Company Sergeant Major Stanley E Hollis VC Memorial
Statue In Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire
Statue in a storming pose of an extremely brave WWII soldier.
On a winter visit to the Dorman Museum in Middlesbrough, the first thing that caught our eye was a statue of Company Sergeant Major Stanley Elton Hollis (1912 to 1972). It stands outside the museum and depicts CSM Hollis in a storming pose, with his STEN submachine gun.
CSM Hollis was part of the Green Howards, who were involved in many major campaigns: notably the D- Day landings, where they advanced inland further than any British or American forces, at Gold Beach.
When the lead platoons of D Company had just passed the house, they came under fire from a machine gun hidden in a pillbox against the garden wall. Hollis charged some thirty yards over open ground, under fire, stuck his sten gun into the pillbox slit and emptied the magazine.
He then lay on top of the pillbox and dropped a grenade inside, before jumping down and entering the fortification, where he took the surviving occupants prisoner. He then saw a slit trench leading away to a second pillbox in the garden of the house. He advanced down it alone and captured the fortification and all those in it. In all he captured 30 Germans single-handed.
Later, at approximately 11am, he was involved in the second action which contributed to his award.
By this time, he was acting commander of 16 Platoon, its officer having been killed in action. Having spotted a German field gun hidden in a hedge he decided to try and destroy it. Taking a PIAT (the British equivalent of a bazooka) he, accompanied by two Bren machine-gunners, crawled forwards through a large rhubarb patch to get close enough to the artillery piece to try a PIAT shot. Unfortunately, he missed and the gun, about 100 yards distant, turned and fired on them but miraculously fired high over their heads. Hollis shouted to the men with him to get back and retreated to cover behind a farm building. Unfortunately, the men either hadn't heard him, or were too afraid to run.
Saying he had got the men into trouble, so he had better get them out, he took a Bren gun and advanced into the open, firing from the hip, to attract the attention of the field gun team. This enabled the two gunners to run back from the rhubarb patch to cover. Astoundingly, even though he was standing in plain sight of the enemy Hollis was not hit.
The Imperial War Museum
The Sten is a select fire, blowback-operated weapon with a side-mounted magazine. Sten is an acronym, derived from the names of the weapon's chief designers: Major Reginald V. Shepherd and Harold J. Turpin, and "En" for the Enfield factory. Around four million Stens in various versions were made in the 1940s, making it the second most produced submachine gun of the Second World War, after the Soviet PPSh-41.
Wikipedia
The statue was created by Brian Alabaster (born 1956) and is cast in bronze, is a tad larger than life, which reflects this man's persona. It is worth reading up on CSM Hollis's remarkable bravery and the worthy recipient of the Victoria Cross.
Stan Hollis was not the type to retire. After the war, he worked in a local steelworks as a sandblaster, then a partner in a car repair garage. From 1950 to 1955 he was a ship's engineer and then became a publican. He also found time to marry and have children.
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Contributed by Rosalind Parker
Thank you for reading. I hope it sparks your interest. It’s always a pleasure to get out and explore, whatever the weather. I enjoy uncovering little snippets of information, especially when they’re obscure, amusing, or meaningful. All photos were taken on a mobile phone.
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