Died: Demolition party ‘on board small boat which hit a mine en route’
Address / Local links: 72 Porthkerry Avenue, Welling
Family / Relatives: Son of Amy Higgs
Local Papers / Websites: BHO 17th May 1940
Other Information: Foster’s School pupil. 1939 register – Frank is listed as a Machinist
Amy as an office cleaner in 1919 at 151 Upper Wickham Lane. Father George was a Locomotive Driver
The extraordinary story of operation XD and the quest to rescue the Dutch gold reserves…
Sometimes, our local servicemen lost their lives in extraordinary – but little known – events of WW2; here is the story of how Ordinary Seaman Frank Higgs became involved…
XD was a British series of planned demolition operations to prevent the capture of oil installations, stocks and other priceless valuables by the Germans…
“The Netherlands was neutral during the previous war but anticipating the invasion of the Low Countries Britain drew up plans for XD Operations, the demolition of fuel reserves and harbour installations in the Netherlands, Belgium and France to prevent them falling into German hands. Fuel reserves would be destroyed by the Kent Fortress Royal Engineers (KFRE), a Territorial Unit formed from employees of the Blue Circle Cement Co, Gravesend, headed by a Colonel Brazier, a veteran of the last war, and naval parties would destroy the harbour installations. HMS Wild Swan would take Demolition Party B to the Hook of Holland, a ferry port on the “new Waterway” leading to Rotterdam, the main port and commercial centre in the Netherlands. In overall command of the KFRE “Demo” party and the naval party was Cdr James A. Corrie Hill who commanded HMS Westcott on the China Station in 1938-9 but had spent the last two months in the Plans Division of the Admiralty, HMS President.
Plans for Operation XD in the Netherland stamped “Most Secret” issued by Vice Admiral Ramsay, Flag officer Commanding Dover, on 7 May, named HMS Verity as the destroyer to carry Cdr Hill and Demo Party X(B) plus a military Mission headed by a Major General to the Hook of Holland. At 3.55am on Friday 10 May the German invaded and at 11.30 the War Cabinet meeting at 10 Downing Street discussed the plans for XD Operations and decided that Dutch gold at the branch of the Nederlandsche Bank in Rotteredam should be brought back by the Demo Party. Plans changed and HMS Wild Swan left Dover later that day with Cdr Hill and his team of 95 men and arrived at the Hook of Holland at 5.30 pm but without the Military Mission which followed later in HMS Wivern. After landing he received the order to retrieve the gold from the Rotterdam branch of the National Bank.
Lt Smit in the Dutch Navy had taken command of Pilot Boat 19A that morning and at 1930 Cdr Hill and the 95 members of the naval party and the KFRE demolition party led by Captain Goodwin, a South African, boarded the steamer and left immediately on the three hour journey along the New Waterway to Lekhaven jetty in central Rotterdam. Parachutists and gliders had landed and fighting was taking place throughout the city. Cdr Hill and Captain Tommy Goodwin set off to contact the authorities about their separate missions and both were arrested as suspected Germans. Matters were made worse when Goodwin tried to win favour by speaking in Afrikaans! In the end the misunderstanding was resolved and after drinking toasts with their captors Goodwin and the KFRE set off for the Shell oil plant on the south bank of the Maas, found it deserted and patrolled by Germans and returned to the north bank where the Dutch General refused consent for the demolition. The KFRE unit returned to the Hook at 1800 on Saturday 11 May having achieved nothing.
Cdr Hill and his naval team headed for the Nederlandsche Bank where fighting was taking place at the front while 11 tons of gold packed in crates were being loaded into four trucks at the rear of the building. Another 110 tons which had not been crated remained in the vaults. The trucks set off to Lekerhaven at intervals, were fired on but reached the jetty safely and the loading of 170 crates of gold bars onto the Pilot Steamer began at 0300 on Saturday 11 May. The ship left two hours later with Cdr Hill and Ordinary Seamen T.G. Goshawk and F.G. Higgs and the twenty man crew. The rest of Cdr Hill’s naval team returned westward by land to their demolition positions. At 0530 on Saturday 11 May the 500 ton steel pilot boat detonated a magnetic mine dropped by a German bomber at 2300 the previous night. The effect in the constricted waterway was devastating. The Pilot Boat broke in two and there were only three survivors. Cdr Hill and ODs Goshawk and Higgs are buried in CWG at the Emaus General Cemetery at Vlaardingen. Most of the gold bars were retrieved by the Germans after salvage by the Dutch but a few were never recovered”.
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Frank Higgs
As the newspaper cutting from the Bexleyheath Observer shows, Frank was an ordinary lad (but caught up in extraordinary events) who had only “joined the navy in December past”.
Frank was born in November 1919 and baptised at St. Michael’s church. His father, George, was a locomotive engine driver, and the family lived at 151 Upper Wickham Lane. George died in 1927, and as the paper reports Mrs Higgs (Amy) brought her family up alone “and had to be father and mother to them”.
Little more is known about Frank’s life or family – he had a younger brother, Kenneth, and he attended Foster’s School. The 1939 Register lists Amy, a widow, employed as an office cleaner and both brothers – Frank and Kenneth – as machinists, we think employed at Woolwich Arsenal. By now the family were living at 72 Porthkerry Avenue, Welling.
Amy died in November 1946, and Probate records state that her effects of £678 18s were left to her surviving son, Kenneth. She was buried at St. Michael’s churchyard, as was her husband George.
Meanwhile, her son Frank had been laid to rest at the Vlaardingen (Emaus) General Cemetery, Holland – “Vlaardingen is a town situated 12 kilometres west of Rotterdam and 25 kilometres south-south-east of The Hague. The old general cemetery has 3 collective war graves which are situated in a prominent position in a Dutch Memorial Park of Honour, in the north-eastern part of the cemetery.”
Frank and two other crewmen from HMS Wild Swan had died “on board small boat which hit a mine en route” – their burial and their headstone are both pictured, along with the cutting from the local newspaper
If anyone is able to add any extra information, provide more family details, or suggest any corrections, please let us know – also, if anyone has any more photos of this individual listed on our memorials, please get in touch. Thank you.
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(To learn more about HMS Wild Swan see http://vandwdestroyerassociation.org.uk/HMS_Wild%20Swan/index.html)
Commemorated
- Welling War Memorial
- Vlaardingen (Emaus) General Cemetey, Holland
- St. John’s Church Welling Roll of Honour
This story has been researched by volunteers. We have taken every effort to ensure its accuracy. If you are related to Frank George Higgs, or if you have any further information, please do get in touch.