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A story of my service career as requested by those who I hope enjoy it.
As Told by George Walker of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders.

Chapter 4

March 1st saw the Battalion rushed back north to Beja as the Germans had pushed the troops in the northern sector back to Jebel Abiod and all the hills between there and Beja, and had surrounded two Battalions of the Hampshire Regt at a place called Hunts Gap, near a farm called Sidi Amear (we called it Typhus farm)

It was a difficult place to attack, deep ravines and nearly all rock, the hills around were about 1300ft to 2500ft high. The Battalion had to go over 5000yds to get to the Germans to relieve the Hampshires. My old Company was the leading Comp and shortly had only 47 men fit for duty. I lost a good few friends. X & Y Comp were a little more successful, though they had casualties.

Both managed to get around the Right Flank and capture a railway station and joined X Comp.

We stayed in those positions for 3 weeks. Very uncomfortable, little water & rations would get up to us, besides constant attention from the Germans.

This was the last battle our CO was in. He was appointed to a staff position.

After 3 days cleaning ourselves and weapons and sorting ourselves out we were sent to join our Brigade at Jebel Abiod. First time we had been with them since early December. Another Division had arrived from Britain so the 78th Division was collected together, ready for the next battles. The Germans had pushed the troops at Green Hill back to Tamara, near Jebel Abiod and also most of the hills between Jebel Abiod and Beja. But now talk was to regain all the territory lost and strengthen the line to Medjey El Bab ready for the Big Assault, now the weather seemed to be improving.

Since the Battalion lost A Comp a system was introduced that before any battle or going back in to the line, one man from each platoon and an officer per company were rested and remained with B Escholen, so that there were representatives of each unit in the Battalion on which to build on, if there were a lot of casualties. These men were called LOB (left out of Battle). This new battle it was my turn to be LOB, was I so lucky? Our officer’s batman was sick & went to hospital. So yours truly was detailed as runner to the officer.

No rest for the wicked.

Our Brigade, the 36th, was given the old familiar ground to clear, Jebel Abiod to Green Hill.

The attack started on March 30th, which cleared Tamara. We were the relief Battalion and followed through to take the lead April 1st. Nearing Sedjenane I was sent on an errand by the Intelligence Officer. When I got back I heard that the major who had taken command of the Battalion had called a battle group of the officers and while he was giving out orders the group had been attacked from the air. Nine men were killed and 25 wounded in the attack. The Intelligence Officer was wounded, and so was Major Taylor’s batman. Fate again, if I hadn’t been sent with the message I would have been in that area.
I was going to return to the section but the Regimental Sgt-Major told me to report to Major Taylor and be his runner for the battle. The battle lasted three more days with Major Taylor being in Temporary Command. We were relieved and went back for three days rest, during which we got a new Colonel as CO (he came from Army HQ in Algiers). Major Taylor asked me to stay on with him until his batman came out of Hospital. I was with him until his demob in Dec 1945.

A Batman was the servant of the Officer; we had to see to the officer’s needs, especially during the time in the line so that the officer could concentrate on his job. He was also his Body Guard & runner and looked after all his kit. Occasionally the Battalion was out of the line and the officers had a mess hut. Those times batmen also helped in the kitchen, laid out the tables and served the meals. In fact it was a job started before reveille, (to prepare the officer’s kit for the day, shaving water etc) and finished when the officer retired at night. I’ll give Hamish his due; he made it as easy as possible for me. Some officers didn’t for their batmen. Hamish and I became very good friends. When we were together he treated me as an equal. He had started in the Battalion as a Private and rose to be Colonel.

After the rest, the brigade started battles to strengthen the line. We called it the battles of the Seven Peaks. Fortunately the rains had stopped, but the main problem then was the dust.

These battles we fought in front of the line until April 20th when it was thought the line was straight enough and that the main bastion Longstop could be attacked.
The 36th Brigade was given the task.
21st April the battalions were moved during the night into gullies as near as possible to Longstop and lay there all next day (it was the area we used for observation posts when we were in that area previously).

Early morning at dawn the R W Kents put in their attack with the Buffs on the left. Although tanks were helping for the first time, they met stiff opposition and made little progress. There was also an artillery barrage.

About 10.30am the battalion started their attack through the Kents and followed a creeping barrage towards Longstop. Most of the battalion had to go through a large area of corn, dominated by the Germans. It was heavily mined, especially personal mines. The Germans also had it covered with mortars, shelling and machine guns.

Also the Germans were firing from the left of us and slightly behind from the hills left of Longstop. The CO and his main body of HQ were caught in the main concentration of fire and were all killed. It is impossible to tell of all the battle, but the battalion kept going, up the hill all the way and captured Longstop. Major Anderson got the VC by leading most of the way. 41 men were counted when the top was reached. More came struggling up later.

A triumph for the battalion, tired as we were, but a costly one. We were granted a Battle Honour, we stayed on the hill for 3 days then withdrawn to a farm Chassart Teffah, to reorganise, get reinforcements and a new CO. Two days later we put an attack in on a ridge further on from Longstop. It was useless and we thought it was unnecessary. Alright at army HQ on a map, but to those on the spot, a daft proposition. We again suffered a lot of casualties, most of them the new reinforcements who hadn’t had time to get to know things.

We were then moved to hold the line south of Medjez in the area where the final attack on Tunis was to be made. We were too exhausted and depleted to take part in the attack, which was made by the largest concentration of troops and tanks that had ever been used in the Tunisian Campaign.
The attack started May 6th, Tunis captured May 7th 1943.

Even then not much rest, Parades and guard duties, reorganisation, re equipping and usual army routine that seemed to be of no use to us squaddies anyway. We started training straight away, and the 1st Army disbanded and all troops put into the 8th Army. We moved first back in Algeria, then late June back to the Tunisian coast near Hammamet. The Invasion of Sicily was in early July, but the 78th was put on army reserve. We sailed for Sicily July 25th. We landed near Syracuse and were sent west up Mount Etna. The town looked like a fairy castle on top of a mountain. With the rocky ridges and deep ravines before the area of the town was reached, it was a difficult job. It was difficult to supply. The road to the town was along a ridge with steep sides. All heavy weapons had to be man handled. Besides the steep valleys, there were terraced Vineyards on top of walls 6’ high all around the rest of the town. After 2 days fighting, three battalions passed through the Argyll lines to capture Centuripe. We lost 10 officers and more than 100 men. With the capture of Centuripe the Germans started to retreat. The Brigade kept up attacking movements to keep the momentum, made an attack on Randazzo August 13th, and the next day the Sicilian campaign finished.

Reminiscences from leaving England to fall of Sicily.

On leaving England on operation Torch, the ship was so crowded, that troops were only allowed on the top deck half an hour twice a day for exercise. When the Argyll’s took their turn the pipe band played. One day after we had passed Gibraltar, a destroyer passed, and some sailors in the near deck started waving, we all waved back. When I saw my brother Tom after the war, he told me that he had seen a troop ship with Scottish troops on board and a pipe band playing. So he and his pals had waved. He had no idea I was there because he was being married when he got back to England and I had agreed to be Best man. It was only when he got back he realised I could have been on that ship, and it was later confirmed I was in Tunisia.

When we were being briefed for landing at Sidi Ferrough, we were dressed in equipment, weapons etc ready to go ashore, the officer was giving us last instructions. Firstly where we were landing and also the time. He told us then that 1hr before, the French had been informed of this, we were not to fire until we were fired on, the pass word was ‘whisky’ which the French knew and we were given yellow stripes of cloth to put on top of our ‘packs’ for recognition purposes.
One of the lads in the platoon took all his equipment off, put that, his rifle and helmet on top, on the mess deck table. The Officer just looked at him and asked him what was the matter? ‘Well’ he replied, ‘All I need is my bucket & spade to build sand castles.’
We all laughed, (he had broken the tension) and both the officer & Sgt laughed.

When we landed at Bougie, our officer sent me with a message to the Company Commander who was at the other side of the village we were near. We had no wireless with us, and said as I could speak French, I could ask my way. I set off with just my revolver. Trust him to pick me. We were not sure how the inhabitants of this area would receive invasion forces. Anyway I came to backs of a row of houses and half way along, I noticed a sort of ginnel. Ah, I thought, I should get to the front of the houses here and on the main street. But again I wasn’t in Yorkshire. I went through the gate into the ‘ginnel’, and found myself in a yard full of veiled women. A harem? I didn’t wait to find out & went back the way I had come. I don’t know who was more surprised them or me. When I told the lads, they opted to be runners in future to try this trick.

I managed to get on the main street, and was soon surrounded by Arabs and children, no women. I walked down the middle of the road with them following like Pied Piper style. When I stopped they stopped, I must have been a curiosity like a man from mars.
Anyway I looked for one who looked intelligent and inquired if any more soldiers like me had been seen and their whereabouts. All’s well that ended well, but they still followed me as I went back to the platoon. I can tell you my hand was never far from the butt of my revolver.

When we left the aerodrome at Setif, I’d managed to get a cycle on which I pushed loaded with as many heavy weapons as I could, Bren guns, 2 mortars and some ammunition. As we were going back to the station there were a couple of camera men taking films of us. (That was about the only time we saw them in the Campaign). I got a letter from Eva about Feb, saying she had an idea we were in N Africa (Eva hadn’t received any letters from me then, post was terrible) because she had seen some troops on the news reel at the pictures and said she recognised some of the lads.

When we left Tebarka to relieve the R W Kents in Djebel Abiod, we were met at the cross road by a private of the R W Kents to show us the way into the trenches to take the Kents’ places. It was dark of course. Two companies of us marched along this road following the guide.

The method of marching in this case was each section were staggered each side of the road to prevent bunching and making NO sounds.
After a while our senior officer stopped and asked the guide if it was the right road? On getting the affirmative we carried on a little longer when the officer said that he was sure we should have reached the trenches before this. As it happened our platoon being the first number in the Comp was leading, our section being the first one in the platoon, so it made yours truly leading just behind the officer and guide’ spooky’. We crowded round the officer so that he could read his map with a torch and we cut of the light from showing. We marched back to the cross roads and it was starting to get light. There was another guide there looking for us and in no time we were settling in the trenches. Lo and behold when dawn came our trenches were only about 1000yds from the Germans. How lucky could we get, we must have marched for about an hour on that road, about 200 men had gone through the German lines and back. Their sentries must have been asleep. If we had stayed there we could have taken the German lines from the rear. It later took a brigade to capture that ridge, with casualties.

Before we landed in Africa we were told not to drink the water. We were given tablets to purify the water we were issued with.
Also not to eat any fruit or any pork.

Now, each man had an anti-tank mine on him, same shape as a sardine tin, but a little larger. The idea was we were to place them on the tracks of tanks when they attacked us. (useless they were). Just below our position there was a stream and the road went over it by a bridge. We tied all our mines together like a string of beads and put them on the far side of the bridge with the rope stretching across to our side, so that if any tank was going to cross, one of the lads (no one had been detailed it was left whoever was on sentry duty) had to run down and pull the mines across the road. Get the picture?
Now this is where the pig comes in. For a couple of days when we were there, this great big sow kept walking up and down the road. What a sight for hungry lads.
Each time it came along, someone would run down & pull the mines across the bridge. The sow never trod on them.

Every other night the platoon supplied a patrol into no mans land for information and harass the Germans. We were in that position a while because of the weather, and the officer always picked four of us to go with him every time. He said that we four knew what to do, without any command and he had faith in us. Some recommendation? It was the same when we got down Medjez Salient as well but that’s another story.

On the first advance to Green Hill when we were ambushed, my platoon was on the road when ‘all hell broke loose’ so to speak. First thing I did was drop on the road, saw where some of the fire was coming from, and fired back, before rolling into the ditch at the side of the road. Archie (my No2) and I got behind a kind of cactus bush. Before long I felt as though I had been hit with a hammer on my helmet. A few seconds after, Archie said ‘your helmet’s on fire’. The camouflage net was smouldering and there was a dent in my helmet. I must have been hit with a tracer bullet.

Shortly after, our company was ordered to put in an attack on the left upon Green Hill to help A Company. Y Comp to take a Knoll further left, and X Comp attack bald Hill on the right side of the road.

There was a large ploughed field between us and the bottom of Green Hill which we had to cross. Very open land.

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