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"This story was submitted to the People's War site by CSV/´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio Nottingham on behalf of Mrs M. Archer with her permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions"

December 24th 1942.
We were aboard H.M.S. Derbyshire lying dormant in the Liverpool docks. We remained so for 36 hours. Christmas day we pulled out of the docks, only a few miles out, the rest of the convoy deployed, we remained static for the rest of the day, and what a day. No canteen, not a cigarette between us, the food was putrid, actually the troops were very low in morale. This was only natural, leaving our dear country at the height of festivity. We could see England a few miles away standing proudly against the sky line, we thought of our loved ones who were left behind.

Christmas Day, 22.30hrs.
We heard a throbbing of engines. At last we were on our way, destination unknown, some rumours floating around. Someone said we were going to Africa, others said Egypt. We were prepared for the worst. Though we managed that night sleeping below deck in hammocks, we were like flies packed tightly, it was very hot, but eventually our eyelids closed and we fell asleep. The next morning we awoke feeling heady, some had sore throats, many more were sick. We were knocking along at 12 or 14 knots in the choppy Irish Sea, this carried on for many days. The canteen had opened, we could buy cigs, chocolate, tinned pears, milk, everything imaginable. We smoked until we were blue in the face, the morale was much better. We remained so for 10 days. We eventually saw land. Marvellous. Buildings loomed in the distance, we pulled into Algiers docks. The mighty fleet lay there in the docks. H.M.S. Rodney, H.M.S. Nelson, Aircraft Carriers, even Submarines, what a glorious sight, we could see people flocking the streets and balconies of the three-storey houses.
We disembarked in the afternoon of January 3rd 1943. Although we were foreigners the people gave us a marvellous reception, they showered oranges down from the house tops. We were standing a few hundred yards from the docks in full kit less kit bags. We started our march to a location somewhere 12 miles away, it was already getting dark, we marched and marched, feeling very tired, at 2300 hours it started to rain, making matters worse, we got soaked. We arrived at the billets at about 0100 hours. Our billets were wine vats with concrete floors; here we rested our tired limbs. One blanket, one overcoat and groundsheet was very welcome, although we were starved through. Next day was very hot, we were able to dry our clothes and get organized in general. We enjoyed our first meal immensely. The surrounding fields were full of orange groves; we helped ourselves, which is a soldier’s privilege abroad. The name of this place was called Eucalyptus, everywhere trees with this valuable oil grew. We were there for a very short period until such time as our transport arrived by cargo vessels. Three days later we started our long journey by road to Sedgemore, a very important railway junction. We were given a very good reception by M.E 109s who bombed our transport to say nothing of cannon and machine gun fire, we had a few casualties there. We established out Brigade H.Q. in the town of Sedgemore. It consisted of the Brigadier, Brigade Major, Staff, Captain, Intelligence Officers and 2 Liaison Officers. The Commander deployed into the woods on the outskirts of town. Here we started on operational duties. During the day very little transport was allowed on the roads owing to continuous strafing by enemy planes. So undercover of darkness, convoy’s fetched supplies, petrol, oil, rations. They were then taken to our infantry 5 miles north of the town round three high features named, Green Hill, Sugar Loaf Hill, Baldy Hill. All German strong points were thought to be impregnable, at the time only my brigade were there, as we came from England as an independent brigade, the remainder of the division arriving later. The three hills were attacked by infantry patrols regularly, sometimes prisoners were taken by both sides, we hadn’t sufficient men to put in a large scale attack……..

This is a copy of the diary entries I found recently in an old book of my husband’s written as he was leaving Liverpool for the war on Christmas Day 1942.

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