大象传媒

I am writing this account taken from the diary & notes left by my late brother Trooper Ernest Arthur Barnes. I fully understand the conditions that apply to articals accepted by this site.
When WW2 broke out, I had been serving with the 7th Queens Own Hussars for nearly 6 years, nearly all of which had been served in Egypt.
We were equiped at that time with light tanks(Mark 111 VIA & VIB) and I was a gunner.
A light Armoured Brigade was being formed,consisting of the 7th, 8th & 11th Hussars. The 11th Hussars being equiped with 15cwt Ford trucks with Vickers light machine guns mounted. The 11th Hussars had some Rolls Royce & also some Morris armoured cars. There was also a Heavy Armoured group which comprised of the 1st and 6th Royal Tank Regiments and the 3rd Royal Horse Artillery 'F' Battery with 25 powder guns. Also the 1st Battalion of the Kings Royal Rifle Corps ,with Bren gun carriers.
This was to form the basis of the now Famous 7th Armoured Division or "Desert Rats" as they came to be known as.
The Calm before the Storm
On 23rd of August1939 we were moved to cover a possible attack on the Nile Delta and the Suez Canal by the Italian forces of Marshal Graziani.
The camp was at a place close to Mersa Matruh and in tents. The ground there was very stoney I remember and the weather very hot and we had great difficulty in digging the slit trenches and pits for the anti aircraft Bren guns. One consulation however was that Mersa Matruh was not far away and bathing was available there. Also the locals were quite friendly and bread and eggs and also beer could be obtained from them by cash or barter.
Most of the time was spent in training and getting used to desert conditons including the storms, when everything got covered in sand dust. This was the time of the so called "phoney war" and the threat of Italian participation lessend so early in December 1939 we were moved to Maadi about 10miles from Cairo.
At maadi, 'C' Squadron of which I was part was to be completely equiped with A9 cruiser tanks which carried a 2 pounder gun. Training was carried out with these and courses arranged. On the 10th of May 1940 it was back to Mersa Matruh.
The Real Thing
On the 10th of June 1940 news came that we were at war with Italy. A plan was made by General Sir Richard O'connor who was commanding the British forces in the Western Desert and along the Italian held frontier at that time to attack the first line of Italian defences. Fort Capuzzo was to be bombed and then seized by a force consisting of 7th Hussars 'A' company of 1st Battalion the Kings Royal Rifle Corps and one troop of 2nd field Squadron of Royal Engineers.
'A' Squadron 7th Hussars attacked backed up by 'A' company of 1st Battalion Kings Royal Rifle Corps. They came under heavy machine guns but engaged the fort wiht their 2 pounders and machine guns and at the same time circling around the fort. The riflemen dismounted from their Bren gun carriers and advanced on the fort. The enemy did not await their arrival however but put up a white flag and surrendered. In all, about 226officers and men.
Some time after that attack the Italian Air Force arrived and attacked everything in sight including the prisoners, no damage was done to the regiment however. In this action, 2 of our men were wounded when their 8 cwt truck was destroyed by a land mine. One man of the Rifle Corps was killed.
While all this was going on, we in 'C' Squadron of 7th Hussars together with 2 Batterys of Royal Horse Artillery and an advance guard of 11th Hussars had been attacking Sidi Azeiz not far outside Bardia. Enemy infantry were seen and we came under fire from 12 guns when they saw the tanks the infantry fled. Then three of our tanks ran into a minefield and were damaged beyong repair one trooper Leslie Webb being killed by this.
The Italians had made no more moves till we went to withdraw then a squadron of 11th Hussars was chased by 24 Italians light tanks(Fiat CV3s) but only six of these attacked. One was destroyed and the crew captured.
The first operation had been great sucess against vastly larger forces and was made even more so when another Italian fort, Fort Madelena was attacked by a Squadron 11th Hussars after being bombed by the R.A.F and surrendered with on officer and 17 other ranks.
The next operation soon came when a column of enemy motor transport escorted by CV3 tanks was sighted inside enemy territory by 11th Hussars patroling. 7th Hussars came up in support. The Italians had some artillery support but their infantry had gone.
The CV3 were no match for the 2pounder guns of the Cruisers of 7th Hussars and 12 were destroyed by then and another 5 knocked out by the Boys anti tank rifles of 11th Hussars.
The whole column was captured or destroyed and over 200 prisoners taken including the colonel commanding it. The same day a patrol of 11th Hussars also captured an Italian General and his staff including 4 women.
On 26th June 1940 a regular leave scheme started giving each man 8 days leave in Cairo and I took advantage of this to go and see my cousin Norman Griggs who was then a Lieutenant at HQ there. We had by now become as aclimatised to conditions in the desert as far as was possible and health generally was not bad. the main trouble seems to be a kind of septic sore no doubt caused by a bad diet lacking in vitamin C. Rations consisted of mostly tinned 'Bully Beef' with biscuits and occasionaly tins of fruits.
The main activity of the enemy at this time was attack from the air at about the same time everyday. 1 day our HQ was attacked and trooper Jackson was killed and Sergeant Gowan wounded. Unfortunately at that time the nearest RAF base was at Qasala over 150miles away so we did not get much air cover.
Christmas 1940 we were at the outskirt of Bardia. Xmas dinner was the same Bully Beef & biscuits & some tin fruit. It was bitterly cold at night and we listened to 大象传媒 announcing .' The thoughts of all at home are with our troops sweltering in the desert heat'. Our job was to stop any interference while the 6th Australian Division attacked Bardia. On 3rd of January 1941 the attack started and went on for 3 days at the end of which Bardia had fallen and over 40,000 prisoners taken.
The next major action was the taking of Tobruk, which was more
or less a repeat of the action at Bardia.
After the fall of Tobruk the enemy was in full retreat and we were sent to a place called Beda Fomm to attack his retreating columns,together with 3rd Hussars and 2nd Royal Tank Regiment. This we did with great success, taking over 800 prisoners and capturing or destroying more then 100 trucks.
Rommel Arrives
Up to this time there had been no news of German forces arriving in North Africa and the arrival of strong forces under thier commander the now famous general Rommel came as a complete suprise. On 25 March 1941 the German airforce attacked Jedabiya Airfield with Stuka dive bombers. His armoured forces then advanced on Agheila, held by light British and Australian forces and pushed them back.
That was just to start of a long withdrawal right back to where we started, with only Tobruk being held by 40,000 Australians mostly.
The HQ of 2nd Armoured Duision was captured, together with generals Neame and O'Conner. Things began to look bad for our new commander general Wavell.
The main reason for this was the superior equipment the German had, and the way they used it.
Their tanks had 50mm guns which could penetrate our tank armour at over 2000 yds,whereas our 2 pounder tank guns could not penetrate the front thier tanks at all, and only penetrate the sides at less than 600 yds. Their excellent 88mm duel purpose gun,used as an anti tank gun could penetrate armour at any range.
The only gun we had which was really effective against their tanks was the 25 pounder, which had never really been intended as an anti tank gun at all.
7th Hussars were sent to a point north of Cappuzzo and we came under the command of Brigadier Ian Erskine of 22nd guards Brigade.
In June of 1941 we recieved A10 Cruiser tanks, which were better then the light tanks we had been equiped with. Having better armour and quite fast capable of 40 mph but still having only a 2 pounder gun.
General Wavell had decided that an attempt to relieve Tobruk,(whice was now totaly isolated) must be made. The forth Armoured Brigade with 22nd guards Brigade which included 7nth Hussars, formed to make a three pronged attack, with 7nd armour Brigade on its right and 11th Indian Infrantry Brigade to its left on the coastal plain.
Although this attempt met with some early success, the appearence of more and more German armour, which threatened to cut off the guards Brigade atTrigh Cappuzzo. The Germans now having over 200 tanks in the forward area, the offensive had to be terminated reluctantly.
During that time we took part in the battle at a place called Sidi Resegh, not far from Trigh Cappuzzo.
We came under heavy attack from the German 15nth and 21st Panzer Divisions. Our tanks were deployed to hold up the German advance as long as possible. We stopped to be able to abtain accurate fire when the enemy came into range.
The tank on our right was hit and caught fire.
I could see one of the crew who was obviously wounded trying to haul himself through the hatch, I dismounted and went and pulled him out of the turret, he told me the rest of the crew had been killed when the tank had been hit. Soon after our own tank was hit by a 50 mm shell and caught fire, none of us was hit by that shell ,exploding on the tank, but as I went to jump down from the turret a machine gun bullet hit me in the left leg. One of our scout cars came up and took me to the 1st aid station where I was patched up and then sent back by ambulance with the other wounded to the hospital in Alexandria.
That marked the end of my part in the desert war and, although I was not to know it then,the end of my active service with the regiment, and in fact had probably saved my life in the long run.
It had been an expensive day for the regiment Lieutenant Colonel Byass, our commanding officer, Lieutenant JLC. Williams, and 14 other ranks, had been killed, 28 wounded and as many again missing. However, Sidi Rezegh had been held and Rommels armour stopped.
Leaving for Burma
By the time I returned to the regiment, they had been withdrawn from the desert and re-equiped with American general Stuart or "honey" tanks and were prepared to embark for Rangoon Burma.
On 28th January 1942 we embarked on the Blue Funnel Line "Aseamus" which after a brief stop in Aden, went on to Colombo, Ceylon. It was to be a 3 day stop in Colombo, but it turned out to be much longer as a convey had to be assembled.During that time my leg, which had appeared to be healing well, started giving me trouble,so it was arranged that I be sent to a specialist at base hospital in India "New Delhi" and I was put on an RAF dakota which was going to a base near there.
There at the hospital, it was found that damage had been done to the bone which needed further surgery.
The 7th Hussars went on to Burma where they again distinguished themselves as part of 7th Armour Brigade in holding the line in impossible conditions and so enabling the withdrawal to India against an overwhelming Japanese force. All their tanks and transport had been lost in doing so, because there were no roads out to Burma,to India at that time,only jungle tracks.
General Alexander later said," that without 7th Armour Brigade,we would never have got the army out of Burma."In September 1942 the 7th Hussars who had been rested and re-equiped with some American General Grant tanks together with the rest of the 7th Armoured Brigade embarked for Iraq.
Sunk By A U Boat
Due to my convalesing from my wounds, I did not go with them from Bombay but was told to join another troop ship going back to the UK. For some reason,when this ship reached Capetown a number of us were transferred to the RMS "Laconia" which was an armed Merchant Cruiser. It was a fatal change. The ship we had been on arrived safely at Liverpool, but Laconia was torpedoed and sunk by a "U Boat" off Freetown with great loss of life, more in fact,more then were lost in the "Titanic" desaster which is little known today as a fact and rarely mentioned,probably bacause of the embaressing nature (To the Allies) of the tragic events that took place which are much better described in "The Sinking of RMS "Laconia" on this web site.
Suffice it to say that I spend sometime in the sea before finally being dragged into a lifeboat after first being struk on the head with an oar by some panicy fool who probably thought I was 1 of the Italian Prisoners we had on boat. Ever after that blow on the head, I suffered from severe headaches from time to time. We were finally picked up by the Vichy French Cruiser 'Gloria' and taken to Casablanca, and then to an interment camp at a place called Mediouna.
Having no clothes we were given parts of French Foreign uniforms to wear.The buttons of which I kept,After a while, I and 4 others decided to escape at night and make our way along the coast, hoping with the experience of two of our number at sailing,to steal a boat and sail along the coast to the straits of Gibralter or try to get someone with a boat to take us there. We found the locals, once they found out who we were to be most helpfull and friendly as they mostly hated the French.However,as we started moving along the coast,moving at night, we were challenged by some American Marines and nearly got shot at because we had French foreign Legion coats on.[The Vichy French had been resisting the Allied landings and at first].
After ,when we explained who we really were,all was well and we were put on board a ship going back to U.S.
In New York we were given a great reception being the first British soldiers to go there since the war started,and became guests of U.S army and the American Red Cross. We had a great time at last.It was like there was no war on at all.No rationing and no blackout at night.We finally left in a convey to Liverpool and I arrived home on new years eve 1942 much to the suprise and joy from my family who had only the news from the red cross that I was known to be interned in French North Africa after being a survivor of a British Ship lost at sea by ememy action.
The 7th Hussers spent some time in Iraq before being sent to Italy having being re-equiped with some American "Sherman" tanks and on 4th May 1944 disembarked at Toranto to become part of 5th corps of general Alexanders Eigth army.fighting their way up the Adriatic coast.They once again distinguished themselves as a regiment.But I was never fit enough to re-join them and was de-mobed in 1945.After a long period of convelesence.