Donny motored over to see us after lunch. We sat talking for a bit. He told us that Henry Trotter was back from Egypt but looked very ill. I suppose that means Rona will be back, and probably staying at Tel Aviv with Lady Yarborough.
All these wives are supposed to be evacuated from Palestine and Egypt on the 14th of this month. They are being sent to South Africa. If they do go there, I shall certainly give Rona some introductions.
It is now about 10.20. I am writing in the room which we use as a dining room. I have an oil lamp and it is rather hot on account of the blackout. Stephen has gone to bed and is breathing heavily, making rather a horrible noise. I shall be going round the guard posts at about midnight.
Stephen and I have been trying to place a most extraordinary noise. It’s most difficult to describe but sounds as though somebody is polishing buttons on a belt with a hard brush. It varies in density, and appears to be very close indeed, somewhere around the side of the building, but we simply can’t find anything. Probably some kind of insect, or even the wires making some kind of noise.
Sunday, 8 September
Today the King asked for a National Prayer Day, so we had a voluntary service here, taken by Stephen, and I read the lesson: II Romans:10. Not many came. I should have liked to see more.
In the afternoon we had a game of cricket. Power Station played against Hangar. Stephen played for Power Station and I played for Hangar. We easily won, making 60, and getting them out for 10! Stephen came out first ball and so did I. We have an excellent pitch. I put the cricket mat down on the asphalt strip on which the planes used to land. It makes a wonderful level surface. There are no boundaries and you have to run everything. When the ball gets off the asphalt into the sand it stops dead. The hangar is about 400 yards from the power station.
In the middle of the match we had an air-raid warning, first from Tel Aviv and then the power station itself. We didn’t think there was any chance of planes coming to Tel Aviv, and continued our cricket thinking possibly there was a raid on Haifa. However, we soon shot off to the trenches when we saw six Italian bombers coming in from over the sea! They flew right over the town, turned north, came back again and then flew off to sea. What they were up to I don’t know – possibly reconnaissance over towards Sarafand. The guard right on top of the power station didn’t like it at all. If a bomb should land on that power station, we all go to kingdom come! However, we finished our cricket match.
Today I had 12 letters from England – what a mail – and was I excited! I had quite a bunch from the family, some dated 18 June, and most extraordinary of all, two dated 19 August. They must have come through the Mediterranean, via the reinforcements and navy. I also had a letter from Diana Pelham, Nanny, Ursula Barclay and Bridget. I spent a most enjoyable ½ hour reading all my mail.
The family have spent a fortnight in Scotland with Rae Wilson, which they seem to have enjoyed. Brother Derrick has passed his cadet exam, which means that he will soon get his commission, which he thoroughly deserves. The family are very bucked.
Monday, 9 September
These dirty, yellow, bloody Italians raided Tel Aviv this afternoon. They dropped a ladder of bombs right through the centre of the town. No bombs were very near us as we are at the north end of the town. Tel Aviv is a complete open town without any kind of protection, not even an anti-aircraft gun, and in the town itself they have not even air-raid shelters. I have not heard yet the extent of the damage but imagine fairly considerable. There was no warning and the first we heard was the exploding of the bombs. We saw the bombers at a terrific height. They turned north and then back out to sea. I can’t understand why they raided Tel Aviv: there is nothing about in the military nature except 100 men under the charge of Stephen Mitchell and Stanley Christopherson guarding the power station, and disused aerodrome mostly against fifth columnists, and surprise landing. If they continue bombing here, they might make the power station itself their next object, and if they score a hit we shall go a long way up in the air.
The time is now 11 o’clock. The telephone has just rung and who should it be but Rona Trotter. I had no idea that she was here, and actually staying at the Gat Rayman Hotel. She had a very narrow escape, as a bomb fell almost 20 yards from the hotel. I am going to have dinner with HER tomorrow.
I saw in the paper today that John Graham had died of wounds. He was in the Black Watch. He was an exact contemporary of mine at Winchester. We started and went up the school together, leaving the same term. He went to the Varsity, and then on to the SE, and was on the reserve of the Black Watch. One could not meet a more charming man.
Tuesday, 10 September
Tel Aviv has suffered terribly as a result of this raid. Those dirty Italians certainly played their dirtiest trick of the war: 115 were killed including 55 children, and 130 were injured. One bomb fell on the Soldiers’ Home, where tea had been laid for 150 soldiers’ wives and children. Fortunately they were late by 10 minutes, and had not arrived. It was only a matter of 10 minutes.
There is no kind of anti-aircraft or fighters here. That is why I can’t understand why they flew over at such a height. The only kind of gun is an old Hotchkiss on the roof of the town station. A tremendous quantity of buildings were brought down. Many bodies are still buried beneath the debris. There have been some frightful sights in the town.
Pamphlets were dropped in Jaffa, which said that Italy was already in Libya, would get Egypt very shortly, likewise Palestine, which would be handed over to the Arabs. That the Italians would exterminate the British and the Jews.
Donny Player has joined us here now, so there are three of us; we live simply but very comfortably. Our servants cook for us and look after us.
I went and had dinner with Rona and Henry Trotter. I had rather hoped that Henry wouldn’t be there but he was. He was looking very seedy. Rona was looking lovely. Rona, with Dorothy Morse, is endeavouring to fly to Lagos and then take a cargo boat back to England. It will take a very long time.
After dinner we went to the local nightclub. Henry didn’t stay long so Rona and I made the band play some old-fashioned waltzes and we waltzed around on a floor practically to ourselves. She looked lovely and danced well. I flirted outrageously!
Wednesday, 11 September
It is now 9.30 in the evening and we are listening to the news from London. The air raids there sound alarming. Buckingham Palace has been hit, a well-known museum, churches, buildings in the city – and a bomb fell close to St Paul’s but no damage was actually done to the cathedral. The West End has also had its share. I only hope that No. 5 Lowndes Court is intact. Mother, I suppose, is working in London still, which is terribly worrying.
Churchill spoke on the wireless. Owing to the accumulation of boats down the coast from Norway to Spain, he anticipated an attack on the British Isles in the near future, and before the weather breaks. I wish I could be at home and help.
The news also had an account of the air raid on Tel Aviv. It pointed out that the Rome Radio had reported that Jaffa, which is entirely Arab and actually joining up with Tel Aviv, had been bombed. By so doing Mussolini openly breaks his promise that he would not wage war on the Arabs, whom he reckoned would turn against the British. Likewise this statement is an absolute contradiction of what he said in the pamphlets dropped over Jaffa. This has done more to cement the ties between the English and the Arabs, and even the Arabs and the Jews. The Jewish mayor of Tel Aviv has received condolences from many prominent Arab leaders and, even more, Arabs actually attended the funerals of the Jews killed in the raid which is absolutely unheard of.
One wonders where it will all end! It is also reported that the Italian armistice commission sitting in Syria has demanded the complete disarmament of all French forces there and control of all French air bases there. If they get these, Palestine is in for a bad time.
We had an air-raid warning early this morning but we saw no planes. We are getting some police reinforcements to help guard this power station.
&
nbsp; No. 5 Lowndes Court was where the Christopherson family lived in London. His mother was working as a VAD nurse. The Blitz had begun on Saturday, 7 September, when the Luftwaffe deliberately targeted London for the first time.
Friday, 13 September
A good many nurses have arrived in Palestine and are stationed at Sarafand. After dinner in the mess they were discussing these nurses, who for the most part are advancing in years and very plain. Flash Kellett held the very definite view that they had no sexual desire, and he was backed up by the colonel, but John Walters, the doc, didn’t agree at all. He declared that just because they were nurses, plain and advancing in years, that didn’t exclude them from having sexual feelings towards the opposite sex. After dinner they all went to Sarafand cinema, where they saw that many subalterns, mostly in the RAMC or RASC, had a nurse on his arm, for the most part plain and matronly! However, this did not impress Flash and he still held to his point of view, about which they all argued throughout the cinema. As they drove up to their mess after the show, Flash had his argument completely shattered, and admitted utter defeat, because in the bushes outside the mess, they beheld by the light of the moon, a plain matronly nurse, with a soldier, proving beyond any doubt, that sexual desire and sexual pleasure come to all manner of nurses!
Today is Mummy’s birthday. I do so wonder where she is, and what she is doing now. I really am very worried because London has been raided both by day and night continually for the last few days, and I know that Mummy is doing work in London.
Fowler, who is in my troop, came and asked for my advice today. He has been married 3½ years, and has one child. He showed me a letter from his wife in which she wanted to leave him. It’s not a question of another man, but simply through the influence of her people, who consider that she could have done better for herself. I have promised to draft him a letter on the lines that now is hardly the time to think of oneself, and of busting up marriages, especially from the children’s point of view. A most difficult job.
I heard today that six more officers are on their way out to join this regiment, including Eric Jones. I shall certainly try to get him into C Squadron.
Sunday, 15 September
The papers and the wireless – in fact everybody – are all talking about the anticipated invasion of England. It is expected that preparations are going on all along the coast. If Germany does attack it’s highly probable they will make some kind of offensive out here. It is rumoured that great preparations are going on in Egypt. (A slight interruption: an enormous rat has just run across the floor. Stephen and I had a terrific chase, but we lost him in the end. The place is stiff with rats; one evening we propose to have an organized rat hunt.)
In the Palestine Post today, it announced that Palestinians could now join the RASC and the RAMC, and that infantry battalions are to be formed both of Jews and Arabs under the control of the Buffs. This is a very excellent idea. They are very keen to fight, and feel very strongly that they can defend their land just as well as Australians and English. I am writing this sitting out on the balcony, by the light of a most beautiful full moon. How romantic this place could be, especially with this moon, if one could have with one the most beautiful girl in the world.
Monday, 16 September
This afternoon 3rd Troop, C Squadron challenged the rest at cricket. We had a very good game, but lost by 12 runs. Being able to get this cricket in the afternoon makes all the difference. Donny came back and joined the squadron again in the morning. I understand that the colonel will be going back on the same boat as all the wives, and Flash Kellett will then become colonel. The batteries will be reorganized into three original squadrons, which will be a very good thing. Peter Laycock will become our squadron leader, and the others will be Jack Abdy, Tony Holden and Basil Ringrose.
Tuesday, 17 September
As all the wives are leaving the country in the very near future Flash Kellett decided to give a farewell dinner party at RHQ. He telephoned Donny and told him to buy the necessary food in Tel Aviv. Stephen and I tossed up to decide who should go with Donny to this party. I won and went with him. All RHQ officers were there as all the other batteries like ourselves are at different posts. The party consisted of about 20. I sat next to Micky Gold and Lawrence Biddle. I had very much hoped I could have got next to Rona, who was looking very attractive but rather too made up. Anyhow I spoke to her for quite a long time after dinner. She gave me rather an attractive little animal made of ivory. I am not quite certain what kind of animal it is meant to represent, and it looks very much as if it is going to have a baby, but I appreciate the gift all the same.
After dinner I had a long talk with the adjutant (Sydney Morse). He was a bit tight. He told me that if the Italians attacked Egypt, and the Egyptians, manning the coastal guns, failed in any way, we should be responsible for those guns. The fact that the King of Egypt is so pro-Italian is causing the higher command a certain amount of uneasiness. We are the only regiment out here in the east who could attempt to take over the guns, and of course we are not really capable. We do not place a great deal of confidence in the Egyptian coastal gunners.
In fact, the Italians had already attacked Egypt, although in a decidedly lacklustre fashion. Marshal Graziani, commander-in-chief of Italian forces in North Africa, had no wish to attack, fearing his forces, no matter how numerically superior to the British, were ill-equipped for a march into the largely waterless Western Desert. However, under extreme pressure from Mussolini, he reluctantly did as ordered. On 13 September, the Italian Tenth Army invaded through Sollum and the Helfaya Pass, the British falling back in a leisurely fashion and hitting Italian targets hard with their artillery as they did so. Three days later, the Italians reached the insignificant village of Sidi Barrani, then halted. And, for the time being, that was the limit of the Italian advance into Egypt.
Wednesday, 18 September
At the dinner last night Donny asked Flash Kellett and his wife, Peter Laycock and Anne Feversham (Halifax’s daughter) for lunch today. Of course he forgot all about the invitation. We, as usual, had our lunch at 12.30, eating up everything in the whole place, and they all arrived at 1.15 to find Donny naked on the veranda smoking a cigar! They all had to go off to Tel Aviv for their lunch! We all thought it a great joke!
Peter Laycock is an extraordinary person. He never greeted Stephen or me when he arrived here, and we haven’t seen him for many weeks. His behaviour towards Anne Feversham is quite laughable. He may admire her, but there is no reason for him to sniff round her the whole time like a dog on heat, especially when she has a husband in the country. But between the reader of this diary and myself, I believe she also has another amour in the country.
Thursday, 19 September
Today a letter came round from our new brigadier (Keith Dunn) to be shown to all officers to the effect that we are to be mechanized and that we should not be kept on this security job for any longer than possible. We hear on the wireless and from the papers that air raids still continue over London. Bombs seem to have been dropped all around Lowndes Square, which is so worrying.
In the afternoon Doc Brooks brought over a team from the other squadron to play us here at cricket. We had a very exciting match and lost by 12 runs. Bob Knight played for them, and Donny played for us.
I went over to dinner with Henry and Rona Trotter at Rehovot. They have been lent a very pleasant house belonging to Henry’s brother-in-law. For the present the colonel and Lady Yarborough are staying with them. The colonel wasn’t there as he was dining in mess. Rona was looking very attractive. They have definite news now that they leave the country on Sunday. They go through the Red Sea, down the east coast of Africa and Cape Town, where they can either stay, or catch a Union Castle boat to England. The wives of this regiment, or the illegitimate wives, who came out on their own, against orders, have to pay their own way home, and will be the first to go. They are making a great fuss about it all, but to my mind it’s quite right that they should pay as t
hey came out against all orders and have had a wonderful time out here.
The family have sent me out an excellent portrait of each of them for which I asked. Three new officers have arrived from England to join the Regiment. I have not seen them yet, as they have been sent down to Haifa to join the battery, which are on the guns at the moment.
Saturday, 21 September
This morning the colonel came round and said goodbye to us all here. His time is now up after being colonel for four years, and he leaves for England tomorrow. We shall miss the little man: he has bags and bags full of guts. He said a few words, we gave him three cheers, he wished the officers good luck and then went off. He appeared very sad at leaving us. As he got in the car, he turned and wished me good luck. He is a grand person.
Flash Kellett will now become colonel and Donny Player second-in-command. It will be very sad to lose Donny as squadron leader. I have just about served one year under him. He is one of the most energetic people I have ever met, handicapped badly by asthma (which has improved since we gave up the horses). He has great charm, even for the lowest, and in spite of his wealth, is a most simple and generous person. But with all that he is also a driver and something of a task-master (sometimes unreasonably so), but no squadron was ever any the worse for that. I am very sorry indeed that he is leaving us.
I am now writing this diary with the gramophone playing. I shall go round the guard fairly early, and then to bed. During this afternoon we had a warning. No planes came over but soon after we saw clouds of smoke rising into the sky in the direction of Haifa.
An Englishman at War Page 8
