From the February 2025 issue of Classic Bike Guide, we revisit a striking wartime photograph showing a BSA M20 surrounded by British Expeditionary Force personnel. The image offers a fascinating glimpse of a moment in July 1940, while raising questions about the motorcycle and its journey.
A moment captured in July 1940
It’s July 1940, and the chaps we see here on a station platform are members of the British Expeditionary Force. The railways were used to reunite the thousands of soldiers and service personnel once they got back to the south-east coastal ports, with their homes or barracks. Trains were requisitioned from everywhere and were most successful in getting everyone back to where they belonged as soon as possible. The carriage behind is a freight one, possibly where the BSA M20s had been lurking.
Being July, we are guessing that these lads were from the ‘second BEF’, the forces fighting in the area south of the river Somme. They would have still been in France after the amazing effort at evacuating thousands at Dunkirk but had presumably escaped via the Atlantic ports such as St Nazaire, Le Havre, and even Gibraltar. And they didn’t have it any easier than the forces further north, with the Luftwaffe attacking and sinking several ships, killing thousands.
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The motorcycle and its possible origins
The military-prepared – well, painted green – BSA M20 was possibly a small part of much equipment able to be brought back to Britain from these Atlantic and Mediterranean ports, despite most of history now being focused on Dunkirk, where nothing could be brought back. If you notice carefully behind, you can just see the rear light and handlebar of another, so we just presume whatever could be fitted on the boats was taken.
According to Wikipedia, records indicate that 533 motorcycles were returned.
A photograph full of character
The spirit is high in this professionally taken press photograph, perhaps from relief, or possibly from a joke one’s just cracked. But tea and cake in hand is a thin veneer for what we know these chaps had faced – and would be facing in the coming months and years. The BSA M20 has always been known for being reliable, sturdy and unbreakable, and the boys surrounding this one and their entire generation will always be known for showing the same incredible strength in the face of adversity. Puts what we worry about nowadays in perspective, don’t you think? We thank you.
Source: Classic Bike Guide, February 2025.
