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Our C.O. later called into our Command Post and expressed his opinion that the enemy could not have anything there. Another visitor was the Battalion Commander of the 5th Hampshire Regiment, whose Headquarters were at 'Hampshire Farm'(Sidi N'Sir station) not far below us. He heaped much praise upon me in the presence of our own Battery Commander - a great morale booster indeed! He was Colonel H.C.C.Newnham who, with drooping moustache, mirth and vigour, was said to have been likened to a mixture of Old Bill and a somewhat leaner Falstaff!

I had received a message stating that an Arab had placed a white horse in front of our forward O.P. and when I notified our B.C., he immediately ordered me to ask the originator of same to have both the Arab and horse taken out at once. (personally, I felt it was rather like shutting the stable door after the horse had bolted, in any case the enemy would surely have known the position of the O.P. in question by then)

On the night of 25/02/43, a distinct glow of greenish verey lights illuminated the sky above
Chekak Ridge and the surrounding hills, so when midnight came Major Raworth suggested that I should go to my dug-out to get some sleep, because I would need all my energy for the next day, although I wanted to remain on duty.

At about 06.30a.m. on the morning of 26/02/43, came a frantic message at the top of the dug-out -'Quick, quick, jerry tanks coming down the road'! The Afrika Korps had launched their Operation Ochsenkopf (Oxhead) against our 1st Army, with the intention of smashing their way through, destroying it in the process and reaching the very important junction at Beja and eventually the ports of Bone and Algiers along the coast.

The task confronting both the 5th Hants and 155 Battery was to hold up the Afrika Korps for a crucial 12 hours, but was never expected to stop it altogether. The enemy battle-group was under the command of Col-Gen. Rudolph Lang.

I remember very quickly grabbing my rifle, running across the track and down the shallow bank opposite and into the Command Post. This morning was regarded as the Battery's 'Baptism of Fire.' Until this moment in time it had not heard a shot fired in anger; it is as well to remember that the Regiment had only been formed in Hastings just over a year ago!

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I now qoute from the 'Gunner' Magazine of June, 1943 -

'The 155 Battery at Sidi N'Sir - an immortal Story' -

'On 26th February at 06.30 hours, 'F' Troop came under fire from mortars at Chekak Ridge and engaged these mortars with artillery fire. From this moment until dark 'F' Troop and, to a lesser degree, 'E' Troop and the command posts. cooks' shelters, etc., were under increasingly heavy mortar fire. At 07.15 hours enemy tanks made a direct assault down the road from Mateur. 'F' Troop engaged them, No.1 gun over open sights.

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