Talk:Archibald Beauman

lines of communication role

Until the breakthrough of German forces in May 1940, Beauman's job was a command in the Lines of Communication area - that is everything apart from the "forward area", where fighting is expected. The River Somme was the approximate boundary between these two areas, with the coastal strip up to Dunkirk being included in the LOC. Beauman's job was largely administrative, rather than military - to quote from his autobiography: "In general terms the object of a Lines of Communication to an overseas expedition is to receive at the base ports all the personnel, vehicles and stores of the field army, and deliver them at the right time and place to the units in the forward areas; which sounds very simple in theory, but is not so easy in practice." Some of the job was simply about getting arriving troops fed and put on the right train (and arriving senior officers too).

Initially, Beauman was based in Cherbourg, but when the expected heavy bombing did not materialise, ports closer to the front came into use and he was given command of the sub-districts titled Boulogne, Dieppe, Rouen and Le Mans. Rouen included the port of Le Havre and Fecamp.

When the Germans attacked on 10 May 1940, Beauman also took over responsibility for the Arras area, as GHQ had moved forward into Belgium. The only "military" rather than administrative requirement arising from the attack was providing anti-sabotage guards for certain key points and checking on the efficiency (or lack of it) of anti-aircraft gunners. It wasn't until 15 May that Beauman got wind of the deteriorating situation around Sedan - on his own initiative he formed a mobile reserve of one infantry battalion and a small detachment of artillery and engineers. (This force was ordered to Doullens on the 17th; they were surrounded and virtually wiped out at Albert.) It was not until the 16th that orders were given to use the three "labour" divisions to form a defensive line. From this moment, until the Beauman Division was established, he had responsibility for both the Lines of Communication job and putting together and commanding a fighting force.

So, to get to the point, I would be inclined to change

Based at Rouen, the main element of his command was the establishment of secure lines of communication in that area.

to say something like:

Based at Rouen, the main role of his command was managing logistics within the Lines of Communication area. This area was divided from the "forward area" by the River Somme, but included a coastal strip up to Dunkirk.

The reference for this would be "Then a Soldier", chapter 8 for a description of the administrative nature of the job (and a good few anecdotes), page 123 for the initial reports on the situation around Sedan and the formation of a mobile reserve, page 124 for orders to use the three "labour" divisions as fighting troops north of the Somme. ThoughtIdRetired (talk) 19:57, 17 August 2014 (UTC)

• I have amended the article as you suggest. Many thanks for your input. Alansplodge (talk) 19:07, 18 August 2014 (UTC)