An Englishman at War

by James Holland

  During the morning, usual routine, including one hour’s signalling. In the afternoon we had a swimming competition against the ack-ack next door. It was great fun and our fellows won most of the events. We had to take cover two or three times on account of air attacks.

  Jack Whiting and the doc came to dinner. Stephen fortunately got a parcel today from home filled with luxurious food so we had a most excellent dinner, consisting of pâté de foie gras, tinned fish, bully beef, tinned apricots and coffee. Peter Laycock and I unpacked Stephen’s parcel before he came in, hid the contents and food, for which we substituted stones. Old Stephen was furious when he undid his parcel and found the stones, and swore that he wouldn’t let anybody eat his new supplies. But we refused to give up the food until we had extracted a promise from him that we should have the best of it for dinner. After dinner we played frivolous games but great fun. Old Jack was in great form.

  Tuesday, 27 May

  The Bismarck, new German battleship, has been sunk by the Ark Royal and Prince of Wales, our new battleship. Fighting in Crete still goes on.

  Wednesday, 28 May

  Usual routine during the morning. In the afternoon I had a bathe at the point. I don’t think that it would be possible to improve the bathing here in any other part of the world. You can dive in off rocks into 30 feet of water, so clear and blue that you can see the silver sand glistening on the sea bottom, and very often fish swimming about, which we kill and eat by using Italian hand grenades.

  The one consolation of being in Tobruk: swimming in the sea.

  Thursday, 29 May

  Stephen and Mike Laycock were bathing down at the point today when suddenly the ack-ack opened fire and two shells, failing to explode in the air, fell into the water not many yards from where they were bathing and exploded. ‘They are on us,’ shouted Scottie, who was also there, and they all three dived into a hole in the rocks. All were quite naked except for tin hats. Stephen told us afterwards that he had never felt so undignified in all his life, hurling himself into a hole wearing only a tin hat and a pair of Italian Army boots, and running away from one of our own shells.

  News from Crete is not good: we are withdrawing east of Suvla Bay. That means that Notts Yeomanry in Crete must have spiked their guns and withdrawn in the hand-to-hand fighting. Very heavy casualties on both sides.

  On paper, Crete should never have fallen. There were only 8000 German paratroopers in the assault, while there were more than 40,000 defenders. The key was their successful capture of Maleme airfield in the west. Even so, German airborne troops, armed mostly with short-range submachine-guns, should have been successfully repelled at this key airfield, where the defenders were armed with much longer-range Brens and rifles. However, fearing a seaborne assault, Freyberg had been slow to divert troops to the mounting crisis at Maleme, and once German aircraft began landing on the island, the build-up of enemy troops was rapid – and decisive, despite the high casualties among the German paratroopers.

  The subsequent evacuation from the south of the island was also putting increasing strain on the overstretched Mediterranean Fleet. The triumphant victory at Cape Matapan must have seemed like a distant memory, as Cunningham struggled to support the besieged garrison at Tobruk, ensure convoys safely reached the equally besieged island fortress of Malta, and now carried out the second major evacuation in a month. Despite the fillip of the sinking of the Bismarck, it had been another tough 10 days for the British.

  Friday, 30 May

  Captain Palmer and his schooner came into harbour today. On his way up he shot down a Heinkel bomber. Peter Laycock went back to Alexandria with him. I have never seen anybody more pleased to leave the place and I don’t really blame him. He was due to leave the harbour at 7.15 in the evening but as the minesweeper got out of the boom the shelling started. The second shell landed 100 yards from our mess right in the corner of our little bay. Scottie and I were playing a game of chess outside. When we heard the whistle of the shell we moved like shit out of a shovel! C Battery immediately opened up with Tilly and Tolly. They make a hell of a noise. All this delayed Peter’s departure from the harbour because as soon as the shelling started the schooner put back again. I bet he had wind-up as we had a red warning and a German bomber flew across the harbour. He eventually left just as it was getting dark.

  Our mess has grown very small now that Peter Laycock and Mike Gold have gone and Henry Trotter from RHQ. It’s now almost a fortnight since the colonel told me that some gunners were standing at 24 hours’ notice to come and relieve us. According to the record we are keeping, we have now had 200 air raids during the last three months or so.

  Saturday, 31 May

  I am not feeling too hot today. The pains in my neck are most painful.

  Sunday, 1 June

  In the evening we had a very heavy dive-bombing and machine-gunning attack by low-flying German aircraft. Some of our gun pits were well sprayed with machine-gun bullets. We all stood behind the mess firing our rifles as fast as we could. One German plane flew over no more than 100 feet high. Hardly any damage was done at all and I gather we brought five planes down.

  We heard this morning that we were evacuating Crete and that up to the present 15,000 had been got away, but we admitted heavy casualties. We have heard no news about our other batteries, which are in Crete under Sydney Morse and Tony Holden. I expect that now we have left Crete and given the Hun an excellent air base he will make life even hotter for us here.

  It will be interesting to see his next move – possibly Cyprus? Or even an attempt at Malta, but more probably an attack into Palestine via Syria, where he continues to land troops.

  Stanley was not far off the mark with his figures for those who escaped Crete. In all, some 16,000 were successfully evacuated, although around 5000 had to be left behind. Some were picked up by submarine much later, others joined the Cretan resistance, and most were captured, along with around 12,000 who were captured during the battle. The Royal Navy suffered particularly, losing 1800 dead and nine ships, including three cruisers and Lord Louis Mountbatten’s destroyer, HMS Kelly.

  To lose nine ships in one operation was a bad blow, made worse by the damage caused to a further 17 vessels, three of which were battleships.

  Monday, 2 June

  About 7 o’clock in the evening we had one of the largest dive-bombing attacks and machine-gunning which I have seen. A good many bombs were dropped between here and HQ. Then about six bombers came and machine-gunned our area. Officers and men all have rifles now and blazed away at any low-flying aircraft. We took up our position behind the officers’ mess as usual, five officers, five batmen and Woods, the officers’ mess cook. I was actually standing in front of our mess behind the sand bags when suddenly four Heinkels flew over, no more than 100 feet high. These were followed by another, which had been hit by the Beauforts and had one wing completely shot away. I was so excited that I threw my tin hat in the air, let forth a series of victorious shouts, dashed out of the mess towards the guns because I felt absolutely certain that the plane had fallen near our guns. When I reached our BOP I found that the plane had crashed into the sea about 100 yards from the shore and furthermore two other planes had shared a similar fate, having been hit by the Beauforts and ended up in the sea.

  I suppose there must have been 20 or 30 planes escorted by fighters and, as far as I know, we suffered no casualties and no damage was done, so on the rubber we are well up. We found plenty of machine-gun bullets from the planes. One had actually hit our rangefinder but no damage. All the men are in terrific order and the colonel’s idea that all men should retaliate with their rifles during these air attacks (especially low-flying), instead of diving for shelter, has proved a great success.

  Donny Player is endeavouring to get us some Bren guns – he hopes to get about 12. That will make a great difference. The old Hotchkiss is somewhat cumbersome.

  The evacuation of Crete seems to be complete. So far we have had no word about B Battery and Y B
attery under Tony Holden and Sydney Morse, who were manning coastal guns in Crete. I only hope that they got away safely. I understand that the dive-bombing attacks by German aircraft of our men-of-war as they were evacuating our troops have been quite incredible. I am longing to see old Mike Parish again. Pray God they are all safe.

  Wednesday, 4 June

  The colonel had a letter from Mikey Gold who left here a few weeks ago by sea for a mechanical course at Sarafand. In Cairo he called on ME and even saw Wavell. Old Mikey would see anyone if he set his mind to it. Apparently all the mechanized squadrons of the 1st Cavalry Division have gone to Iraq. Heaven only knows when the division will all get together again.

  We still have heard no news from the batteries who were in Crete.

  Thursday, 5 June

  We have had a pamphlet sent us by the War Office on the ‘extermination of rats’. With it I had a letter from the colonel appointing me RRO (regimental ratting officer), result of which has been a great deal of leg-pulling.

  Two destroyers are coming into harbour tonight. We have great hopes that they may bring our reliefs.

  Friday, 6 June

  The colonel came down during the morning and told Stephen and myself the very distressing news that only 34 men from our two batteries in Crete had so far reached Egypt. Up to present no officers had appeared. It’s all most disturbing and we must hope for the best – and that if they did manage to get a ship it was not sunk by all these dive-bombers. We can only hope that they are alive, but it is a great blow to the Regiment if all these officers are lost, i.e., Tony Holden, a major, Sydney Morse, captain, Mike Parish, Mike Riviere and Myles Hildyard, let alone all the men.

  It’s almost a month now since the colonel told us that some gunners were waiting in Alexandria at 24 hours’ notice to come and relieve us. The lack of shipping is the trouble. The Wiltshire Yeomanry are in the same position. It seems more unlikely than ever that the 1st Cavalry Division will ever re-form again into an armoured division. They seem to be all over the place.

  Saturday, 7 June

  Today I met a most remarkable man. I came out of our BOP during the morning and I saw Brown from Navy House walking about with an army officer, and also with what appeared to be an Italian admiral! I went over to them and Brown introduced me to Admiral Cowan. He has joined up again this war as a commander and is attached to the Naval Commandos force under Bob Laycock at Mersa. He is 73 years old and was an admiral in the last war and fought in the Boer War with old Joe Laycock (Mike’s father). He is also secretary of the Warwickshire Hunt. He and the other officer (Life Guards, I think) came up from Mersa on the tanker that arrived today to man the AA guns on board and also to have a look round here. It really is a most amazing effort. I had a long talk with him and found him most charming. He particularly wanted to see Mike Laycock as he knew his father so well. I found Mike doing some signalling in his BOP and told him that an admiral wanted to see him. He told me to ‘— off’ as he was busy. However, with difficulty I managed to persuade him that an admiral did wish to see him and he came out and had a long talk with Cowan. He asked me whether I was related to the famous cricket family.

  Mike and I went to dinner at Navy House and had a most enjoyable and interesting time. I sat next to Commander Perry and Lieutenant Brown. Perry is a grand person and is a survivor off the Southampton. We had a very excellent dinner, including some melon, which had been sent up from Alexandria. They also gave us far too many cocktails, which they made out of Italian brandy and gin: most intoxicating. We found Admiral Cowan staying at Navy House. He told us all about his experience on the gunboat Gnat.

  Navy House, which looks over the harbour, was never finished by the Italians but all the same it’s quite an imposing building despite the end wing having been knocked down by two direct hits by German bombers. The damaged wing presents an extraordinary sight from the rather imposing corridors on the first floor.

  After dinner we went out on the balcony overlooking the harbour. The almost full moon made it as light as day, and lit up the numerous wrecks. This place is certainly a veritable grave for shipping, both Italian and English. Immediately below us alongside the quayside we could see the pathetic burned-out remains of one of our merchant ships. On the other side of the harbour, also burned out and beached, one Italian liner and merchant ship, and further up the harbour still the outline of an Italian cruiser.

  It’s all very inspiring and I only wish that I had the literary ability to describe it all. Mike and I left Navy House, both rather tight – and I had a headache!

  Admiral Sir Walter ‘Titch’ Cowan was every bit as extraordinary as Stanley makes out, having first gone to sea as a midshipman in 1886. Before the century had ended he was commanding his own gunboat and serving on the cruiser HMS Barrosa. He also took part in the Battle of Omdurman and later commanded the Nile gunboat flotilla during the Fashoda Incident. Steadily climbing the ranks, he commanded the battleship HMS Princess Royal at the Battle of Jutland. After the First World War he went on to command HMS Hood, and later was naval ADC to King George V. Although retired before the war, he rejoined the navy with the lower rank of commander and became one of Bob Laycock’s Commandos. Although Layforce, as it was called, was disbanded, he remained in the Middle East and fought at Bir Hacheim during the Gazala battles and was eventually captured while singlehandedly manning a tank and armed with only a revolver. In 1943, he was lucky enough to be repatriated, so rejoined the Commandos and fought with them in Italy, winning a bar to an earlier DSO. Britain can have had few more tenacious and enduring warriors.

  Sunday, 8 June

  Eight bombs fell in our camp area. One of our tents plus all the kit inside was completely destroyed. Most fortunately all the occupants of the tent were out at the time.

  I heard today that we had marched into Syria where the Germans have been infiltrating. They have already occupied the main aerodrome at Damascus, Aleppo, and it is reported that German tank personnel have arrived disguised as tourists to take over the French tanks.

  Alderson, one of the occupants of the demolished tent, happened to have gone to a Catholic service in the town. When he returned and saw his pullover riddled with holes on the ground, he said, ‘Is that my bloody pullover? This is far too personal for my liking.’ We still have no fresh news about our lost men in Crete.

  The Middle East command was vast and Wavell had an enormous task on his hands trying to firefight all the various crises that seemed to be arising across this massive territory. By the end of May, the Axis-backed revolt in Iraq had been quelled but had required the diversion of more troops: on 31 May, British forces entered Baghdad, and on 3 June, a new Iraqi government was formed. Then, on 8 June, Wavell launched Operation EXPLORER, an invasion of Vichy-controlled Syria and Lebanon from Palestine, using both British and Free French forces. By 9 June, they had advanced 90 miles and taken the key city of Tyre.

  Wednesday, 11 June

  About 20 planes came over in the early morning and attacked the inner perimeter. The only damage they did was to kill 12 donkeys.

  In other parts of the world we have advanced to within 15 miles of Damascus. Opposition in Syria has been patchy.

  There is talk of our Imperial War Cabinet. It will be interesting to see whether WC will last as PM for the duration.

  I understand two destroyers and five other ships are due in tonight. Let’s hope there may be signs of our relief.

  Still no news of our losses in Crete as regards the Regiment. I think the colonel should warn the men that we have heard nothing, especially those who have brothers and great friends in the lost batteries. He argues that one shouldn’t worry them until we know the worst.

  Friday, 13 June

  Spent the night in our BOP, which was disturbed from 1 o’clock onwards owing to enemy aircraft overhead. During the morning we had a couple of high-level bombing attacks, one on the harbour and the other on the heavy AA. One Bren gun post next door to the heavy AA got a direct hit. I have not hea
rd the casualties yet.

  Lieutenant Commander Giles, the mine expert from Navy House, came round this evening and brought Mike Laycock a tin of naval tobacco, which he asked us to give him. Jokingly he told us to tell Mike that the tobacco had been dropped during the last raid. We took him at his word and played a most amusing joke on old Mike.

  We took all the paper off the tin and dropped it in the sand. When Mike came back we told him that Navy House had rung us through with information that booby traps had been dropped during the last raid in the form of tins, and that we had found one just outside the mess. Would he make a report on it to Giles at Navy House?

  Mike got very thrilled about this, rushed to examine the tin, which was just exposed above the sand, approached it most gingerly and then ordered all the area to be cleared. Donny Player and Lawrence Biddle appeared on the scene and we managed to let them into the joke and we all played up.

  Mike then decided he would shoot at it and try to explode it in that way. He fetched his tin hat and rifle and took cover behind some sand bags, ordered all of us to do the same, which we did, having the greatest difficulty in controlling our mirth. He fired five shots, missed with three and scored two hits. Nothing happened, of course, so we all got up and stalked the wretched tin of tobacco, and found bits of tobacco sticking out of the tin, which certainly rather resembled an explosive substance. Mike was most intrigued and fired another two shots, this time practically bursting the tin and loosening all the tobacco. Scottie then went forward with a great show of bravery and gingerly lifted up the tin, bringing it back with him.