Hit film echoes exploits of heroic Midland soldier

Sep 28 2007 By Alison Dayani, Birmingham Mail

MOVIE-goers are currently being entranced by the turmoils of soldier Robbie Turner in new blockbuster Atonement.

But the private memoirs of a Midland soldier are suddenly throwing new light on the truth behind the fictional character's World War II experiences.

The war diary of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment's Capt Edward Jerram has only recently been discovered and mirrors the 1940 action at Dunkirk, northern France, in the film.

In the screen adaptation of Ian McEwan's novel Atonement, James McAvoy plays Turner, one of a small group of soldiers trying to reach the Dunkirk beaches as the Germans advance.

A number of soldiers from the Royal Warwicks were killed after being captured by the SS in an infamous massacre at Wormhoudt during the retreat.

Writer Hugh Sebag-Montefiore said the diary details the real-life battles and experiences that audiences find so gripping.

"Like the James McAvoy character, Jerram led 11 Royal Warwickshire soldiers back to Dunkirk after their battalion had held up the Germans for a critical 24 hours.

"The group had made a stand in Wormhout, 15 miles south of Dunkirk."

The diary described how the group hid, just like Turner, as the enemy searched for British survivors, and only avoided being captured by the skin of their teeth.

In the diary, 37-year-old Jerram wrote: "I glanced at my watch, and shivering, wondered if I could stick it here till dark.

"My hands were purple black with cold, the skin all withered and shrunken, my fingers rigid. A lot of good they would be to pull a trigger!

"Vehicles were rumbling through and every farm building they reached, they sprayed with bullets, followed by mortar shells."

Hugh Sebag-Montefiore's Dunkirk: Fight To The Last Man, featuring extracts from the diary, is now available.