After lunch I went for a walk with Henry, Myles Hildyard and Whiting. We went up into the hills behind Ben Shemen. The country was beautifully green, and it was a most perfect day. We took guns and got a couple of pigeon.
The climate of this country is simply grand. I had a cable from Jean. She has broken her ankle. Donny Player, Henry Trotter and I went to dinner in Tel Aviv. We spent too much money, drank too much and got back too late. But it was a change. The first time that I have had a party since getting back from Egypt.
Henry is adopting a most foolish attitude about our becoming gunners again. He has made up his mind, which is so childish, but the poor chap hasn’t got the brains of a child of 10, and you can’t really blame him for that.
Sunday, 26 January
All the batteries are concentrating at Sarafand. The detachment came in from Jaffa Ranges. I went over there during the morning, as they are attached to my battery, and I met rather a nice major, who has been out in this country for 17 years in the Civil Service. He was connected with intelligence on the Syrian frontier. He told me that never at any time had there been any real concern and sympathy to us by the French in Syria. And after Syria had agreed to the armistice our military mission under Salisbury Jones, who was directly responsible to Wavell, was given only two hours to get out of the country, and had complained to the French authorities that they had treated him and spoken to him as if he were an Italian!
There was a conference for battery commanders in the CO’s office at 11.30. He spoke very well and put the whole situation most clearly, pointing out that we had received a very good chit from the divisional commander when he came down here and that we had to do our very best in this new role. At the moment I shall be second-in-command to Z Battery with Michael Laycock as battery commander. We don’t know when we leave, but when we do there will be two batteries in Crete and four on the Libyan coast.
During the afternoon I went for a walk with Geoff Brooks, our doctor. In many respects I am looking forward to getting up nearer the front. I think we have been long enough in Palestine, and living too comfortably at Sarafand – and feeding too well.
Monday, 27 January
Today Lawrence Biddle was made an acting – unpaid – captain and became adjutant in place of Sydney Morse who now takes over a battery. Lawrence will make an excellent adjutant. He has an excellent clear-thinking brain. Gradually the Regiment is collecting at Sarafand.
Stephen Mitchell now becomes a battery commander and has been made a captain. I could not be more pleased. Actually, at the moment he is not quite behaving like a captain, as he is doing a solo dance to a Gilbert and Sullivan record, which I have got on the gramophone, dressed up in his pyjamas and an absurd hat, in slightly an intoxicated condition. It’s rather fun being together again. In this bungalow we have got Stephen, Doc Lawrence and self.
Mike Laycock came back and took over Z Battery; Thompson is the other officer. Actually, I was to be second-in-command to Sydney Morse but Mike Laycock asked for me to be changed. I would rather have liked to get back to C Battery. Henry is in command there, with Mike Gold as his second-in-command. My battery together with three others and RHQ are going to Tobruk, and the other two are going to Crete.
Nobody seems to know exactly when we will go. Tonight we sat down 13 to dinner, but I don’t think many noticed it. The colonel was the first to get up from the table. He is a terribly superstitious man but I don’t think he realized that we were 13.
Tuesday, 28 January
The colonel passed the cadre class off the square, and I gave them a practical Bren exam and a written exam. I have not collected all the papers yet.
Z battery includes Mike Laycock, as battery commander, Dan Ranfurly – who gives up being ADC to General Neame and returns in a month – Stuart Thompson and self. Flash, the colonel, told me the other day that I should be a captain in a month, but I don’t see it. I really should be pleased to get a captaincy. Everybody is making frantic arrangements for this move. Nobody seems to know exactly when we will go, though.
We are limited to 200lbs of luggage so a good deal of storing will have to be done. I understand that Z Battery will fire two-pounders to deal with swift-moving motor torpedo boats of which Italy has a great many. We are still pushing on all fronts. It is reported that many German troops are now in southern Italy. There has been a fall in German air activity over England.
Had an early dinner and then went to a Spot Lights Concert in Sarafand, with Myles Hildyard, Mike Riviere, Jack Whiting and Roger Nelthorpe. It was really a most excellent show.
Thursday, 30 January
Roger Nelthorpe, Derrick Warwick, Micky Gold and I, plus four batmen and two NCOs left Sarafand for Lydda station to proceed to Tobruk as an advance party for the Regiment. We are going there for coastal defence work and when we arrive we have to report to HMS Terror.
We had a fond farewell with Sydney Morse and Mike Riviere as they are going to Crete with their battery, and Heaven knows when we shall see them again. We had a five-hour wait at Kantara as there had been an accident on the line, and we had to change at Benha at 1.30 in the morning. It was a most tiring journey. There was an air raid at Ismailia the day before. From Alexandria, I understand we are going to proceed by sea along the north coast of Africa.
That the Sherwood Rangers should be split up was not so unusual at this stage of the war, even if it was never ideal to do so. Britain was still rebuilding and enlarging her army, but while the Regiment had been earmarked for mechanization they needed to be put to use until such time as there were enough tanks with which to equip them. In North Africa, the Italians were still being driven back, but the build-up of German troops in southern Romania pointed to an imminent invasion of northern Greece. Should Greece fall, the situation in the Middle East and the Mediterranean would once again prove threatening to Britain. On 6 January, Churchill told Wavell to release troops for Greece. Five days later, on 11 January, Hitler ordered German troops to North Africa too. German intervention in the Mediterranean looked sure to alter the landscape dramatically. The trouble was, while Wavell had enough troops to defeat the Italians, he did not have enough to be assured of victory against the Germans in Greece and North Africa.
In the meantime, the Western Desert Force, renamed XIII Corps on 1 January, was continuing to throw back the Italians. Tobruk was surrounded on 7 January, while in East Africa, British forces were also pushing back the Italians. On 20 January, Emperor Haile Selassie re-entered Abyssinia, in Italian hands since 1936, and four days later, British troops entered Italian Somaliland from Kenya. In Libya, Tobruk fell on 22 January with 25,000 troops, 208 guns and 87 tanks.
Tobruk was another important port, albeit a small one, on the Libyan coast. If the British were to drive the Italians out of Libya, they needed all the ports they could capture and, once captured, needed to protect them. After the best part of a year in Palestine training but otherwise doing little, it made sense that the Rangers should finally be put to use. With the Germans entering the fray, the British were going to need every man they could get their hands on.
Friday, 31 January
At about 6 o’clock we arrived at a station just outside Alexandria where we decided to get out, which was fortunate as the RTO had some instructions for us. We had to proceed to the Waifa Palace Hotel, Alexandria, and await orders, while the two corporals had to go to the transit camp. We were fortunate enough to find an Australian lorry, which gave us a lift to our hotel. We then had a bath, shave and breakfast but as I was in the middle of having a bath orders came through that we had to report to the docks at 10.30, which made it all the hell of a rush. Just as we were leaving the hotel I ran into Bill May in great form. He has got the job of liaison officer. His regiment got rather a bad time.
At the docks we met the two NCOs and proceeded to board the Ulster Prince bound for Tobruk. There are about 600 on board. She only holds 400. Mostly AMPC and RAOC. I have got a cabin to myself. Should very much like to have had a couple
of nights in Alexandria. We have an escort of one destroyer. Exactly a year ago we arrived in Palestine, and today we leave Palestine also via the Mediterranean.
I wonder where we will be this time next year.
5
Gunners at Tobruk
Stephen Mitchell, Stanley with cine camera, and Scottie.
Saturday, 1 February 1941
WE ARRIVED AT Tobruk at 12.30. It really was most interesting. It actually fell about a week ago, and in the harbour itself there are about 14 or 15 sunken craft, including an Italian cruiser, the Georgia, and a seaplane. The town itself from the ship does not appear to have been badly damaged, but that remains to be seen. When we landed we heard that there had been two air raids during the last 24 hours but no damage done.
On arrival here we had instructions to report to the HMS Terror, a monitor for orders. We left the others on the quay, and Roger and I took a launch and set forth. We met a charming officer but he knew nothing about us, and both the captain and the gunnery officer were ashore, but he gave us some tea and told us to report to Navy House and Base Area, but we could get no help from either.
We all met again on the quayside, having been in different directions, but without success. Nobody knew a thing about us. We were just giving up when fortunately the captain of the Terror, plus the gunnery officer and two other officers, arrived on the quayside from a tour of inspection. We made ourselves known to him, and he told us all to come aboard with him, and send the luggage up to the observation post. Having done this, all of us, i.e., four officers, two NCOs and our batmen, spent the night on the town.
Her job at the moment is coastal defence with her 15-inch guns, until they get some shore batteries working. They bombarded Sollum, Bardia and Tobruk, and gained for themselves a fine reputation against enemy planes. They made us all most comfortable, and could not have been more hospitable, to both ourselves and the men. The doctor on board is a man called McDowall. His father was a science master at Winchester, and I was there with his two brothers.
I had a long talk with McDowall about Winchester, then went to bed in a most comfortable cabin, which I had entirely to myself, and slept like a log. They could not have been more kind to us, and we all admired the quiet and efficient way the whole ship ran. I should have loved to be in the navy. It’s a grand life with grand people.
Tobruk was a small port, even though it was a natural harbour. A long finger of headland extended east, protecting the port itself, which lay at the western end of a deep-water inlet a little over two miles long and, at its mouth, not quite a mile wide. Because it was so obviously a natural harbour, both the Greeks and later the Romans built fortresses there and it was also an important stop along the ancient coastal caravan route. When the Italians built a military post in 1911, it was little used, not much more than a village. In the following years, the Italians added a number of buildings, including offices, barracks and a hospital, as well as underground stores.
HMS Terror was a monitor – that is, a small gunship – built during the First World War, which had seen plenty of action in the Channel and off the Dutch coast. In fact, in October 1917, she was torpedoed and beached at Dunkirk, although later towed back to Portsmouth and repaired. At the outbreak of war in 1939, she was serving in Singapore, but was sent to join the Mediterranean Fleet.
Sunday, 2 February
We had a conference with the gunnery officer about our future. He is a captain in the Royal Marines called Hoare. He told us that the Terror had instructions to defend Tobruk with her 15-inch guns until shore batteries had come into force, but they had not got sufficient personnel for the observation post on shore. That was why they had sent for us, and it was our job to take over the OP.
We then explained to him that our gunnery experience consisted of a three-week course six months ago, and we did not remember much about it! But naturally we would do our very best. We were then taken round the whole ship, into the gun turrets, which were most impressive, and down into the shell rooms.
At 11 o’clock we came ashore after bidding farewell to the Terror, and thanking them for all their hospitality. We then arrived at the OP, which is behind the town and commands an excellent view out to sea, and took it over from one officer from the Terror. The place is in a dreadful mess: before they left, the Italians blew up a magazine. However, the OP still stands, and also some barrack rooms, which really is quite astounding. There are five 7½-foot guns, but their locks have gone. Still, we may be able to get them going. One has been blown completely out of the ground by the explosion. There are masses of shells and ammunition and also rifles, but mostly with their bolts gone.
The litter of clothing, boots and letters left behind by the Italians is quite amazing. We have set up our mess in a barrack room immediately below the OP, which strangely enough was not damaged by the explosion. We are most fortunate because in the next room we have a perfectly good stove. Our great difficulty is cooking utensils, and those will have to be obtained by scrounging.
Another problem is water. All water has to be brought up from the town, and the only transport up here belongs to the Yeoman signallers next door, who occupy the other half of this building. After lunch, Micky Gold and I went out on a scrounging party. Our friend the Yeoman signaller took us in his transport, which is an Italian lorry. He is a grand person, and was a tremendous help. We soon saw that the Australians had made a mess of the whole town. They had got in first and wrecked the place. However, we set out with the main object of getting some transport, either Italian or otherwise. We were not successful but there may be hope tomorrow. We managed to bring back:
2 × beds Italian
1 × chest of drawers
At 6 o’clock we had a stand to, communicated with the Terror, and had a practice shoot, which was quite successful.
After supper the wind got up and it turned very cold. Our barrack room is terribly draughty and the mosquitoes are frightful. Fortunately I brought a net with me but none of the others did. We were all very weary, and slept pretty well, in spite of the most absurd noises, which continued throughout the night.
Monday, 3 February
As a result of scrounging today we have the following:
1 × cook (Italian prisoner, named Miguel)
1 × cask of wine
6 × chairs from the cinema
4 more beds
various pots and pans
1 × fatigue party of Italian prisoners, who removed a dead donkey from the front door which was beginning to smell.
The Italian prison camp is practically next door; also the cemetery – they are burying almost throughout the day.
Micky Gold and Derrick Warwick went off during the afternoon with our friend the Yeoman signaller. Micky Gold is first class at scrounging. Roger and I were in the OP for most of the day. During the afternoon, the captain of the Terror walked up to see us, had a look round the OP and seemed quite satisfied. He had tea with us afterwards. His name is Hayne, and he is a most charming person. At 6 o’clock we had two practice shoots. We all went up on the OP for that, and when we saw the 15-inch guns on the Terror turning according to our directions, we all got a big kick and felt very important. Just to think that we only had to give a different bearing, angle of inclination, for the guns to start changing direction!
We sent a signal off to the Regiment to say that all was well and to tell them to bring mosquito nets. It is now about 9.30 p.m. There is a hell of a sand storm, and the room is absolutely filled with sand and mosquitoes! We had an air raid during the afternoon. We didn’t see much, but we heard that they were after an aerodrome opposite, and one of our Hurricanes brought down two planes. We saw the Hurricane: she came over and did her normal victory dive three times. I had a most interesting talk with an Australian who had been one of the first to enter this place.
Tuesday, 4 February
There was an air raid early this morning, about 5 o’clock, and lasted until 6. Quite a lot of bombs were dropped, also magnetic min
es in the harbour. Some fell quite close to us and we felt the blast.
Every kind of gun opened fire, including the AA, plus captured Italian Bredas, machine-guns, and even rifles, and all fire seemed to meet over our heads. The searchlights were also working. The Wiltshire Yeomanry are here now working the lights. We are gradually getting settled, and today we managed to scrounge the following:
1 × Italian solid-tyred captured truck
150 gallons of petrol!
4 × mosquito nets
10 × blankets, Italian
1 × ice chest
10 × chairs from the cinema
4 × iron bedsteads
4 × mattresses, Italian
In the afternoon Micky Gold and I went to see about the truck. We first had to get written leave from Area HQ. We saw the DAQMG, an Australian called Major Gibson. After a bad start, and much persuasion we got the necessary leave, and off we went to an ordnance section that had arrived about two miles outside Tobruk right next door to a large Italian dump. Most of the lorries (there were every kind there) had been rendered U/S, but then came the question of petrol. We were told by the ordnance section that there was a dump about a mile away, so off we went in our new lorry over the most incredibly rough ground to the dump, which was being looked after by an NCO and two men. They asked us how much we wanted, and at first we asked for a fill-up, i.e., 9 to 10 gallons. The NCO in charge told us that we had better take a 50-gallon drum. Make it two, we suggested; he agreed. We then asked him how much the dump contained and he replied, ‘Two million gallons of buried Italian petrol!’ We took three drums, i.e., 150 gallons. Not bad! We have heard a rumour that the main dump has not been found, and that it may have a home bomb underneath it! I hope it’s nowhere near the OP!
An Englishman at War Page 12
