On the 15th May 1940 Richard Annand of the 2nd Durham Light Infantry won the British Army`s first VC of the second World War yet less than twelve days later this fine battalion were fighting for their lives in the small French Town of St Venant.
On the 27th May 1940 the German Army and units of the Waffen SS drove on relentlessly towards the beleagued British troops gathered around Dunkirk.In their way were men of the British 2nd Infantry Division of which the 2nd Durhams were part.
Amongst the Durhams that day was a 25year old lad from Scotswood, Private Anthony Corkhill,a pre- war regular who had already seen service on the North West Frontier ,India and in the Sudan, was born on May 31st 1912 one of five siblings having three brothers and one sister. The family consisted of Joseph , Anthony ,sister Edith ,Thomas and Robert
Anthony Corkhill was born in Birkett Street, which was considered one of the worst places to live in Wallsend with up to four families sharing an outside toilet and slum conditions throughout the house.
With only two years difference in age, brothers Joseph and Anthony were inseparable and both attended the Western School in Wallsend. Shortly after the birth of their youngest brother,Robert the two brothers came home from school to find that their mother, who had been suffering with severe post-natal depression had incredibly been taken away to what was then known as Morpeth Lunatic Asylum.
It is unlikely that the boys ever saw their mother again and were raised by their maternal grandmother and their Aunt Rosie Kilpatrick who later married Tom Winship a professional football with Arsenal in the 1920s. Anthonys mother spent the rest of her life in the asylum and died in 1928. She was just 42 years old.
A daily routine for the two lads from the time of their mother's hospitalisation was searching the pubs in Wallsend to find their father in order to get him to send money to their granny so that she could buy food. It was a short time later in 1931 that Anthony Corkhill decided to join the Army enlisting into the Durhams in June 1931.
Nine years later Anthony Corkhill found himself fighting with the 2nd DLI alongside men of The Royal Welch Fusiliers and The Royal Berkshire Regiment. You will find little written in the History Books regarding the Battle of St Venant which is strange considering the ferocious nature of the encounter and the great loss of life which occured here.
The small communal cemetery in St Venant holds 177 casualties from the conflict included in this are 90 British soldiers exhumed from a mass grave of which 40 souls still remain `known unto God`. The small well kept plots contain 70 soldiers of The Durham Light Infantry.
On the evening of the 27th May 1940 the battle for St Venant ended. As the few surviving prisoners were being marched away into captivity Regimental Sergeant Major Archie Goddard ,heard a voice call to him fron the canal bank it was Anthony Corkhill who was wounded in both legs and the neck. The RSM begged the Germans to take Anthony Corkhill with them,they refused,there was no way of carrying Anthony over the rough terrain and the Germans ordered the RSM to leave Pte Corkhill for the Germans own Field Ambulance units which were operating in the area.
As the prisoners were led away none of them realised they would never see Anthony Corkhill again. On the 27th May 1940 Anthony Corkhill simply dissappeared. No record was ever found of him being treated by the Germans,no record was ever found of his capture,so what happened to Anthony Corkhill?
The mystery deepens with the date of Anthony`s death officially given as 29th May 1940 two days after the last reported sighting or was it. The Commonwealth War Graves list Anthony as having no known grave commemorated on the Dunkirk Memorial with a date of death recorded as 29th May 1940. On what evidence was the date based on? According to the CWGC they do not hold this information it was provided by the relevent Service Authority at the time. A check on files relating to Durham Light Infantrymen reported missing during the campaign in France in 1940 shows there was no investigation into Anthony Corkhill the file lists him simply as `dead` a Q80 reference is scribbled next to his name.
A casualty card received by the family shows a date of death of May 29th 1940 as do his service records and his pension date.A further entry in the DLI Non Effective Book also reads `Died in France 29th May 1940`.What evidence is held that covers the two days from the RSM`s meeting with Private Corkhill and his date of death? The family are convinced there is another account, a missing piece in the puzzle of Anthony Corkhills death.
This is a mystery which has haunted the Corkhill family for nearly 73 years each generation since have sought to find additional information and each in turn have been frustrated by a seemingly lack of official documentation on the casualties at St Venant. Today the search is headed by his nephew also Anthony (Tony) Corkhill. Tony watched his father Joseph search in vain and ultimately die in despair without making any headway in the search for answers.
War crimes files held at The National Archives include some horrific cases of British soldiers murdered in and around St Venant in May 1940 the Corkhill family are also aware that returning Prisoners of War completed questionaires which included a section to report any mistreatment or war crimes . These details were entered on a Form Q.Does the Q80 reference refer to such a form? These are questions the Corkhill family are hoping can be answered by the Ministry of Defence after a direct request was made to them this week for the release of any information still held relating to the Battle of St Venant and the last days of Anthony Corkhill. The Corkhill family have also forwarded a copy of their enquiry to ther local MP in the hope that he will fully support them in the search for answers.
The story took another unexpected turn recently when it was discovered that only one other man was recorded as dying at St Venant on the 29th May 1940 another DLI soldier Pte Syd Walt originally from Sunderland died two days after receiving wounds at St Venant he rests within the Communal cemetery at St Venant in the next grave is one of the 40 unknown British Soldiers `Known to God`. Is there a survivor of St Venant still out there who knows the truth about Private Corkhill?
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