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SLIGOMAN Gerard Jordan and six fellow Sacred Heart seminarians were studying at the Belgian novitiate of Brugelette when Germany invaded that country 70 years ago this week, on May 10th, 1940. For them it would mean a remarkable journey through the epic chaos of war.
Despite the outbreak of hostilities the previous September, life in the novitiate flowed smoothly until that May day. But the previous night German forces headed towards France across Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. Luxembourg was occupied in five hours; Netherlands in five days; Belgium cried out for help.
On May 15th the novitiate was evacuated. Gerard Jordan and six companions were taken by lorry to the French border. Three miles short of it they hoisted their packs on their backs and set off on foot. On May 18th they crossed into France.
Lorries, tanks and guns, some French, some British, were heading the opposite way towards the front while long columns of refugees were going in the same direction as the seminarians, away from it! Then the Germans attacked. They machine-gunned and bombed the lines of refugees. Civilians and French soldiers huddled in every hollow. The Germans advanced towards Amiens with hundreds of French prisoners of war marching alongside them. But the seven seminarians walked on without hindrance, hoping to reach Calais and get a boat to England.
They came upon British forces who were fighting a delaying action as they themselves too retreated steadily seawards. A young officer from Dublin drew by the seminarians in a small army van but had room only for three.
The remaining four headed on foot for Dunkirk. French soldiers lay by the road, asleep, rifles beside them. A fierce air battle raged overhead. Many planes, Allied and enemy, were being shot down. The four young men slept that night in a shed.
The following morning they emerged to find the countryside swarming with German soldiers while desperate people, trying to get away, clogged roads and railway stations.
The Germans, however, did not interfere with the civilian population or the refugees on this occasion. They too were headed for Dunkirk.
The seminarians followed the British army as it retreated towards Dunkirk. Hearing that it was surrounded, they diverted back to Calais and passed a long line of German tanks halted all along the road, “at ease”.
The German crews sat on the turrets, every man with a bottle of French wine. One soldier, between gulps, asked who they were and where they were going? He offered a swig from his bottle and gave them a
drink.
He laughed. “We will be going to England in a few days. Stay here and come with us.” The seminarians laughed too, but kept going.
It was dusk when they reached Calais. British soldiers gave them tea, bread, sausages and 10 Woodbines each. The sergeant remarked that he had spare rifles: “Why not take one each and join us?” he offered.
They laughed off that invitation too and crossed “no man’s land” to the British front line at Calais. Attacks from the air continued. The British said they expected to be made prisoners-of war. They advised the seminarians to leave before daybreak.
They spent that night in a cellar with scores of refugees and next morning set out for Dunkirk again. There were rumours of a large-scale evacuation. The British were still fighting a delaying action.
The Germans seemed to have no idea of the scope of the evacuation and halted their advance from May 23rd to 27th. It allowed 338,000 Allied soldiers to embark from Dunkirk.
By noon on May 27th the final action had begun. The seminarians were stopped by a German sentry from entering Dunkirk. Around its harbour a ferocious battle was taking place with the Allies trying to hold back German forces now attacking on all sides.
Thick smoke from a burning oil depot covered the entire area. The sea was calm as, to and fro, between the shore and the ships out to sea, went hundreds of small boats, gathering men from the beaches or picking them out of the water.
On the evening of May 28th the seminarians heard Belgium had surrendered. They decided to return to Brugelette. En route they met long lines of German infantry advancing into France, marching three abreast, relaxed, carefree, bareheaded, helmets on their belts, rifles on the sling.
Damaged tanks and gun carriers, great quantities of ammunition, soldiers’ packs and broken rifles were everywhere. It seemed they were thrown aside as French soldiers tried to escape. Many did not. The seminarians offered prayers at around 30 graves, each marked by a rifle stuck in the ground with a French helmet on top.
They came across a derailed supply-train loaded with rations. They asked the German guards if they could have some and were told to take as much as they wanted. They did. The rations were French.
They crossed into Belgium at Neuve Église on Sunday, June 2nd and attended Mass in the village church. On June 6th they arrived back at Brugelette. They had walked over 300 miles in 22 days during which they had not slept in a bed or eaten at
a table. Their feet were in a bad state.
Gerard Jordan stayed on in Belgium throughout the war and was ordained at Louvain in 1946. He served most of his priestly life in England where he now lives in retirement. He was 91 last September.