大象传媒

Cambridge Rowing Blue Never Gave Up

Alan Burrough: Born 22 February 1917 Died July 2002.

This is my father鈥檚 war storey. Parts of this storey were often discussed around the dinner table but only when we asked Dad about the War. His false leg and scarred body always reminded us of what had happened. Christopher Burrough (son).

Alan left Cambridge University in July 1939 with an Economic Special degree and Rowing Blue having won the boat race in April 1939. For the summer holidays Alan went on a rowing tour of South Africa with the squad. He wrote a short account of his life and his war experiences.

鈥淭he rowing tour was over and we set sail for England on the 1st of September 1939, the day Russia and Germany attacked Poland, and arrived in Southampton eighteen days later instead of the usual twelve, having deviated wide into the Atlantic and zigzagged all the way, we were unescorted.

On arrival at Southampton I was met by my fianc茅 Rosey and we promptly took a train to her mother, Dorothy鈥檚, Scottish home Druimbeg in Argyllshire where we spent a week mostly stalking stag to fill the cold store.

Then to Cambridge to volunteer for the Royal Artillery (I had been in the Cambridge OTC during the previous three years). I was told that I was unlikely to be called up before March 1940. On this understanding Rosey and I started making plans for our wedding.

On November the 2nd I received my calling up papers to report to Bulford Camp on Salisbury Plain on November 16th. So we decided to bring our wedding forward to November 11th and, as Rosey had always wished, at Chelsea Old Church. Because of the shortness of time and that neither of us were resident of the Parish I had to get special dispensation. Nevertheless Rosey was married in a beautiful white gown with four bridesmaids in long peach dresses, complete with choir and printed order of service. Many of our friends and relations were already in the services and with no time to send out invitations, just telephone calls to some, only thirty all told turned up to see us wed and drink our health at St Ermins Hotel in Wesminster.

After six weeks initial training course at Bulford I went to the Officer Training Unit at Larkhill and in June 1940 I was commissioned as 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal Artillery and posted to 91st Field Regiment which was in tented camp near Crieff in Scotland, having been evacuated form Dunkirk a few week鈥檚 before. I had been asked for by the regiment that had quite a number of my Cambridge friends which made life very pleasant, John Cloegrave, Derek Mays-Smith, Ronnie Payne and Dikie Brandram. Months of fairly strenuous training ensued with the regiment being gradually re-equipped with twenty-five pounder guns and transport etc to match. In October it was announced by the war office that there were no longer any troops under canvas and a week later we moved into digs in Perth.

A few weeks later in November we moved to Southport in Lancashire where we were accommodated in private houses that had been commandeered. Here our normal training was interspersed with firebomb watching on top of the warehouses in the Liverpool docks. This was not a pleasant chore, but fortunately our regiment did not suffer any casualties.

In April 1941 we were moved to Northern Ireland in a nissen hut camp in the grounds of the house of the Speaker of the Northern Ireland Parliament. This was in Dungannon, a Nationalist area quite close to the Irish border so we had to mount double guards, but we had no incidents.

During September 1941, Francis Gore, who had been second in command of the regiment when I first joined, he and his Danish wife had been very friendly with us, telephoned to ask if I鈥檇 like a transfer to 5th RHA which was in 8th Armoured Division and based in Shere in Surrey at that time. He strongly recommended that I did so and it seemed a good idea to me at the time. So I agreed and very soon afterwards I was travelling south much to the annoyance of Bill Buffey who was CO of 91st.

The 5th RHA had been a regular peace time battery, 鈥楰鈥�, enlarged to a regiment with the aid, largely, for reinforcements from the HAC and had served in France.

To my surprise I did not think them as efficient as the 91st territorial regiment I had just left. But with General Montgomery in charge of the area, South Eastern Command, it improved rapidly. My battery, 鈥楰鈥�, was billeted in Shere, Surrey,

So ended my first two and a half years soldering. During all this time Rosey had been a very loyal and devoted camp follower, living mostly in digs of varying quality, from the moderate to the awful and I had been 鈥渓iving out鈥�, with or without permission most of the time.

OFF TO AFRICA

In April 1942, we went by train to Liverpool and embarked in the Monarch of Bermmuda, a luxury peacetime New York/Bermuda liner designed for 500 first class passengers in a moderate climate and so no air-conditioning. Port holes were blacked over. We had 2,000 troops on board.

The voyage out to Suez in a slow convoy was uneventful, but conditions were almost unbearable. The voyage tool eight weeks! It included a twenty-four hour stop in Freetown for fuel and four days ashore under canvas in Cape Town. This was most welcome after being cooped up for four weeks. One of our officers, Chris North, parents lived nearby and entertained us to dinner. Regrettably Chris was later killed in action.

Time lagged dreadfully on board, but everyday, regardless of the heat, we had PE sessions and also gunnery training sessions so that, in theory anyway, at journey鈥檚 end we were highly trained and quite fit.

On arrival in Egypt we went immediately to a tented camp on the Canal Zone near Ismalia where we stayed for two weeks very busily painting all our vehicles, guns and equipment sand colour and practising navigation with a sun compass, which was essential as much of the terrain is featureless for miles. I got an attack of 鈥淕ippy鈥� tummy that made life pretty unpleasant for three or four days.

We then proceeded north west past the pyramids and sphinx for two or three days to re-inforce the front at El Alemain which had just been stabilised.

A day later we took part in an attack with our brigade of tanks with the view to discouraging the Germans from trying to get further towards Cairo.

This was a complete failure as our tanks had been ordered to advance on the wrong compass bearing and in that morning we lost 100 of our 150 tanks. The tanks were Valentines brought from England in our convoy, they carried only a two inch anti-tank gun which were useless against the German Panzer Mark IV. The tanks were soon replaced with better American ones, but there was of course quite a loss of tank crews, killed and wounded. It also had consequences for me because one of the tanks lost was one of our OP (observation post) tanks and the Troop Commander on board, Denys Benke, was slightly wounded. Being the senior Lieutenant in the battery I was promoted Captain in command of his troop but without a tank. (June 1942).

I commandeered a 15cwt truck, put my assistant, radio operator and equipment on board and carried on. All went well that afternoon, but on the next morning I put the truck in a hollow about one hundred yards or so from a ridge, with the enemy the other side and ran a telephone line up to a New Zealand which was hull down near the crest. I clambered on to the tank and took up position crouched down behind the turret. This gave me quite a good view for a short distance as the daily heat haze had started to build up.

However I must have been spotted, or was just unlucky, because the enemy started shelling which came quite close and then one was too close for comfort as a splinter tore through my trousers and passed in and out of my left buttock but fortunately not damaging anything vital.

I reported the problem on the radio and was told to get back to Battery HQ and then on to our Regimental MO who agreed that it was not at all serious but even so I would have to go back to hospital as if I remained in the desert it would almost certainly become septic and deteriorate.

So off I went to the 63rd General Hospital in Cairo, where the wound was tided up in the operating room under general anaesthetic.

So far as I can recollect I was in hospital for two weeks and then I spent another two weeks in Lady Lampson鈥檚 (our ambassador鈥檚 wife) convalescent home for officers. During this time I walked along the banks of the Nile and came across the Egyptian Rowing Club and three of its members invited me to go out with them in a IV which was quite enjoyable.

After this interlude I reported to the Royal Artillery re-inforcement depot on the outskirts of Cairo to await posting, hopefully back to my own battery. I filled in some time by joining a tank maintenance course at the adjacent tank depot.

Then late in August I was lucky enough to be posted back to my battery and resumed command of the Troop which had annoyingly been interrupted.

In Part Two: The Battle of Rusit Ridge and the M3 Stuart 鈥淗oney鈥� meets the Panzer IV.

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