大象传媒

After a day or two of skirmishes my tank broke down, so it was put on tow by Corporal Wilson鈥檚 crew, intending to get me to the workshops. When we arrived at the map reference which we had been given we found that they had moved out, going east as was the remainder of the army.
Another day on and still no sign of them, we decided that as my tank was impeding progress and also that it was heavy on our meagre fuel supply we should dispense with it. We had by that time lost contact with our 鈥楯ock Column鈥� and were completely on our own
There had been rumours of a prearranged defence line which was being set up in the Mersa Matruh area, we reasoned that to have any chance at all of reaching it my tank had to be ditched and we would travel with Corporal Wilson; as none of us had any desire to be taken prisoner speed was essential.
Having salvaged what kit we could and siphoned off the petrol, Corporal Wilson, who was my senior, carried out the duty of blowing up my tank and we all boarded his. We were by then lagging well behind the advancing Afrika Korps, so we set off, the eight of us, as fast as possible intending to use every minute of daylight. How far distant that suggested defence line might be we had no idea, we knew that we had the soft sands of the Depression to the south of us and the enemy to the north.
Travelling was cramped and uncomfortable but we pushed on determinedly, hoping that the tank would keep running for us. There had to be strict control of our meagre rations. We all were grateful at the end of each day to be able to jump off and lay at the side of our conveyance for an hour or two of sleep.
Our nerves began to get frayed, and everyone鈥檚 tempers easily flared; I myself was involved in an incident which concerned the division of rations. One big Geordie of Corporal Wilson鈥檚 crew thought that he was entitled to more biscuits than the others which caused me to take it up with him, after shouting one another we came to blows and were belting each other until being separated. I normally would have avoided any entanglement with someone of his size but it had to be done; I鈥檇 made the point and it was settled.
Until then we had always been good mates, in fact he was one of the first men I met when I joined the regiment. I remember seeing him in the local pub at Great Missenden when we returned to England and were out on our first pass, he came over to me bought me a drink and asked in 鈥渄o you remember our set-to?鈥� Of course I remembered.
There came a point in our travels when we agreed to cautiously venture northwards because for two days we had not seen or heard any enemy activity, we had seen nothing of our own forces for a day or so.
Some miles further on we did see the outline of vehicles, on investigation they turned out to be British trucks and we wondered were they part of the rumoured 鈥榙efence line鈥�. As it turned out they were part of a newly-arrived division from England. So it seemed that we had arrived.
We made our way through them, passing masses of dummy tanks on the way. As we continued northwards, and as we thought to the coast road, suddenly a group of huts and buildings could be seen and then some larger buildings, we had reached a small railhead. There was a notice nailed to a post which read 鈥楢lamein鈥�.
I hadn鈥檛 heard of it before, it had no significance for us at that time nor did we think that from there in a few months time we would be involved in one of the greatest land battles of the war. The battle which cleared for all time the whole of the Axis forces in the Middle East and which gave the Allied forces and our people at home a long overdue and deserved victory, and perhaps the hinge on which the fortunes of war began to swing in our favour.
There was train in the siding with steam up and many allied troops of all sorts seemed to be boarding it, so we passed our clapped-out old tank over to some recovery people and made some enquiries concerning the train, and learned also from all the tales and rumours that our regiment was at the Base depot and that the train was about to move off. The Egyptian driver was not going to hang about any longer than necessary so we jumped aboard.
On seeing men getting aboard loaded with tins of foodstuff our men found that there was a carriage opposite that was full of NAAFI stores, apparently abandoned by its Egyptian driver; we hastily plundered as much as we could carry. It couldn鈥檛 have happened at a more appropriate moment, having lived on only a few biscuits for some days it was 鈥榤anna from heaven鈥� indeed
All the troops, Indian, French, Kiwis, were taking advantage of the bounty. I had tinned bacon, tinned fruit and chocolate. While tucking in to our looted goodies the train pulled out with men hanging onto its outsides, it was all part of the disorganisation of the Desert Army of that time.
On the journey I inadvertently insulted an Indian soldier, I had opened my tin of bacon and offered some to him as he stood near, I ought to have thought, he being a being a Sikh, I had insulted his religion by offering him the meat of the pig. He almost ran to get away from me. If ever the train stopped anywhere near one of those stagnant pools of filthy muddy water those Sikhs jumped off, unbound their turbans, ducked their heads under, their long black hair hanging over their shoulders. After they had reboarded, the cattle would then return and resume their drinking of the same water.
The journey was quite slow with many halts on the way; on arriving at Abbassia we were driven to where the regiment was reforming at El-Hammam, just a few miles inside the desert where they were waiting to once more re-equip. While there I was ordered to report to a Cairo hospital to collect my glasses which were prescribed eighteen months previously. The reason they were so much overdue was that a ship containing medical supplies had been sunk by torpedo.
Once I had left the hospital I was free for the remainder of the day. I had a leisurely meal and a drink, walked around the shops, and generally took in the sights before making my way back to the pick-up area where I could get a truck to return me to the holding camp which I had left that morning.
Most of the soldiers there were Indians and I inquired if that was the correct truck for my destination and the driver assured me that it was, by saying 鈥渢ek hie sa鈥� (excuse the spelling) which I assumed was 鈥榶es鈥�. I jumped aboard and the crowded truck with everyone standing, set off. After we had journeyed some miles I began to feel a little apprehensive because according to my reckoning we ought to have already reached the camp but still we travelled on. We eventually stopped and on looking around I knew instantly that I was not where I should have been but I was undecided in which direction to begin walking; I knew for certain that we had driven too far so reasoned that my direction should be east.
But north-east or south-east I had no idea; I was stranded with only Indians around me who were most friendly but spoke no English. There was one other though who looked lost and did speak just a little English; he said he was Senegales and it was he who pointed out the railway line to me, and I remembered that the line ran along the edge of the camp.
I checked the sky for the position of the Plough and we set off plodding the railways sleepers; after doing so for some miles we came to a sort of station, just a halt really, a branch line and a shed, and this gave me the assurance which I sought because I recognised the name of the halt and was then certain that I was on the correct course and estimated that I would still have to plod on another sixteen or so miles. How far my companion needed to go I am not sure.
What a relief when at last I saw the boundary wire of the camp. I looked out for sentries before I ducked under the wire and made my way to the tent which I had been allocated. No-one challenged me, so much for security but at the same time I felt grateful that it was so, otherwise I would have had some explaining to do.
I crept warily into the tent which was empty and slept for an hour, I attended roll-call and had breakfast as if I hadn鈥檛 been away, no-one seemed to have missed me. Back at the unit I told no-one of my story for fear of being ridiculed for making such an error.
At Hammam the squadron took delivery of Stuart tanks again and we were to work independent of the regiment and under command of our sister regiment the 4th Hussars. We took our place in the defensive line at the southern end on the edge of the Quattara Depression (the Great Salt Lake) and leaguered at the high point of Hemiemat, which was used by the artillery observers. There we began daily patrols into the foothills of the Depression.
For this I found my glasses to be very beneficial, because our job often was just to stay and scan one particular given section, never deviating from that small area for hours at a stretch. The white glare of sun on sand was a considerable strain on the eyes. Rommel had halted his forces, possibly due to the supply problem of being so far from a port, and no doubt as we were building up for another clash.
Our patrol were exercised in pinpointing troop movements and gun positions, all that we observed had to be reported. A new General had arrived and General Alexander was in command of the Middle East. We had seen so many changes at the top that another one was no great surprise, although this one seemed to be capable of mustering enough men and material sufficient to make a substantial challenge to the Afrika Korps, or maybe to even completely finish off the desert war.
In the past we men thought that our commanders had always been pushed by Churchill to begin a campaign before we were sufficiently equipped. Consequently the ground gained was usually lost when we ran out of impetus, and the Germans counter-attacked, resulting in the loss of trained men and of armour.
The line we were operating from was known as the El Alamein line; little did I think that the area of those few huts where a few months before we boarded a train would eventually be marked as where one of the world鈥檚 greatest battles was fought. The whole of the line was barely 20 miles long, a formidable defensive position bordered to the north by the sea, and at its southern end by the sea of sand; the latter only navigable by certain groups such as our Long Range Desert Group who used the oases at Siwa and Jalabud. It had been navigated during the inter-war years but very little of it remained passable.
In the evenings when not on patrol, a few of us would meet at the fitters鈥� truck where George, one of my closest mates, worked with their team; they somehow had acquired an old wind-up gramophone so that we gathered round to hear some of the radio and filmstars of the time such as Bing Crosby, the Andrews sisters, the Mills Brothers, Ella Fitzgerald and to us, new boy, Frank Sinatra and of course to the accompaniment of a 鈥榖rew鈥�. That was our evening鈥檚 entertainment.
Those gatherings too were times when various subjects were discussed: anything ranging from our home lives, news from families at home and on the world war fronts. We considered our own position. Our hopes and fears, what of our chances of coming through it all, when would it end?
And we talked of our dreams of what we would do when it finally was over. Around us were new faces again, replacements for those lost comrades. To those of us still seeing it through (I was then in my fourth year) it seemed to be a process of elimination, so many of those lads I started with were no longer around.
In the last battle it was the operators who suffered mostly and so we openly contemplated whose turn it might be next time. There was nothing morbid about our discussions, for although we did consider our future seriously, a lot of it was light-hearted banter.
Our new squadron leader was Major 鈥楽han鈥� Hackett; he was greatly respected both as a gentleman and because of his reputation in the field. He had served with raiding parties of the Long Range Desert Group. Later in the war at Arnhem, in that ill-fated parachute landing, he was seriously wounded. There he was sheltered by Dutch families who also assisted his eventual escape. He wrote a book as a tribute to them and depicting his exploit; 鈥楽han鈥� became a general and appeared on television as a war historian.
Life in the line was all haste and there was great urgency to build up strength of regiments and for the new ones to be brought into the line. There was an overwhelming amount of equipment such as we had never seen before. The area to our rear was littered with dummy vehicles, tanks and lorries, constructed of wood and canvas and very deceptive they appeared too.
To add to that deception we ourselves charged up and down our sector at first light and again at dusk, churning up as much dust as possible so as to appear that there were more vehicles than there actually were. Our drivers had a great time while doing those dashes.
Prime Minister Churchill came out to Egypt and into the desert where some officers went back to meet him as representatives of the regiment. A new general also came to visit us, General Montgomery, he inspected us while in leaguer. As we stood 鈥榗rews front鈥� he stopped in front of each man and here and there asked 鈥渉ow long have you been out here?鈥�. The answers varied from a year to 鈥渇ive, six or seven, sir鈥�. His remark that he understood that 鈥渢he first ten years are the worst鈥� didn鈥檛 go down too well with those who believed that they ought to have been considered for home leave.
Overall, our first impression of him was not favourable; he was not as readily accepted as were our previous commanders which we had served under. Actually we had not really recovered from the removal of Wavell, who in the early stages of the desert campaigns was greatly respected and admired.
After the Crusader battles of 1941 the whole of the desert army was known as the Eighth Army. Within it at the Alamein line our duties changed from that of static observation of the past few weeks to that of patrols, advancing cautiously into the hills of the Depression with the purpose of drawing enemy fire and then pinpointing their positions. By showing ourselves it meant that we were usually subjected to a rain of shells but were constantly told to 鈥榩ush on鈥�.
On one occasion when one tank had either been knocked out or had dropped out for some reason, we were instructed to 鈥榢eep moving鈥� and that we could afford to lose no more than two more 鈥榟orses鈥�. I hoped that mine was not to be one of them.
I had a mishap one day when through my own recklessness I and my crew thought that I鈥檇 had it.鈥� I disobeyed orders and suffered the consequences for doing so; it was during a spell of inactivity and stationary in a defile in the hills with everything quiet when my sergeant waved me indicating that they had brewed up so I immediately set off with two mugs - a distance of a little over a hundred yards.
I collected the tea and was halfway back when shells crumped around me sending up a shower of dust and stones which made it difficult to find my direction. I felt a blow on my shoulder and as the dust cleared hurried and clambered aboard, still clutching the two mugs with a little left in them.
The crew really thought I鈥檇 been killed or badly injured and showed their concern; blood was seeping through my shirt but my biggest concern at that moment was the angry voice of the commander inquiring who the 鈥渂loody fool鈥� was who had dismounted. So I had reason to believe that I would be on a 鈥榗harge鈥�.
I had sustained a gash about two inches long but not very deep and the lads quickly stayed the bleeding; I decided not to report sick in order that no more questions would be asked, because nothing happened immediately. When reaching the leaguer it caused me to think that maybe it would be forgotten.
But it wasn鈥檛 so, because Sergeant-Major Tommy Atkins warned me off, with a grin on his face which as good as said 鈥淵ou鈥檙e in for it now鈥�; I was to report to the leader. He gave me a good talking-to, reprimanded me for disobedience, that I made our presence in that place more obvious which could have put lives at risk, and resulted in the loss of machines.
After he had finished with me he told me to get my injury dressed and I was dismissed, I got off reasonably lightly; I did suspect though that what I did enabled some enemy guns be pinpointed and helped make a successful day鈥檚 observation. It gave the men something to talk about that evening; other crews who saw it all felt that I would not emerge from the cloud of dust in one piece.
The wadi in which we were leaguered was enclosed except to the east side so that we were well concealed, apart from the air, and it was a regular practice of mine to crawl to the top of the ridge behind us where I could observe any movement because I hadn鈥檛 forgotten how, some months before, we had been taken by surprise when German tanks came over the hill.
I had seen German panzers a few miles west of us and once when doing so I called our new young troop officer to take a look at what I thought was an astounding sight. There appeared to be what I described as a large gun with a tank attached. He explained to me that they were an 88mm anti-aircraft gun which had been adapted for tank use. I called my crew to take a look, also we were to know a good deal more about them during the coming battles.
As we were feeding independently on our tanks I drew rations daily which were much the usual biscuits and bully, jam, margarine, sardines, tinned bacon, tea, sugar, Carnation tinned milk, but one new item had appeared that was the Soya Link sausage. Our rations of cigarettes were Victory V鈥檚. It was generally thought that they were made in India of camel dung and it was quite believable too. At no time was it possible to draw fruit or vegetables or bread; there was on an odd occasion the opportunity to buy certain luxuries from a NAAFI lorry such a toiletries and chocolate.
Once, when drawing rations, I noticed that there was a bag of flour no doubt destined for the cookhouse which I managed to scrounge a little of, enough I thought to make some pastry; I had it in mind to give the crew something for a change, making use of the sausages to make some sausage rolls.
I rolled the pastry out on the driver鈥檚 flap of the tank, a spindle out of the toolbox became my rolling pin and the oven was a petrol tin dug into the hillside behind us. The baking tray too was cut out of a petrol can. While busy at this I heard the remark 鈥渨hat鈥檚 Digger up to now?鈥� but when they were cooked and served up even my men all agreed that they were acceptable, and coming from them it was praise indeed, they did add that the other two crews of the troop were envious of them..
In early August 1942 I was granted seven days鈥� leave; it had been a very long time since I last had a leave and not having had a pay day a lot of money had accrued to me, resulting in a fairly large accumulation of back pay. Four of us went together and we decided that it would be Alex.
While sitting around the fitters鈥� truck one night my mate George having then just returned from leave offered to loan me his khaki drill kit, slacks, shirt, shorts, stockings, trousers and shoes, as it would save me unnecessary spending and which in practical terms, as they were seldom used sharing them seemed to be a good suggestion. I accepted his thoughtful offer.
On the way down through the desert we changed trucks at changing posts and it was at that one of those changeovers that I failed to pick up one of my packs, and when I discovered my loss it was too late. That truck had already moved off. Worse still was the fact that the pack which I had left behind was the one containing George鈥檚 kit.
It was not difficult to replace, he being similar in size and I had money, although the purchasing of the replacements would make a dent in what I had and certainly limit my spending, also I had to give up some of the first part of the leave to go shopping which was not altogether a favourite pastime of mine. However, it was done.
It was always a wonderful feeling when we were able to leisurely bathe, have a shave and haircut, and to rid ourselves of the sandy grime, to wear clean clothes, and to sleep in a sheeted bed. What luxury, what indulgence! We drank at the Fleet Club at the invitation of some of our sailors, also at the KIWI Club, where we found our New Zealand comrades to be good friends; while there it was our privilege to hear the Maori choir sing Now is the Hour. In all it was a most enjoyable seven days.
When we returned to Hemiemet I explained to George what had happened, he understood and we had a laugh over it. Shan put us in the picture as to our future role in the coming offensive. What he had to tell us gave us a feeling of confidence in that it was we who would take the initiative with the massive build-up of strength it made us superior to the Afrika Korps for the first time.
It was anticipated that the coming battle would be the greatest of the war up to that time; 鈥楳onty鈥� had predicted that it would be the last battle. We would clear all Axis forces from the Middle East for all time; he said that we would 鈥渒nock them for Six鈥�.
Desert sores were then the prevailing problem, most of us suffered from them somewhere or other on the body, and when we stood 鈥榗rews front鈥� for one of Shan鈥檚 frequent inspections he showed concern for our plight. The MO treated them with a purple dye; we must have made a colourful sight resembling more a painted jungle tribe than British soldiers.
Apart from this ulcerous condition we were lean, bronzed and otherwise fit. Probably some fruit and vegetables in our diet at times might have staved it off. They formed whenever a graze or punctured skin was exposed to the germ-carrying sand and flies, and festered.
As our dress was minimal, most of our bodies were vulnerable, my sores were on my neck and legs, particularly the ankles. It became a cause for concern that dressed as we were and with the possibility of becoming a prisoner of war and being transported to a country with a somewhat cooler climate, we would be at a disadvantage; yet it was too hot and uncomfortable to dress against such a possibility; it being about the hottest part of the year we wore shorts, socks and canvas shoes and accepted the risk.
The feeling around the men and officers was that any day we would be embroiled in another campaign and then one evening commanders were called to the CO鈥檚 conference and briefed on plans and intentions regarding the part which the squadron was to play in the early stages, and I came away feeling that for the first time I fully understood our aims and the methods which were to be employed.
Shan made everything so plain and simple and down to the last individual each knew what was expected of him, whereas in the past the crews knew little of the intentions but just obeyed the given order. On that occasion when we informed them of what Shan had imparted to us I am sure that it gave them a feeling of involvement and complete awareness of what we were asked to accomplish.
Late on the next night (August 30th, 1942) patrols out to our front reported that the enemy were lifting mines and that a large force was on the move. It was a clear bright morning when at first light we were ordered to deploy to the Ruweisat ridge to our north to a position in front of the minefield.
The reported 鈥榣arge force鈥� failed to put in an appearance and there we sat and waited until about mid-day when the sun was at its height and inside the tank it was furnace-hot and its outer shell seared the skin of any exposed part of the body which happened to make contact with it. The glare from the whiteness of the sand caused eyes to ache and water as the waves of heat gleamed before us.
Then, after waiting so many hours, they were coming towards us and it was without doubt a large force. There must have been about twenty or thirty Mk IIIs and IVs lumbering on: they came, ugly black shapes with the sun behind them. Our orders were to let them come on, to exchange fire with them and to steadily retreat, to stop and fire again, and again retreat drawing them ever nearer the minefield to our rear where were the dug-in 25-pounders of the 4th Royal Horse Artillery.
As we moved forward I was pushed onto the extreme left of the line which took me to the edge of the escarpment and as we were on 鈥榳ireless silence鈥� I was continually being flagged to move even further out to my left where I could see infantry setting up their machine guns, which brought me to action on two fronts - the oncoming tanks and also the guns.
He was forcing me into a position in which I would find it difficult to extricate myself. He had been my troop sergeant for only a few weeks but I was well aware of his reputation. He was known for the manner in which he would push others into situations which he would not enter into himself and on this occasion I believe he was using me for his own protection.
He was not liked by his fellow NCOs, his crew were not happy to serve with him and I certainly didn鈥檛 trust him. He was the man who had boasted that he was out to win a VC. I intended to do my duty, to adhere to the battle plan, but I would not help him achieve it.
Our firing disrupted the endeavours of the machine gunners and we were then able to give full attention to the main targets. The oncoming tanks were those of the 21st Panzer division, old foes of ours; we caused them to halt with our fire and we repeatedly fired and retreated, reversing our way until our backs were almost up against the boundary wire of the minefield. Slowly, as we reached it, the first of our tanks turned and sped through the gap already cut, and we were almost halted waiting our turn to pass through.
The shells began to fall heavily around us. I was among the last to go through due to being pushed out on to flank so that when I turned to go through the dust churned up by the previous entrants had obscured the exit so that neither myself nor my driver could find the opening and to do so drove up and down the length of it several times before we eventually made it after what seemed ages.
By then it was getting a little too hot for comfort because the enemy tanks drew nearer and the shelling quite close, however we made a swift exit through with still a few behind me having the same difficulty. I believe we completed what we set out to do without as far as I knew any dead or serious casualties.
As the panzers then fastly approached the limits of the minefield they rained shells down on us but still the artillery held their fire and let them further advance, then with a terrific barrage caused havoc among them, palls of black smoke began to billow all over the front from those who had been hit. Others were hurriedly turning about leaving a battlefield of destruction.
It came as a complete surprise to all of us that within a day or so we learned that we were to be relieved, and we handed over our tanks to another regiment. Being really delighted to be out of it for a while although kept in reserve for the possibility that if needed we were there available. It was the general opinion that the action in which we had then been engaged was the prelude to the great battle - the battle of El Alamein.

Footnote:
Division and the 4th Light Armoured Brigade were to delay the main encircling movement.
They were not to run their heads against his [Rommel鈥檚] armour but to withdraw, let his tanks through and then concentrate on destroying the motor transport which would be following up.
Entrenched infantry and gunners would meanwhile take the make weight of his armoured attack, and the rest of the British armour occupying favourable hull-down positions would operate as mobile artillery.

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