The Tank Museum has bought at auction a portrait of Lieutenant-Colonel S. J. King, M.C., Royal Tank Regiment. The portrait was painted in Oflag IX A/Z at Spangenberg, near Kassel, by a fellow inmate, George Douglas Milne (1909-2005), the 2nd Lord Milne.
As a portrait, the work is not that successful, but give it a second look, then read about the man portrayed and the circumstances in which it was painted.
Sydney John King began his military career in the Royal Artillery during the First World War. As a lieutenant, he was awarded the Military Cross in 1916 and a bar to the award in 1917. Post-war, he transferred to the Royal Tank Corps and was mentioned in despatches for his activities on the Indian North West Frontier in 1932. As a Major in the 7th Royal Tank Regiment, King was given command of B Company and fought with great bravery at the battle of Arras on 21 May 1940.
The Advance
The 4th and 7th Royal Tank Regiments had originally advanced into Belgium to man the Dyle line, as this was thought to be the axis of the main German attack. As the Germans sent an armoured thrust through the Ardennes and headed west for the channel coast, the Tank Regiments were withdrawn to Arras, a long and tiring road march that saw many breakdowns and exhausted the crews. A hastily assembled force would now attack the advancing German armour from Arras, thrusting south in two columns. The 4th and 7th Royal Tank Regiments had barely time to assemble before they were sent south, attacking in two columns across the rear of the advancing 7th panzer division, which was travelling westwards.
The battle had therefore enormous significance, although it might hardly be seen as a success on the actual day. The 7th RTR column drifted off the intended line of attack. At one point, it was engaged by French troops also taking part in the hastily planned action. The advance became uncoordinated, with smaller groups of vehicles running into enemy troops and hastily preparing defences. Major King’s B Company had seven Matilda 2 tanks at the beginning of the attack. Three fell by the wayside before the enemy was met. One tank was knocked out by the enemy, and another was disabled. This left King and a second tank commanded by Sgt. Doyle to rampage through the countryside, shooting up Germans in their path. They came under fire from German anti-tank guns.
The Attack
The attack caused consternation in the German ranks, one SS unit panicked. Reports reached Hitler, who, as a soldier in the First World War, knew of the near success of the German advance in August 1914. He feared the Arras attack might be another Battle of the Marne, a sudden, late reverse after a great advance. He called a halt to the panzer divisions for 24 hours. During this time, Britain was able to reinforce Calais, Dunkirk, and Boulogne and stop the advancing Germans from sweeping up the coast, an action that would end any chance of the British Army being rescued from France.
King recalled: “They did not penetrate, so we went straight at them and put them out of action. My tank ran over one, and I saw another suffer the same fate. Machine gunners and infantry now kept getting up in front of us and retreating rapidly, giving us good MG targets for about 10 minutes. There must have been about 150 altogether.”
The two tanks came to a German roadblock made up of a traction engine, some farm carts, and four German tanks. “Their shells did not penetrate, but my 2-pdrs went right through them.”
As they travelled forward, the crew was badly affected by burning material in one of the front stowage bins that had been penetrated. Smoke forced them to open hatches, which in turn led to more spent rounds entering the tank. Sgt. Doyle also made it through the roadblock, and in his own account said:
“Major King called me up, and when I got to him, he [his tank] was on fire. His words were, “Doyle, let’s finish the job.’ So, in again, we went, knowing we were outnumbered and never had a chance of coming out of it, and then the fun started. I know at least five German tanks he put out [of action] and a number of trucks, etc. You see, we met a convoy, and did we have some fun! We paid Jerry back for the loss of the rest of the company, and at about 8 o’clock, I saw him get hit in the front locker, but still he kept going. I myself was then on fire, but he must have been on fire for an hour or so. He would not leave his tank because we were surrounded by German tanks, so we just kept on, letting them have it.”
Kings’ engine then stalled, and a heavier calibre round hit the static Matilda II. King’s gunner, Corporal Holland broke his left arm with the impact. The gun was now facing the rear, with no means of traversing the turret. The driver managed to re-start the engine, and the injured Holland said he could carry on, so off again went the Matilda, followed by Sgt. Doyle’s tank. An 88mm gun tried to fire at King’s vehicle but was hit by fire from Doyle’s tank. Opening up “for a breather,” fire coming at the static tank may have caused petrol to ignite as “the whole thing flared up, then settled down to steady burning. We scrambled out and dragged the driver out of the front seat.”
King recalled: “They did not penetrate, so we went straight at them and put them out of action. My tank ran over one, and I saw another suffer the same fate. Machine gunners and infantry now kept getting up in front of us and retreating rapidly, giving us good MG targets for about 10 minutes. There must have been about 150 altogether.”
The two tanks came to a German roadblock made up of a traction engine, some farm carts, and four German tanks. “Their shells did not penetrate, but my 2-pdrs went right through them,” said King.
King got Sgt. Doyle to drop his crew off at the nearest village. Doyle’s own tank was to be knocked out shortly, with Doyle losing two fingers from his right hand. As the Germans swept the battlefield, both King and later Doyle ended up as prisoners of war. Sixty of the eighty-eight British tanks that had started the day were lost in the action.
Prisoner of War
King, as a prisoner of war, was placed in Oflag IX A/Z at Spangenberg. An amazing number of famous names were held at the camp during the war, one was George Douglas Milne. Milne was the only son of Field Marshal Lord Milne. Serving with the 51st Anti-Aircraft Regiment, R.A. on Crete in May 1941, he was wounded and captured, and sent to Germany. Milne was an amateur artist, and at Oflag IX A/Z, he formed an art club with art supplies sent by his mother in Red Cross parcels. He taught other prisoners to paint, among them Major King. In 1944, he sent a selection of portraits of prisoners drawn on cardboard back to Britain. Two were exhibited at the Royal Academy summer show, and two more were displayed in the Daily Telegraph Prisoner of War exhibition held at Clarence House.
Milne continued to paint after the war and exhibited at the Royal Institute of Oil Painters and the Royal Society of Portrait Painters. The portrait is signed bottom right and shows King in his RTR beret and uniform.
King returned to Britain later in 1943, the year of the portrait. The reason is unclear, but it may well have been because of ill health, as he subsequently wrote from a hospital in Britain to contact his crew and members of 7 RTR. A lengthy exchange of letters is held in the Tank Museum’s library where he tries to get awards for Sgt. Doyle and E.F. Hollands the gunner.
There is also a recommendation from the second in command of B Company, Captain M.W. Fisher, requesting an award for King. Whilst he was later promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and returned to active service, he never received recognition for the action in the form of any award, and from the paperwork, it appears neither did Sgt. Doyle. The gunner, E.F. Holland did receive the Military Medal in 1945.
