Lot Essay
Marine Wilfred Hopkins was born near Brighouse, Yorkshire in March 1898 and enlisted in the Royal Marines at Manchester in November 1915, aged 17 years. Employed at assorted R.M. shore establishments in the U.K. until the end of hostilities, his only Great War entitlement was to a single British War Medal 1914-18. Remaining a Regular between the Wars, Hopkins was awarded his L.S. and G.C. Medal in May 1931 and was discharged at the end of his second period of engagement in early 1937. In the following year, however, with an ever increasing threat of hostilities, he was mobilised at Chatham. Thus ensued his only stint of active service, in which he served with the very gallant party of Marines ordered to the defence of Calais in May 1940 (P.R.O. ADM 159/133 refers):
'The next day [24.5.1940], an even smaller Company of 85 Marines, under Captain G.W.A. Courtice, sailed for Calais with similar orders ... Arriving at Calais in the first hour of 25 May, they took part with French Marines in defending the citadel. Later in the day one Platoon and the Machine-Gun Section were taken away from them to reinforce the Army in the front line. Soon afterwards the citadel, heavily bombed and shelled, became untenable, and Captain Courtice and his men withdrew in an inferno of bombs, artillery fire and bullets until, with their numbers sadly reduced, they took up position on a ridge of dunes together with men of the Rifle Brigade. Here again they were heavily bombed by German aircraft, but, reforming with double sentry posts over a front of 200 yards, held their posts through the night and the following day ... [But]... of the little company which had set out so bravely on 24 May, all Officers and all but 21 of the Other Ranks were either casualties or Prisoners of War' (The Marines Were There, by Sir Robert Bruce Lockhart, K.C.M.G., refers).
Further glowing references to Courtice and his Marines are to be found in Airey Neave's The Flames of Calais. Given the pounding that they took in their earlier participation in the defence of the citadel, it is a testament to their gallantry that the author of the War Diary of the Tenth Panzer Division was compelled to state, 'Enemy gives impression of being fresh, seems to have received reinforcements'. Neave also recalls an Army Officer noting the somewhat haphazard attire of the Marines, they 'having been hurriedly recalled from cinemas and dance halls to embark for Calais'. But the same Officer also noted that 'their discipline was inspiring'.
Hopkins was lucky to be among the handful of men that made it back to Dover, and following further service in a number of R.M. shore establishments, he was discharged in early 1944.
'The next day [24.5.1940], an even smaller Company of 85 Marines, under Captain G.W.A. Courtice, sailed for Calais with similar orders ... Arriving at Calais in the first hour of 25 May, they took part with French Marines in defending the citadel. Later in the day one Platoon and the Machine-Gun Section were taken away from them to reinforce the Army in the front line. Soon afterwards the citadel, heavily bombed and shelled, became untenable, and Captain Courtice and his men withdrew in an inferno of bombs, artillery fire and bullets until, with their numbers sadly reduced, they took up position on a ridge of dunes together with men of the Rifle Brigade. Here again they were heavily bombed by German aircraft, but, reforming with double sentry posts over a front of 200 yards, held their posts through the night and the following day ... [But]... of the little company which had set out so bravely on 24 May, all Officers and all but 21 of the Other Ranks were either casualties or Prisoners of War' (The Marines Were There, by Sir Robert Bruce Lockhart, K.C.M.G., refers).
Further glowing references to Courtice and his Marines are to be found in Airey Neave's The Flames of Calais. Given the pounding that they took in their earlier participation in the defence of the citadel, it is a testament to their gallantry that the author of the War Diary of the Tenth Panzer Division was compelled to state, 'Enemy gives impression of being fresh, seems to have received reinforcements'. Neave also recalls an Army Officer noting the somewhat haphazard attire of the Marines, they 'having been hurriedly recalled from cinemas and dance halls to embark for Calais'. But the same Officer also noted that 'their discipline was inspiring'.
Hopkins was lucky to be among the handful of men that made it back to Dover, and following further service in a number of R.M. shore establishments, he was discharged in early 1944.