211060 Cpl. John Hutchinson British Army 2nd Btn. Northumberland Fusiliers from:Throckley, Northumberland John Hutchinson is my grandfather's brother and he was born in Throckley, Northumberland in 1913. He worked in the mines from leaving school about 1928 then joined the 2nd Bn Northumberland Fusiliers about 1932 aged 18years old. He did 16 weeks training at Fenham Barracks in Newcastle and was allowed home every weekend. He claims his Drill Sargeant from Walbottle and Corporal Cook from Throckley gave him bus fare home in exchange to drop letters off at home for them. His other Drill Sargeants were "Paddy" Cogan (Irish) and Martin (Monty) Bartlett from Hull. The P.E. Instructor was Mick Muldoon. Three of the most sadistic men he had the pleasure of enduring. Others he mentions there were L/Cpl David Allen from Cork and Cook Sgt Taffy Evans from Tonypandy Wales. After basic training he was posted to Fulford Barracks in York. Here the Battlion changed from a rifle battalion to a Machine Gun Battalion. They trained on the .303 Vickers water cooled machine gun in 4 man squads. No.1 carried the gun, No.2 the tripod. No.3 the ammunition and water can and No.4 more ammo boxes. He palled up with another Geordie, Taffy Watson who was the Battalion Butcher. Only 5'5" he fought Fly-Bantam Weight. They spent weeknights in the NAAFI and weekends in the White Swan (Mucky Duck) and a cafe called Jocks run by a scotsman who had left the Fusiliers and stayed in York. They went on Manouvres in Rippon and the Dales and were camped in tents in Rippon in June and woke up to snow. At this time they were horse transport. The MG was in a cart with one of the crew riding the lead horse. Sgt Bell was the Platoon sgt and also ran the company football team who were very successful againt the Yorks & Lancs and the West Yorks regiments. He got his 1st stripe and became Batman to Lt Dudley Smith. Lt Smith came from a landed family in Hessle and L/Cpl Hutchinson would go to shoots on the estatenbabout once a month and sometimes attended the hunts. He was later (1935)transferred to Borden Camp in Hampshire where Lt Smith and his wife Penelope (nee Hill)rented a large house outside the Barracks. Here they became a Motorised Battalion with 15cwt trucks with MG mountings and a 30cwt truck for rations and gear. They were backed up with 2 Tracked Bren Carriers. In 1935 L/Cpl Hutchinson was selected with 49 other soldiers to represent the Company at the Coronation of King George V at Westminster. They were camped in Kensington Gardens. He went off to train for 10 weeks on the new vehicles Driving and Maintenance with the Army Service Corps. In 1936 he had been recommended as Batman to Lt Maurice Lynch a French-Canadian Surgeon in the Medical Corps. They travelled together on the SS Dillwara on its maiden voyage from Southampton to Haifa. They were attached to Company HQ and billeted in a school in Beit-Jalla north of Haifa with a Rabbi and his family. All the post was censored but one of his friends wrote home "Dear Mum, I cant tell you where I am though Im in the land where Christ was born, wishing to Christ I was in the land where I was born".
The return trip home was 1st Class on the good ship Athenia where they landed in early 1937 and parted from the good Doctor. For this campaign he recieves the Medal No.2 Blake Capp Palestine.
Late in 1937 he is posted to Abbrasia Barracks in Egypt to support the 1st Btn with about 150 others. They were the 1st motorised vehicles to travel on the Great Western Desert Road past the Sphinx and Pyramids. His commander was Captain Jackman who later won the VC.
The vehicles required a lot of maintenance due to the sand blocking the carbs. They were sent to the Egyptian-Lybian border and Italian troops had infiltrated into Egypt and made a push towards Alexandria and Cairo. The Btn was placed with the ANZAC force under Gen Archibald Wavel. This combined force was known as "Wavels 30,000". They went up against 150,000 Italian troops. This group consisted of artillery, Long Range Desert Group, Australian and Kiwi forces. He was at Haffaya Pass nicknamed "Hellfire Pass". The only route to the plateau to Libya. The Italians suffered heavy losses and surrendered in their thousands to a handful of Allied troops. Some Italians made it to Bardia Garrison and held out for a while but were no match for the desert rats. After Bardia he went to Derna then Tobruk. He describes hundreds of Italian POWS being escorted by 3 or 4 allied soldiers. They were glad to be out of the war. He escorted a an Italian POW General Bergorzili of the Alpine Corps after his plane was shot down trying to leave the airfield at Tripoli. Soon after he became Corporal Hutchinson responsible for the Vickers, 2 trucks and 4 gun crew. His crew were Jimmy Bell, gunner from Nth Shields, Tripod was Willie Armstrong from Sth Shields, No3 was Joe Smith from Heaton and No4 Tommy Bell from Gateshead.
Their next encounter was against the Panzers of Erwin Rommel. The Afrika Korps gave then a run for their money until they reached the Salt Flats that held them up. The 7th Armoured Division got little sleep. They made their way back to Tobruk where they held out for 9 months under the Australian General Moreshead. He recalls the Easter weekend of 1941 as particularly heavy bombardment from Stukas.
The Northumberlad Fusiliers had been in Egypt so long the other regiments had nicknamed them King Farouks Bodyguard and Queen Feridas Own. The Btn then joined Aukinlecks forces outside Tobruk and the Germans threw everything at them. Whilst defending the airfield west of Tobruk the Germans broke through their lines and Cpl Hutchinson was knocked out waking up to German Panzer Lieutanant saying in perfect English "Your war is over Georgie lad" Lt Hans Seckel was the Grandson of Joe Seckel who was a respected gentleman from Scotswood Road near Scotswood Bridge who owned a pork butchers shop. Hans had spent a lot of time in Newcastle and had attended Newcastle Technical School but returned to Bavaria when old Joe died. He was conscripted when Germany invaded Poland. Security around the POW's was lax and he was able to escape met up with some Australians who guided them through the minefields back to Allied lines. Only to be captured a 2nd time.
As a POW he was shipped to Brindisi. From here to Bari, Capua, Mazarata, Benebanto and Gravino where he was seriously ill with jaundice. After 12 months in Italy the Germans moved them through Genoa, Turin, Milan, Lombardy, through the Brenner Pass into Austria. Then to Linz in Czechoslvakia to Prague and on to Dresden then Liepzig on to East Prussia, Stalag 7B Lamsdorf. At the end of 1944 with Russian Forces moving ever closer they were moved again ending up in Memingen in Bavaria for about 4 months before being liberated by American forces. Within days they were trained to Lille then flown home and billeted at an army camp in Aylesbury. Cpl Hutchinson was posted to the REME Depot at Siddles Road, Derby on guard duty. After 13 years service he was discharged and went back into the mines but struggled to find work and became a £10 pom.
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