大象传媒

This was written by my late father, George Edward Whiting, about his experiences in North Africa in 1943.

Good Friday April 23rd 1943 was also St. George鈥檚 Day. We moved forward later in the morning in the wake of the 6th Armoured and it was just like a Bank Holiday stream of traffic through Staines. We passed through the ridge of hills that had held the Germans for so long and the great stream fanned out on the Great Goubellett Plain.
We were sitting targets for aircraft and although there seemed to be a good amount of our own aircraft above us the jerries got through at intervals during the day and dive-bombed us. A terrific barrage was put up against them each time, but they could hardly miss hitting something when they dropped their bombs. We were lucky, but I saw a vehicle hit near us and it immediately caught fire and the occupants were burned to death.
Our truck went forward with the Battery Commander to get orders from the Commander of Royal Artillery and there we saw our first prisoners coming in. We got our orders and Captain Downey had to go forward to choose a gun position in the rear of our infantry. We went up and on our way passed the sappers still trying to find mines by the side of the road.
Captain Downey selected the gun position and we awaited the guns to come in just after dark. The night was lit up with Verey lights and a tank or two still burning on the hill in front of us. Enemy bombers came over and bombed places in our rear. We settled down to sleep after the guns came in and being wary of mines and booby traps we all slept in our positions in our vehicles. I got very stiff in my little place in the Bren carrier and during the night it got very cold.
The guns went in to action in the early morning (Easter Saturday) and there was some severe fighting. We were right on the open plain in full observation from the enemy. The OP party wasn鈥檛 required at the moment so we were stationed at the gun position. Enemy shells kept falling very close until at last some actually fell right on our position. Sgt Bird shouted across to Captain Downey that some of his men were hit and Captain Downey went across and found that Albert Dodd had his head half blown off and was dead and Quelch, although not hit, was absolutely shell shocked. Capt D. rushed back for his bottle of whisky and gave all that gun crew a good stiff drink. Poor Dodd was hastily buried in the hole he was killed in and things more or less carried on as usual except that for the first time we had come up against the horrors of war and one of our pals had been killed.
That was only the beginning. More shells came over scaring us, and I bit the dust a good many times. Vann was hit in the shoulder, Gan in the back and Yeates in the shoulder and one by one they were taken back to hospital. This was only in the vicinity in which I was in, others got hit in 鈥淎鈥� troop and back in the wagon lines, but I have since forgotten who they were.
At dinnertime or thereabouts (there was no time for meals) we had to go forward and give support to the tanks.
We found the tanks on a safe side of a hill and they were preparing to go over this hill for the next attack. I will always remember it because the whole hill was covered with ripened corn and each tank had made a fresh track in it. Incidentally coming back over the hill some hours later a hard road was already appearing where each truck or tank followed each other.
It was required of us to go forward with the tanks and give any artillery support they needed, but as we were in an open Bren carrier Capt. Downey thought it was too dangerous so he persuaded the Colonel of the tanks to let him travel in one of the Shermans. This was arranged and we other three were to remain behind in that position until he came back. I was in touch with him over one of my flick frequencies. He stayed in that tank for a day and a half so we had a long wait.
As soon as the first tanks showed their noses over the crest and began to advance a shower of high explosives and armour piercing shells came at them and whatever missed them came very close to us. I was on the air at the time, but Doug and Alan had a permanent horizontal position under the carrier. We had many narrow shaves; one piece of hot shrapnel hit Doug on his gaiter and buckled the buckle. After some time of this we considered we ought to dig ourselves a foxhole and we began to dig. I have never seen a hole dug so quickly. It went down just like a lift. The tanks were going over well now and we saw three prisoners give themselves up to the tanks, but they were too busy so the prisoners just walked past us and back to somebody in the rear whom they could give themselves up to.
So the day wore on, every minute of it we were waiting tensed for each shell burst. Sometimes he would hit a truck and it would blaze up. Jerry planes came swooping over us machine gunning and dive-bombers would try for the tanks. It was hell let loose. I was swearing at the top of my voice at times and at others secretly saying a prayer. Our own planes were about too, having dogfights, and we saw two enemy planes brought down in flames. We moved back again a short way to avoid his shells and we started another slit trench and this one was made nice and deep so that I could stand up in it and still answer calls on the wireless. We tried our Browning machine gun on some of the raiders and it was quite reassuring to get behind it and give him back some of what he was giving others. At night the enemy bombers came over and dropped bombs behind us and Doug opened up again with the Browning, but gave it up hurriedly when the rear gunner answered him back. We stopped there all night and except for some occasional firing from either side we managed to get a cats sleep. In the morning our guns moved up into the position we were in and things became more or less static.
The following afternoon we were taken out of the line for a short rest. While forming up in convoy order we were dive bombed and while actually lying flat on the ground I looked up and saw the bomb leave the plane making it appear to me that it was heading straight for us. It fell about 20yds away making a huge crater and covering all of us with dust to such an extent that everyone thought it had fallen on us. No one was hurt, but I gave a sharp exclamation when I received a thud on my shoulder from a piece of shrapnel.
We had a long ride back and I had the best night鈥檚 sleep I have ever had, waking up between nine and ten next morning. We were all looking like hermits, not having washed or shaved for days, so we got busy on cleaning ourselves up. It was not a sunny day, but I stripped to the waist and only to my newly issued khaki shorts I washed my clothes and myself and got myself organised. The only excitement of the day was seeing some 50 of our bombers go over to do some bombing and while watching them I actually saw some of their bombs coming down on us. None of us were hit but there were some casualties in some infantry mob just in front of us. They afterwards had an apology from the Air Force for the accidental dropping of bombs on them.
We stayed here resting five days and during that time we had an auction of Albert Dodd鈥檚 personal things which, although he had hardly anything of value, brought in nearly 拢100 which was sent home to his widow. We heard the news that the 1st Army was in sight of Biyerta and that when we reached Tunis there would be 600 tons of beer for us. We heard in our future plans that in support of the 6th Armoured Div we would be in the rush for Tunis and complete air superiority would be ours. I spent a whole afternoon lying under a tree talking of home things and life with Saunders who was so soon to be killed. I got my mail and caught up with answering some of them. Then next day we went back into action again for the final attack on Tunis. We were with the 6th Armoured still and another hectic time began with constant dodging of shells, but I think we all thought this was just the final effort, which would finish it. It was a hellish day with nerves tensed and all of us chain smoking. Towards the evening things began to get quieter and then we heard the startling news we had all been waiting for. Tunis had been taken. We heard over the air the Battery Commander give 鈥淓xercise over return to gun positions鈥� and so we returned to our mates feeling, all of us, thank God that鈥檚 over and we are still safe and sound.
We moved out with the guns back a short way to a farmhouse where everyone was jubilant that it was over. The only cloud over that evening was hearing the news that one of our trucks with a crowd on it had been shelled during the day and some of them had been killed. Saunders, who I had only such a short time ago spent an afternoon with, was killed along with Van Overfelt, a likeable Belgian who was in 鈥楢鈥� troop. Stronnell was seriously injured along with Leut. Keffler who was in charge of the truck. Mr Keffler died some days later. The others in the truck had amazing escapes as the truck was severely damaged. A burial party was sent out that night and the truck towed in.
I think we all went to sleep that night thinking the war was over in North Africa and we were safe and all on one piece. But we were a bit premature in thinking it was over as we were up early in the morning again to continue the chase as Jerry had retreated from Tunis and was falling back on the Cape Bon Peninsula. Even then we didn鈥檛 go into Tunis, but by-passed it and we could see it as we passed. We proceeded to St. Germain and were held up on the outskirts of Hammen Lif by some Jerries holding a last ditch stand. We went forward to support the infantry and we found ourselves in a large oil dump evacuated by Jerry and just under the lee of a massive hill that he held. We were shelled and by the reports of the guns we knew they could only be a short way away. Now and again the wood we were in would be strafed with bullets from machine guns from the hill in front. We shelled several of these gun posts and some jerries gave themselves up. Unfortunately an Arab village was also engaged on the hill and many Arabs came down wounded. The brass hats were here directing things and although several attacks were made on the hill it did not fall that day. The Guards whom we had been supporting had a good many casualties and were relieved that night.
However the attack went on and later the hill that was holding us up was taken and we moved forward again. We had to move very slowly, as the roads were absolutely jammed with refugees coming out from Hammen Lif. They were very excited and with great difficulty they passed through our lines. On the corner of the hill which had caused us so much trouble was the gun, but now it was silent with dead bodies of soldiers around it. We heard later that one prisoner was taken on that gun and he said that he had orders to fire to the last and if any of them gave up or retreated they would be shot from behind.
We made a new gun position in the Arab houses on the outskirts of Hammen Lif and got down for the night. In the morning in the daylight we could see that this had been an infantry position held by the enemy and was certainly left in a hurry as there were plenty of guns and personal things left there. After having a good scrounge round we left again and went forward with the infantry. Passing through Hammen Lif we saw the Palace of the Bey of Tunis who had escaped somewhere, but his bodyguard was still guarding the palace. Guns left by the enemy were in different parts of the town and some tanks and vehicles were still burning. Everywhere we went were signs of a hurried departure and while we were with the infantry we saw blocks of prisoners led by their officers marching in to give themselves up. Everyone picked up souvenirs and German or Italian motor cycles or cars were added to the stream already on the road.
We travelled all night only stopping when demolitions held us up. We stopped once because a gun was firing on the road and we went into action and fired a few rounds at the position where the flash came from. It was silenced and we went on again until we came to a demolished bridge. While it was being repaired we had orders to get a little sleep, but not to leave the vehicles. Alan and Doug got out to brew up a drop of tea, but I was too tired to keep awake and fell asleep on my cramped position in the carrier. I think we could only have had a couple of hours before we were off again but our carrier didn鈥檛 go far until it finally broke down beside the road! The rest of the battery left us and we waited for the fitter鈥檚 lorry to come up, which it did later in the day.

As the day wore on batches of prisoners came marching past and as it was very hot the MP鈥檚 gave them a rest just opposite where we were so I had a close up view of our enemies. First and foremost we were struck by the ordinariness of the Germans, they looked just like us, just ordinary boys and men and definitely not the supermen we had been led to believe they were. One who could speak English said he liked England very much, had often stayed there for holidays and liked the English people. However he would hear nothing wrong said about Hitler and he certainly idolised him.
Having had their rest they would move on back to the prison cages and when they left there was equipment galore left on the ground. They evidently started off with all their equipment and blankets, but the marching got them all then down so that at this first stop they had a hurried sort out of their belongings and cast aside what they thought they wouldn鈥檛 need. We just had time to pick over the spoils before the next lot arrived. We must have seen thousands that day. The officers were separated from the men and we watched many a little parade amongst themselves to bid farewell to their officers.
The Italian prisoners were a scruffy lot compared to the Germans and were already whining to us and running the Germans down. However we didn鈥檛 take very much interest in these. Occasionally long lines of enemy vehicles driven by Italians or Germans and all loaded up with prisoners would go past.
The Fitter鈥檚 lorry came up shortly afterwards and we got going. We expected any minute to hear that it was all over, but catching up with the battery we found they were still in action and firing away. The place was Bon Ficha.
Suddenly we had the order to come out of action, as we were not needed. We began to move out and as we did enemy shells fell quite close to our position. No one was hurt from this Jerry鈥檚 farewell to us but we knew that though the war there was nearly over he still had a little kick.

We had a lovely comfortable sleep that night with no scares or noise except distant gunfire. Another day dawned and we all started to clean ourselves up by having a bath in a biscuit tin and doing our washing. In the afternoon I went out on to the road and watched the huge columns of prisoners still going back. It was near the end. We all listened to the six o鈥檆lock news and heard that all resistance had ceased.

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