The Eighth Army was formed from the Western Desert Force in September 1941 and was initially made up of the 7th Armoured Division and 4th Indian Infantry Division and was expanded to comprise 7th British Divisions and 4 Commonwealth Divisions and a number of independent brigades. They saw action in North Africa and Italy.
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Sgt George William Cotter 54th Rgt Royal Signals
I am researching my late fathers time in the Royal Signals from May 1942 to March 1947. 54th Regiment. I have photos of him in Egypt I have no other info other than that. If anyone has any information regarding this time or can point me in any direction to find out more it would be much appreciated. Many thanks in anticipation.
Joseph Lawson 37th Reserve MT Royal Army Service Corps
My name is Joseph Lawson. I enlisted in 1940, although I wanted to join RAF, when I told the recruiting Officer I could drive, there was only one place for me: as a driver with the RASC. After basic training, I joined the 37th Reserve MT and was sent off to North Africa to join the Middle Eastern Expeditionary Force, later to be known as the 8th Army. During my time in the Desert, I was attached to many different Regiments and Divisions: 4th Indians, New Zealand, British 10 Corps. After El Alamein, I then joined up with 1st Army for the Italian campaign, landing at Salerno, near Naples. And in Italy I stayed until 1945, eventually being de-mobbed in 1946, six years after saying goodbye to my family and friends. I am proud to say that I was a D Day Dodger!
It would make me very happy to make contact with anyone who also got their "knees brown" and possibly swap some stories of leave in the Cairo souks, Alex, or Rome. In Winston's words: "Hello My Dear Desert Rat"
I am trying to trace anyone who may have have known my great uncle Gordon Rout. He served in the RASC in East Africa and then in Italy. He was attached to the Eighth Army.
I have recently discovered a diary he appears to written after the war in which he recounts his experiences from setting off up the Clyde in May 1942, to arriving in Egypt 9 weeks later.
I would be interested to hear from anyone who has information about him as all I have are his diary, some photos and his medals which although give a good picture of the war and his experiences, I would like to know more about what he was like as a person.
My Father, Robert Heaton, was in the RASC and served with the BEF in Europe and later with the Eighth Army in the Middle East (and I think in Italy) after the war he was with BAOR in Germany. I think he may have transferred regiments, as his service medals are in a box which has RA (presumably Royal Artillery) on the back.
When he was first in the Army he had the prefix T before his number, by the time of his discharge the prefix was S. I think that he was a driver at first but later was a despatch rider.
He has the France and Germany Star, 1939-1945 Star, Italy Star, Defence Medal and an oak leaf on a ribbon with a narrow red stripe in the centre with a narrow white stripe, then a blue, then a red on either side. I don't know if there should be a medal to go with that.
I have a birthday card which he sent me with T 50124 Dvr R Heaton, H Q 5th Div, BEF on the back. I know that he was at Dunkirk and that he was home more than once on embarkation leave (he seemed to get sent back to Fulwood Barracks Preston before embarkation).
Quite often I was allowed to sew new insignia on his uniform and I was very proud whenever he added a stripe, he also let me clean his buttons - as I was very young I wonder now if he got into trouble for things not done correctly but I know that he would think it worth it for the love that went into those tasks.
I would love to know his full record, particularly why he was mentioned in despatches (he always said that it was for getting the General's beer through, but didn't say which General although I know that Monty was his great hero)
NOTE: The medal ribbon described is for the War Medal and there should be a medal to accompany it, it is a circular medal with the kings head on the front and a lion and the date 1939-1945 on the reverse.
Cpl. Kenneth Aubrey "Scottie" Wilkins Royal Signals
I am trying to put together my late fathers war history as like many others it was kept within. He was Cpl Kenneth Wilkins, known as Scottie. He enlisted in 1939 at the Barracks of the South Wales Borderers in Brecon, in 1942 he was moved to the Royal Corps of Signals and posted to the 8th army. He was in Egypt for 7 months then North Africa for 5 months until posted to Sicily and Italy, seeing service at Cassino with No 1 A.S.S.U. He was demobed at Villach in Austria in 1945. I do have a photo showing my father with two comrades possibly taken in Italy. I would like to know if any comrades might have memories they can share?
Ted Horton was my Grandfather, he passed away when I was 18 months old so I didn't have the pleasure of getting to know him. My Grandmother passed away 19 years ago and my father 4 years ago. Neither of them talked much about my Grandfather or his service in the British Army. I would be interested to learn all I can about his service in World War 2. Where it took him too, from where he commenced his basic training and what life would have been like for him and his regiment. I would also love to know what kind of man he was and what his comrades thought of him if any records of this still exist today. Any information no matter how small it may seem would be very helpful to me.
My father Arthur Snaith was with the Royal Signals, and I am trying to find out more about his army service but the MOD need his army number which I don't have. I know he was called up in 1941 and fought as a dispatch rider in Egypt with the 8th Army. He was injured and was moved to Syria, where I'm told he got to ride horses. He was demobbed in 1946 and I'm afraid that's all I know. He died in 1983 but I never found out how he was injured. I do know he gained 3 medals and if anyone can identify serving with him or know his service number, I would be most grateful.
My Dad, Joseph James Marston was in the Desert Rats, he often spoke about he frinds that were killed. He told us about when he was shot and showed us the scars. He also was lucky to drive Monty around, we did have some photos but they have been lost, does anyone have a copy?
Looking for any information on John Keningale (or Jack as he was known). My grandfather served in the 8th Army, Royal Artillery as a Gunner, although I'm finding it hard to come up with any info on his particular outfit due to conflicting information on his discharge papers. On one set of documents he is listed as belonging to the 28/2 HAA RA and on another he is docmented as belonging to the 16/2 RA. I know he served in Africa and I believe he was also in Italy, as that's where he met my grandmother. If anyone has any stories about him or knew him personally, I love to hear about them.
My Granddad Alfred Naylor was a Dessert Rat but that is all my mum or auntie can tell me. Both my Granddad and Grandma are dead so I cannot ask them, I'm trying to find out which regiment he served with as I am trying to do my family tree.
Editors Note: Do you have any photos of him in uniform or any documents giving his service number? If their marriage was during the war, his regiment might be listed on the certificate.
I am trying to find out anything about my father Walter John Cope who I know nothing about. I do not even know what he looked like. I would like any information. The little I do know is he was a Desert Rat. I believe he was wounded and only had a few years to live after the war. I am sixty two years old and would like to know what my dad looked like before I die. Thanking you
Reginald King , served in Africa , Italy and Dunkerqe and was involved in MT / Dispatch riding /Mechanics. He died when I was young (1982).
He originated from Shropshire, but moved to British Steel in Scunthorpe after he left the service.
Would appreciate any photographs if anyone has groupshots with named servicemen etc.
I am looking for information about my father, Ian Menzies Todd, who served during WWII in the 5th Battalion Black Watch of the 51st Division in Montgomery's 8th Army. Could anyone help me or give me a lead? I would be very grateful.
Dvr. William Millar Bennett 52 Lowland Division Royal Army Service Corps
My Granddad, William Bennett was a Driver on trucks in the RASC. He joined the 52 Lowland Divisional RASC (TA) in September 1939 at the Yorkhill Parade Ground in Glasgow He was in North Africa for most of his time in the Army. He says he was part of the 8th Army. He was a truck driver who also boxed a bit but was not overly good. He was in Cairo, Tobruk and a few places in between.
His truck was hit by a bomb and he was badly injured. He says he only survived due to a couple of Irish guys from Dublin pulling him out of the wreckage. Danny O'Sullivan, Dave O'Gorman and Danny Kelly are the guys he has mentioned. He would love to hear from them or anybody who knew them. He wished he could have seen them since the war. He was medically discharged in 1943 after going through a number of hospitals. He and I would be very grateful if anybody could help us with information or photos of his unit or friends or get in touch if they knew him
My grandad, Fred Abbott, served in the 8th Army during the Second World War. He didn't go into too much detail as I was only young but he would tell us about cooking food on the side of the tank, a small dog he had and having to shoot it when going back after leave. He also told us of the guns jamming in the desert.
One thing he did do was to save a fellow soldier and getting shot in doing so,lost half his finger and having shrapnel in his hand. He was mentioned in Dispatches and the London Gazette.
Grandad gave me his beret, water bottle, webbing, gaiters, German medals, a German bayonet, photos,post cards,personal massage from commander L.O.Lyne's soldiers pay book. I've got grandad's medals handed down to me from my dad. I've made a presentation box/case which both my kids have taken to school for show 'n tell. I remember going to the War Memorial in Shaw with him wearing his pin of miniature medals and feeling very proud of my grandad as I still do even though he is no longer with us
When my dad died we buried the miniatures with dad some thing of his own fathers to be with him. Let us all remember.
A/Maj. Ralph Kent Green 517 Petrol Coy. Royal Army Service Corps
My uncle Ralph Kent Green, volunteered on September 12, 1939 and 3 weeks later was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant, probably because he had taken OTC at school.
He joined the BEF, 48th Division, No. 517 Petrol Coy. in France on 5 January 1940, and was later rescued from Dunkirk. He seems to have moved around a bit during his war service. He was posted as the RASC officer to first the 73rd Independent Infantry Brigade (29-3-1941 to 28-4-1943), then with the Commander RASC staff/1st Airborne Division at Bulford.
Ralph Kent Green my uncle is back row, 5th from the left taken by a photographer from Cornwall possibly just after the return from Dunkirk.
On 12-5-1943 he went to N. Africa, which was the staging area for troops going to Italy. We think he may have been assigned to the 8th Army as part of Operation Baytown. On his return 3-10-1943, he was posted to Airborne Supply Training Wing of the 6th Airborne, which was later re-designated at the Air Training Centre in Lemsford, where he was the Chief Instructor.
After parachute training in July 1944, Kent was assigned on temporary duty to SEAC/India in Leicester, and then about 4-4-1945 again with Commander RASC in Kensington. The words "Syrencote House, Bulford, Salisbury, Wilt," are scribbled on his record, so he may have spent time there as well.
On 10-3-1945 he went by plane to Brussels, Belgium, which was the tactical headquarters for the 6th Airborne for Operation Varsity and Rhine Crossing. After that he returned to the 6th Airborne.
What I remember best about him were my grandmother's stories that had nothing to do with his war service. Apparently he had a trick gullet and could down a beer by simply pouring it directly into his stomach! It seems that gave him a considerable advantage in beer drinking races held along local beaches. At some point Kent contracted TB, and was in hospital after the war and he died in 1977. I would love to hear from anyone who knew him or served in any of the same units.
Our grandad Frank Esdale served with Monty in Italy driving a tank as far as we know. We know that he had a Polish friend who served with him. This gentleman took photos and also painted. The Corps also had a football team which Frank played for. We think that he may have got into some sort of trouble with his CO and was reduced to the ranks. Any info about this would be great as it is a mystery and we would like to get to the bottom of it.
My grandad, Sidney Chandler was in the 8th army desert rats, my dad says that he was at Dunkirk and in Africa. I would be so grateful if I could find out were he went, as he wouldn't speak much about the war. I want to be able to tell my boy what his great grandad did during the war and why we owe the service men and women so much.
My Grandad, Leonard Howlett was with the RAF mobile ground radar unit seconded to the 8th army. I have some of his photos from his time in Italy and Egypt of many chaps that he was with as well as some graves of his friends. I would love to know who some of them are. Is there anyone out there who has a relative who was also with this RAF unit?
I am trying to find out any information and looking for any photos of my Dad, Donald McColl. I know he was in the desert at the beginning of war where he was riding motorbike as I've seen a picture. He could have been in Syria or Libya also. We grew up apart and he died 1990. I would be really grateful for any info or a picture would be fantastic.
Bombardier Robert Comfort Edwards 57th Field Regiment Royal Artillery
This is my Father's account of World War II.
Bombardier Robert Comfort "Robbie" Edwards 57th Field Regiment 898397 Signaller.
My father was born in Robertson Road, Preston, Brighton, Sussex, he attended the TA from a teenager. TA1938. : In 1938 he was drafted into the Army from Brighton and mobilised in September 1939, from Willingdon Observation Post, Motella Towers Hastings - Sittingbourne. From March 1940 his service was in France with the BEF, then Battle of the Escaut withdrew from BEF for final evacuation from Dunkirk in April. They were walking along the many roads to Dunkirk when a plane flew at them they thought it was German so they all jumped in a stagnant ditch, but it was an Allied plane, they stank all the way to Dunkirk and eventually to Blighty. Dad remembers he was on a little boat with one funnel.
In May 1942 sailed with 44 Division under Lieut. Colonel R E Green, arrived in Egypt on 23rd July 1942. They had 251lbs pounders artillery guns. When they came across Arabs sitting on their camels making their wives walk along by their sides they took off the Arabs and put the women on the camels! They also sold them used teabags! Desert warfare training at Khatatba. 57th Field Regiment ordered to reconnoitre Gun Areas near Delta Barrage. In August 1942 44th Division ordered to take up defensive positions at Bare Ridge, Battle of Dier el Munassib, Oct 1942 El Alamein. They were in convoy in Egypt, the West coast of Africa at Freetown Cape Town for 3 days. In army vehicles up to Suez Canal to Cairo and then in to the Desert (he was a Desert Rat) to stop Rommel getting into Cairo then Monty arrived in the heat of the desert.
440 Field Battery RA of 57th Field Regiment was temporarily attached to the 50th division. 57th Field Regiment RA became an Army Field Regiment RA. Battles: Dec 1942 Suerra, South of Mersa Berga under 51st (Highland Division) Jan 1943 Sonda, advance to Tripoli under 7th Armoured Division. Mar 1943, mobile operation 22nd Armoured Brigade and 8th Armoured Brigade Regiment then joined 51st (Highland) Division for the Battle of Medenine. Later in Mar 1943 the 57th Army Field Regiment Battle of Mareth under command of 50th Division, 4th Light Armoured Brigade, 201 Guards Brigade and 51st (Highland) Division. April 1943 Battle of Wadi Akarit under 51st (Highland) Division then regiment proceeded to parts of the Front near Enfidalville under command 5 AGRA in support of 4th Indian Division, 2nd New Zealand Division, 56th London Division, 4th Armoured Brigade and the fighting French Brigade.
In May 1943 Hostilities in North Africa the Regiment returned to Tripoli for refitting under 10 Corps. They travelled along the North African Coast to Birzata. Where Dad went on a Driver Operator course in a tank, he said the clutch was too long! 440 Battery would not return to 57th Army Field Regiment and 160 Independent Battery, formerly part of the 174th regiment joined 57th Army Field Regiment.In June 1943 Regiment was informed that it was to be considered in Eight Army Reserve. On the 23rd of July 1943, 57th Army Field Regiment arrived in Sicily, after a few days under 1st Canadian Division fought throughout the Sicilian Campaign with 78th Division in Battles of Catenauova, Cenutripe, Adrana and Bronte.
In September 1943, 57th Army Field Regiment Fire Plan to support landing at Reggio, Italy, and 226 Battery of 57th Army Field Regiment occupied positions on the Sea Front at Messina and fired AP Shells with tracer to guide British Landing Craft to the Italian Coast.
He recalls that In 1944 my Uncle Jonathan Edwards (his brother) picked him up from the Regiment and took him to Naples where Vesuvio was erupting, the ash was everywhere.
He recalls that many of his best friends perished, one was near him and a bomb just blew him to pieces in a second. The noise from the shells and bombs was very deafening. Most nights were lit up with gun fire.
Dad was 92 in February 2011. He now says it was a complete waste of time fighting this war because what he fought for has now diminished.
I am trying to trace my Dad's military life during the war. I know that he served in North Africa and was wounded there. I think he was sent back to the UK for treatment and met my Mum. He also served in Italy and I recollect a long lost photo that was taken in Yugoslavia. I think he was in either a tank unit or artillery, with the 8th Army. His name was Willian Arthur Brookes and he hailed from Bolton, Lancashire.
RSM. Reginald Charles "Mac" McDonnell Rifle Brigade
My father, Reginald McDonnell, told me of his time with the Desert Rats in North Africa and of his capture at Tobruk. He was in the Rifle Brigade. He said he was promoted in the field to RSM because all those above that rank had been killed.
After his capture he and 4 colleagues were transferred to Northern Italy where it was freezing cold and they were still wearing their desert gear.
He escaped with his colleagues by killing their guard using his thumbs in the side of the temple. They then swam over a mile down a sewage infested canal and walked the length of the border with Greece and back only to get through near where they had started from. The only casualty among them was the only married chap, he was killed.
When my father was repatriated he was full of Beri-beri and dysentry and suffering from what would now be called Post Traumatic Stress. He was hospitalized but discovered that his fiance was marrying another man, a sailor much to his disgust. He dragged himself to the church and confronted them but it was too late. Her excuse was that his mother had recieved "the telegram" 3 times and refused to believe he was dead but on the 4th she thought he must have perished.
He went on to live another 43 years until he died on my birthday in 1988. For years I played with his medals but never fully understood the horrors he went through. This was the only time he opened up about his wartime experiences. I sincerely wish I had been less of a me me person in my youth but its too late now. God bless you Dad, and thanks.
Cpl. Ernest Richard Evans 2nd Btn. King's Royal Rifle Corps (d.20th Oct 1944 )
My brother Ernie Evans was with the 2nd KRRC, after being with the 8th army in the North African Desert came home in 1944 to prepare for D Day leaving for France in June 1944. It appears that during a battle at a place in Holland Tilberg my brother was wounded in the abdomen, he returned to base with his men then for some unknown reason was last seen heading back to where the battle took place. I assume to perhaps help a comrade whom he had left there. The next news we received his grave was in Leopoldberg cemetery Belgium. The mystery was if the action took place in Holland why was he buried in Belgium. On a visit to the cemetary I spoke to a man who with his father created the cemetery, he told me that during the war that area had a German field hospital and my brother was wounded in Tilberg and possiblly captured and brought down to the hospital for treatment. In the cemetary where my brother is buried, the grave just behind him is the grave of his friend Rfn Gavin. Could my brother gone back to the action to help him and been taken prisoner? That we will never know.
My Grandad, Albert Hardwick served in Africa and Italy during the war. All we know is that he was a driver in the Royal Artillery, as part of the Desert Rats, 13th HQ Corps.
Sgt. Ronald James McEvoy 2nd Btn. Grenadier Guards
In 1931 my father Ronald James McEvoy enrolled with the 2nd Battalion of the Grenadier Guards. In March 1936 his battalion was stationed at Mustapha Barracks, Alexandria, Egypt. As war was declared on Germany on the 31st August 1939, Ron had just finished his military service and had joined the Southampton Police Force, he put his uniform back on and headed for Wellington Barracks.
Ron’s battalion then became part of the British Expeditionary Force on the French, Belgium frontier. He was one of the lucky ones and evacuated from Dunkirk. During his time in England he had prisoner escort duties and guard duties at Windsor Castle, Buckingham Palace; he was also escort for the keys to the Tower of London. On the 9th May 1942 he married Eileen Hendry at St Boniface Catholic Church, Tooting.
Between the 9th and 18th of September 1943 Ron's battalion became part of the 8th Army and landed at Salerno Italy. Ron was captured by the German's in November 1943 and after two weeks in a cattle wagon he became incarcerated at Stalag 357 Thorn, Poland.
On the advance of the Russians the prison population was marched to Stalag XI-B in Fallingbostel, Germany. After liberation from there my father teamed up with a few friends and roamed through the German countryside living off the land. After about a week they met up with some allied troops and were flown back home. I have come across three aces "dated 18th April 1945" from a pack of cards, the ace of clubs is signed by someone called J W T Hurlley? of Green-Royd, Boston Road, Holbeach, Spalding, Lincolnshire. The ace of hearts is signed by a gentleman called Maxwell of 16 Green Walk, Greater, Manchester. The ace of spades belongs to Fred W Bernard, Box 226 Chathery, New Brunswick, Canada.
Ron was offered a commission in another regiment however Ron and Eileen wanted the freedom of life away from the army. On being demobbed Ron was sent on an engineering course based in Cambridge; however on finishing he joined as an Agent of the Prudential Assurance Co Ltd; he was based in Balham, London. One year later he joined the War Office Police Service, later to become the Ministry of Defence Police Service. He was able to retain his military rank of Sergeant and was based at the War Office, Whitehall, London. In 1955 Ron was transferred to The Government Research Establishment in Waltham Abbey, Essex seeing out his working life until retirement in 1976.
Sig. Stanley Arnold "Rass" Newham 12th Signals Coy. Royal Corps Signals
Stanley Arnold Newham was my father. He joined up in December 1939 at Nottingham and was assigned to N.Midland District Signals and disembarked in Egypt on the 1st of October 1941. He in the Middle East till 24th November 1943 with 30 Corps then Home till 6th June 1944. He married my Mother Nancy Elizabeth Carlile, on 4th April 1944. He then was in France 'till 12th June 1944. He came home (injured) 'till 9th September 1944 then back in France 'till 13 December 1945. He came home and discharged on 26th April 1946.
He was awarded he Africa Star with 8th Army Clasp, and 1939/45 Star of Italy, Star of France and Germany Star all of which have sadly been lost and no replacements are available any more. He was a Dispatch Rider throughout the war. He was not Discharged from Reserve Liability till 30 June 1959.
My Father Jack Langdon was a Desert Rat in the Army. He never told me anything about it but I do have a picture of him on a camel in Egypt just by the Sphinx and I know he was a driver. Sorry it's not much but would love to know more.
My Father, George Wells was in the Desert Rats, in the Tank Regiment. He got his nickname as he lost his right eye out there. He had seven operations to try and save it, but sadly it was not successful and he ended up having it removed and having a glass one. Much to our amusment he could take his eye out when we were young children. After he had recovered from this ordeal he was not sent to the front line again but taught other Troopers to drive Tanks. I too am afraid my Dad did not talk about the War either, my brothers may know more. The one thing he did tell us was, Richard Green, the Actor lived in his street when he was young in London, I am not sure if he was in Dad's Regiment as well.
My grandfather Joe Sheen, was in Desert Rats, 8th Armoured Division, Army Corps. He was a Lorry Driver he was in Cairo in April 1941 and was wounded in Cairo in 1943, he was sent to JoBurg in South Africa to the hospital and remained there until the end of the war. Does anyone remember him?
ASM. Alfred Henry George "Ali" Barber Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers
I am trying to do my family history, all we know about my Grandad Alfred Barber is that he served with REME in the Desert Rats, The 8th Army.
Though I do have a lovely photo of all of the Regiment in Cairo and he is in it and the other day clearning out my dad's garage and we came across his kit bag on it says - ASM Barber A 7638305, REME.
If you knew an Alfred (Ali) Barber, please contact me.
My Uncle Jim Evans was a Desert Rat in WW11. I believe he was with The Buffs. I found three diaries which I am offering to the Imperial War Museum shortly. They contain lots of everyday writing but he seems to be in transport as he speaks quite often of 'Dixie' which appears to have been his lorry. He mentions a man called Darkie and an officer called Blakeland. He spent a lot of time in Rome and he also used to like mending watches. Not a lot that I know but someone may remember him.
GSM. John Harold "The Duke" Brookes MID. Coldstream Guards
My Father, John Harold Brookes joined the Coldstream Guards aged 16 in 1935. He was posted out to North Africa and served in the Desert Rats. Dad was mentioned in dispatches for distinguished service in the Battle of Sidi Barrani, when he and an NCO stormed an Italian machine gun nest. The NCO was given a DSO despite, according to legend, being behind my Father during the advance. The dispatch was recorded in the London Gazette on September 13th 1940.
Later, post war, Dad joined the Palestine police serving until the 1947 handover to the Isrealis.
My Great Uncle, Matthew McAllister from Carrickfergus Co. Antrim served in the 8th Army and died at the Battle of El Alamein Africa. The last my family heard from him was a postcard form Leeds when he got married. My family never knew his wife's name, so when he died she was his next of kin. Therefore, details sent to my grandfather were slim. If anyone remembers him I would really appreciate any information.
My Grandad, Paddy Mooney was a Derset Rat and fought in WW2 against Rommel in North Africa. He was from Dublin, Ireland. Does anyone have any information about him?
Sadly my father, James Nelson died when I was young and did not talk about the war. I know he was in the Desert Rats until he got burnt when his tank was hit. He was then in the tanks on D-Day and was one of the first to hit the beaches. What regiment he was in I do not know and would love to find more about him and his experiencs. I have no pictures of him from the war time, but have not been through my mum's personal effects yet after she died a couple of years ago.
My father, Ted Hickmot, returned from the war and like so many veterans never talked about his experience. Sadly I was just 8 years old when he died and of course I was too young to understand that I should have found out more from him. My mother knew very little of what he experienced and it was only after she died that I found his campagn medals and was able to identify where he had experienced the war. I know he was in the Middle East since I have in the past recieved correspondance from families he visited from South Africa on route to Egypt. He was involved in actions in North Africa where we like to think Rommel gave up when my dad arrived on the scene, all eight and a half stone of him! He appears to have been in Scicily and returned home then to be involved in the invasion of Normandy. It was sometime in that theatre that he was Mentioned in Despatches, something I would like to learn more of but not sure where to start. I have photos of him in Belgium and Holland when he was in Arnhem.
My abiding memory is of his return from service and having watched a DC3 fly by and convinced that my father would be on it, who knows maybe he was.
My late father, Len Joynes, was in the Coldstream Guards when he was captured on 20th June 1942 at Tobruk. My information is that he was held prisoner of war at Campo 73 and escaped when the Italians surrendered in September 1943.
His army records show him being a prisoner of war up until April 1944 during which time I am pretty sure he spent with Italian partisans near to Pescara as I have some wonderful letters from an Italian family and fellow escapees. I am presently trying to make contact with this family as well as trying to piece together any information that would enable me to put together what must have been a most wonderful journey in life.
My Dad, Arthur Ernest Bates, served in the 5th RHA from 1940 to 1946 and went through North Africa, Italy, Normandy & Germany. He was born in Australia but returned to England when he was three years old.
He has many memories of what he went through and it is only in recent years that he has disclosed some of them to me. Amongst many other stories, he shook hands with King George, and also ‘spotted’ Rommel during his North Africa service.
My Dad, Jack Winter, was a tank driver in the 8th Army he served in the Middle East, Africa and Italy. I know he particularly mentioned Tobruk. My Mum still has photos of him. but I would like to know if anyone remembers him. He also served with the famous comedian Tommy Cooper. Dad was initially in the Kings Life Guards but I am not sure what they became when war broke out. If any one can help I'd love to hear from you.
My great grandfather was Fredrick George Gully, known as George. He was close friends with a Len from Birmingham. I have a picture of him and two of his friends one being Len. I also believe he was a mechanic, he was not on the frontline. He also was believed to have travelled to Synapore and India.
I met him many times when I was young but he died a couple of years ago. If anyone has any information regarding him, I would be very much grateful.
My Grandfather, Sydney Sole never liked to talk about the War much but we did get a few facts. He was a fly weight boxer in the army. He joined the Leicestershire Regiment on the 20th of June 1940 but was transferred to the Welch Regiment on the 7th of April. He served first in Egypt and Eritriea then went to invade Sicily and fought up Italy into Yugoslavia. I would love to have contact from anyone who knows more.
My great grandfather Thomas Walter Roe and his elder brother William were from an army family. Thomas Roe was stationed in India and was in the Italian campaign. William Roe was in 8th Army and was wounded in a hotel explosion. He retired later as Major General Sir William Roe. He died in the early 1970s. Last known adress was 149 Poverest Road Kent. Can anyone give any further information about William Roe?
The memories of Herbert W Denton, Sergeant 7th Armoured Division (Desert Rats), Compiled 2010, with additions from a recorded interview.
Called up
The war had started in 1939 and in 1940 I was called up. On receiving call-up papers I went to Tidworth Barracks in Wiltshire for Army Training, consisting of drill, rifle shooting and lectures. This was the Rifle Brigade 1st Battalion and where I remained for the whole of the war.
The Driving Test
Well, there was a strange driving test. A vehicle was driven in between two trees with one foot to spare that side and one foot to spare the other side. The driver being tested had to back out, round and then reverse into the same space “without hesitation”. The Chief Tester of Sunbeam Talbot was one of our fellows - he failed. I was the next one to go and I went off and round “as clean as a whistle” and I don’t think it was good driving it was just a fluke. I passed so I became a driver.
I did all right out of it because one of the officers in 8 Platoon had to go to Ashford in Kent. He asked for me to be the driver and I wasn’t even in his Platoon. I didn’t like him anyway so why should I be selected. Anyway, we went to Ashford and there was another car with another officer as well. The officers went into a hotel for lunch. We looked around Ashford for where we could have lunch and found nothing. So I said to the other chap “We’ll go in the hotel too”.
He said “We can’t go in there with the officers”.
I said “We’ve got to eat and Officers or no Officers I’m going in”.
Of course, he followed me. The officers looked across but I ordered the meal and, of course, I paid for it. If we hadn’t eaten then we would have had nothing all day.
I drove all sorts of funny things after that, including a 20 ton Lancia truck which was captured in the Western Dessert.
Off To Africa
When training was finished we drove up to Glasgow and boarded the “Strathaird” troopship. We sailed past Ireland, Greenland, down close to America, then back across the Atlantic to Freetown, Sierra Leone where the boat was refuelled. There we stopped a mile off shore and did not land there. Our escort of 1 Battleship, 2 Destroyers and 6 Corvettes left us at Freetown. After only one day we then sailed on the Capetown where we stayed for four days.
As far as the army was concerned when we went ashore everything was paid for. We were wined and dined by the South Africans in every place where we ate or drank. When we asked for the bill we were told “Oh, this is with the compliments of Mr. or Mrs Van Heuten or So-and-so over there, they have paid the bill”. It became quite embarrassing. I phoned Johannesburg to talk to my uncle, heard he was in Cape Town and coming home that day on the “Blue Train”. While on the phone I saw the train go out of the station. When my C.O. heard about that he said if he had known I could have gone up to see my uncle and joined the ship at Durban. That was the next port of call before we sailed to Port Tufic on the Suez Canal.
Into The Desert
From Port Tufic a train took us via Cairo to a spot somewhere out in the Egyptian Desert. We went to a camp there for a few days then we got our trucks and our desert journeys began.
A Dusabled Truck
We went via Tobruk to El Agheila where our first battle took place. We got as far as Marsa Brega but then we were bashed back to Alamein - not quite to Cairo, more Alexandria.
I went into Tobruk when my truck had virtually broken down. It was a six cylinder truck and it was only working on two cylinders. I must have been the last vehicle out of Tobruk. Germans were using very lights, green and red - it was the green ones I was watching because that’s the movement forward. I said to the Corporal who was with me “As long as we get beyond the El Adem road we’re safe”.
He said “Where’s the El Adem road”.
I said “about a mile further down from here”. So, we’re watching these very lights and we passed the El Adem road with the lights very close. We only just “made it”. So, I staggered on at eight miles an hour, flat out, and got right the way down to Bardia. From there we got a tow all the way back to Alamein.
We didn’t go along the coast road but through the desert. We had to get over “Hell-Fire Pass” as Halfaya Pass was known, dragged over that and then plain flat desert all the way back to Alamein, in all about a hundred miles. I’d had very little sleep for a couple of days and I nodded off and woke up just in time to slam on the brakes before hitting the truck in front.
A German Surprise
I had stopped late at night; it’s no good going on after dark because you can’t see what you are doing. Some tanks must have come in and Laagered during the night and I was on the edge of it but they were all facing the opposite direction to me. I was so tired I must have slept through all the noise of the tanks arriving. When I woke up I was surprised when I looked at the tank tracks and saw they had quite little wheels. Only the German tanks had little wheels on their tracks! In the distance they had discovered a South African Laager and when the battle started next morning as I was on the outside edge they never saw me. I nipped out and away. I got into the vehicle without my trousers, without my socks and drove like mad. I heard a bang and I thought they were firing at me but they weren’t, they were firing at the South Africans. After a time I stopped and put my trousers and my boots on again and we went on. We didn’t see much of the German Air Force once the RAF got cracking out there. They seemed to give up and go back to concentrate on Europe. As for the Italian Air Force I saw one Spitfire see off six Italian bombers at one go! We didn’t see much of them after that!
R.A.F. and German Tactics
The RAF were in, bomb, bang, and away! The Germans, you could watch them and you knew who was going to be the target. So, you just got out the way. If they had done the same that the RAF were doing we wouldn’t have stood a chance. At Alamein the RAF came over us to the Germans and whoosh, bang and within a matter of two or three minutes it was all over. The German Air Force came in and you can stand there watching them, to see where they were going, and if they turned there and came back you knew who was going to be the target. So, you merely just wandered away out of the way. Of course, the bombs dropped and when they left we just went back to where we were. You learned rapidly in the war!
El Alamein and Italians
When Gen. Montgomery took over we were sent down south for a rest but arrived in time to stop the Italians from outflanking the Alamein line. We remained in the south for a week or two and then we were brought up to the main front line. We were sitting right at the south of the front looking at a hill. One night I went forward to get some information from the forward troops. I misfired - there were one or two sitting in very deep slit trenches and I thought, “this is funny”. Our forward troops were not in slit trenches! I then heard somebody talking in Italian - I was only behind the Italian Lines. One popped his head out and looked at me – I put my first finger up vertically against my lips and he bobbed back out of sight. After that I just walked out. I didn’t run - I thought take it easy and hope for the best. Nobody challenged me. Of course, I got back to my lot, our lines and I was promptly challenged.
A gruff voice said “Who goes there?”
I said “friend”.
“Advance friend”
So, Friend advanced!
It was a bloke I knew. He looked at me and said “Where the bloody ‘ell have you been?”
I said “Unfortunately, in the Italian Lines”
He said “How the hell did you get out again?”
I said “Well, nobody challenged me so I gently walked out again until I got here!”
El Alamein and Germans
We were attacked at Alamein by Germans, 110 Tiger Tanks. They came at us in single file! We knocked out the leader and as the second one pulled out to pass him we knocked that one out too. We knocked out 96 of them and the other 14 retired! That was the last battle before Alamein and the breakout, and from then onwards I don’t think we lost anywhere.
Just before Alamein, the Sergeant Major’s arm was going black so I told him to go to the MO. “I’m alright” he said.
So I said “you’re a Bloody Fool if you don’t go”.
He said “Don’t call me a Bloody Fool I’m a Warrant Officer class 2”
I said “I don’t care if you’re a Warrant Officer Class 1 I’ll give you five minutes to go or I’m fetching the MO”.
I got down to one minute before he decided he had better go. I never saw him again but I had a letter from him. He apologised for all the harsh words he’d used and he said “You did right and if I had left it another day I’d have lost my arm”. When I applied for an NCO to take over from him I was told “There isn’t anybody available - you do it”. I was an ordinary Rifleman then so I promoted myself to Lance Corporal and it went through. Somebody had to be in control, so I ran the “A” Echelon as a Lance Corporal.
The Battle of El Alamein
The battle for Alamein started with Gen. Montgomery in charge. That was some battle - I was right in front of the guns and I’ve never heard such a racket in my life. There was one gun every twenty-five yards and they all opened up at the same time. After a short time the tanks went forward with us following. You did things that if you had thought about it you wouldn’t have ruddy well done it! At Alamein we had a tank get a direct hit about 20 yards away from us and it was going up in flames. I just went forward and helped them get out of this burning tank. That was all I did and afterwards I thought “What the hell were you doing sticking your neck out like that”! But, you just do it, you don’t think about it. It was a British made tank but it didn’t occur to me that I might get hurt. Lots of funny things got done. We had one Victoria Cross, Colonel Turner. I don’t know what it was all about, he was in the 2nd. Battalion not the 1st. I did know him but not what he did.
One fellow was walking around and he saw something on the floor, he kicked it and it blew up and he lost his foot. Two or three days afterwards I was sent to pick up some recruits. They came along and there was a fountain pen on the floor. One of them was about to pick it up and I said “Don’t touch it!” They looked at me startled so I picked up some stones and threw them at it. When I hit it, it blew up. I said “That’s why I said don’t touch it”. There were a lot of booby traps like that at the start. They soon gave that up because it didn’t take long to learn. I had heard about these fountain pens but I thought” If it is a fountain pen and I seem a bloody fool then there is nothing lost”. I explained to them if you see something on the ground do what I did, and if it doesn’t blow up, then you can pick it up.
Casualties
I knew the battle was on but I was always doing something else. We had lost all the officers and the Orderly Room Staff after one battle and because I was the only one with clerical experience I ended up running the Orderly Room. The first thing I was asked was who were casualties in the Rifle Brigade. I had no Idea of who was in the other platoons, numbers 5, 7, and 8; I only knew of mine No. 6. But I had to find out, so having found a phone that worked I phoned the Records Office in England. I said I wanted to know who was in the Rifle Brigade and they gave me all the names of who were in the whole of the Rifle Brigade. I wandered around to find out who we had left and the rest of them I posted as “missing, presumed captured”. I couldn’t think of anything else to say, and that was that! From then on as I was the only clerk in the office I became the Orderly Room Sergeant – I had very quick promotion. When we went forward we kept on going. Captured Benghazi on our way back across the desert.
The Lancia Truck
The funniest one was the captured Lancia twenty ton truck. You get into the cab, one two three, you pull a lever then get out of the cab, go round the front and you wind, wind, wind then you get back in the cab and pull a lever and if it doesn’t start you do it all over again! And that’s why the Italians were always getting caught in the Laager. Being an NCO I didn’t drive. “Who’s driving the Italian Wagon?”. Silence. “Well, Corporal Denton can drive he can drive the Wagon”. From then on I had that for a long time - went up and down the desert in it. It would go over anything.
One time I took it up the side of an escarpment. It was being used as a ration wagon. I had got everything unloaded and then there was “a flap on” and everybody vanished! So I picked up the remaining stuff and put it on board and moved off, to be chased by a little German scout car. I came upon an escarpment, changed gear from top down to lower boost without scraping the sides and went up the escarpment! The little fellow couldn’t get up there so we got away that time. I’d never been able to do that since - there were two gear levers and it went in as clean as a whistle. And I’ve never done it since.
Opposition to Deal With
We kept going out of Egypt into Libya where a small battle took place near Tobruk. After that we kept going till we got to Sousse where we were stopped. During the night the Gurkhas and Maoris went in and came back with 1 prisoner - they had killed all the rest.
Rommel
On one occasion I was out at the forward lines and went into an ambulance station we had just recaptured. At the other end of the camp I saw a German Staff Car occupied by an officer. It was Rommel – he stood up and saluted as he was driven off at high speed. I had no chance to catch up in my truck, and my rifle was stowed in the truck, so I missed a chance to get him.
Marksmanship
I was armed with a pencil and paper most of the time but I always had my rifle with me. As a “marksman” I could hit a bull’s-eye at 200 yards with all five bullets [in the magazine]. But, I never had to use my rifle during the battles. It seemed much harder gathering up all the required information than lying down firing at anybody. The rifle was always loaded, in case. I knew that if I had to use it, whatever the target was I’d hit it. We had a rifle competition in a quiet period when we were stationed at Tobruk and I won 10 Piastres, that was the prize. The target was one of these pop up things and I had five shots and hit it five times. One or two of the others hit it but not five times. I found it perfectly simple
Always Driving
Once I became an NCO you didn’t drive but we were running so short of drivers I was always driving. Just before we attacked Tripoli, we travelled at night, and the convoy stopped. I heard the convoy move off and we didn’t. I nipped out the truck, found my driver had gone to sleep, so I hoiked him out of the cab, got him in the back and I got in and started driving. Pitch black - couldn’t see a thing -just hoped I was going to catch the others up! It took me fifteen minutes before I caught them. All I could see was just a little light on the back of the vehicle in front, which was very very fortunate.
Tripoli; The Italians
That was just before the capture of Tripoli. When we captured Tripoli a boat came loaded with Italian soldiers, as they came off the boat we said “Right, just come this way”. I had a couple on my truck for a week and they were quite happy there. One of them who spoke English fairly well said the Italians didn’t want to fight the British. It was only the fact that Mussolini was with Hitler that meant the Italians were drawn into the war against us. We discovered as far as the Italians were concerned in the desert they were “easy meat”. It was quite obvious that they hadn’t any intention of doing any real fighting. The only time they did any of that was when the Germans were with them, when they hadn‘t much option.
Tripoli; The Germans
When we had just captured Tripoli I was walking around, turned a corner and came face to face with a complete Platoon of German Soldiers. They were armed to the teeth. The officer came up to me and saluted, so I gave him one back and he said they were surrendering. So I said “Carry on. Prisoners are being accepted round the corner”. I didn’t want anything to do with them. They marched off, presumably into captivity and I never saw them again. I had had enough of a shock coming face to face with a fully armed Platoon of soldiers. I could easily have ended up dead.
The capture of Tripoli was a “walk-in” which finished the Desert War, we were able to push on steadily until we reached Tunisia. Having got to Tunis we then met up with the American First Army.
A Royal Visit
Before we left Africa we were all on parade while the King made a visit, but he just drove past us at about 50 mph.
Salerno Landing
We sat in the desert for some days before boarding boats and making the landing in Italy. At Salerno there was no opposition on the beach whatsoever. We just landed and the Italian Ladies that met us were quite happy to see us. We kept on going until we got to Monte Casino. There was nothing for us to do there, we would leave it to those who were already there, so we came back to Naples. We stayed at Naples for two or three weeks where it was functioning as a normal town. While we were there the Colonel asked me if I liked opera and I replied that I did. I was a lance corporal. The Brigadier said “I am Charles”. How does a lance corporal call a Brigadier Charles? Right, be ready at 6, there is a good opera in town and the Opera House is functioning normally. I got in the Staff Car at the appointed time and off we went. There I was sitting with the Colonel. I don’t know why he picked on me but I enjoyed the evening and we went back after to the billets about 20 miles South of Naples. Anyway we had a very pleasant evening. Two days later we were on a boat on the way home.
England and “D” Day
Leave was granted and then we were billeted in tents on Wanstead Common.
“D” Day came and we were first to land in France. The Canadians on our left and the Americans on our right had terrible battles. For us it was just like Salerno with nothing to stop us at all as we went in with the first wave. The Sappers had cleared the beach in almost minutes and we just followed up, going two or three miles inland before the Colonel decided we were “getting a bit ahead of ourselves” so we went back a bit.
We then headed out of France into Belgium where we stopped at Liege for a few days refuelling, etc. There, the Air landing at Arnhem took place and the old Desert Rats went up to help out.
Dutch Hospitality
We came back down and were billeted with a Dutch couple, elderly, but insisted on us having a fruit flan. This was the biggest flan I have ever seen. The dish was round and at least two feet across. This flan was delicious and we, 6 of us, used up half of it so took the other half back to the old lady who said “No, it is all for you”. I had some cocoa sent in a parcel by a cousin in South Africa so I asked the old lady for some boiling water. She made the cocoa and used milk. I made sure the old couple had some as well. When we left I had a pint bottle of Rum. I used to bottle my rum ration. I gave this bottle to the old couple plus my cigarette rations when we left and they burst into tears.
Into Germany
The next day we crossed the Rhine over the most rickety bridge I have ever seen. The Brigadier looked at it and said to me “That looks as though someone is going to finish up in the Rhine”. He went first carefully and I followed also very carefully. It was a bit dodgy. As soon as the fighting part of the brigade was over we went flat out for Hamburg.
The German forces had left Hamburg an open city so there was no fighting. While sitting in the truck a woman came up to us and said “That car that has just gone out, that was Ribbentrop” so we set off after him. We chased him up one side of the Schleswig-Holstein peninsular and down the other and caught him back in Hamburg and handed him over to the Signallers while we went on our way east.
We got as far as Gluckstadt when the armistice was declared so we stopped there.
A “Friendly” Dog
At Gluckstadt there was a dog tethered on a chain as thick as my wrist. This dog stood about as high as a young Shetland Pony and it was terribly vicious. When I threw it a biscuit it first sniffed it but then picked it up and found it rather liked it. The next morning I went out and it half heartedly growled so I went a bit closer to it and threw a biscuit which it promptly picked up. Day three as I approached it the tail was wagging, no growl, I went right up to it and it took a biscuit nicely and I was stroking it just as the farmer came out. He “nearly did his nut”; he thought I would be “savaged”! I said “What him; Bruno’s an old Softy”. What was a vicious dog hadn’t taken me long to tame. This dog was used to pull a milk cart. I went out for a walk one day, fully armed I might add in case of accidents, turned a corner and what do I meet - dog pulling a milk cart. Dog saw me, dog follows me and I finish up doing a milk round. Everybody thought that was most humorous, a fully armed British Soldier doing a milk round. I hadn’t got any option, the dog wouldn’t leave me. It was one of the biggest dogs I’ve ever seen.
Brussels
When the battles were all over and we were in Germany the “powers that be” decided that all the Orderly Room Sergeants would run their unit from Brussels – my unit was at Gluckstadt in Germany. I thought to myself this is bloody silly, running a unit 200 miles away. Not that I minded, I had the time of my life in Brussels. You could go to theatres, cinemas, they were all open. Shops were open, restaurants were open. I didn’t ever eat in the Mess; I used to go out to a restaurant.
Getting off the train another chap who got off and said to me “Do you know where GHQ is?” I said “No, but I am going there”. He introduced himself and I did likewise and we became good friends. His name was Colin.
The Work in Brussels
The work was not much different from what I had been doing and pre-war I had been a clerk working in an office so it meant nothing to me. It was perfectly simple. Poor Old Colin who was given the job of running the Worcester’s, he didn’t know whether he was on his arse or his elbows. I went in and showed him what to do. In fact I did it. For two or three days I ran the Worcester’s until Colin had got hold of the “Brass Tacks” of it. Then I left him to it. As far as I was concerned it was simple, I was used to it.
One afternoon in the street, I was talking to Colin when he suddenly sprung to attention and saluted. I turned round to see who it was and was greeted with a handshake. It was the Brigadier who had taken me to the theatre in Naples. I did not get a chance to salute him as he grabbed my hand and shook it saying “I thought I recognised you”. He was in Brussels to get orders and I noticed he was now a General. He chatted for some time before saying “I have to see the governor” meaning the Field Marshall so, shaking my hand again, off he went.
Difficult Asministration
My regiment had a new commanding officer who insisted all ranks would do drill so the Orderly Room staff could not get their work done till late. I in Brussels was getting information for publication late afternoon instead of 9 o’clock in the morning. I went and saw the Brigadier who wrote a letter and said “Go back to your unit and sort them out”. I left Brussels at 4pm that day (Thursday) and arrived midday Saturday. The train had no windows, it was 7 January and bitterly cold and my temper on arriving at the regiment was at boiling point. The first person I saw was the R.S.M and I was not very polite to him. The Orderly Room staff were trying to catch up with work and I said “This doing parade is going to stop. The returns for publication are needed at 9 am not 5pm”. I then went to see the C.O. and handed him the letter from the Brigadier. He read the letter and said “I am in command of this battalion”, so I said “I will inform the Brigadier of your decision” and left. The cook made me a bundle of sandwiches for my journey back to Brussels where I arrived at 9am Monday. I went directly to the Brigadier to report. He greeted me with “A good job, your Colonel has agreed to all you recommended and everything should go smoothly from now”. It did for a while. Before long there was another problem with the Colonel and I knew what to do now! I went to see the Brigadier who took me to the General. The General then said “John”, to the Brigadier, “go and sort this Colonel out!” The Brigadier and I went to the Colonel’s Office. Without looking up the Colonel shouted “Get out!” We ventured further in and were greeted with “Get out!” again. The Brigadier roared “Colonel!”, and that got his attention, “you are no longer in command. Pack now and report to the Officers’ Allocation Unit.” The Colonel protested and apologised but was sent off “with his tail between his legs”. The Brigadier now had to find a replacement CO and was going to look to other Units for someone. I suggested that our Major was very good and would be very suitable. I went and found him and he was promoted on the spot! He was surprised and mentioned to me later that it was not something he would have ever expected.
Pelota
Brussels was very nice. I went to see a game of Pelota.
That’s the game with curved racquets that you swing – and you could bet on that! I bet on Mr. Jose, and he won. So, I came away with twenty francs better than when I started. I didn’t do any more betting but I watched a game and realised that whoever you bet on, they played six sets, and they would win one of them! Didn’t matter whether it was the first, second or the last. I had worked all that out so the next time I went down I bought my ticket for the first one – and he lost. So I bought two tickets for the second one – and he lost again. So, the third time I bought three tickets and he won. So, I got all my money back plus a bit extra! I had worked all that out like that and we would go and see this Pelota two or three times a week.
Demob Time
Belgium was working as if nothing had ever happened – well, Brussels was. This Pelota business, I won so much money that by the time it was time to come home I couldn’t change it! I changed as much as I could into English money and the rest of it – I went out on a shopping spree. I bought six pairs of silk stockings that I brought home, all for Kath. I bought all sorts of things and spent the rest. There was a kid standing around so I gave him some and he stood there with his mouth open! Never seen so much money in his life – it was no good to me, coming home! It was his lucky day. It wasn’t all that much but I had changed all I could and bought God knows what with the rest.
Helping Hand
The following day I packed all my kit and went out to catch a train. I felt bloody awful. There was a Sergeant Major standing there and he said “are you all right?”
I said “not really, but I’m going home”.
“Well”, he said “there’s no train till 4 o’clock”. This was about 12 I think.
“Go and lay down on one of the benches” he said “I’ll wake you when the train comes”.
I did go to sleep and about ten to four he woke me up saying “train will be in, in 10 minutes”. Of course, I felt a lot better by then, not right - but better. The train came in; he picked up my kitbag and carried it for me!
I was very happy to see England again knowing I would not have to cross the Channel again in uniform. The very next day I got my civvie suit and that was the end of my Army career.
My dad, Jack Wibberley, talked about being in the Eighth Army, and about visiting Cairo. He was captured at Tobruk in June 1942 and was taken to Italy where he was a POW in the following camps:
85 Turturano near Brindisi
87 Stalia
66 Capua
68 Vetralia
73 Fossoli of Carpi
53 Sforzacosta
I know he escaped from one of the camps with a friend Mac. He was taken in by a farming family & lived with them. One day when working in the fields he was challenged & beaten with rifles by some Axis troops - he agreed to meet them in the market in Naples the next day & bring another POW with him. Needless to say, he didn't do that! [I read a report he wrote about this when I was about 13, but that report wasn't in family papers when we cleared the family house]
In June 1944 his war record states he was known to have reached Southern Italy & was in Allied hands. By August 1944 he had returned to England & was in Liverpool Transit Camp
He was posted to Clacton on Sea in Essex where he was part of the Heavy Ack Ack Battery. In the NAAFI there he met my mum Ada Letch who was in the ATS. They got married in December 1945. He died in 1958 and my mum died in 1980.
I would love to know if anyone remembers him - he was always known as Jack.
My Grandad Geroge Cheek was captured by the Afrika Corps and then handed over to the Italians. He escaped from them just to get to the Germans and got machine gunned for his efforts. He got better treatment with them though.
My father, Louis Gillen, was captured after the North African Campaign. He was captured in Italy but managed to escape twice. He joined the army with the Ulster Rifles but was attached to Black Watch in 8th Army. He was eventually captured and sent to Stalag 11a in Altengrabow. He remained there until they were liberated. He passed away in 1983. He was a wonderful man. Does anyone have any information on him as I would be delighted to hear anything.
My Grandad, Frank Pelham, was a Desert Rat Tank Driver and mechanic with the Notts Sherwood Rangers. I have several of his papers including a letter of congratulations on the birth of my auntie from Philis Mcgrath at the Old Comrades and Welfare Association, his pay & service book, a copy of his standing orders book for drivers, and a copy of the "8th Armoured Bridge" book.
I'm desperatly seeking any photos that may be in circulation, if anyone can help I would greatly appreciate it. I'd like to make contact with anyone who may have served alongside my grandad in WW2
My Dad Robert Willacey, survived the Lancastria sinking. His story is slightly different from other versions. He was above sea level with mates and saw the German plane approaching. He realised they had no chance and jumped off the ship. He said one of the bombs went down the funnel which presumably explains all the oil in the water. Some was ignited so being a good swimmer he dived and swimming towards shore he came up for air when he saw no flames above him. Some people sadly came up into the flames.He swam all the way to the coast and was later sent back to England.
He became a desert rat fighting Rommel in Africa where he was a tank driver and had some horrendous experiences. Moving on to Sicily he became a POW but escaped and finished the war in Naples.He had shrapnel injuries and spent a year in an Italian hospital. He helped to evacuate locals from the erupting Vesuvius just after the war in 1945.
My parents had married Xmas Eve 1939 in Manchester Cathedral. Mum didn't see him when his leave ended after returning from France in 1940 until 1945. He died at the age of 84 in 2003.
Spr. George Richard Woods Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers
George Woods served with the 8th Army in North Africa 1941-45. He was posted with a sergeant to follow the Army line going forward, in a repair lorry, and fix any broken down vehicles the Army left behind. These would be picked up by the Army line following. He was once attacked by a German aircraft and blown out of his lorry. Thought he had sustained a small cut on his inner arm but a small piece of shell fragment was removed later in Alexandria.
Around three years after demobilisation was offered a fast-track commission if he decided to re-join but turned the offer down.
Laurence Pearson was born in Birkinhead in 1926 and served in the 'Desert Rats' during the 2nd World War. Larry married his sweetheart Catherine Kitty Steenson in 1945 when he was allowed one days leave from the army.
My Father Charles Mills was in the Royal Artillery, a driver of anti-tank guns. Posted to North Africa with Montgomery in the 8th Army then moved onto Anzio where he was caught in a bomb blast and then demoted and looked after a hotel in Venice where Italian women who had married English soldiers were held waiting to come to England.
My father, Joseph Asher was a Wireless operator, rear gunner. He flew on Blenheims, Wellingtons & Sterlings. He was with 40 Squadron. He found himself on the beach at Dunkirk and he spent some time attached to Monty's 8th Army in North Africa. He was part of the bombing of Dresden, Germany. In the 50's and 60's he used to wake up nights, screaming. The left over legacy from the conflicts. He died in 2001 at the age of 81.
My Dad, Bill James, like many who caught by the Japanese never spoke much of their nightmare as FEPOWS. He was in the Tank regiment at first, I've shown his photos to a Tank expert and they say he was involved in Burma, North Africa, El Alamein and Tobruk then Singapore where he was taken by the Japs. I've sent away to the MOD for his war records, still waiting, patiently. So I was wondering if anyone might have info on my father's FEPOW nightmare?
I would love to hear from anyone who knew my dad, John Fielding. I know he was a Desert Rat and I have a photo of him taken with a few of his army pals. It looks like the Middle East.
My Great Uncle, Matthew McAllister from Carrickfergus Co. Antrim served in the 8th Army and died at the Battle of El Alamein Africa. The last my family heard from him was a postcard form Leeds when he got married. My family never knew his wife's name, so when he died she was his next of kin. Therefore, details sent to my grandfather were slim. Attached is a photo of him and his wife.
If anyone remembers him I would really appreciate any information.
Pte. Arthur Sidney "Taffy" Pascoe 73 G.T.Coy R.A.S.C
My father left England at the end of 1942 aboard the "Windsor Castle " and served in Algeria, Sicily, Italy and Palestine. He left a journal and diary relating his war time experiences. I am transcribing them and would love to get in touch with any family of the following people mentioned by my Dad: Les Herman, Charles Brewer ( died in Sicily ), John Bragg ( died in Italy), John Vaughan, "Taffy" Evans, "Jock" Read and "Hank" Stockton.
I have photographs and stories they may be interested in. My Dad was the company sign writer and later a vehicle mechanic. His journals tell of the conditions they endured in North Africa in detail, but unfortunately the details of Sicily and Italy are not as good. I would love to complete his work to give to the Grandchildren he never knew. His company was the 73rd Transport which was with the 8th Army and also the American 5th.
My grandad was a Desert Rat and his name was Jimmy Grossman. He was at Trobruk etc. Ef any one has any photos or information concerning him please get in touch. Thanks
My father, Leslie Simmonds had the Jerboa insignia on his shirt in a photo and served in the 8th Army. Records are very far and few because of my mother burning his processions a few years ago. He was from Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire. Can anyone help me with details of his service?
My grand father Percival Short was in WW2 under what I know as Desert Rats
I have some photos and mMy Uncle Steven has his medals at present. I'm just wondering, as a grand son who never met his grandad, I would like to know some history or maybe find an archive of possible troops from the London area to see exactly what and where he was during WW2. I know he was based in Africa, possibly Malta and Sicily.
Donald Field was my uncle. For some reason he came south to the Godalming, Surrey area and married my mother's sister. I understand he spent some time in Signals with the 4th Indian Division, 8th Army.
I've been trying to find out more about my grandad's time in the war. I have been on the war time web site and nothing comes up with the name Ron Mihlenstedt. I didn't know if he would have changed his last name as it's German. All I know is he was a Desert Rat and used to drive a tank. We had a picture of him in the desert but don't know where it is now. My grandad never talked about the War so was just interested in finding something out
My grandfather, Sidney Freeman, was a sargent in the South African army fighting against the Germans in World War II. He was part of an infantry referred to as “The Desert Rats” and they fought in North Africa.
Below is a transcript from a newspaper article summarising an event in which my grandsfather was later awarded a Military medal for his bravery. The incident happened in Tobruk. We think they were in the Eighth Army going to El Alamein.
"Corporal Sidney Freeman was awarded the Military Medal "on June 29 while commanding a car in a troop of armoured cars," said the official narrative, "he was ordered to act as a decoy to three German guns which were shelling the forward patrol line. Corporal Freeman did this with skill and courage and with a total disregard for personal safety, and it was in great measure due to him that the two -pounder gun was deployed with success. Throughout this action Corporal Freeman car was under heavy fire."
My grandfather also told my family that Rommel flew over them a number of times and on one occasion he was in their sights but their gun jammed and he was unable to fire.
Cpl. Edward William Hickmott MID 30 Corps Royal Corps of Signals
Ted Hickmott, my father, was called up to serve in 1940, he was 34 years old he enlisted in Catterick on the 13th March 1941. He served in North Africa, Italy and northern Europe through D Day at Normandy soon after being Mentioned in Despatches. Throughout he was a wireless mechanic serving in the 8th Army.
Frank Moth. Enlisted: Canterbury, Kent, 18th April 1940
From dad’s wartime diary (my words in brackets for clarity): -
28/5/42 – ‘12o’clock embarked Liverpool’ (this would have been on the SS Laconia with the 2nd Battalion The Buffs)
29th – 30th May ‘42 – ‘Laying off coast’
31/5/42 – ‘11.45 left River Mersey’
1/6/42 – ‘Big escort, lads mostly sick in North Atlantic, 7o’clock 18 miles Iceland’
June – Freetown, (Sierra Leone)
June - Cape Town, South Africa
July – Aden & Port Tewfik Egypt
August – Khatatba Egypt
Sept – Bare Ridge & Hineima?
Oct – Alamein (Second & decisive Battle of El Alamein)
April 43 – Kiffai, Iraq (possibly Kifri near border with Persia/Iran on ‘road’ to Teheran)
May to Sept 43 – C.M.P. (Corps of Military Police?) Teheran Persia (Iran)
Oct – Kermanshah, Persia
Nov – Teheran, Churchill Conference
Dec Xmas – Kanakin (probably Khanaqin) Iraq-Iran border
Jan 44 – S.P.Z mountain training
Feb – Kirkuk, Iraq
April – Beirut (Lebanon &) Syria
May – Karid, Persia
June – Baghdad, Iraq
July – Basra, Iraq
August – Bombay, India
Sept – Bangalore, India
Oct – Balliona, India
Nov – India Assam & Burma
Dec 44 – Indian Xmas Burma
Jan 45 – Bahe / Molong / Mogok - Burma
Feb – Mong Mit / Maymyo (Mandalay Region) – Burma
March – Mandalay & Meiktila Burma
April – Imphal & Manipur Road
May – Visapur & Secunderabad India
Jun to August - Visapur India
Sept 45 – Ahamednagar (Maharashtra Province 200kms from Mumbai/Bombay) & Visapur
Oct 45 – Poona & Bombay for riots
Nov - Blighty
Dec – Xmas?
Following is in a Christmas card issued to all troops ‘To Goat Moth, A happy Christmas and the Best of New Years from all Ranks, 2nd Bn. The Buffs. Many thanks and the very best of luck’. From ‘Lt Col 2 Buffs S.E.AC. 1945’
Goat = Greatest of all time
S.E.AC. = South East Asia Corps
Contact names from dad’s diary: -
GNR Moth.R, 11400281, 386 LAA Battery, Main Camp, Ballykinlar Camp, Co Down
Rfn L.E.Moth, 12 Ladycroft, Bolton on Deasae?, Nr Rotherham, Yorks
ACWI Moth L.E. 2050506, C/O 2 Addington Road, Reading, Berks
Abbreviations: -
LAA or AAL Batt = Anti Aircraft Light Battery
Batt RN = Battery Royal Artillery
B.L.A. = British Land Army
Bn = Battalion
Bty = Battery
Coy = Company
GNR or Gnr = Gunner
l/Sgt = Lance Sergeant
RASC = Royal Army Service Corps
Regt = Regiment
Rfn = Rifleman
SEAC = South East Asia Corps
Sqdn = Squadron
Trp or Trpr = Troop
Our dad & his brothers all survived the Second World War. His brother Lionel (Rfn L.E.Moth) was a professional soldier who joined the Army in the 1930's & served with the Rifle Brigade. I don't currently have any information on his other brothers.
Dad served in the 2nd Battalion The Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment)with the 8th Army in North Africa where he was wounded by grenade fragments & temporarily blinded, released from hospital & served with CMP escorting prisoners of war. Went to Teheran with 2nd Battalion The Buffs for Churchill Conference, before serving the rest of the war in Burma with the 14th Army. He was also attached to the Indian Army in Iraq & Persia, the US Army in Assam, India, & Burma, the 9th Army in Arabia & Transjordan Desert, & the 10th Army in Palestine, Syria, Lebanon, & Turkey. Dad passed away around Christmas/New Year 1996/97.
My Grandfather William H. Davies was a Desert Rat. He was also captured by the Japanese army & held captive. He was tortured to give info & he had his ankles broken & when the bones would start to heal they would be broken again. He also had a wire put up his nose as a method to make him talk & until the day he died he could not smell. I am looking for any photos anyone might have of my grandfather from the 8th Army.
My grandfather was a Desert Rat 8th Army. His name was Victor Day. Unfortunately he passed away a year before I was born. My mother told me that my grandfather never spoke of the war. We then found, in a secret draw in a Victorian cupboard that belonged to him, 10 years later a personal letter addressed to my grandfather from the King of Greece stating my grandfather was indeed a personal bodyguard to the King of Greece just after the war.
I would love to be able to find some photos of my grandfather in the desert if anyone could help please.
All I know is my late Grandad Christopher Charles Redman served in the British 8th Army and was a Desert Rat.
I remember he said he went to Africa, but am unsure of anywhere else.
I remember his shin had a huge scar running down it. He told me that a sniper had shot him off the motorbike that he was riding on through the desert, but being young when he used to tell me stories regarding the war I'm saddened to say that I sadly don't remember anything else that my dear granddad told me. I have gone blank.
My granddad was my world as my dad left my mum when I was 6 months old and my granddad with my nan helped my mum bring me up until the day he could it no more as he sadly passed away from cancer on 28th December 2003, aged 83.
He lived a strong healthy life after the war and he went on to marry my nan, Rhoda Fermoy on Christmas Day and went on to live in Hackney, London.
They had 2 daughters one of which is my mum.
He was born in Bethnal Green, London on the 17th December 1919. I feel very passionate about finding any information regarding my granddad. I have only one picture of him from the army, looking very handsome, which is in a frame on my mum's mantelpiece. I would appreciate any replies and am very grateful for this opportunity to add my granddad to the list. Thanks to anybody who can help me.
Private Terry Gorman served with the 5th Bn the Green Howards. He was probably taken prisoner as were most of the 4th and 5th Battalions (part of 150th Brigade) when ammunition ran out against Rommel's forces in the Gazala Line. Most went to prisoner of war camps in Italy.
My grandfather Jack Davis served in the 8th Army, Desert Rats under Montgomery. I am looking to collect as much information about him and his time in the Army as I was only two when he died. I would love to hear about his time and what he was like. He was only married for 6 weeks and then joined the Army for about three weeks. Any one has any information about him please contact me.
Eddie Eccles 31 Field Regiment, 105/119 Bty. Royal Artillery
I have some photos from the camp which include my father in law Eddie Eccles (105/119 battery of the 31 Field Regiment R.A.) who was caught at Tobruk on 15th Dec 1941 whilst taking part in the great Battle of Halem Hamza in the Libyan Desert.
Understandably Eddie was reluctant to talk about his experiences so I would love to hear from others who may have knowledge of the battle and times of this Field Regiment during this period in the Libyan Desert and also at Stalag 8B.
My Dad, Claude Wyatt-Mair wrote a memoir of his time between 1939 and 1945. He was captured in Tobruk and ended up in Stalag 8c and 8b lamsdorf 344. I am trying to locate anyone who knew him.
L/Cpl Cyril Tracy "Ginger" Cheesman 613 C(M)T Coy Royal Army Service Corps
My dad, Cyril Tracy Cheesman, nicknamed ''Ginger'' was in 613 C(M)T Coy RASC. He was in the Eighth Army. He wrote down on the back of a photo to my mum all the places he visited during his time during the North African conflict.
I assume due to German activity in the Med, his convoy went to Cape Town first. I'll now mention some of the places on his very comprehensive list:
Port Taufuq,
Port Said,
Cairo,
Tahag,
Beersheba,
Gaza,
Jerusalem,
Tel Aviv,
Jaffa,
Jericho,
Tiberius,
Beirut,
Alexandria,
El Alamein,
El Dhba,
Sidi Barrani,
El Adem,
Tobruk,
Benghazi,
Marble Arch,
Sirte,
Homs,
Tripoli,
Gabes,
Sfax,
Naples,
Anzio,
Pompei,
Rome,
Perugia,
Florence,
Rimini,
Bologna,
Ravenna,
Venice,
Trieste,
Udine,
Villache.
I've noticed on various sites that its very difficult to find details about soldiers that served in the RASC. I cannot find any reference to his company, I'm assuming that C(M)T stands for Corps of Military Transport??
Rfmn. A. Leckenby 2nd Btn. Cameronians (Scottish Rifles)
A Leckenby and the 2nd Battalion joined Montgomery's 8th Army for the invasion of Sicily and the battle for Italy in 1943, and from there was involved with the Garigliano Crossing. Unfortunately, he was captured and ended up bound for Germany on a POW train. It was on this journey that the Allerona tragedy took place.
On 28th January 1944 at the Orvieto North railway bridge at Allerona, Italy, a train full of Allied prisoners, most of whom had come from Camp P.G. 54, Fara in Sabina, north of Rome, was hit by friendly fire from the American 320th Bombardment Group. U.S. Army member Richard Morris was on the train and wrote that the journey was stopped on the bridge over the river, and that the German guards fled as soon as the bombs struck. The prisoners were left locked inside the carriages. Many, including A Leckenby, managed to escape through holes in the boxcars caused by the bombing, and jumped into the river below. It was a great tragedy of the war resulting in the deaths of hundreds of men. Leckenby was uninjured in the train crash, but was captured at Garigliano. He was sent to POW camp Stalag 344 in Lamsdorf, Poland.
My father Jock Wood served in the Desert Rats in World War Two. He was shot in the desert and taken prisoner, I would like to know if anyone out there knew him.
My late father, Jack Hoyle, served with the Royal Artillery 8th Army, and was a driver/gunner throughout the North African Desert campaign from 1940, then Sicily, then Italy, then across on the 1944 D-Day invasion, through to Berlin in 1945.
His collection of four campaign stars remains testament to that service, although the medals were never exposed during his long post-war life - they are now framed in my hallway with his photograph, attracting attention and admiration from many visitors. He maintained that he was neither brave nor exceptional, spending five involuntary years mostly scared but eventually very lucky.
As with many who saw such active service, he spoke little of the true horrors he had seen, tending only to reminisce with anecdotes about the many humorous incidents along the way and the colleagues with whom he served - probably a common way to deal with the harsh reality he had endured. I learnt more of his exploits by talking privately many years later to one of his fellow Desert Rats (MacDonald) than he had ever told me directly.
A craftsman bookbinder by trade, he returned to that in 1946 and continued until his retirement in 1975. He died, aged 85, in May 1998.
If anyone has any information regarding his service, I would be delighted to know of it.
We have just found the documents attaining to David Colville's death, aged 30, in Sicily. No-one in the family had ever met him, but all knew of him. We also have his four campaign medals from the 8th Army. He served from 1939 until 1943 when he was killed in action. It is very sad but we do not have a photograph of him and there are no members of the Colville family alive.
We visited his grave in Catania War Cemetery in February this year and it very moving indeed. If by any chance anyone has any photos we would appreciate a copy. We would appreciate any more information about
him or his friends.
My dear Dad Charlie Foster was captured at Tobruk North Africa by the German Afrika Corps, taken as prisoner to Benghazi, then by boat to Brindezi, and to Bari. Onto PG70 Prison Camp near Porto St Georgia and Fermo, then to Germany, Stalag IVB Dresden. He never spoke to me about this but I have a diary he kept. The last entry reads -
Sunday 13th, I am writing this in the plane I have waited so long for. We are having a glorious run, just passed over Stuttgart, the 2nd pilot who is American says we shall be in Rheims by 12.30am and perhaps tomorrow we shall be in England....
Eric William Hann served with the 8th Army.
He was at the battle for Monte Casino, in Palestine and Egypt.
He recently died and while alive wouldn't divulge much about this episode of his life.
As a family we would like to find out more about his life and times in the army, in recognition of his contribution to this country and it's standing.
He signed up for service at Farringdon house, in Stonecot Hill, Mordon, London.
Please contact me if you knew him personally or of him during this period.
My father, John H. Freeman was with Desert Rats and then in Europe with Montgomery. He saw a fair bit of action, took shrapnel in his leg but never wanted to talk about it.
I believe he achieved rank of Acting Major having been commissioned into 1st Battalion of The Rifle Brigade. Family lore has him as part of Monty's staff. Don't know if that's true. Perhaps he operated a radio or wrote dispatches. After the war he was a journalist.
He was a tall man with bright red hair. Very curious to know more about his war. I wondered if any 8th Army expert has heard of him. Trying to find info on my father's service.
My grandfather, James Hemmington, served in the 8th Army in Africa during WW2. He never spoke about his experiences to us, but I know he was in Africa, and part of the Desert Rats. He was shot and injured 3 times, but served until the end of the war.
If anyone knows or remembers him from the war I would love to know.
Sgt. Horace Ivor Coles 55th L.A.A. Regiment, 165th Bty. Royal Artillery
Horace Ivor Coles enlisted on 14 April 1939 and was discharged on 29 November 1945. From 1941 to 1945, he fought in Burma with the 165th L.A.A. Battery, 55th L.A.A. Regiment of the Royal Artillery and was part of the Eighth Army. Horace died in 1998, leaving his wife Clarice Pamela Coles and daughter Irene.
My Uncle Archie Park was captured at Anzio Beach in 1944. He had been involved in the Norwegian Landings and also throughout North Africa with the 8th Army. After capture he was a prisoner at Stalag 4b, Muhlberg.
I would like to hear from anyone that can remember or knows of Archie Park.
My granddad, on my father's side, Syd Hampson fought in North Africa during WW2, a Desert Rat, against Rommell. He was a hard fighter behind the tanks as they went forward. He was promoted to NCO because he was a good soldier, especially with the sten gun, a machine gun fired from the hip, so I am led to believe.
His name was Sydney Hampson, married to Edith, from Liverpool, Walton area. Fit A1 health. My dad, Syd, often talks about him, he was in the 8th Army, I think. He led the Battle of El Alamein againt Rommel, for Montgomery. He died in 1982
Pte. William Crawford 14th Light Field Ambulance Royal Army Medical Corps
To Commemorate the 70th Anniversary of VE Day, and honor those that fell. I thought I would share this with you, about a certain 13 men. This is photo of my Grandad, William Crawford's war diary written in 1942 as they where retreating from the Germans in the North Africa Campaign being pushed East towards the Suez Canal near El Alamein. He was part of the 7th Armoured Division the 'Desert Rats'.
Black Friday 29th May 1942:
'We are still on the move, buried Jerry prisoner. 4.30pm Dived bombed and machine gunned by Stukhas, 13 of our lads killed, 10 wounded, burying the bodies, stayed behind with MDS (medical dressing station) Surrender to Jerry if necessary, 3.30am buried Private Thomas, can't evacuate wounded, going to be surrounded'
Saturday 30th: '6.30 Trying to make our way out, carrying wounded, arrived on coast above Tobruk, lost 2 ambulances, 2 lorries, got first nights sleep for 4 nights, battle still raging'.
Sunday 31st: 'Had parade to lay and find particulars of missing and killed. 3.30 went to sea for bathing not been able to wash for days. 8.30 Had memorial service.
The names of the 13, are listed on the 2nd photo of the diary entry.
Killed:
My grandad was in the 8th Army, Desert Rats. His name was John Davis. He served in the army for 6 years. I am trying to find people that have photos of him, if you could please contact me I would really appreciate it.
My grandad was in the 8th Army Desert Rats under Field Marshal Montgomery. He never talked about it though. His name was Frederick Rose. He died in 1985 aged 61, bless him. We were given his medals, such as the African Star, after he passed, although he hadn't wanted to claim them. We are very proud of him. Any information anyone might have about my grandfather would be greatly appreciated.
My dad, Ron Hale along with his older brother Harry were retreating to Dunkirk. As my dad suffered from badly blistered feet, when an abandoned motor bike was found Harry got him to ride it and said that they would meet at Dunkirk. When dad got to the beach he walked along crying out "Harry Harry!" The soldiers laughed and mimicked him, but they found each other.
My dad was too short to man the guns so he drove the "ammo" trucks. He hated the flies in Egypt and wouldn't emigrate to Australia because of it. He was at Anzio and got very upset when an Indian soldier refused to leave the foxhole.
Col. John Fenwick Lovell Gwatkin-Williams 8th Army
My father John Gwatkin-Williams was Commander of Moreton-on-Lugg towards the close of war. He was taken off active duty and put in to run the camp as there had been much disturbance in the camp and the POWs had been restless. He was very successful and the POWs presented him with a ship-in-a-bottle which they had created for him and which we still have.
I would like to know much more about the POW camp and am unable to learn very much (I live in Australia). My father was son of Capt Gwatkin-Williams RN, author of 'Prisoners of the Red Desert' and 'Under the Black Ensign'.
All I know is that my dad Tommy Flynn was in the 8th Army (from Liverpool) and in the Desert Rats. He was a sergeant. It wasn't something people seemed to talk about then and he never really talked much anyway. He died when I was in my twenties. I only really found everything out by seeing the news and programmes in recent years. I wish he was here so I could ask questions. I do remember him saying once that his friend's head was shot off in the desert and he kept running for a couple of seconds. Sometimes he would just say something when he had been drinking. It would be nice to have his name somewhere. He died in 1980.
My uncle, Sydney James Horton, served in the 8th Army in North Africa, Italy and Austria. He was known as `Lucky' Horton because he never got a scratch. He is mentioned in the regimental newspaper by this nickname. I have photos of him in Egypt with fellow soldiers and I wonder who they are.
My grandad was in the Desert Rats [8th Army]. He was known by his nickname `Boxer'. He was stationed by the Nile and one of his mates had a leg blown off by a landmine whilst they were walking side by side.
My grandad served in the Desert Rats (anti-tank). He was a POW in Rangoon Prison camp for more than three years. He had two brothers, Joseph and Fredrick Williams. Does anyone remember him?
My father, Kenneth Gower served with the 8th Army in North Africa and Italy. He entered the Army at Peckham Downs in 1940 in the territorial unit before transferring to the Royal Armoured Corps in 1941.
My father John McCornish was captured at Tobruk while with the 8th Army. He received systematic cruel mistreatment in an Italian camp. He reported the war crimes but the Italians had switched sides, so nobody want to hear about Italian death camps.
Update
My father was in three Italian POW camps between 1941 and 1943 -
Montalbo, Padula and Bologna. He has died now and never spoke to me about his experiences there. But I spoke recently to his sister about this period, and, while emphasising her memories were rusty, she did recall hearing of abuses. (Ian Campbell)
My grandfather was an Honorary Captain in the British Indian Army. He fought with the 8th Army all over North Africa and Sicily. He was at the Battle of El Alamein.
Trooper Samuel William Smith British 8th Army HO Squadron
My father was one of 4 brothers who served in the Army and luckily they all returned.
They all lived to a good age. My father died in Australia and was given a miliatary send of by the Legion. Fortunately, we already have his medals and a few wartime photos of him and his brothers George, Albert & Edward.
Tpr. Ernest Whiley No. 9 Protective Squad Royal Armoured Corps
My great uncle served with the 8th Army in North Africa and Italy. The information he wrote on the back of a photo was `Tpr Earnest Whiley, 8th Army, No 9 Protective Squad RAC (and) CMF'.
My father served as a Staff Sergeant with the 8th Army as a Desert Rat in North Africa, India, Ceylon and Burma during WWII. I know he was in Tobruk, at El Alamein, in Calcutta and in Candy (Ceylon).
My grandfather, Albert Arrowsmith (Bert), was a driver in the Desert Rats. His gunner was Tom Denning, 2nd driver and tea-maker was Dennis Knight. There was also a Wally and an Eric but I don't know if they were part of the tank crew permanently, or if something happened to them.
Tom Denning was Albert Arrowsmith's gunner with the Desert Rats. The 2nd driver and tea-maker was Dennis Knight. There was also a Wally and an Eric who may have been part of the tank crew.
Dennis Knight was Albert Arrowsmith's 2nd driver with the Desert Rats. The gunner was Tom Denning. There was also a Wally and an Eric who may have been part of the tank crew.
My grandad's brother, James Pearce, served in Africa in WWII. I think he was with a tank regiment and was (possibly) an officer. He was a keen boxer, of stocky build and had a brother named John who lived in Chirk.
Gnr. William Frank Heath Attchd. Queen's Bays Royal Dragoon Guards
My dad served in many campaigns including El Alamein, where he was a gunner in the tank corps. His regiment was the Royal Dragoon Guards and I believe he was attached to the Queen's Bays.
My uncle Derrick Norton was in the 8th Army. He would not talk about the war. I have a photo of him and other men and written on the back is `Italy 1943'. He was on the front of `The War Illustrated' when they went to El Alamein.
My grandad served in the 8th Army, but I do not know in which regiment. He served in Africa and Italy and was Mentioned in Dispatches (I have the letter he received). He mentioned that there were four brothers in his regiment, only one of which returned home.
My father-in-law Charlie Palmer was in the 8th Army in North Africa from 1941 onwards, having enlisted in 1938. He told me he was `in tanks'. Charlie was taken prisoner early in 1942 by the Italians and spent over three years in POW camps in Italy, escaping on three or four occasions before being transferred to a `punishment' camp in Germany.
Sgt. William Walter Dugmore 2nd Btn. Royal Scots Greys (d.1st September 1943)
My great uncle, William Walter Dugmore, served with the Royal Scots Greys, Royal Armoured Corps, 8th Army. He was killed on 1st September 1943, aged 26 between Tripoli and El Alamein. He is buried in Tripoli War Cemetery, grave 7.C.19.
My father, Edward Gess, was a sniper in the 8th Army. He used to have lots of pictures of all his wartime mates, most of whom died in battle. We also used to have a lovely letter from Montgomery which talked about his bravery at El Alamein. He would never talk about his experiences and, sadly, he suffered dreadfully throughout my childhood and died quite young. All photos, letters and his medals have been lost over time due to many moves.
My grandad, Desmond George Hill, was in the Desert Rats (I think Signals Corps) from 1942 until around 1947. He mentioned the Western Desert and 10 and 30 Corps. He also made special mention of `Big Jim' Hill.
My father served in the war as a cook. He seemed to have served everywhere, including Africa, Beirut and France. Among his possessions there was some 8th Army literature, so we wonder if he was part of that.
Driver Frederick Herbert Pollard North Staffordshire Rgt.
My father, Frederick Herbert Pollard, joined the North Staffordshire Regiment and was attached to the 8th Army in North Africa. He saw service at Tobruk and El Alamein, then Italy and Germany. He was a driver in the 8th. He lost two brothers - one in Italy, and one on an Italian POW ship which had been torpedoed by a British submarine off the coast of Italy.
Dvr. Ted "Sonny" Thornton Royal Army Medical Corps
My father, Ted Thornton, was in the 8th Army and the North Africa campaign. He was at El Alamein, Tobruk, Anzio and Salerno. He was a driver who doubled as a surgical assistant.
James Wallbridge 153 HAA Regiment, 521 Bty. Royal Artillery
My grandfather served in the 8th Army in the Africa and Italy campaigns. His name was James A Wallbridge from Bristol. He served with the 153rd Heavy Anti Aircraft and was in the 8th Army. He was involved in the North Africa campaign and also Italy. Any information would be great.
My grandad, William `Stinky' Plows, was a tank driver who fought at El Alamein, serving in the Hussars. I believe he had the nickname Stinky after diving into a cesspit when being strafed by enemy aircraft.
Douglas "Jim" Hayton 2nd Btn. Dragoon Guards (Queens Bays)
My dad Douglas Hayton was in the Queens Bays (2nd Dragoons) Tank Regiment in North Africa, Sicily and Italy, and prior to that in France as a despatch rider. He trained at Bovington before being shipped out on the six week trip to South Africa and was transported up to North Africa for the desert war. He was a tank commander and talked little about his wartime experiences. He was blown from a blazing tank and survived, but his crew did not. He had many nightmares about this after the war.
Pte. Albert Barker Attch. 32nd Army Tank Bde. Royal Army Ordnance Corps (d.14th November 1942)
My great uncle, Albert Barker, was a driver with RAOC and attached to the 32nd Army Tank Bde in North Africa. He was killed on 14th November 1942 when, as a POW being transported in an Italian ship, the ship was sunk by an Allied aircraft. Does anyone have any knowledge of this?
Ny grandfather John Kelly fought in the 8th Army in North Africa and Italy and was involved in the Battle of Monte Cassino. He stayed in Austria for a month after the end of the war before coming home. He told me that he was known as `Two mine Kelly' because he had stood on two land mines and managed to survive both. He was friends with a man nicknamed `Lofty'.
My father was a gunner with the Royal Artillery in Egypt during WW2. He was a POW for a time in Germany and mentioned being in Crete and Italy during the campaign.
My father, Charlie Reed, was a Sapper in the Royal Engineers. He served in the 8th Army in North Africa, then en route in 1943 on a troopship taking them to the invasion of Italy, the ship was torpedoed and he and his friend Bill ended up in the Mediterranean together. They were rescued, but all their equipment had to be replaced. The Red Cross sent a photographer to our home in Lewisham to take photos of us to replace those he had lost. They continued to Italy.
My dad, Walter Robinson, and my uncle Norman were brothers and from Shildon, Co Durham. Dad was in the 8th Army in the Royal Engineers and he and my uncle met up in the desert, so I guess my uncle was in the 8th Army too. Uncle Norman was at Monte Cassino.
My father was in a parachute regiment and saw service in the 8th Army up until 1945. He was at El Alamein and Tobruk and was one of the first of 36 parachutists into Sicily. He trained in the desert for the first unofficial SAS and was involved in the mopping up work at the end of the war in France. He was also one of six on an operation in Czechoslovakia that neither the British or the Russian Army wanted to be associated with.
My grandad, Stan Harley, served in the 8th Army under General Montgomery in Africa. He was at the D-day landings and also at El Alamein. He recorded one year in Africa in a diary that he left me. He always spoke about a guy nicknamed Simo who he said came from Luton. Does anyone know about Simo?
My grandad served in the 8th Army from 1939 until 1946. He did not speak about his time with the 8th. He was in the campaigns in North Africa, Tobruk, Sicily, Italy and Monte Cassino.
My dad served on the large guns and fought at El Alamein with the 8th Army. He had a leg injury and was sent to the Manchester Royal Infirmary and then on to Wales to recover.
Jim Ure was a tank driver/gunner with the 8th Army. He was given duties as a printer in Egypt after a shell hit his tank during the Battle of El Alamein. His shoulder was dislocated and he had a perforated eardrum. The driver was kiled.
Charlie Saunders was with the 8th Army in North Africa and Italy. I believe he started with the Middlesex Regiment but continued with the Royal Hampshires, possibly due to heavy losses. I also think he may have been a mortar man.
My dad was a Desert Rat. He was in all the big campaigns and got shot by one of his own men by accident - I never believed him. He did have a bullet hole and an exit wound.
My grandad was in the Desert Rats and, although he didn't talk much about the war, I know he was at Tobruk. He was a gunner with the 8th Rgt. He was also a POW at Stalag XIA.
My grandad was a Desert Rat and was involved in operations in the Western Desert, Lampudesa, Pantellaria, Sicily, Italy, Crete, Yugoslavia, France, Germany and Poland.
Driver Thomas Smith Royal Army Service Corps (d.27th August 1944)
My grandfather was in the Royal Army Service Corps and served with the 8th Army in North Africa and Italy. He was a driver and was killed near Ancona, Italy on 27th August 1944.
My grandfather was in the Desert Rats as a corporal driving tanks. I think he served under Major Graham of whom he was very fond. He was at El Alamein, Africa and Egypt and was Mentioned in Dispatches twice, once for finding a way to cross the Nile at night without being bombed. Anyone know anything about him?
My father was a Desert Rat with the 5th East Yorkshire Rgt. He saw action at El Alamein. I believe that only three from the regiment returned to England. They docked at Liverpool, were taken to a camp in Essex, and then on to practise in Scotland for the D-day landings. He said very little about his experiences.
My grandfather served in the Royal Corps of Signals during the war. Ernie was an RSM and was on despatch at El Alamein when his motorbike was hit by a mortar. He was found in a field many hours later by men who thought he was dead. He was lamed in one leg and lost a lung but survived.
My grandfather served in North Africa with the 8th Army and went missing (presumed dead) for six months. He was also rescued from the beach at Dunkirk.
Sgt. James Joseph Martin MM 1st Btn King's Dragoon Guards
My father Sgt James Joseph Martin, 1st King's Dragoon Guards, Royal Armoured Corps (Luton) was awarded the Military Medal for service in Egypt. The award was posted in the London Gazette of 16th February 1943. Other corps members awarded with him were:
Cpl. William Thomas Hadlow (Chatham)
Sqd Sgt Mjr. Norman Henry Morgan (London)
Sgt. Benjamin Joseph Hogarth (Bradford)
Sgt. William Lay (Birmingham).
He sailed on the HMT California in 1939 and was in a cabin with `Johnson'. He was at Tobruk, El Alamein and Cario and went to Cape Town on the hospital ship Queen Mary in 1943.
Cpl. William Thomas Hadlow MM 1st Btn. King's Dragoon Guards
Cpl Hadlow was awarded the Military Medal for service in Egypt. The award was posted in the London Gazette of 16th February 1943. Other corps members awarded with him were:
Sgt.Mjr. Norman Henry Morgan MM 1st Btn. King's Dragoon Guards
Sqd Sgt Mjr Morgan was awarded the Military Medal for service in Egypt. The award was posted in the London Gazette of 16th February 1943. Other corps members awarded with him were:
Sgt. Benjamin Joseph Hogarth MM 1st Btn. King's Dragoon Guards
Sgt Hogarth was awarded the Military Medal for service in Egypt. The award was posted in the London Gazette of 16th February 1943. Other corps members awarded with him were:
Sgt. William Lay MM 1st Btn. King's Dragoon Guards
Sgt Lay was awarded the Military Medal for service in Egypt. The award was posted in the London Gazette of 16th February 1943. Other corps members awarded with him were:
My grandfather, Dennis Bennett served in the Royal Artillery with the 8th Army, Desert Rats. At the time he was a gunnery sergeant. If anyone has information about this proud Welshman, please let me know.
My grandfather served in the 8th Army Desert Rats. He was a driver and drove Montgomery. Originally he was from Bellshill, Scotland but later moved to Bradford, West Yorkshire. Anyone remember him?
My husband's grandfather, Howard Featherstone served with the 8th Army Desert Rats in Libya and Italy. We do not know a lot about his service, only that he was twice reported as missing, only to return home. We would love to know more. Does anyone remember him?
My dad was Trooper George T. Palfrey in the Eight Army captured at Tobrook in May 1941 (I believe) then taken by boat to Italy, and sent onto Germany. My dad as far as I know from a rubber stamp on the back of a photo that my cousin phoned me about on Sunday, was also in Stalag IVG. Dad worked in quarries for three and half years, and it upsets me to even write about it. But I want to make a visit to where the camp was, as dad, who would have been 100 years old this coming November, always wanted to go back. He was not able to as that part of Germany was behind the Iron Curtain then. All that I know is that the POW Camp that dad was in was close to Leipzig, and now I have this camp number from the back of an old photo.
That little photo, of my cousin George who was 4 months old when it was taken, was carried by my dad all through those terrible times and also has an Italian stamp on it. Sadly his sister, George's mum, died while having another baby 18 months later. Dad was not told until he returned to England.
My dad Harry Brown would naver talk of his war-time duties, apart from saying he served in France, Italy and Africa. We have some old photos that have led us to believe he was in the Desert Rats. Does anyone remember him?
My grandad Bill Green served in Egypt 1943-47 in the Royal Engineers and was based at Abbessea Barracks, Cairo, and has been looking for William (also known as Tom) Atkinson for several years now. William Atkinson lived at 143 St Johns Grove, off Preston Rd, Hull, he had a son called Simon. His birthday was 27th October and my grandad's was 28th October. We think the beginning of his number was 144. if anyone knows where William Atkinson is, or his family, or served with my grandad please email me. Unlike some others my grandad has no hesitation talking about his time as a Desert Rat and I love hearing his stories, but it would be great for him to be able to get in touch with some of his old buddies.
My late father Jack Prior was a Desert Rat. His name was John Joseph Prior. I am not sure if he was in the 7th or 8th Army, but I wonder if anyone still remembers him.
Drvr. Frank Richmand 552 Coy Royal Army Service Corps
My father-in-law served with the 8th Army - Frank Richmand, driver, A Platoon, 552 Company, RASC 8th armoured brigade. He was at El Alamein, Tunis, via Monty's left hook. Via Marath line? Does anyone remenber Frank or the company he was with?
My grandfather was Charles Connell. We would like to know about his activities during the war and his regiment. We believe he was involved with the "Desert Rats"/8th Army. We know he was involved with the RHA and that his gun was the 25 pounder. He was quite young when he joined up (during the letter part of the war). He survived the war but is deceased now. We would be grateful for any information about him or any tips on finding him.
My grandfather, Albert Martin served with the 1st Light Ack Ack regiment, and was a Desert Rat. He was captured on Kos, Greece and held in Stalag 4d in the latter part of the war.
There must be some "Ancient Warriors" out there who were the "Desert Rats" in Africa or the "D Day Dodgers" in Italy. The men who remember "Monty" and "The Desert Fox", or the "horrors" of war such as "V" cigarettes and "Soya Links" sausages, flies, fleas and sandstorms, scorpions and "No mail from home" - (which meant no toilet paper). So let's hear from you mates. You are not "Up the Blue" now, so get writing, mo more "allakeefik".
My Dad, Arthur R Perry served at K camp_ 2 baseworkshops. REME M.S.F.
Duke of Cornwall Light Infantry, which was part of 8th Army Tobruk. He sailed from England on the SS Volendam. He was a dispatch rider and looked after a dog named Topper that had belonged to someone who must have passed away. Dad survived the war and passed away in 1991.
My father, Ted Howe, was at Salerno, Cassino, El Alamein and all those 8th Army tourist drops. If you ever shared a fox hole with my Dad and knew him, then I would be really pleased to hear from you.
My grandad served with the 8th Army in Egypt as a sergeant. He was also at Dunkirk. He was away for all of the war. He returned to work in the coal mines of Yorkshire.
Wally "Span" Maynard 8th Army Royal Army Service Corps
Does anyone know my dad - he was in the RASC and drove tank transporters in North Africa and Italy at Monte Cassino? His co-driver was Bob Lee or Leigh. My dad was Wally Maynard or "Span" (short for spanners). He was, I think, part of the 8th Army.
My grandfather was a Desert Rat when he served in the English army during WWII (in Africa). His name was Alfred Wilson. How can I find out more about what Desert Rats were and maybe some history on my grandfather?
My grandfather was William Brown. He was gunned down on a beach after making it from the landing craft. I know he was in the 8th Army (Desert Rats) and was lost in the desert once and survived. I believe he was from Sheffield, because my father was a Sheffield man. He had a nickname of "Bear Brown" because when upset he would bearhug his opponent into submission.
We were told by family that my grandfather, Edwin John Hawkins, was a Sgt in the Army and that he took part in the WWII campaigns in Italy and Northern Africa. It was said he drove for Monty for a short while. Was this the Eighth army? I would really like to go ahead and apply for his Army Records but do not feel that I have enough information to do this. I would really appreciate some help if anyone has any knowledge of these campaigns.
I have every letter my Dad, Tom Baker wrote to my mother during WW11. I am archiving them. He was a brilliant writer, very observant. Tom served in France, Dunkirk, Middle East, a Desert Rat, then Malta and finally Italy.
My father, Peter Sidney Hamilton, L/Cpl 93262 was a POW in Italy in 1943 at Sforzacosta Camp 53 near Macerata, along with his brother, Paul George Hamilton, L/Cpl 176162 who was with the Medical Corps. They escaped and Paul was shot soon after by the Germans during battle and is buried at the military cemetery at Ancona.
My father, Peter, was transferred to Stalag 4B after he was recaptured by the Germans. Thereafter, it appears he escaped and was later recaptured by the Gestapo. After this, the story seems to fizzle out.
My father passed on in 1999 aged 76.
If anyone has any further information about either of these two men, it will be gratefully received.
Pte. Harry Pengriff Matthews Northamptonshire Regiment
My father Harry Matthews served in the Northamptonshire Regiment from 1939 to 1945 I believe. I know that he fought, as part of the Eighth Army, in North Africa and Italy. He never spoke much about the war but I did glean from an uncle that my father spent a time as a sniper. He passed away in 1985.
Sgt. Gilbert Dennis Hallam MID Royal Army Service Corps
Gilbert Hallam was my father, he was a pre-war Regular Soldier posted to the Middle East in 1938, so he was there when war was declared. My father served in the 8th Army all through the desert into Sicily and Italy up into Monte Casino through the Brenner Pass into Austria. He was still fighting after May 8th the German weir wolfs, German hard liners who would not give up.
He came home in 1946, between 1938 and 1946 he had been home only once.
Thomas William Baker 61st Anti-Tank Regiment Royal Artillery
I'm trying to trace my Dad, Tom Baker's WW2 footprints. My Dad passed away in 2010 but never really spoke about the war only small parts in later years.
I'm 99% sure my Dad served as part of 242 Battery support unit, 61st Anti-Tank Regiment, Royal Artillery, 51st Highland Division, although he did mention 193 Battery.
I also know my Dad served in North Africa campaign inc Tunisia etc (Desert Rats). He also served in Sicily campaign. They returned from Sicily to UK and was stationed at High Wycombe where they prepared for D-Day
I'm sure My Dad's regiment landed on Sword beach on D-Day+1
I know my Dad was injured during this time with shrapnel wounds from a Mortar shell and was taken back to England to Hospital before he rejoined his regiment.
I'm not sure though about where or when my Dad was wounded although he told me it was at Caen and after treatment back in England he rejoined his regiment in Eindhoven? I still have to get this part confirmed.
My Dad met my Mom whilst billeted in Enschede, Holland before his regiment pushed into Germany towards Bremen and later he must have returned back to Enschede because he married my Mom on 19-08-1946 in Enschede.
Sgt. John Rheims Smith 3rd Field Ambulance Royal Army Medical Corps
My grandfather, John Rheims Smith, was raised an army brat. His father John Metcalf was a Regimental Sergeant Major and the most senior physical fitness instructor in the British Army. He was born in Folkestone, Kent in 1914. He was the first born child. WWI was in early stages at that time. His middle name Rheims was so-called because his father was in Rheims, France at the time of his birth.
He spent his early years in India (his family said his first words were Hindi) and after WW1 ended in 1918 (from 7-14 years) he was based with his family in Germany, his father being a member of the occupying forces. He spoke fluent German when he left. Like his father he joined the army at 14 years old. His military records likely show dob as 1910 because he falsified his age. He was posted to Shanghai China from around 1928-1934 and in Hong Kong was 1934-36. He spoke fluent Cantonese when he left the Army. At the time he left the army his rank was a sergeant.
He returned to England around 1936 and worked at various jobs including being a chauffeur for Mrs Lever, the dowager of Lever of Lever and Kitchen fame (now Unilever).
Around 1938 he had successfully applied for a position as a male nurse at a mental institution and had begun work for a short while when the British Government recalled all recently discharged military personnel to form the British expeditionary forces designed to discourage German military aggression.
His few months of medical experience was sufficient to assign him to the Medical Corps. He spent the remainder of his service as a medic, often in the front line of the war.
He went with the BEF to France in 1939 but they were driven back by the Germans eventually to Dunkirk. Amongst the last to leave the beach, there were no more boats available and was ordered to strip and swim and lookout for English boats offshore.
He remembers swimming for a long time and was not picked up until after dark by an English fishing boat that had stayed longer than most and happened to spot him with lantern light in the water.
Upon arriving back in England he was held in an internment camp for a few months while the Army confirmed the identity of all the stragglers. His younger brother Pat recounted that one night shortly after the evacuation he arrived late on the door step of his family home near Cambridge and told everyone he was alive and well then left immediately. He had apparently escaped from intern camp and returned back to it in the same night without being missed.
His next assignment was with the British 8th Army where he remained until the end of the war, fighting through North Africa and across the Mediterranean into Italy.
Most of what I have heard of this period are disconnected anecdotes without time or place. Field amputation in the back of a moving truck; holding a cigarette in the windpipe of an injured solder because the jaw is missing; a soldier trapped and killed in barbed wire because he wanted to the wear the fleecy sweater mum had knitted him.
He was awarded 5 campaign medals; 2 stars and 3 circular. I think the stars were the North Africa star and Italy star. I cant remember what the 3 circulars were, I am sure one was 1939-45 War Medal.
All I know about my Granddad Thomas Atkins so far is that he was a tank driver, captured on 29th of January 1942 and made POW in Benghazi. He was then moved to a camp in Italy. Apparently, he escaped from there but was recaptured by the Germans and taken to a war camp in Germany. From there, I'm told that he made his way home through France and stayed in France for a couple of months before making his way back home.
He would never talk about the war to us but after insisting once, he only told me that the conditions were bad and they had to burn the lice from under their arms with a lighter/match. He also had a finger missing but I don't know how that happened.
L/Cpl. Paul George Hamilton 17th Field Ambulance Medical Corps
My father, Peter Sidney Hamilton, L/Cpl 93262 was a POW in Italy in 1943 at Sforzacosta Camp 53 near Macerata, along with his brother, Paul George Hamilton, L/Cpl 176162 who was with the Medical Corps. They escaped and Paul was shot soon after by the Germans during battle and is buried at the military cemetery at Ancona.
My father, Peter, was transferred to Stalag 4B after he was recaptured by the Germans. Thereafter, it appears he escaped and was later recaptured by the Gestapo. After this, the story seems to fizzle out.
My father passed on in 1999 aged 76.
If anyone has any further information about either of these two men, it will be gratefully received.
Sgt. Joseph Boyd Henderson Royal Army Ordnance Corps
My father, Joseph Henderson, served with RAOC and REME. He died when I was fairly young. Before that he never spoke of the war. There were no medals - nothing. Years after he died I decided to research his records. What I found out blew me away.
He was in the BEF and was one of the last out on 17th June 1940. By December he was posted to the Middle East and then North Africa. In October 1943 (I was told by my mother) that he was in Tobruk and went missing for six months when it fell, living off the Germans. He made it back. His hearing was damaged at El Alamein when the guns went off. He then went with the 8th Army across North Africa, Sicily and Italy and after four years solid he returned to the UK.
My father was in a heavy tank recovery unit with the first Armoured Division and then with the 8th Army as a driver/mechanic. In civvy life he was a staff nurse. He never drove - none of the family knew he could - and he couldn't hold a screwdriver correctly.
I have received his medals: the 1939-45 Medal, 1939-45 Star, African Star with 8th Army clasp, Italian Star and the Defence Medal. I will wear his medals with pride on Remembrance Day on my right side, and my Falklands medal with rosette on my left.
Jack Lee was a Bofors Gunner and fought in North Africa and Italy. He was one of the original Desert Rats.
His Bofors gun emplacement was hit by a Stuka aircraft bomb, he survived but had a perforated eardrum consequently, he was hospitalised in Italy. I have many WWII photos of his campaign.
Sgt. Charles William Fells MiD. 30 Corps Royal Signals
My father, Charles Fells, was a sergeant in the Royal Signals. As with all old soldiers at that time, the information he imparted in his life time was, to say the least, sketchy. Most of what I gleaned was from my mother.
He was with 30 Corps in the 8th Army and served time in Palestine before taking part in the desert campaign in North Africa, including the 2nd Battle of El Alamein October 1942. Then it was onward to Tunisia and from there to the Sicily Landings, before he came back to England to prepare for the D-Day invasion of Europe. He landed on Gold Beach on the 6th day. Then he was involved in the battle for Caen and Operation Bluecoat. At the Falaise Gap he told me that he had never seen so many dead horses in one place. After this, it was on to Nijmegen and the crossing of the Rhine.
His name was cited in the London Gazette in March 1944, being Mentioned in Dispatches. I never knew for what this honour was bestowed. My father died at his home in December 1997.
Clifford Edward Turner 57th Field Regiment Royal Field Artillery
Clifford Turner joined up on 19th October 1939 with the 9th Field Training Regiment. In 1940 he joined the 57th Field Regiment and on 23rd March of that year was sent to France. He was evacuated from Dunkirk on 31st May, 1940. After this, he went to Suez with the 8th Army, then through Sicily and on to Italy. He was demobbed on 6th June 1946 and discharged from the reserve on 30th June 1959.
He was awarded the Africa Star with 8th Army clasp, the Italy Star, the 1939-1945 Star and the Defence Medal.
John Cape died before I was born. He was my dad's granddad and he fought in WWII. He served in the Desert Rats (8th Army). I have no photos of him. I want to know more.
Donald Haigh was my grandad who was enlisted on 14th August 1941. He went to the Reconnaissance Corps in Lochmaben, Lockerbie, Dumfries to do his training and afterwards was sent down to Kent.
My grandad was part of the Armoured Corps and was deployed to Algiers and then to Tunisia. After North Africa, he was deployed to Italy - Salerno - with part of the Eighth Army across Cava Bridge. He fought alongside the Gurkhas and onto Naples, Cassino. He was then redeployed to Egypt and went from there to Palestine to reinforce the Corps.
From Palestine my grandad was sent back to Italy and on to Florence. From Florence he went to Greece, where there was conflict with the communists and Royalists. He was there for six months.
He was then deployed to Rimini(?) Italy. From Italy they worked their way up to Austria, where they met up with the Russians and then went on to Germany.
He was eventually demobbed on 20th June 1946 from the 10th Royal Hussars RAC with military conduct saying "Exemplary" on his release leave certificate.
Pte. Patrick Joseph Doyle King's Royal Rifle Brigade
My granddad, Paddy Joe Doyle, fought in World War II. I take some of the following words from my mum Joan who included some letters my granddad sent home.
Patrick Doyle served with the Rifle Brigade, Eighth Army, North Africa and Italy.
He was apart from Gran from 1940 to 1947, and was home on leave just a handful of times. I particularly recall two of those occasions, one was when Anne, my sister was born in 1943 and he came home to Dublin on compassionate leave as Gran was desperately ill and not expected to live, and the second was when I made my First Holy Communion. On one of those occasions I remember him saying goodbye to Mam, and to Anne and me, early in the morning when the frost was still on the windows, and gran cried and cried as he left the room with his kitbag over his shoulder. Later I understood that as they said goodbye, there was no guarantee that they would ever see each other again.
He would have been 27 when he joined the army, and at the height of fighting in 1943, 1944 and 1945 he was 30, 31, and 32.
He was in the Rifle Brigade with the 8th Army which was headed by Montgomery, and he was present at the Battle of Monte Casino.
Arrived safe and sound somewhere in North Africa. Everything is strange and interesting so far. Weather warm. Have written some ordinary letters which are on their way. I probably will not get any from you for some time. I am quite well, and so, if everything is right your end there is no reason to worry, so please dont. Mail will not be as often as before, but will be as regular as my duties allow. At the moment I am working all night 7 Days a week. The oranges are plentiful. Have become separated from my mate Fred again. I shall probably be moving on from here in due course. My French is improving already. But Arabic except for a couple of phrases is still a closed book. Will write a long letter at weekend, which should reach you around Paddys Day if you are lucky! Give my love to friends and relations, especially Mum, and Dad. You are constantly in my thoughts, and our three stars, which are very brilliant here, is a common bond. I keep praying that you, Joan and Baby Anne are all well. Keep your heart up Sweetheart, like Im doing, it cant go on for ever. God Bless you and give you strength and happiness.
Always your ever loving Pat x x x x x x x
Joan x x Anne x x"
Letter:
"Airmail Letter 3d. stamp with an official stamp on the outside saying Released by Censor.
On the back of the letter, in Paddy Joes handwriting he says to the Censor:
I certify on my honour that the contents of this letter refers only to private and family matters.
Addressed to: Miss Joan P. Doyle, 18 Shelbourne Road, Ballsbridge, Dublin, Eire
Italy, 28th November 1944.
My Own Darling Mummy, Joan & Anne,
Here comes another Xmas, the fourth that we have missed together. The only one when we were all together, except Baby Anne of course, you were too small to remember, but I remember for you.
I feel for you and Mum, more than I do for myself, cos soldiers must be brave and not care about anything at least not too much. But while you are enjoying Xmas, as I want you to very much, maybe you would like to know how the little girls and boys here in Italy will spend theirs. Of course they will go to Mass, as they are all very good Catholics, but most of them will go bare footed, or at the best in wooden shoes. But they wont come home to a nice breakfast and a fire like you will, for you see, laughing eyes, there arent any fireplaces in Italian houses, and there is not too much food either. Also there will be a lot of snow, or at least rain to make things worse.
Now in North Africa where I spent last Xmas things will be different. First of all there will be lots of sun but very little Xmas, as Arabs do not hold Xmas. But ask Mummy to tell you stories, and maybe she will tell you how she and I used to spend Xmas Eve. How I would go out singing hymns to get money for poor children, and when I was finished would visit Mummy in her house and then we would go for walk down the Fort Road (Pigeon Fort Road) and watch the big moon and stars on the water. Or the first present I gave you, Mummy, remember? The manicure set. How bashfully I gave it to you, afraid you would not like it and so proud when you did.
Darling Joan, when you grow older, which wont be for a long time, I hope you have as much fun and joy as we have had. Anne, the radio is playing, Together, followed by Mean to me. Can you guess what its doing to me? And Baby Anne, sure I scarcely know you, but love you, not more, because in the Magic Four we all love equally. Our first Xmas together I promise you lots of fun and now, my lovely, loved, and loving people, dont think I shall be far from you at Xmas. Mummy knows I shall walk and talk beside you in spirit.
God Bless you all. Lots of fun and happiness is the wish of your loving Daddy, x x x"
Letter:
Austria
Tuesday, 18th Sept. 1945
Darling Little Laughing Eyes,
When you receive this letter you will be six years of age, P.G. It doesnt seem such a long time since you were so tiny as to fit comfortably into a small drawer. Many happy returns of your birthday little sweetheart and may all your dreams come through. I am enclosing a little Ricordo da Roma, hope you like it.
The country where I am is very beautiful, we are surrounded by forests. Sometimes I go there to sit and think of all the nice times we are all going to have together. If I remain very quiet the little squirrels come chattering down the trees in search of nuts. They are very industrious in laying by a stock of food for the winter and then when the snow comes (it remains on the ground for three to four months, and is higher than your head if you stood on your tip toes), they retire to their little house and sleep all the winter, only waking to have some food and then off to sleep again. Would you like to do that? I know you would love them. They have soft coats of reddish brown fur and a long fluffy tail bigger than themselves, golden bronze in colour. Also there are flocks of birds flying in a wonderful style all through the day. Already I am training some of them to come to my window for crumbs so that when the cruel frost and snow comes they will know where to come for food. The weather is glorious and I am tanned like an Arab (not to be confused with street arabs!).
What new subjects are you learning at school, and are you doing well at them. Are you still with the same nice kind teacher. Have you taught Baby Anne any of the prayers you have been taught. Sometimes I get so lonely for you all that I feel very sad, but then soldiers, just like soldiers daughters, must never get sad over things which cant be helped.
My hand is still sore so its time I gave it a rest. Give my love to your Grand-Dad and Grand-ma, uncles, aunts and cousins. Give Mummy an extra special hug and kiss on your birthday as its a big day in her memory too. Tell Anne some nice stories, until I can get home to tell you both some.
Charles Poulton served from 3rd September 1939 to 29th May 1946 as a dispatch rider and linesman for the Royal Signals under the 8th Army seeing service in North Africa, Italy and Greece.
His service record is exemplary. Charles died on 5th January 2005 in his home town. I came across a service photo of him with 'blood and guts' written in top right corner.
Bdr. Jack Pickett 4th Medium Regiment, 14/16 Battery Royal Artillery
First and foremost of course it's number, rank and name time, so, I am 5495550 Sgt Jack Pickett of 14/16 Battery of the 4th Medium Regiment Royal Artillery. I served in this Battery and Regiment through the whole of the 2nd World War from start to finish.
In 1940 having survived Dunkirk, of which every one of us who was there have our memories of that horrific epic, and how we got back etc, I find myself turning to another theatre of war which is really the story I am about to relate.
We had finished in North Africa having beaten the Axis forces and had been shipped across to Italy and travelled up the Adriatic coast to Anacona.
On arrival we were informed that we had to proceed to the Anzio Bridgehead, as they needed big guns. Our battery was equipped with 8 5.5-inch Guns. These had a range of 16,200 yards (14,813m) and a shell weight of 100lbs (45.36Kg).
Anzio, of course, is on the opposite coast, so a very long journey took place, a bit like "have gun will travel!" Having arrived at Anzio and established ourselves, which meant a lot of hard work, eventually a gentleman came up the track which was adjacent to my gun, in his jeep. He had a red band around his cap. He had come for a look see. No, he wasn't the Salvation Army man with cups of tea but a very high ranking Staff Officer who promply went back to the Command Post and said that he wanted all guns dug in like the 25 pounders, a very much smaller gun than our 5.5s, which had balancing springs that stood over 6ft high. How we overcame the problem is a story far too long to relate here. So, on to the crucial part of this episode which is the barrage we put down on the final push to Rome. Sounds exciting I know, but we started the barrage at midnight, firing continually until dawn the next morning. The battery fired well over 3000 rounds during that period, bearing in mind that each shell weighed 100lbs and had to be manhandled onto a loading tray, the tray onto the cradle of the gun and then rammed home by two gunners with a ramrod into the barrel of the gun with a satisfying 'clunk' and then fired.
I must emphasize that as we fired so many rounds, the gun barrels got so hot the paint peeled off, the oil in the recuperating system literally bubbled and this was the only time in the entire war when we had one gun out of action for 15 minutes at a time to cool down. With guns blazing all around and, although music to gunners' ears, the noise was traffic and the Tannoy from which we received orders from the Command Post was perched on sandbags at the side of the gun pit. I found myself dashing to and fro putting my ear to the Tannoy to make sure I heard all the orders correctly.
>p>At dawn when we got the "ceasefire" order it was deathly quiet, in fact it seemed eerie.
We were wet with perspiration and near exhaustion and then almost instantly a gunner's voice broke the silence by saying "Got a fag Jack?". I was a non-smoker myself but I always had a little store for those who did.
To conclude this part of my story I would like to bring your attention to a painting that graces many a Royal Artillery Mess, of gunners in the First World War, with drag ropes`attached and pulling their guns out of thick mud, with the caption underneath "Straining at the Leash". The gunners God bless them.
Those last few words is what I dedicate to all my gun crew that served, not only the guns, but King and country so extremely well at Anzio.
The Sangro River
This part of my story comes after Anzio and Rome. We were pushing up north to support the Poles.
We had a good lyric writer in the battery, Sgt Roberts by name, and he wrote the following to the tune of Lily Marlene.
"After we fought our glorious way to Rome
Then we thought that we were going home
They sent us up to help the Poles
They'd got into a sticky hole
14/16 Bty, 14/16 Bty".
No, we did not go home, but straight back into the line, on the Adriatic side of Italy and made our way toward the River Sangro to give support. Our General in command of operations was General Montgomery, affectionatly known to us all as "Monty". Well, our guns were deployed just below the brow of a hill and my gun was nearest the road, very near in fact, and this was the only road up to the front.
The country roads in Italy are so narrow in some places that two vehicals could not pass, so to overcome that problem they cut passing points into the hillside or field. Such a hillside passing point was directly adjacent to my gun. Monty, in his chauffeur driven car, came up to this vantage point for several days before the Battle of the Sangro took place, crawled with his very large binoculars to the highest point to look at the German positions on the other side of the river.
Before I go much further I must explain. 4th Medium Regiment RA had been part of Churchill's 1st Army during Dunkirk and the North African Campaign and we were proud of that and still wore the 1st Army Flash on our shoulder.
After the Africa Campaign we were transfered to the 8th Army under Monty but still kept our 1st Army flash.
Much had happened in North Africa but I must get back to the story on the Sangro River because that's where the highlight of this story took place, and for me most certainly, because I met and spoke with Monty.
Having arrived back from his vantage point to the passing point, I was amazed when he called me over to his car. Naturally, I stood to attention and quietly said "Sir". With that he looked at the 1st Army insignia on my shoulders and said "What are they Bombardier?" and when I said "1st Army Insignia, Sir", he gently rebuked me saying "You are not in the 1st Army now Bombardier, you are in the 8th Army!" Monty was very proud of the 8th Army and after Alamein who could blame him?
The next thing he said was "Do you smoke Bombardier?" I said "No Sir, but I have a gun crew who do" and with that he said "Hold your arms open then" and he promptly filled them with Wills Gold Flake cigarettes and I toddled back to my gun and my arms were emptied in no time at all. Of course I said thank you but could not salute because I had no arms as it were!
I feel very privilaged that this little incident took place and I certainly shall never forget it. Monty had a staff car, which he captured in the desert. It had a glove compartment which stretched from one side of the car to the other. This he filled with cigarettes and handed out to the troops wherever he went. It happened to me ladies and gentlemen, so I know it's true.
Among my war souveniers I have a packet of Wills Gold Flake to this very day.
That's how I came to chat with General Montgomery. He did not drink, he did not smoke. I won't go further than that, but he did think of us men, which is humanity of course. When the Americans lost eighty thousand men in the Ardennes and Monty chipped in to stem the tide with the 21st Army Group, Eisenhower, Supreme Commander, wrote to Monty saying "My Dear Monty, If there is any thing I can ever do for you I'll do it". Monty, God Bless him, is no longer with us but what a fine epitaph to take with him.
Dvr. Frederick Montague "Nobby" Clarke 3/4th Battalion County of London Yeomanry
My father was a desert rat, and was a lorry driver with 22nd aArmoured Division during the war. He told us an amusing story of how he had acquired some Italian army boots in Italy. Whilst driving his foot slipped off the brake pedal and he collided with the lorry in front of him. It was only a minor collision and the sergeant had a brief chat with my dad, and said "what happened Nobby?" My dad explained about the boots and the sergeant seemed ok with it. Dad heard no more about it until years later when we requested his records and he was annoyed to learn that the Army had fined him a week's pay over the incident.
Capt. Bernard Edward "Bunny" Rightford MC, MM. 5th Btn. Royal Tank Regiment
My father, Bernard Rightford was one of three members of the South African forces to have received both the MM and the MC for actions during WW2. He was born on 25th December 1916.
He joined the British Army in 1935 for a six-year deployment to learn a trade and was posted to 5th Btn Royal Tank Regt at Bovington.
When war was declared on Germany he was deployed to France with his unit as part of the BEF. He and his unit formed part of the defence of the Dunkirk perimeter, and were evacuated a week after Dunkirk from Cherbourg.
By now a Staff Sergeant, he was posted to Egypt to train and eventually join the South African forces that were assembling after the Abyssinian campaign, but before this came about he saw action at Bir el Gubi and was awarded the MM for rescuing another tank crew in distress.
Following the 8th Army campaign from El Alamein to Tripoli, he was transferred to the Natal Mounted Rifles and returned to the Union of South Africa for training of the 6th SA Armoured Division, which formed part of the 8th Army in the Italian campaign.
He was awarded the MC for using his tank as an artillery target at a stalemate situation at Chiusi. By the end of the war he had had 13 tanks blown up underneath him, which I am told is a record.
After the war was over, he returned to South Africa, married and had a son, and built up an earthmoving contracting business. He passed away on 16th February 1992.
My father, Christopher Seneviratne, was a signalman during WW2. He served in the Middle East from 19/03/1941 to 22/11/1942 and in India from 23/11/1942 to 24/03/1943. His Soldiers Service and Pay Book says he was awarded an Africa Star Medal with an 8th Army clasp. He didn't speak much about his experiences during the war except to tell us that he was one of the 'Desert Rats' and that one of his nicknames was 'Snowball'. I have a collection of photographs taken while he was in North Africa and would like to make contact with anyone who recognises a relative of theirs in any of the photos. He trained at Trowbridge - Special Operators Training Battalion. The will in his passbook was signed by H. Ford, 17 Pitman Avenue, Trowbridge.
Tpr. Peter Noel Peach 2nd Btn. Northamptonshire Yeomanry
My dad, Peter Peach, served with the 2nd Northamptonshire Yeomanry and joined after his mate told him they would teach you to drive for free if you joined this week (in 1939?) and this he did.
I have spoken to "experts" for this Yeomanry at our local records office and they tell me that this Yeomanry never went to Africa and my dad was mistaken when he told me stories of being there. I have since requested his Army records and, behold, he received the Africa Star - which I have. It now looks from his records that he was sent there with the Yorkshire Hussars, maybe as a driver, as they were perhaps short of drivers. His stories to me were of a tank radio op and a driver for the Desert Rats raiding parties.
All records show he disembarked in Cyprus 1942. Because the records are sketchy, I can't find what he did with the Hussars or what his war experiences were with them. He told stories of Eygypt, Arab sellers of cigs and leaving Italy to return to England with the Desert Rat regiment - a six-week ordeal according to him - when they ran out of fresh water after a short while.
He went on to Europe with the Scots Guards - we think going through Belgium to Berlin - and we were told the 2nd Northamptonshires were the first tanks across the Rhine, but it is all sketchy and difficult to find more now he has passed. As kids we never thought to ask him about his war experiences which we all now regret. Perhaps one day we will find out more and we will give a clearer picture to these unsung heroes from Yeomanry who were attached to great regiments but whose records of their war stories have been lost inside them and it's now too late for anyone to remember them.
Sgt. John Locke Neale Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders
John Neale was with the 8th Army. He didn't talk about it much but he had been involved in three actions, Anzio, Solerno and Monte Cassino. He was attached to Lord Mountbatten's Regiment.
Cpl. Ronald Crowshaw 309 Coy. Royal Army Service Corps
My father, Ronald Crowshaw, enlisted on 3rd of March 1941 in Barnsley at the age of 18 into the 70th (Young Soldiers) Battalion King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry and was sent to Loughborough for basic training on the 7th March. After completing basic training the battalion moved in April, on foot, to Cleethorpes. The battalion role was coastal defence and troops were billeted in Cleethorpes and Grimsby. The Company then moved to Goxhill Airfield in support of RAF ground defence. The airfield was later transferred to the American Air Force. It was during this period that the 70th Bn were being split up. There was a shortage of miners, and ex-miners were being sent back to the pit. There was also a shortage of drivers and so to ensure that he did not get sent back to the pit, he volunteered to become a driver and was sent to the RASC Army Driver Training School at Clay Cross in Derbyshire.
In early June 1942 he was ordered to report to Woking in Surrey. A group of them were taken to a large country mansion where they were issued with tropical khaki uniforms and pith helmets. The draft was then transported by train, under MP escort, to the Glasgow port of Gourock. During this time they were not allowed off the train and no letters home were allowed. On arrival at the port, they were ferried out in small parties to the awaiting troop ships at anchor in the Clyde. He embarked on board the SS Cersasia and on 6th of June 1942 Convoy RHHOH set sail for destinations unknown.
The first port of call was Freetown in Sierra Leone and then on to Durban in South Africa. Here the troops disembarked and stayed at Clairwood Camp for a few weeks enjoying the local attractions and hospitality! In July of 1942 it was time to set sail again and the troops embarked on the SS Felix Russell, a French registered ship, which had been previously used to transport Italian POWs.
North Africa: The troops disembarked at Port Taufiq on the Suez Canal and moved into transit camps around Farid and Ismalia. The troops were battlefield replacements for those captured or killed at Tobruk and on 21st October 1942 Pte Crowshaw was posted (up the blue) to 309 Coy RASC (Corps troops) part of 30 Corps (Eighth Army). He was employed on convoy duties which included the delivery of dummy slit trenches to Kidney Ridge, bombs to the RAF at Marble Arch, and resupply of ammunition and fuel.
During this period the convoy was attacked and strafed by German fighters following the battle for Hellfire Pass. On 20th April he was employed on troop transport duties. He picked up the Ox & Bucks Light Infantry from Tobruk and moved them to their start line positions for the Battle at Enfideville on the 26th. By now he had been promoted to Lance Corporal and his North African campaign had taken him from Egypt, through Libya and in to Tunisia - a distance of approx 1600 miles. He continued to collect and transport supplies and troops to Benghazi, Mersa el Brega, Tripoli, Sfax and many more unnamed places in the desert.
Sicily: On 13th April 1943 L/Cpl Crowshaw boarded a ship in Sfax Harbour, destination unknown. After only one day at sea the convoy docked at the port of Valetta in Malta on 15th June[?] and disembarked to begin the preparation for the invasion of Sicily. The Company landed on H+2 (12th July) at 1600 hours on the beaches near Avola and went into action in support of 107th Med Fd Arty RA (Army Artillery Group). Over the next couple of weeks the Company was supporting operations with the delivery of ammunition and fuel to forward units. The convoy was subject to a number of air attacks and on 16th July was strafed on the road from Vizzina to Grammicheli. Convoy duties continued into August until the cessation of hostilities on 17th August at 1100 hours.
Italy: 309 Coy RASC landed at Reggio Calabria on 10th September 1943. On the 22nd the Company moved to Brindisi via Taranto employed on dock work. On 5th October 309 Company was attached to 110 Detail Issue Depot RAOC collecting and delivering stores. The weather had deteriorated with heavy rain and two soldiers of the Company died from malaria. On 13th the Company moved to Foggia. The advance continued and on 15th October the Company was transferred to bridging operations in support of 56 (London) Division and 78th (Battle Axe) Division. During October and early November the Company was conducting tasks between San Saverno, Barletta and Foggia, during which time the heavy rains continued.
German air raids were now taking place and during the latter part of November he contracted malaria and impetigo (a skin disorder). Some days were spent in bed but he also continued carrying out details to Bari and Foggia. The illness continued into December. However, by the 8th he was again on daily tasks to Termoli and San Salvo. From 9th to 22nd December the Company were supporting the Royal Engineers on bridging tasks on the Tringo River, then building the Chelsea Bridge and delivering more bridging to Camomorino. The weather was very bad and vehicles were bogged in. The Company had a break for Christmas at the camp in San Salvo and on Christmas day the troops were served gunfire (tea with rum).
My father's diary records 'best dinner in 4 years got drunk'. The Company was working on the 26th and by the 27th it was back to normal - convoy work, bridging and the rain. On the 27th L/Cpl Crowshaw was on a detail in support of the REs to Vasto and on the 28th his gearbox seized and his vehicle had to be recovered back to workshops at Ururi via Larino. On New Year's Eve the vehicle was still in the workshops and the rainstorms did not cease and L/Cpl Crowshaw spent the night in his vehicle. In his diary my father sums up 1943 as Not a bad year. (He was after all still alive.)
On or about 25th of March 1944, elements of the 8th Army, including 309 Company, were secretly moved from their positions on the Adriatic coast in support of the 5th Army at Cassino. It was in March 1944 that Mount Vesuvius (south of Naples) erupted, covering the surrounding country with a deep layer of volcanic ash. During this time 309 Company were in support of the 5th Field Company South African Engineers at Cassino. Only my father knows what sights and sounds he witnessed and what danger he and his Company were exposed to during this terrible battle and one thing is for sure, there were no bystanders during the battle to take Monte Cassino and every soldier played a vital part in the operation, especially the RASC drivers who had to run the daily gauntlet on Highway 6 (Speedy Highway).
309 Compay were now in support of the 5th British Corps on the right flank of the 2nd Polish Corps. Rimini fell on 21st September, the Savio and Ronco rivers were crossed at the end of October and Forli was taken on the 9th November. The rainfall had been very heavy up to mid-December, which was followed by a deep covering of snow for two months. In the lower valleys, mud was the biggest problem and remained so until March. During this period the Eighth Army, including 309 Company, were undergoing rest and re-training.
The main allied offensive started on 9th April 1945 with a tremendous artillery bombardment against the first German defensive line on the Senio. 309 Company provided support to 78th (Battleaxe) Division. 309 Company had continued to support 78 Division RE Bridging units who constructed bridges over the Rivers Senio, Santerno, Sillaro and Reno. The next major objective, and obstacle, was the River Po. 309 Company delivered the pontoon boats and bridge sections for the construction of the 1110 foot long Bailey pontoon bridge over the Po at Pontelagoscuro, which became operational on midnight of 27th April. On 29th April the Germans agreed to an unconditional surrender and hostilities were to cease on 2nd May. My father and 309 Company celebrated with the gunners who lit a big bonfire made from ammunition boxes.
Austria: The end of the war did not mean peace for the British troops in Italy. The political situation involving Italy, Austria and Yugoslavia, especially in respect of partisan activity, created a very dangerous and at times violent situation. 309 Company entered Austria in early June 1945. HQ British Troops Austria was initially located in Klagenfurt and in the Gras area of Austria, 46th Division was the controlling formation. Many units and formations were now being disbanded or relocated and for many soldiers the war was over and they were sent back to the UK for demobilisation. 309 Company was one of the units that was disbanded. However, within a short time a German Transport Column was formed from surrendered enemy personnel, under the general supervision of a small cadre of British officers and men drawn from various RASC units. 602 German GT Company was one of these companies and L/Cpl Crowshaw was posted to the British cadre and promoted to A/Cpl. The Company was used on various transport tasks, including logging in the forests around Klagenfurt. In August 1945, after four years away from home, Cpl Crowshaw was granted leave home to the UK and was discharged in May 1946.
My Dad, Ronald Standen served with the Rifle Brigade I have an Egyptian diary from 1943 with comments on my dad's experiences whilst in the desert with the 8th Army (Desert Rats).
Pte. John Alfred Scearce Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry
I know very little. I wished I had asked him more about his time during the war. For a while he was a medical orderly during his time in India before travelling down to Egypt, where he was part of the 8th Army. My father would tell me stories of being part of a gun crew on 25 pounders. How this came about when he was enlisted in the light infantry I'm not sure.
John Scearce was captured while on the Greek island of Leros. His POW record has him listed as belonging to the King's Own Royal Regiment, something he never mentioned.
My late father, Jack Halsted, was in the Artillery and part of the South African and Rhodesian Army which fought the Italians in East Africa. After being shipped up to Beira, Mozambique. Thereafter they drove overland to engage the Italians in Abyssinia (Tanzania), pushing them back into Ethiopia. Once the Italian threat had been dealt with, the Southern African Army was shipped to Cairo where they were re-equipped and assigned to the 8th Army, effectively becoming a Desert Rat.
He was wounded at El Alamein and captured. After a short convalescence, he and many others were shipped across the Mediterranean to Italy and transported by rail up through Italy, over the Alps and into Germany. Then across Germany to Stalag VIII-C in Silesia near the current day town of Sagan.
Stalag VIII-C was directly opposite Stalag Luft III. He sold his watch to one of the Great Escapees who, unfortunately, was never heard of again.
In February 1945, he and many other POW's, were force marched 400 miles across Poland and Germany as part of the Death Marches, ending in Bad-Orb near Frankfurt. It was here that they were liberated by the Americans.
He, and many others, were evacuated to England where he convalesced for 3 months before being shipped back to South Africa. On arrival his father presented him with a new watch, which I still have.
Dvr. Bernard Cashmore 19th Coy. Royal Army Service Corps
My dad, Bernard Cashmore, was deployed from Egypt on 17th March 1941 from the Port of Alexandra, arriving in Greece on the 18th.
He was captured at Kalamanta on 29th of April 1941, and was held POW in Stalag XV111A Austria from 29th June 1941 until 3rd July 1941, when he was transferred to a working camp at Zollfield from 5th July until 14th November 1941 working on railway line laying. He was then transferred to another working camp - Steindorf Karten - from 14th November 1941 until 4th April 1942 doing the same work as he did at Zollfield.
He went back to Stalag XV111A on 5th April 1942 until 6th July 1942 when he was transferred to another working camp at Klagenfurt Karten from 6th July until 7th May 1945 working on rail and road.
Cpl. Gorge Henry "Spiter" Baalham 5th Btn. Dorsetshire Regiment
Gorge Baalham served in the 8th Army fighting through the North African campaign (1942-1943) then got a transfer to the 5th Dorset Regiment and though the Normandy campaign (6th June 1944 - 20th August 1944) went though Caen and that is when the story ends.
My father Chanan Singh Dhillon was serving in the British Indian Army with 41st Field Park Coy, Royal Engineers, 8th Army and was captured on the 9th of June 1942 at around 1657 Hrs near El-Daba (Altaba?) airport between Mersa Matruh and El-Alamein.
After a long trip with many adventures on the way; including the torpedoeing of his POW transport vessel Loreto on 13th of
October 1942 by a British submarine HMS Unruffled, he finally reached Stalag 12A.
He went through a hard time until the camp (as per his account) was liberated by the American army in 1945.
We found several pictures of him from the camp in an account with the following link:
http://old.506infantry.org/hiswwii/his3rdbnwwiiphoto25.html
from the
POW Notebook of
1SG Woodrow H. Smith,
G Company, 3rd BN, 506th PIR, 1942-1945
POW June 44-April 45
I am not sure if the pictures were taken by Woodrow H. Smith; but hats off; it was a lucky find and we are grateful to whoever took these.
My father came back from the war and finally received his officers commission in 1960; finally retiring as a Lt. Col. from the Indian Army in 1975.
He was, as were men of his generation, a man of few words but did manage to pen down his life's journey, the publication of which is underway.
I want to visit Stalag 12A and hope to do so soon.
Anyone who knew him or can tell me more, is welcome to respond.
My father Michael Levy from London, was in the RAMC and was attached to the 8th Army in North Africa. His Commanding Officer was Montgomery at the Battle of El Alamein. He was also stationed in Burma in November 1944, East of the Brahmaputra and was attached to the 51st Indian Field Ambulance. He had a tattoo of a Sphynx on one of his arms.
After service, he went back to being a barber. He married during the war and passed away in December 1979.
If anyone has any information about any of the campaigns that he would have been in or if anyone remembers such a name I would love to hear about it.
Pte. Robert Brewster Hamilton 176th (Highland) Field Ambulance Royal Army Medical Corps
Robert Hamilton served with 176th (Highland) Field Ambulance RAMC, attached to 7th Battalion Black Watch in 154 Brigade, 51st Highland Division.
He served in North Africa with 8th Army and was part of the 7th Battalion Black Watch that spearheaded the invasion of Sicily, D Day push into North West Europe and amongst the first to cross the Rhine. Also, amongst the first to liberate Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.
Charles Williams is my father through adoption when he married my mother, I was then 18 months old. He was nicknamed Spud. I know very little of his part in the war, probably partly due to the fact he lost his younger brother who was in the RAF in 1943.
Charles was part of the 8th Army and took part in the Battle of El Alamein and has the Africa Star. He was also in France ahead of the D-Day landings. I did not know he was trained in signals until my recent research. He told us he was a radio operator and knew morse code but that is all we knew while growing up. He did his training in Prestatyn and Rhos on Sea, which I have found out from my recently acquired Army record. On this record it mentions he was in the 30th Romford District Signals, he was given an exemplary conduct record, which was signed by a Major Philpott, initials AW as far as I can make out. Other than that he told us he had met General Montgomery and found him a likeable chap (his words).
His medals I believe are now held in Aldershot military museum where his older daughter took them. I would love to know more about his time in the Army or anyone who remembers him.
Drv. William Matthew Robinson 1st Field Park Squadron Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers
During the evacuation from Dunkirk, Bill Robinson was injured whilst trying to repair his damaged vehicle. A bomb dropped behind the truck and the force of the blast rolled the truck over his arm. He got to the beach and was eventually taken off by a small steam boat. Somehow they lost their bearings and ended up alone in the English Channel and it took three days to get back to England. The lack of drinking water on the crowded boat caused his death in 1950 as his kidneys failed. He was unable to move and he was next to the boiler, the extra heat and the lack of water later caused his death. After Dunkirk he spent a year with the 8th Army in North Africa. He became so ill that he was transferred in 1942 to a hospital in South Africa.
I was 4 years old when he died so I do not know too much about his wartime experience.
My Grandfather Edward Wood who served right through the second world war in the Royal Artillery, I think with the 8th Army and was in Italy and North Africa.
He was married to Lillian and had a son Robin Lynton and daughter Susan Ellen Lillian (my Mum) who was born in 1943, he didn't see her until he returned in 1945 or even 1946.
I have photographs of him in North Africa but am due to get the records, army number etc. plus four medals from my Aunty (Robin's wife) shortly. I am told that he was at El Alamein and Monte Cassino and Sicily landings and whilst he was travelling up through Rome he had sight of the Pope who travelled past and touched the top of the heads of several soldiers including Ted.
Ted returned to Stafford and began building houses with his brothers Alec and Wilf. He died of cancer in around 1970 at the premature age of 57.
Very proud of him and will do some research to confirm and verify the above detail and fill in some gaps. Whilst he was away for pretty much the entire war my Nan looked after two young children, worked and kept their house up and running. I can't imagine not seeing my daughter for the first time until she was nearly three!
Capt. Edward Herbert Robson MiD. Berkshire Regiment (d.23rd October 1944)
From Leighton Park School magazine The Leightonian 1944, obituary written by Headmaster Edgar Castle.
"Edward Herbert Robson (Leighton Park 1926-1929)
Only a few days after hearing the news that John E. Robson had died of wounds on the Gustav Line, we heard that his elder brother Herbert had been killed in action in Italy on October 23rd, 1944. This grievous news follows that of their brother Peter who was wounded at Arnhem and is presumed prisoner of war.
Captain Herbert Robson was the eldest of these four brothers, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Robson, who for over twenty years gave such notable service to Leighton Park... It can be said of few of us that we possess an unblemished character or that our friends would not wish to have us just a little different. But this can be said of Herbert. He was
the sort of person most of us would like to be sturdy, clean, fearless, integrated, physically alert, confident about his future and yet, with all these virtues, a boy and a man with the merriest of hearts. His smile and his handshake were heartening experiences. Indeed,it can be said of all these brothers that wherever they were one could be assured that the situation would be as it should be. Herbert was not brilliant at either games or study, but he was competent in both, touching School life at many points. He played for his House at Cricket and Rugger, and for the School Second XI. He was a keen musician and eventually developed a very good voice.
After leaving School he entered Reading University and studied horticulture which became his profession, one in which he proved himself to be peculiarly fitted. He showed great initiative in gaining practical experience in many types of horticultural work and before he joined the Forces it had become clear that he had a career of distinction before him. At a comparatively early age he had held responsible positions at Kew.
He joined the army early in the war as a private. Later he gained his commission and had attained the rank of Captain in the Berkshire Regiment with the Eighth Army at the time of his death. He was an officer of fine quality, one whose first care would be for his men, who could easily combine friendship and leadership in the dangerous tasks where human sympathy and courage are required. Like his brother John, he was convinced of the righteousness of the cause for which he gave his life; he knew what he was doing."
He was serving attached to the 5th Btn. Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment when he was killed.
Pte. James Govan "Jock" Livingston 2nd Battalion. F Coy. Scots Guards
Do not know much about my father, James Livingston's war service. Only that he was with the 8th Army in North Africa and was later in Italy and Europe.
I am trying to research my grandfather. As in many other stories on this website, my grandfather did not speak of the war. However, as he got older he did open up and helped towards a history project I had. This is what he told my father.
He joined the army in 1941 when he was 17. (However, my father seems to think he was drafted.) He was in the Royal Armoured Corps. My father noted 'special unit 32'. I am unsure as to whether this is the 32nd Tank Brigade or something else.
He stated that he was taught to drive English and German war vehicles. During training he was told if he had enough money to go and take a class in karate. My father seems to think that it was £50 or more. My granddad said that these lessons saved his life.
He said that he was in the 8th Army at Tripoli and became a desert rat, before moving to the invasion of Sicily. Granddad said that he acted as a decoy by driving a vehicle in the opposite direction to deceive the Germans.
He was also present at Monte Cassino. Here he was captured with his friend (I do not know his name) by the Italians. They locked my granddad and his friend in a cellar, leaving them for dead. When the damn broke my granddad survived the flooding by holding on to meat hooks until the water subsided. (This is quite ironic, as he became a butcher after the war.) Afterwards, he arrived at Belsen, which he did not wish to talk about.
Granddad stated that he helped to liberate Poland, which he said was the best part of his job.
My father seems to recall a story that he drove a motorcycle behind enemy lines. He also believes that my granddad was in Paris as he had a French girlfriend and also had a cigarette packet from there.
We do not have my grandad's war record or number, I am trying to find this. I have noted down that he was awarded the 4 stars medal and the bravery medal, although we do not have these. I am trying to research my grandad for my dissertation at university. If you have any information or stories that you are willing to share please get in touch with me.
My father Joseph Brewer was in the Eighth Army, 7th Armoured Division from September 1939 and was deployed until 1945 having also spent some time in Italy.
Cpl. Wilfred Featherstone "Pip" Griffin MiD. Royal Signals
Wilfred Griffin, my father, joined up early 1939 in the Royal Signals. He and my mother had only been married for just over a year, he was about 29 years old. At first he was a Despatch Rider, based in Hertfordshire, riding motor bikes and possibly driving lorries.
He was at Dunkirk and I think he came back on a fishing boat, but not certain.
He was definitely in the North African campaign, he told his family that Monty addressed the troops and they thought he was wonderful. He was in Tripoli, Sicily, Italy, (I think Austria as he brought home a little girl's Austrian costume for his daughter).
When he was based at Greenham Common, Newbury, in 1941, he found digs for his wife nearby, and his daughter was born in January 1942. He only saw her once again before the end of the war, when she was three years old, she remembers his homecoming in 1945 with a huge knapsack.
There are photos of him in Egypt sitting on a camel in front of the pyramids, in Venice in a gondola, in Rome, plus newspaper cuttings in Italy. The troops were given tickets for the opera whilst there.
His nickname in the army was Pip because his name was Wilfred and there was a cartoon at the time called Pip, Squeak and Wilfred. He would never eat corned beef afterwards as he said it reminded him of bully beef they had in the war. He died in 1972 aged 62 years old.
Gnr. William Henry Durrans 146th Field Regiment Royal Artillery
William Durrans enlisted on the 14th of May 1942 at Congleton. He joined the 146th (Pembroke Yeomanry) Field Regiment, as a gunner/driver. The Regiment was part of the 7th Armoured Division and 8th Army and saw action in North Africa, Sicily and Italy, France and Germany. It was equipped with 5.5 howitzers, 25 pounder guns and limbers and Sexton SPG.
William survived the war.
My father, Edmund Evans,was born in the east end of London in 1910 and lived to the ripe age of 93. An old soldier when WW2 broke out, many men looked to dad for guidance. I'm not sure what or when different phases of the war involved my dad. As a young lad and teenager, my dad would often refer back to during the war which became very boring and embarrassing but I now realise how much it had affected him and how I regret not writing down his tales! I know that he was initially involved as an ARP during the bombing of London and had stories of horror and Temple Meads getting heavily bombed.
I have photos of him with his best pal, Ernie Lawrence in Rome after the British worked their way up from Sicily. Ernie lived at a big filthy farm on Barrio Bridge, Bodmin Moor, he was the strongest man dad knew and could support a man hanging from each of his arms! The last time I visited him I was sixteen in 1972, he was still a formidable character then. I also have some snaps taken after the hammering of Monte Cassino, my dad said that German snipers were still inside after the battering by Americans and RAF. Tales from driving up through the desert but no clarity.
I would love to know more of the 8th Army under Gen. Alexander as I wish to share this with my sons.
L/Cpl. Harry Nuttall 17th GT Company Royal Army Service Corps
Harry Nuttall was 19 when WWII broke out. Harry and his dad were fishing near a railway signal box in England and the signalman shouted to them that the British government had declared war on Germany.
Harry wanted to join the army straight away, but his mother remembered the dead and wounded from WWI and made Harry promise to wait until he was called up.
Harry enlisted at the age of 20 in 1940 and was proud to have fought for his country. After various postings around the UK, Harry was in Scotland when he was told he was being posted overseas.
The troop ship took him all the way round Africa to get to Egypt and Harry was involved in the North Africa campaign and subsequently the Italian campaign with the British 8th Army.
My father, Christopher Seneviratne, was a signalman in the 8th Army between March 1941 and November 1942. He served in India from November 1942 to March 1943 after which he was appointed to a Commission in the Ceylon Defence Forces.
He enlisted at Whitby and spent time at Catterick and Trowbridge before going overseas. I have a collection of photographs from his time in the Desert Campaign and his training days. I would be interested to hear from anyone who knew him or who remembers a relative speaking about him.
Spr. Samuel Frank Begley 230th Field Coy. Royal Engineers
Samuel Begley was my father. He enlisted in Gloucester on 29th of February 1940. I know his unit was with Monty until March 1945, but I would like to fill in a lot of gaps.
My Uncle Bill Sinfield died years ago. His daughter lives in the Netherlands as he married a Dutch girl. He came back to England with her but then returned to Herlinda to work in the Dutch mines. He was known as the mad English Man because he rode his motorbike so fast. He came to England regularly.
He was attached to 8th Army. Tobruk, El Alemein. Also 1944 liberation of Holland.
He was MID for bravery at a city called Oss. He was also involved with liberation of Belsen.
Capt. Donald Eric "Smudge" Smith MM. 4th Recce Reconnaisance Corps
Donald Smith, Smudge survived Dunkirk. He trained at Catterick and was redeployed to North Africa as part of the Desert Rats.
He was awarded the Military Medal for gallantry in the field which is mentioned in the book "Only the Enemy in Front" and was awarded his MM at Buckingham Palace.
He was the first Englishman to reach Cape Bon. He fought in Sicily & Italy up to Monte Casino. He was re-deployed in Greece to quell Communist uprising.
He survived the war and was awarded the
Defence Medal, 1939-45 Star, France Star, Africa StarItaly Star and the Military Medal.
Jack Blane's War.
This is the account my father wrote for the family of his war. He wrote it in 2002, at the age of eighty three.
No 7266456, Private J Blane (later promoted to Lance Corporal. He refused promotion to Sgt as it would have meant leaving his unit and being re-assigned, probably to Burma.)
Royal Army Medical Corps, No 3 (BR) Casualty Clearing Station
I entered military service at Crookham Barracks, 15th September 1939. After three months training I had Embarkation Leave for one week at Christmas.
Having embarked for France on a bitterly cold New Year's Eve, I was sent to Number 3 Casualty Clearing Station (3 CCS) at Mondicow(Mont des Cats) and remained with that unit throughout the war. It was very cold, with deep snow. I read last year, 2001, that 1940 was the coldest winter since 1815. I only had a stretcher to sleep on and two blankets, in a cold, old house with no heating. For two months I went to bed with all my clothes on, including my greatcoat and gas cape.
When the Phoney War ended and Germany invaded, we gradually made our way to the coast. We had some dodgy times on the way, including evacuating a clearly marked ambulance train of severely burned civilians from Rotterdam, whilst under attack from German planes.
On 31st May we were ordered to leave our billet for hopeful evacuation. My sergeant gave me a big pack of medical record books, then told me to set off to Dunkirk and that on the way the others would help me. I set off into France and kept plodding along the sand. I did not see any more members of our unit but finally saw a Royal Navy man. I asked him if there was any chance of getting off. He told me to stay where I was and wait but that I could not take the pack. So I just threw it down and left it on the beach.
I seemed to be alone and must have fallen asleep. When it became dark a lot of other troops assembled and a smallish boat arrived. We had to wade into the sea up to our chests. The Navy chap in charge said that when he ordered, Stop, we had to stop trying to get aboard or he would shoot us, and I am sure that he would have.
We were all finally taken to a larger little ship. I thought, Oh, Good, we should be in England by morning. When I woke up, big shock. We were still cruising off shore and the skipper would not leave while he could see anyone on the beach. The last man to be brought aboard was in a bad way, having been shot by a machine gun. He died within sight of England.
After disembarking I was put on a train and eventually arrived at Oswestry Barracks about midnight, still soaked through. I had one nightmare after this while I was billeted with nice people in Leeds, where I finally rejoined my unit all safe and sound.
From June 1940 to December 1941 I was stationed at various places in England. Kitty and I married on 9th October 1940. That Christmas was the last we had together until 1945.
Our unit left Liverpool in December 1941 and we spent Christmas Day that year in Sierra Leone harbour. Later, I had four lovely days with civilian friends in Cape Town, South Africa. We then went to Palestine and to Beirut, which was a lovely place then.
On our way to the 8th Army I met up with my brother Bernard for four hours in Cairo. I never did know how that was arranged or by whom.
I spent Christmas 1942 at Tobruk and New Year's Eve at Bengazi. Then it was on to the last battle for the 8th Army in North Africa. After that, we went to Malta for two weeks rest and then it was the invasion of Sicily and into Southern Italy. Our ship came under heavy fire while we lay off Italy prior to landing.
We sailed for England from Bari on a lousy, overcrammed ship. We had half a ration of bully beef for Christmas dinner 1943. At night all the floors, the dining tables and hammocks, were full of men.
In January 1944 I arrived in England and was stationed in Cambridge, hooray!! I was allowed a sleeping out pass. Kitty came to Cambridge and we had a lovely time, staying with my Aunt Alice. (Our first daughter, Jean, was born in October that year!)
On D-Day, 6th June, we sailed in convoy down the Thames. Once off Dover we could see and hear the big German guns in Calais firing across the Channel. They hit the ship directly ahead of us, setting it on fire. It was terrible to see. How lucky we were to escape unharmed. We lay off the French coast until D-Day plus two. Then we landed on Gold Beach with 30 Corps and set up our Casualty Clearing Station.
We were very busy and it was very noisy from the gunfire. I slept in a ditch. The Germans shelled us one night and two Nursing Sisters were injured. The army moved us to a safer area the next day.
On we went to Brussels and then to Eindhoven. Next it was Nijmegen where the road back (our supply road) was cut off by the Germans for four days.
We took casualties from the battle for Arnhem. Six operating theatres were working, three on day shift and three on night shift. I did not leave the hospital building for two weeks. After two months there we were relieved by the Canadians.
Christmas Day 1944 was spent somewhere in Belgium. Then it was on to the Ardennes and the Battle of the Bulge to help the Americans, who suffered heavy losses. There was deep snow and it was bitterly, bitterly cold.
We were back to Nijmegen for the Battle for the Rhine. Twentyfive pounder guns fired over the hospital all day. The forest flooded too and all casualties and equipment were wet through.
I had a short home leave in March, to see Kitty and meet my new daughter for the first time. Then it was back to my unit. We made our way into Germany where, after being in various places, we ended up just outside Hanover.
December 1945 and back in England. I had four weeks demob leave. So Christmas 1945 I was home at last. Demobbed February 1946.
There were Good Times and Bad Times - but always Good Friends.
3rd March 2002
Post Script.
What my father does not include in this very understated account are the horrors he experienced during his war. These strongly affected him right to the end of his life and he only ever spoke of them, very sparingly, many years later and always with great feeling.
I, and all our family, are very proud of him.
More War Memories
Told some years ago during late night conversations with daughter Jean, after a whisky or two.
On New Year's Day 1940 we disembarked to cliffs at Dieppe. There were two men to a tent and we each had two blankets and a groundsheet. Although it was against regulations we doubled up at night without undressing. It was just too cold and we had a lot of snow.
We were collected and went to 3rd Casualty Clearing Station, with them to Mondicow (Mont des Cats) and on to Pars (Pars-Les-Romilly?) There we were billeted in a house. We had a foot of snow and it was freezing.
We went into the village and thought we were asking, in French, for a blanket. What were we given? Jam! We did eventually get a quilt. While we were there I had a chest infection, probably bronchitis. An old lady put a mustard plaster on my chest to treat it. Next day we marched all day in full kit. I was sweating but I was cured!
We moved on to near Cassels and then the Germans began their real push. We made rounds at night, after being on duty in the day. The tents that were our wards covered a large area. We were followed by gleaming eyes on our rounds - local dogs.
Again after a full day on duty I would have night calls to CSM (meningitis) cases, having to hold them down raving. We had very little in the way of medicines.
We took burns casualties from a Red Cross train, machine gunned by the Germans as we were evacuating. I had four in my care in the ambulance, all children. Machine guns continued firing. We captured two Germans and our officer had to be restrained from shooting them.
I'm not sure what the next town was, where we were put up in the Hotel Splendide - on a concrete floor in the hotel garage! From there we were evacuated to Dunkirk.
The beach at Dunkirk was a terrible sight. We were taken off at night. I had to off-load our medical records, which I had carried all the way. My gas mask was coming off so I jettisoned that, too. Waiting to be taken on board ship we were up to our necks in fluorescent water.
Even when I was getting on board, a sailor with a gun said he would shoot us if we didn't obey him. I was never dry until well after arrival in the UK. (What must that have been like for the men?) I was still in wet clothes when I got to Oswestry.
Next morning we were not in England but still circling round Dunkirk. We took on a chap riddled with machine gun bullets. The captain sent down a pint of rum for the casualty. He could not drink it, was in a very bad way, had lost so much blood, awful. So while we looked after him as best we could a mate and I drank it, with no noticeable effects, despite having been on half rations for a week. The casualty died in sight of the English coast.
The first real casualty I saw in France was in a chateau, where we opened the door and saw a man lying with his brains hanging out but still alive. We closed the door and left. It was too much, too awful.
Not much is known about Jim Marples's personal story during the war, but he was a signalman and operated a vehicle with radio equipment on it in the desert of North Africa. He served under general Montgomery in the Eighth Army. He had enlisted in Sheffield on the 25th January 1928 and dedicated many years to the Army.
Arthur Bennett was my uncle. He volunteered to join the Army in WW11. He was a driverand mechanic and served in the 78th Division of the 8th Army 1942-1946, but he was often moved about wherever troops were needed.
When meeting some of his regiment for the first time at the station, all standing at 6ft, they were far taller than him, hence they nicknamed him ‘Little Benny’. He was sent to El Alamein where, at just 19, he was shot through the arm. Only a whistle recalling the enemy at the last minute saved him from being killed or captured while he was trying to hide in the undergrowth. He served with the Royal Warwicks, Ox & Bucks, Essex Regiment and RAOC.
He was recalled to the Army as a reservist and sailed to Korea in 1951. He served in the No. 1 Commomwealth Division and survived some of the heaviest and ferocious fighting including the Battle of the Imdin River returning home in 1953 on the troopship Georgic which docked in Liverpool.
Arthur passed away 28th February 2018 aged 93. A quiet, kind, humorous man, we think he had a lot of untold stories.
Arthur Lovell served from 1931 to 1938 with the 11th Hussars in Palestine. Following his 6 years of service he was transferred to the Army Reserves in 1938.
He was recalled at the outbreak of war in Sept 1939 and was assigned to the 4th County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters). He returned to the Middle East with the 4th CLY in September 1941 and became part of the 7th Armoured Division (The Desert Rats).
The 4 CLY were involved in almost continuous fighting from their arrival until the end of the North Africa Campaign. The regiment particularly distinguished themselves in the Second Battle of El Alamein (23 October to 11 November 1942) and took part in the subsequent advance into Tunisia (17 November 1942 to 13 May 1943). This three month campaign was against the more experienced German Afrika Korps led by Gen. Erwin Rommel (The Desert Fox). By this time he had been promoted to Sergeant and was a tank commander.
During action on April 6th, 1943, Arthur was wounded. After several weeks in hospital he rejoined the regiment. The 4th County of London Yeomanry did not take part in the invasion of Sicily but landed in Italy in September 1943. They participated in the Capture of Naples and the crossing of the Volturno. In December 1943, the regiment left Italy for the United Kingdom where it prepared for the upcoming invasion of North West Europe.
The 7th Armoured Division, arrived in Normandy towards the end of D-Day 6th of June, 1944. Its first combat was a day later with 22nd Armoured Brigade supporting the 50th Division at Tilly-sur-Seulles. Combat continued in the area against the German Panzer Lehr Division the next day. Their next operation was Perch which would lead to the ill-fated clash with the Panzer Lehr and 101. Schwere SS-Panzerabteilung at Villers-Bocage. On June 13, the British launched Operation Perch, an attempt to encircle the Panzer-Lehr-Division. The Desert Rats advanced on Villers-Bocage. A company of the Rifle Brigade and a squadron of Cromwell tanks belonging to the Sharpshooters was sent on ahead to Hill 213, a mile east of the town. This force was ambushed by a detachment of Tiger tanks from 2nd Kompanie, 101st SS Heavy Panzer Battalion and a single Tiger, commanded by SS-Obersturmfuhrer Michael Wittman, destroyed the six tanks of CLY's Regimental Headquarters Troop before his own Tiger was destroyed.
The small force of the Rifle Brigade and Sharpshooters, now trapped on Hill 213, was eventually overrun.
Arthur was taken prisoner and spent the rest of the war as a POW finally at Stalag 357 at Fallingsbostel. The camp was liberated on April 16th 1945 by the 11th Hussars, Arthur's original regiment.
Pte. Cyril Bates 89th Heavy Anti Aircraft Regiment Royal Artillery
Cyril Bates was my late father who was enlisted on 15th of January 1940. He was attached to the 8th Army serving with 89th Heavy Anti Aircraft Regiment, RA and then later transferred to the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers and served through North Africa and Italy.
His medals are the 1939-45 Star, Africa Star with 8th Army clasp, 1939-45 War Medal. Originally when I applied to DBS medal services for his medal entitlement they sent me a letter back which did not include the clasp to the Africa Star. I then found a photograph of him taken in Rome in 1944. On his tunic was the Africa Star ribbon with the number 8 on it. I sent this to DBS and they corrected their records and sent me the 8th Army clasp. It is, therefore, worth querying their findings.
C/Sgt Grasby first enlisted in the Territorial Army in 1927 and served until 1935, rejoining in 1939 and being mobilized on the outbreak of war with the 4th Btn. East Yorks Regiment.
He went to France with his regiment and was evacuated at Dunkirk. In 1941 he went with his Regiment to Africa and joined the 8th Army and was taken prisoner in 1942 at the battle of Knightsbridge.
He went to a POW camp in Italy and in July 1943 succeeded in escaping and being unable to get back to the UK, he joined up with the Partisans in Italy and stayed with them until 1945 when he reported to a S African unit in Turin.
He returned to the UK in 1945 and served there until going to Malaya in 1948 as C.Q.M.S. with the Green Howards.
In 1952 he returned from Malaya and served in Austria and Germany and in 1956 he got back to his own regiment and came to serve on ERE appointment in Germany. On 31 August 1957 Her Majesty the Queen saw fit to honour him with the award of the Long Service and Good Conduct Medal.
He was born in 1911. He first enlisted in the Territorial Army in 1927 and served until 1935. He re-joined in the Regulars in 1939 and then being mobilized on the outbreak of war with the 4th Bn., East Yorkshire Regiment.
On re-joining in the Regulars it was established on his recruitment to the Regulars that he had excelled at school and became a school teacher in-between serving at the end of Territorials and re-joining the Regulars so he was offered a commission but he declined. My father was a bit of a man's man and liked to be one of the lads
He went to France with his regiment and was evacuated at Dunkirk. In 1941 he then sent with his Regt to Africa and joined the 8th Army and was taken prisoner in 1942 at the Battle of Knightsbridge. He was taken to POW Camp P.G. 53 Sforzacosta Italy
He succeeded in escaping in July 1943 and being unable to get back to the UK; he joined up with the partisans in Italy and stayed with them until 1945. He learnt to speak fluent Italian and he already spoke fluent German.
When, at last in 1945, he managed to report to a S African unit in Turin he then returned to the UK in 1945 and served there until going to Malaya (Now Malaysia) in 1950 as C.Q.M.S. and later as R.Q.M.S. with the Green Howards.
My father, George Warttig was born in 1923. He joined the Home Guard and the Army at age 17. He was sent to North Africa at age 18 and then to Italy. He was a gunner on a 5.5 gun. He fought at Monte Casino with the Ghurkas whom he admired. My father said how brave all the soldiers of all the different nationalities were. He said the Canadians were the best soldiers. My father went on to Rome after Casino. His cousin was killed at Anzio.
Pte. Gordon James "Shuff" Shufflebotham 551st Army Troops Coy. Royal Engineers
My dad, Gordon James Shufflebotham, was an electrician for the Electricity Board in Macclesfield. He lived at Churchside, Macclesfield then with my mum, Winifred Mary Gibson, her maiden name. Then lived at 4 The Crescent, Huddersfield Rd., Macclesfield. I understand he was a Sapper. I know he was in Tobruk in 1941. I found a letter headed Company Orders by Major F.E.T. Hart, Officer Commanding 551 Army Troops Coy. RE. Letter dated 22nd Dec 1941. Regarding another letter, from Adv. H.Q. Eighth Army MEF, dated 19th Dec., saying now RE company about to leave Tobruk fortress. "I would like to thank all under your command for maintaining essential services under dangerous conditions and for your bomb disposal with improvised equipment dealing with over 700 bombs", and so it continued, then signed N.M. Ritchie, Lieut. General G.O.C in C. Eighth Army.
He left mum and us 2 kids when I was 9, I am 72 now and only saw him twice in 50 years. I give him the benefit of the doubt and think the war changed him completely, anyway while I am still alive I thought he deserved a mention for his war effort.
Cpl. Sydney Harry Hyder Smith 200th Company Military Police
After his call-up, Harry Smith started his training at Maidstone.
His wife was pregnant with their first child at the time and Harry suffered from morning sickness. He claimed this was the only time he saw the RSM laugh.
He was particularly proud of having been subjected to physical training under Stan Cullis, a famous footballer who was highly critical of his football skills.
He was subsequently trained as a driver and dispatch rider at Catterick, Yorkshire. (He was already able to drive having owned his own car before the war.) He was put in charge of a group of 6 who collected newly landed Jeeps from Glasgow and drove them to Liverpool for embarkation to North Africa. On the way south it rained heavily and he had to find a forge where they could drill holes in the floor so they didn't have to drive with their feet in water.
He travelled on a troopship from Liverpool to Algiers. The ship carried six thousand soldiers many of whom including Harry slept on deck. They travelled in convoy far out into the Atlantic before turning back for North Africa in order to avoid U-boats and air attacks but in spite of that, he recalled that several ships blew up and sank, sometimes in the night. The convoy didn't stop.
He landed somewhere around Algiers as part of the 1st Army in Operation Torch). The 1st Army was disbanded after the victory in Tunisia in 1943 after which he was part of the 8th Army.
I am fairly sure that at various times he was in Algiers, Bizerte, Tunis, Tripoli, Benghazi, Tobruk, Sidi Barrani, Mersa Matruh and Alexandria.
He told a story of driving a truck with faulty steering (a broken tie rod) along a stretch of road known as Messerschmidt Alley, because it was straight with desert either side so that German aircraft could easily attack traffic on the road, but because of the steering fault his truck would dart from side to side unexpectedly and so he evaded attack.
He was placed on a train in Mufti to investigate the loss of goods from the train. He found that at one point the track was on a tall curving sand embankment so shaped that although he could see goods rolling down the embankment he could see neither where on the train they were being thrown from nor where they finished up at the bottom of the slope.
He was part of the invasion of Sicily but talked little about this apart from having attended an opera performance in an ancient amphitheatre.
He was landed in Italy, either Anzio or Salerno (probably Salerno). He told of a day when all 30,000 soldiers in the beachhead were told to strip and wash in the sea for lack of other facilities.
He ended the war in Rome and was appointed condottore.
He returned home in about September 1945. For some time after his return he slept on the floor because a bed was too soft.
In North Africa he contracted malaria from which he suffered recurring bouts during my childhood.
Pte. Norman Pedley Green Howards (Yorkshire Regiment)
Norman Pedley served with a Rifle Company of the Green Howards as part of 50th Division. He served in North Africa, Italy, Northern Europe and in Norway in 1946. From the 6th of June 1944 to 5th of May 1945
He served with Lieutenant General Dempsey, Commander 2nd Army, at his personal Headquarters though out the 2nd Army Campaign in North West Europe, we have a document signed by General Dempsey. Norman was awarded the
1939 - 1945 Star, Africa Star with 8th Army Clasp, Italy Star, and the France and Germany. Further Research on going.
I have Reginals Shaw's medals and know he was in the 8th Army (I believe he drove trucks), but he was very reluctant to speak about his experiences during the conflict, so my knowledge of his time is very, very basic indeed.
Gnr. John Joseph Shale 104th (Essex Yeomanry) Btry. Royal Horse Artillery
As recounted to me:
John Shale embarked the Athlone Castle at Glasgow, heading for India via the Cape of Good Hope. His unit, the 463rd Battery, Royal Horse Artillery (part of the Eighth Army), called in at Durban, intending to ship on to Bombay but instead took the Dutch, NavaSota up the Persian Gulf and went from Basra to Baghdad.
They arrived in the desert and he got hit by a shell burst at Fiska aerodrome as his unit was heading for Hellfire pass. He was hospitalised, and his battery moved on to Syria with the 9th Army (concern about Germans heading for the oilfields). He was subsequently inducted into the 104th Essex Yeomanry RHA.
He received parachute training for Greece but ended up instead taking a Liberty Boat (with a crack down the side) called the USS Thistledown. He walked off the ship into Heraklion. The Germans had been chased off by the paratroopers (who, it was rumoured, sustained about 70% casualties because of high winds).
He attended an address by Churchill in Athens. Later, he went on to Bari and his unit worked its way up Italy’s east coast into Austria. He won the lottery and had a trip home before returning and chasing werewolves.
I served in the Libyan and Western Egyptian desert. I am now 95 and the memory is fading. But not the feelings.
Tobruk, Mersa Matruch, El Alamein are the main battles I remember. I lied about my age to enlist in the British Army. I volunteered every chance to be where the fighting was going on. My first experience with being bombed occurred was while sitting in a latrine at 17 years old and being blown off my seat. What an awakening to real life! I have many stories of the desert. I loved the British guys. Especially the Scots, the Royal Engineers and Aussies. I remember the Scots marching through the minefields with the bagpipes blaring. Will never forget the music they played. They fought so brave and daring. They really influenced my feelings of what was right in the war. And how I handled myself in battle. Thank you for helping me relive these days I served in the 8th Army
Born in 1913 in Salford, my Father, James Harrison joined the territorials as a young man, when he was 18 he immediately enlisted in the Lancashire Fusiliers at Bury Barracks, posted to the 1st Battalion on the 30th October 1932. He sailed on a troopship on the 12th December 1935 to China until 10th December 1938. He was posted to the Lancashire Fusilier Depot on 11th Dec 1938, and transferred to Army reserve on 24th Feb 1939 after his engagement of 7 years.
He rejoined for temporary service and was posted to the 2nd Battalion on the 15th June 1939 then relegated to the Army reserve on the 15th August 1939. He was mobilized in Bury and posted to the infantry training centre on the 1st September 1939. He was appointed lance-corporal on the 1st August 1940 and posted to the 2nd Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers on 20th March 1941.
Transferred to the Royal Army Service Corps on the 4th March 1942, he disembarked in Egypt on the 6th July 1942, attached to the 8th Army from 25th July 1942, he was posted to the 4th Troop Transport Company on the 1st Feb 1943.
Posted to the 335th Troop Transport Company RASC on 2nd of June 1944, he was promoted to War Substantive Corporal on the 27th of August 1945, and released to the Army reserve on 7th February 1946. He was discharged on completion of engagement and allocated to the general reserve on the 11th Feb 1954.
No further liability for recall on the 16th January 1958.
He had served in
China from 12th Dec 1935 until 10th Dec 1938 and during WW2 in the
Libya, Tunisia and Egypt from 8th of May 1942 until 30th of October 1945. He was awarded the Africa Star with 8th Army clasp, Defence medal, 1939/45 Star and War Medal 1939/45. His
Military conduct was Exemplary.
Wladyslaw Juckiewicz served with the 5th Legion Infantry Regiment at Narwia River, Brzese, Near Bug River. Also in 2 Company, 16th Lwowski Rifle Battalion, 5th Kresona Infantry Division, 2nd Polish Corps, 8th British Army
He was a Paratrooper.
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