient anti-tank weapons and after three hours intense fighting, 8 Platoon found itself cut off. Twelve men, including Alf Logan and his friend Arthur Boswell, took cover in a nearby wood and waited for nightfall. Now behind German lines, this small band led by Lieutenant Pilcher attempted to make a break towards Wimille and the coast. After numerous brushes with German patrols, they were all eventually captured. However, this was not the end of Alf Logan's odyssey as his interview with M.I.9 in July 1941 relates:
"I was captured on 20 June 1940 at Hesdin along with 2735319 Gdsmn Boswell. We escaped about an hour later by jumping from a motor lorry. We wandered from village to village, sleeping in the woods and in barns and working occasionally on farms. We kept heading south making for Tours. We stayed for some time in the Rouen district.
From Tours we went to the line of demarcation, which we crossed near St. Aigan on 23 August. On reaching Loches, we surrendered to French police who sent us to Marseilles by train. I was interned in Fort St. Jean for two weeks and then sent to St. Hippolyte ( a prison for Allied evaders). I tried twice to get away from St. Hippolyte along with Gdsmn Boswell, but was caught on each occasion by French police. I was passed unfit by a medical board. I left Gibraltar on 4 July, 1941 and arrived at Glasgow on 13th July."
Eventually, Guardsman Boswell made good his escape via Spain and Gibraltar and arrived back in the UK towards the end of 1941. The actions in the field of both men were commended by being mentioned in despatches, with the entry being gazetted on the 12th February 1942. Both men survived the war.
