Thursday, 4 July
This morning we made the final arrangements for our departure. After lunch we left Karkur Camp and marched down to the station. The brigadier came to see us off, but he didn’t get a very enthusiastic farewell either from men or officers. Our first destination was Haifa to where we travelled in cattle trucks. We got out of the train just before Haifa. All except C Squadron were marched off to Peninsula Barracks, which are situated on the sea front and appear most comfortable with every form of modern convenience. My C Squadron have been put in a German convent. The nuns have been interned in Jerusalem. It is quite an attractive depot but has been left in a very dirty state by the troops who were billeted there before us, rather as if some alterations had been commenced and left off at a moment’s notice, plaster and dust everywhere but we are putting the place in order. There is a lovely chapel attached.
The officers are all quartered in the barracks, about 10 minutes’ walk from the convent. At the moment I am sharing a room with Derrick Warwick, but I hope to get a room of my own in the near future. It is all very comfortable and rather luxurious after tents. We have proper furniture in the rooms, bathroom next door, and a grand view out to sea. We also have a most comfortable mess, which we share with the Buffs – actually there are only three officers here. They have one battalion out here. I understand that they suffered very heavily at the retreat from Dunkirk. They have not had official figures yet.
Friday, 5 July
This morning we spent cleaning up our new billets. At 11.30 we had a troop leaders’ conference and heard about our new fate. We are now to become gunners for Coastal Defence and the remainder Search Lights. I am afraid that the new organization will completely split up the old squadron. One officer plus his troop will have to go to HQ Squadron under Peter Laycock to form a battery of Search Lights. We were going to draw lots, but Mike Parish chose to go. The remainder of the squadron becomes three batteries of guns under Donny Player as battery commander, Stephen Mitchell second-in-command, and Dan Ranfurly and myself subalterns. The rest of the personnel consist of various HQ men, two teams of 20 men each for the guns, telephonists, signallers and electric-light personnel for each battery. Our total establishment: four officers and 113 men. Half our men have to be trained here, the other half at Kishon, which all makes the organization rather complicated.
Last night I went out to dinner with John Walters, Lawrence Biddle and George Luck in Haifa. We found George on 24 hours’ leave in Haifa. At the moment he is an instructor at Bir Salem, the small-arms school. It is the first time I have seen him since Edinburgh. It was most interesting at dinner as all three of us are ex-Inns of Court. Apparently some of the snobs in the yeomanry regiments received some members of the Inns of Court very badly when they were commissioned to them. I understand the Leicestershire Yeomanry were worst.
A number of yeomanry regiments were permanently retrained as gunners, even though, as cavalry, they might more naturally have expected to become mechanized and be given tanks. However, at this stage of the war, numbers of tanks were very few and could not be built and transported to the Middle East overnight. Rather, they had to use what was available, and that meant often antiquated field guns.
Saturday, 6 July
Today we started our lectures in earnest. We are supposed to be able to fire the gun (6-inch) after two weeks’ training, so it will have to be very intensive. All the officers including the colonel had three hours of lectures under a gunner major. A half-holiday in the afternoon. I went for a bathe with John Walters, Lawrence, Mike Parish. We went to a perfect stretch of sand just outside Haifa where we had some excellent surfing.
Now that France has fallen, an attack on England is expected at any moment. We have broken off diplomatic relations with the Pétain government.
Sunday, 7 July
Breakfast at 7 o’clock and our first lectures on the gun at 8 o’clock. It is all most interesting. We have been told that we shall fire the gun at a moving target after a week and ready to move and take up our duties at an unknown destination in a fortnight. Our instructor is the battery commander here, Major Ving. He is a most excellent and enthusiastic instructor and it is a pleasure to learn under him. In the morning we work continuously until 11.30, lunch 12.45 and lectures again from 4.15 until 6 o’clock in the evening. We have had no letters from home for ages. Air raids have been continuous over England but as far as we know they have not suffered many casualties and damage has been small. An invasion of England is anticipated and our defence of England has been increased by Australians and Canadians. At the moment the number of troops in Palestine is very small; in fact, there is not much more than the lst Cavalry Division.
Wednesday, 10 July
Lectures in the morning. The gun is really great fun in spite of being much out of date. It was made in 1902 and used in the Great War. A miniature range has been fixed up in a hut. The observation post is at the back of the room and the sea is represented by a raised stand covered with netting. Miniature ships are pulled across by cotton, a man stands underneath the frame with the netting above his head. With the help of the scale marked on the frame and powder spray, he is able to show the fall of the shell according to the fire order given by the battery commander in the observation post. It is a most ingenious piece of work and very good practice.
For dinner we had a guest-night. We asked our chief instructor, Major Ving, Padre Hughes from Division, three officers from the Yorkshire Hussars, a couple from the Dragoons. I sat with Charles, Tony and the machine-gun officer from the Hussars, a fellow called Hudson. The latter has been to South Africa and has interests in mining machinery. His uncle is a great friend of Daddy’s. The party got very rowdy at the end, and for some absolutely unknown reason Jack Abdy threw a butter dish at my head and cut my chin. The party became very hilarious. Mike Gold found his bed in the middle of the football field and Mike Parish, who had been out to dinner, found a donkey in his bedroom.
Next morning I was up early for regimental parade and had to turn the donkey off the parade ground. It was a very good evening.
Thursday, 11 July
We had a lecture in the morning, and then worked with our guns at Kishon. Instructions have now come through that all the Regiment is to be trained as gunners, which means complete reorganization. We have heard that the Wiltshires have been ordered to give up their horses. The supposition is that they will become Search Lights. We also heard that our horses stampeded again on the first night at Remounts, Nathaniya. Eight horses had to be shot. 20 were injured and 30 got away.
Friday, 12 July
Owing to the new organization, we have now had to form six batteries. Dan Ranfurly has now left our battery. Tony Holden has given up the adjutancy and become a battery commander, and Sydney Morse is the new adjutant. Michael and Peter Laycock are also battery commanders. Stephen is second-in-command to our battery. With the colonel and Flash Kellett I went to dinner with the Yorkshire Dragoons. They have a temporary camp just off the Plain of Israel, about 1½ miles away. None of us wanted to go as I understand that there is no love lost between the two regiments. Stephenson is there as their colonel and his brother a squadron leader. Flash put him under arrest at Marseilles as commander of the ship for being late on arrival. They are rather a rowdy mess, with a hard-drinking rowdy colonel, a great contrast to our colonel. Four Inns of Court fellows went to the Dragoons so I was well looked after at the junior end of the table. At dinner I sat between Francis Coppam and Pat Cox. They had heard a rumour that Geoffrey Rogers had been killed. I also heard that the Queen Victoria Rifles had been wiped out at Calais. I wonder whether Dennis Hamilton got through. I knew quite a lot of their fellows. One is quite cut off from news. We left about 10.30. John Gillies I hear is reported missing and believed killed, also Roger Bushell.
Stanley knew Roger Bushell from his time in South Africa and because he moved in similar circles in London, where the latter had been a barrister. Bushell was a fighter pilot in the RAF and comma
nding 92 Squadron, when, on 23 May, in their first engagement over Dunkirk, he had been shot down. In fact, he survived to become a serial escaper from German prison camps. He later went on to mastermind what became known as the Great Escape from Stalag Luft III, but was later recaptured and executed by the Gestapo.
Sunday, 14 July
A great event today: the first time for five weeks we had an airmail from England. I had three letters, one from Ione dated 11 June. From Ione, I learned that Dennis Hamilton is a prisoner and that Freddie Fitch is missing. I am still very worried about Clive.
Monday, 15 July
Today Palestine had its first air raid. Two waves each of five came over. Two bombers only for each flight, the remainder were fighters. They bombed Haifa port and the oil tanks at Kishon. It happened about 9.45 during a lecture at Carmel camp. This is the sequence of events: 1. Bombs were dropped. 2. The anti-aircraft opened fire. 3. Finally the air-raid warning went off. From our position we could see the oil tanks had been hit at Kishon and rather feared for the safety of battery men who were training on the guns there. All our people were all right and had a perfect view of the raid.
Tuesday, 16 July
During the lecture this morning the new commander-in-chief of Palestine paid us a visit, Godwin-Austen. We were on the miniature range at the time. He was very complimentary about us and told us that he had been tremendously impressed by what he had heard and seen. In fact, using his own words, he said we were a crashing success. All the time he was speaking he had three fly buttons undone, which made him lose some of his dignity. He has taken the place of Gifford, who has gone to take over command in North Africa.
Wednesday, 17 July
Lectures in the morning and a half-holiday in the afternoons. Played a game of cricket. Much talk in the papers about the forthcoming invasion of England. We have been having many air raids, according to the papers, but not much damage done.
Saturday, 20 July
My battery had its first shoot. We don’t fire the 100-lb shells, but with a rifle fixed fired a 1-lb shell. The target, consisting of three floats, is towed along by a tug, with a very long tow-rope. I took one shoot as battery commander and it went off well. It really was great fun.
Wednesday, 24 July
Another air raid on Haifa by Italian planes. They came over as Lawrence and I were on our way to the theatre. I heard the planes and said to Lawrence, ‘Here the Italians are again,’ and the next thing we heard was the anti-aircraft fire. Slight damage was done but they killed 40 people and injured 72. As usual, no kind of warning. Peter, Donny and I immediately went to Kishon to see whether our men were all right. There was a nasty mess outside the ordnance yard. A large crater had been blown in the centre of the road, and some dead and injured were lying about the place. Not a pleasant sight. The bombs had fallen very near the guns at Kishon. Ten had fallen in the sea immediately in port. One Arab fishing boat was hit directly and the two occupants killed. The anti-aircraft did no damage to any of the planes. Their opposition is practically nil. If they continue to bomb this place it will be essential to have some fighters here.
At 12 o’clock we had a regimental parade. A notice has come in asking for volunteers to form ‘commando’ to operate and harass the Italians along the frontier in Africa. The result was quite extra ordinary: we expected the whole regiment to volunteer but only very few did. All officers did. I think they have become too keen on the guns.
One of the early proponents of the power of bombing was Giulio Douhet who, during the 1920s, predicted ‘absolute air warfare’ and was widely read both within and outside Italy. It was ironic, then, that by 1940, the Regia Aeronautica – the Italian air force – should have been so weak. Unfortunately for the Italians, they did not possess enough aircraft or sufficient modern types to make much impact. By June 1940, Italy had only 237 aircraft of all kinds available for operations in the Mediterranean, and of the bombers, most were tri-motor Savoia-Marchetti SM79s, which could only carry around 1000 kilograms of bombs. To put that in perspective, the RAF’s twin-engine Vickers Wellington could carry more than double that load. Bombing tended to be carried out from high altitude and with little accuracy. All in all, however outraged the Sherwood Rangers might have been at the attacks on Haifa, such raids were not very effective.
Friday, 26 July
Arms drill before breakfast. Lecture in the morning from 9 till 12. After lecture Flash told me he had arranged a cricket match against HMS Orion, a cruiser of 8000 tons, which came into port last night. He told me also that 88 of the crew were coming to watch the match and that I should have to arrange transport and tea. So I had a very busy hour’s work. I managed to get the IPC ground. I didn’t intend to play myself but as four naval officers turned up I did play. We had a very good game and lost by 10 runs. I liked them all. It struck me how very young some of the officers were.
Saturday, 27 July
Lecture again in the morning. John Walters, Lawrence Biddle and I went sailing in the afternoon. For the race this afternoon we were allowed outside the harbour. They lifted up the boom for us. We had another collision and both boats flew the protest flag. After the race we had to attend a meeting and settle the protest. We won both cases. This was held in Spinney’s restaurant. In the evening Michael Parish and I took out Sydney Morse and his wife to dinner and a cinema.
Monday, 29 July
The colonel and Donny got back from Egypt. They told us that our officers and men who are on the course there are being worked pretty hard and that after each week they have an examination paper, which is rather distressing to some of the officers. They are learning about naval guns, which are very much more up to date than those here, so what they learned here has not been much good to them. Usual routine.
Tuesday, 30 July
Lectures all through the morning. We always have a break at 11 o’clock. We then go to the back door of the NAAFI (all junior officers) and have a cup of coffee. This is all very much like university life. Lectures during the morning and exercise during the afternoon.
Saturday, 3 August
We heard today that Alasdair MacDonald, who joined the Regiment from the Inns of Court with Lawrence Biddle, John Walters and me, had been killed at Dunkirk. He became detached from his regiment before leaving England. He was an extraordinarily nice lad, only just married.
PT and a bathe before breakfast. The water was quite rough. I took the battery for an hour’s drill on the square this morning. In the afternoon Lawrence Biddle, John Walters and I went for the usual Saturday afternoon sail. It really was a most perfect day for sailing. They lifted the boom, so we were able to go outside the harbour, where we found a good stiff breeze and quite choppy weather. We were all rather upset about MacDonald. It might so easily have been John, Lawrence or me, or John Walters. Such a lovely climate, and the easy time which we have been having, but hearing all about the fighting that has been in Europe and then again the pending invasion of England, makes us all wish that we could do something active and effective. News is so very scarce, and we don’t know what friends we have lost. The C-in-C of Palestine made a broadcast to all the troops, pointing out that actually at the moment we are fulfilling a most important role and that he was quite convinced that our time would come.
In the evening Jack Abdy and I took Henry Trotter and his wife Rona out to dinner. Afterwards we went to the local nightclub. Henry refused to come but Rona was quite determined that we should go and that Henry should go home, so Henry was firmly pushed back into the taxi by Rona, and what surprised me was that he went with slight mutterings only. Jack went fast asleep in the nightclub, which suited very well, because Rona and I danced all the time. It was the first time I have danced since being out here, and Rona really dances well. She asked me to take her there again. I should like to very much, but on the other hand, it’s a very good policy to keep clear of all officers’ wives, especially such a young and attractive girl as Rona, and especially in a small community like this. However,
I hope we shall go out again. I saw Charles Eardley at the nightclub. He was with a certain Lady Allin, who is known as the subaltern’s benefit; she has been married four times, is aged about 35, and has just become engaged to a young subaltern in the Staffords. It was good to see Charles again – we had great fun at Edinburgh together. Tomorrow Rona goes off to Egypt with Henry and the remaining officers who are going on this gunnery course. She asked me to write. But it’s a very debatable point whether I shall. She is certainly attractive and dances well. But, still, I have written enough about her.
Myles Hildyard, Rona and Henry Trotter, with Michael Parish.
Tuesday, 6 August
PT at 6.15. Gun practice at 9.15. A competition starts tomorrow for batteries, which is a very good thing as it will make the men keen again. After lunch Gerald Grosvenor, Jack Abdy, Derrick Warwick and I went bathing. After dinner Gerald, Jack, Jos and I went to a cinema in Haifa, which was very bad. While at dinner somebody went through all the rooms in this house. I was the only one who lost money, as I had left some in my drawer.
An Englishman at War Page 5
