British Bren gun carrier track link very solid nice relic condition recovered from battlefield near, Cassel from the Dunkirk pocket 1940

This is a nice complete British track link. The link looks like it has been burnt in a fire possibly when the carrier was hit it is rusty but is very solid condition with some pitting but no real damage it has been very well cleaned it is perfect for display or any collection and is a nice and very rare example of this early war link. The link is a British Bren gun carrier track link probably used by men of the Gloucestershire or the 4th Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry Regiments recovered from battlefield near the town of Cassel from the Dunkirk pocket of the 27th until 30th of May 1940, part of the perimeter around the port during the evacuation of May-June 1940. The track comes with A5 laminated information card.

In May 1940 during the battle of France the 2nd Battalion, Gloucestershire and the 4th Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry held Cassel for three days as part of the defensive screen around Dunkirk during the Battle of Dunkirk and evacuation from the 27 May 1940 to the 30 May 1940. The British forces had prepared a defence on the hilltop, emplacing anti-tank guns and barricading the narrow streets of the town. After scoring initial successes against the tanks of Panzer Regiment 11, which had made the mistake of advancing without infantry support, the British garrison was heavily attacked from the ground and the air by German forces. Much of the town was reduced to ruins by bombing. Most of the garrison's members were killed or captured by the Germans during the fighting or the subsequent attempted breakout towards Dunkirk, but the defence they had put up played an important role in holding up the Germans while the Dunkirk evacuation was taking place.