Hadfield-Spears Ambulance Unit - Active Service in Lorraine

Active Service in Lorraine

Complete with tents, X-ray equipment, sterilizing apparatus, surgical instruments, beds, bedding, linen and ward equipment, the Hadfield-Spears mobile hospital left Paris in February 1940 for the village of St Jean le Bassel, near the front line in Lorraine. The medical officer in charge was Le Médecin Capitaine Jean Gosset – under him were three young French surgeons, a radiographer and administrative staff. There were 12 French drivers for the heavy trucks and 50 private soldiers. The British girls consisted of ten nurses, and 15 drivers of the Mechanised Transport Corps (MTC). Lady Hadfield had donated a Renault limousine for the use of Mrs Spears.

The Hadfield-Spears unit was attached to the French 4th Army, which was commanded by Général Réquin, a former World War 1 comrade of General Spears. At St Jean le Bassel, they were billeted partly at a convent and partly in the village itself. Their predecessors had left the wards in poor condition and they spent two weeks getting the place into shape before moving patients to their new quarters.

There was little military activity in the sector – even when the Germans launched their attack on Holland, Luxembourg and Belgium on 10 May. The girls had a peaceful time in the French countryside, making sorties up to the front line at Sarreguemines, which had become a ghost town since its French inhabitants were evacuated nine months previously. Lady Hadfield travelled up from the south of France to visit her unit – Mary Spears would not see her again until the end of the war. On 20 May, the news came through that her husband had been promoted to Major General, although she did not then know that he had been appointed Churchill's personal representative to the French Prime Minister, Paul Reynaud.

On 28 May, they heard that the Belgian army was surrendering. General Réquin spoke to Mrs Spears and emphasised the serious of the military situation. She received telephone calls from Paris – her husband wanted her to come to Paris before he flew to London. She resisted – how could she leave her unit at a time like this? Spears was insistent but she was reluctant, as was Captain Gosset, who feared the road might be cut and that she would be unable to get back. They heard that Dunkirk had been evacuated. Then Spears rang again – this time ordering her to come to Paris. She decided to make a dash to the capital and back. They met at the British embassy. With the French army collapsing on all fronts, Spears was exhausted. 'His eyes were bloodshot. There were lines inches deep in his face. I saw for one second what what going to happen. The war leapt at me out of his eyes. I was terrified.'

That evening a call came from her unit in Lorraine – they had received orders to move to another location the following day. She realised it had been most unwise to become separated from her girls. Then her driver reported that she had wrecked their car in the blackout. Fortunately, General Spears managed to procure another car with two French military drivers; Mary Spears and her MTC driver left the following morning. They arrived back at St Jean le Bassel just as the mobile hospital was about to move off.