大象传媒

Friday 23rd October l942. I was serving with a Field Regiment of the Royal Artillery in the Eyptian Desert at El Alemein. At 9.40 pm our guns, along with about another 900 guns opened fire in what at that time was the largest concentration of artilliary firepower ever known. The barrage continued until the early hours of Saturday morning, after which there was something of a lull as the guns and equipment was serviced, and stocks of ammunition replenished. Sunday morning came and our battery was ordered to lay down a smoke screen for a company of the Green Howards who were to attack a hill that afternoon. An officer and I manned our observation post which was actually situated amonst the infantry dug outs behind a ridge, beyond which was a plateau that stretched to the foot of the hill which was the objective. After the officer and I took up our position I got into conversation with a young infantry man who was cleaning his equipment and preparing himself as if he was going on parade. I asked him how he felt about the coming attack due to commence at 2.p.m. He replied that he was a little apprehensive as it was a Sunday, and previously whenever his unit had engaged the enemy on a Sunday they had suffered heavy casualties. I wished him luck as zero hour approached.

During the morning our guns had been firing high explosive shells at the target, but at 2.00 p.m. the ammunition was changed to smoke shells and soon the whole area in front of the ridge was covered by a thick pall of smoke, into which the men of the Green Howard's disappeared. To this day, sixty years on, I still think of the lad I had been talking to and wonder did he survive the attack or did he go down under the hail of bullets and mortar fire that the enemy fired into that smoke screen?

The answer to that question I will never know.

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