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LAC D. M. Barclay . Royal Air Force 408 Sqdn.
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A.B. Dominic Barclay . Royal Navy HMS Nelson from Glasgow, Scotland My father Dominic Barclay served as an anti aircraft gunner on HMS Nelson 1942-194 in the Malta convoy, D Day and the Japanese surrender of Malaya and Singapore.
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Sgt. George Stanley Barclay . Royal New Zealand Air Force 166 Squadron  New Zealander, Sergeant Pilot George Barclay joined the Royal New Zealand Air Force on 15th June 1941 and began his flying training in Tiger Moths at New Plymouth, New Zealand, on 6th September 1941. He left Auckland, NZ on 17th November 1941 on the SS Monterey and arrived in San Francisco on 5th December 1941. He then travelled by train to RCAF Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada where he joined No 44 Pilots course on 5th December 1941 to complete his flying training on Cessna Crane aircraft at No 4 SFTS. He arrived in UK on 13th May 1942 and joined Number 16 Course of 12 (P) Advanced Flying Unit (AFU) at RAF Grantham on 21st July 1942 where he flew Oxford Mk1 aircraft. The AFU course was completed on 15th September 1942 at which time he was posted to No 43 Course of 16 OTU at RAF Upper Heyford to fly the Wellington medium bomber. Having completed his training at 16 OTU on 23rd December 1942, he was posted to the Home Echelon of 150 Squadron to fly Wellingtons operationally from RAF Kirmington, Lincs, on 12th January 1943. In turn, the Home Echelon of 150 Squadron merged with the remains of 142 Squadron to form 166 Squadron on 27th January 1943. George flew with 166 Squadron until he baled out over Mezerolles, NW France, after an 'Op' on Duisburg on the night of 8th/9th of April 1943. He was a POW until escaping on 6th April 1945 and returned to UK on 17th of April 1945. George married a London girl on 16th of June 1945 and returned to New Zealand to raise a family. He turned 93 on 2nd May 2016.
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Flt.Sgt. Joseph Thomas "Jock" Barclay . Royal Air Force 466 Squadron from Edinburgh On reaching my eighteenth birthday I had to register for National Service and as my father had served in the Navy during World War One and my younger brother, Danny, was already at sea in the Merchant Navy, I looked forward to serving in the Navy also. However, I was very dismayed to find I had been placed on the Reserved Occupation Register and was destined to work on munitions for the duration of the war. Later I heard that if I volunteered for aircrew duty in the Royal Air Force I could get away to war if I passed the examinations and so with some other apprentices we volunteered and I'm glad to say I passed for pilot training. However, the selection board suggested that, as I was engineering trained, there was a new aircrew trade which took half as long as pilot training so I opted for that.
At that time there was an outbreak of typhoid in Scotland so I was put on deferred service. I then left the Home Guard and joined the Air Training Corp whilst waiting to be called up. Meanwhile, I attended the ATC in the building that was later Bellevue Secondary School where I got some Navigation, Morse training etc.
In the interim period I was sent to the old Waverley Market and employed in modifying the famous jeeps, working ten hour shift on constant nights when after six weeks I was told to report to Padgate Induction Centre and from Padgate to Blackpool South Shore for basic training which included drill, sports, square bashing, rifle range then to the school at Squires Gate training school for the Flight Mechanics course which lasted approximately three months before being posted back to Squires Gate again for the Fitters to Engines course, again for approximately three months with periods of Sentry Duty etc then from there onto RAF St. Athan, Glamorgan in Wales whilst waiting to join the Flight Air School. I was then aged twenty.
Whilst waiting we were drilled for one week in order to attend the Military Funeral of two Canadian Airmen who had crashed on the Welsh mountains and were laid to rest in St Athan.
Once we completed our training at St Athan we were lined up and told that if anyone didn't want to go on to train for the Flight Engineers course, which meant, of course, that you would be in the front line conflict, you could choose instead to stay on and train as an Engine Fitter which meant that you would be working as Ground Crew.
Along with most others I decided to go ahead with the Flight Engineers Course since I was really keen to fly. We had been made aware of the potential danger of flying but most of the men stayed in line like myself. It was then that my Mother realized what a dangerous job it was and made me a wee kiltie doll as a lucky charm which I kept in the pocket of my uniform every time that we flew. However, some one stole it.
I went sick with impetigo so lost the crew I'd had been training with. When I recovered I was posted to a conversion unit at Marsden Moor where there were airmen who were already trained and that is where I met Andrew Currie from Glencorse in Midlothian.
We had to find our own air crew to fly with and when Andrew & I were at the Mess waiting for dinner to be served we spotted two Australian crew so asked them if they looking for Flight Engineers which they were and that is how I became part of 466 Squadron (RAAF) together with Fred Pope (Pilot), John Downs (Navigator), Charlie Wilson (Bomb Aimer), Tom Roe (Wireless Operator), Nick Hewitt (Rear Gunner), Ed Dalton (Mid Upper Gunner) an all Australian Air Crew and myself!
And so began my Tour of Service which in the October and November of 1943 began with dual circuits, three engine flying and two engine flying practice, Solo Fighter Affiliation etc and by early December we were Bombing and Firing quickly followed by a bomb load to X country.
By early January 1944 we were involved in Air to Sea firing and by mid February Ops to Berlin.
By the end of March we had flown to Stuttgart, Fighter Affiliation 2 Spitfires, Keil Harbour Mining, Berlin Bombing, Essen Bombing, Nuremburg Bombing.
By this time my friend, Andrew Currie, together with all his crew, had been shot down and killed. They had only been flying for about three weeks or so.
April 1944
- Ottignes Bombing 11,000lb H.E. three motor landing
- Dusseldorf Bombing holed by flak
- Villeneuve St Georges Bombing
- Aulnoye, France Bombing
- Acheres Bombing.
May 1944:
- Marlenes, Belgium Bombing
- Mantes, Gassicourt Bombing
- Mosalines, France Bombing
- Mosalines, France Bombed Coastal Defence Installations.
- Hasselt, Belgium Bombed Marshall Yards. Fighter Attacks
- Boulogne Marshall Yards.
- Practice Bombing: DCO
And so it continued..
- Colline Baumont Gun Battery
- Ops. Bourg Leopold Army Barracks.
June 1944
- OAmiens Railway Junction
- Evercy Troop Concentration
- Sterkrade ( Ruhr ) Bombed on 3 engines
- St.Martin L'Hortier Siracourt heavy flak
- Oismont/Neuville-Au-Bois, France
- Le Grand, Rossignol, France
- D.N.C.O Port Inner feathered
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July 1944
- Oismont - Neuville Bois (P. Plane Base)
- Marquise Mimoyecques
- Les Landes Vielles St Neuves:
- Sannerville ( Second Front)
- Ardouval France.
August 1944
- The Chapelle Notre Dame but unable to bomb, landed at Marsden. Marsden Moor to Base:
- L'Isle Adam near Paris and Foret De Nieppe, near Lille.
By then we had completed the expected length of a Tour and survived, unlike many of our Compatriots.
We were then asked to continue on and fly as a Transport Plane. In this capacity and for the next fourteen months until my discharge on the 1st October 1946 I flew to - Algiers,
- the Azores,
- Morroco,
- USA (New York, Washington, Dallas, Nashville, San Diego),
- Canada (Nova Scotia, Montreal), Newfoundland (Gander),
- Egypt (Cairo & Rabat),
- Labrador (Goose Bay),
- Iceland (Reykjavick),
- Mid Pacific (Canton),
- Fiji Island,
- Australia (Sydney),
- New Zealand (Auckland)
- Scotland (Prestwick).
I saw the world which I would not otherwise have seen. From there back to Civvie Street to complete my Engineering Apprenticeship with the New Welding and Engineering Company based in Annandale Street, Edinburgh where I remained all my working life rising through the ranks, first to Foreman then to Works Manager until I retired in March 1988 aged 65 years of age. I am writing this now aged 91. Joseph Barclay.
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First Offcr. Madeline Barclay . Womens Royal Naval Service
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Sgt. Owen Kidd Barclay . Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve 102 Squadron (d.9th Sep 1942) Sergeant (Wireless Op./Air Gunner) Owen Barklay was the Son of William Mitchell Barclay and Maggie Kidd Barclay, husband of Gwendoline May Barclay.
He was 25 when his plane was shot down by flak after a raid on Frankfurt. He is buried in the Folschette (Rambrouch) Churchyard in Luxembourg.
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P/O W P Barclay . RCAF 419 (Moose) Squadron P/O W P Barclay J23764 was a pilot based at Middleton St George now Teeside airport and flew Halifax`s from this base for 419 RCAF Moose Squadron.
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AB Harry Barcock . Royal Navy HMS Quebec from Rothwell
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Cpl. Frank Bardgett . British Army 7th Armoured Division from Nelson, Lancashire
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Sgt. Cecil Bardill . RAF(VR) 101 Sqd. from Horsley Woodhouse, Derbyshire. (d.1st Sep 1943)
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LAC. John Arthur Bardill . Royal Air Force No 34 Service Flying Training School I noted with great interest the book of David Carter "Wings on the Pararie" about the Service Flying Training School in Canada during the war years. According to his service record which I have my father John Arthur Bardill was at the base from 24.2.1941 till about 9.1.1944 as an LAC. Does anyone have any records or photographs of ground crews who serviced the training aircraft? In addition Dad was apparently a noted goalkeeper in the base soccer team who I think were called the "Red Stars" or something like that. The team were apparently were undefeated champions either locally or as my mother always used to tell me of Alberta. There were numerous photos and newspaper references to this segment of my father's stay in Canada, but these were lost in the many moves both in the UK and eventually to Australia. I have tried unsuccessfully to research the sporting achievements of dad without success, but beginning I would be very interested if anyone has any information/photos of the ground crews? Or if anyone may be able to advise me in what direction I could take to research the base and its history.
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Sgt. Harold John William "Bish" Bareham DFM.. Royal Air Force 82 Squadron from Thorpe-le-Soken, Essex Harold Bareham was commonly called Jack to his family and friends but "Bish" to his R.A.F. friends at Watton, he was my Father.
He joined the R.A.F. as an apprentice in 1930 and was a Navigator for the Earl of Bandon, with 82 Squadron serving out of R.A.F. Watton at outbreak of WWII in 1939. Having survived the heaviest losses where twice the whole squadron was lost. Once he had to turn back because of fuel guage problems and the second time he made it back having the whole perspex front blown off and all maps and charts lost. He left 82 Squadron in July 1940 being one of only 3 crew remaining who were there on 3rd September 1939. He was awarded the DFM for two citations earned at R.A.F. Watton as a Sergent Navigator.
Subsequently in 1941 Jack converted to Pilot and got his Wings having done a quick conversion on of all aircraft, The Blenheim! He then went on to fly Mosquitoes on the Ball-Bearing businessman run up to Scandinavia. Then in 1941 he volunteered to go back onto Ops and was transferred to Squadron 162 flying Hampdens.
He was shot down over Rotterdam in January 1942 after losing his tail and rear-gunner to flack! Ordering a bailout, the Naviator ended up in the sea and was drowned, the second pilot landed on the beach and Jack hit a house the town and slid down the snow on the rooftop and ended up in a snow drift. His war was over.
He spent 3.5 years in Stalag III and was a digger of the tunels in the Great Escape. Whilst he suffered 2 cave-ins during this process, he was numbered in the 200 due to escape, I believe number 143 or 147? After the cave-ins he was put in charge of "Soil distribution in the gardens" and a keen horticulturalist, the internees grew much produce under his stewardship!
He was instrumental in getting the first operational radio set operational in the camp and was responsible for semaphoring the "News from London" to the American Camp next door. Later they used an unscrewable cricket ball which he threw to a Mr Cody from California, as he had arrived at Stalag III at roughly the same time and they had made friends.
Jack spent time in the camp building a clock out of gramophone needles and cocoa tins! It took 18 months to build and kept better time than officer's Rolexes which they ordered and had delivered from Swizerland! The movement took 8 hours to wind down, and was wound up at lights out at 10pm and rewound before stopping at Revallie!
The weights were coffee tins and the pendulum a potato! It kept time within a minute every 3 weeks. it struck every hour on a bell from a pushbike! designed and built from tins and needles. The balanstaf was made from half a razorblade. On its first performance on Christmas Day 1943, the apparatus was suspended between two tables and it made its first continuous "tick-tock" to raputuous applause and thumping on the tabletop! Whereupon the whole thing colapsed into a heap of pieces and another 2 weeks work to reassemble for it to chime in the New Year on January 1st 1944.
When leaving the camp on the forced march in Febuary 1945, Jack was asked if he was taking his clock? He said to friends and collegues that a tin of Bully Beef was worth more to carry than an old clock! So it was wound up for the last time. Everyone in Jack's hut checked their Rolexes (If they had them) Saluted the clock and closed the door behind them. It was left for the Russians who liberated the camp to make of it as they would!?
Jack decided on the forced march, that whilst others might take tins of food with them from Red Cross Parcels, Jack would take little food but many tins of coffee and cigarettes with which he could trade for food and which were light on the sledge. It was February 1945 and the snow was thick on the ground. Carrying too much weight was a problem. Warm clothes were a must and Jack made a sledge from the back of a chair (as depicted in his painting) which was towed behind them. This Jack stacked high with coffee and cigarettes as useful currency at the time.
When arriving at a chateau from where they were liberated, a truck overtook them on the approach road to the castle, loaded with swedes. One fell off the back of the truck and was snapped up by a POW. That fellow POW was billetted with Jack and shared bunk beds, Jack on top. This POW shared the raw swede with Jack and both agreed it was the best food ever. That fellow POW who pocketed the swede that fell off the back of the lorry, was no other than Anthony Barber, the now Late Sir Anthony Barber, who became the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the 1970s.
After the war, Jack trained on Spitfires and then Vampires and Meteors, serving in UK and Germany. He rose to rank of Squadron Leader before retiring from the R.A.F. in 1953. He then joined B.O.A.C. in 1954, now British Airways as a Pilot Instructor. Firstly on Link Traniners, then Boeing 707 436s, then V.C.10s then back to Boeing 707 336s until his retirement in 1979 after 24 years service.
He died on 15th May 1992 aged 78 years, leaving a wife, a son, two daughters and three grandchildren.
I enclose a picture of the three surviving crew from one of the missions that suffered the worst mission casualty record of any R.A.F. Squadron during WWII having lost the whole squadron nearly twice over, and Jack's crew being the only crew to survive from beginning of WWII to July 1940.
I am in the process of putting together all documentation and his first hand recollections as well as stories he told both to my late mother and myself, regarding his life's work. I will make available a copy for anyone who wants it for historical research purposes only and not for commercial gain whatsoever!
There is much more than written here. However, in the late 1980s and 90s there was a museum set up at R.A.F. Watton to which my father contributed a substantial amount of memorabelia and photographs. The Museum closed in 1997/8 and since then I've not been able to trace the whereabouts of all the contents of the Museum. I believe a Mr Julian someone or other was running it, but what happened to him or the contents of the Museum including R.A.F. Watton's Role of Honour Wall-board, where my father's name and his D.F.M. are recorded, remains a mystery!!
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Ivy May Bareham . Land Army from Colchester During the war I was a young lad....now long retired... I had a favourite auntie
who was in the Women's Land Army. Her name was Ivy May Bareham and her
home was in Colchester, Essex. Is there any way I can see her name on
an official document or register. Or is there any record of her.
She died from an illness after the war....she was only in her thirties and by that time I
had joined the Navy as a boy recruit at HMS Ganges. She is laying in the churchyard
at Mistley, Essex and even after all these years I still think fondly of her.
Any information would be very warmly welcomed
Sincerely
Robert Woods, Somerset UK
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Sgt Charles Alexander "Barney" Barends . Royal Air Force 100 Squadron from Liverpool My dad Charles Barends was a rear gunner stationed at RAF Grimsby (known as Waltham) during WW2. He was in Crew 100 of the 100 squadron. His crew did night bombings over Germany.
My dad and the co-pilot were both injured during landing returning from a night bombing raid over Germany. The following night the same crew went on another night bombing mission with a replacement co pilot and rear gunner and their Lancaster never returned. Many years later, the Lancaster bomber was discovered under water off the coast of France. It had been shot down trying to return to Grimsby Air base. How lucky were these two crew members!! My dad was only 17 years old when he went on the first mission (he lied about his age). He told us he thought it was going to be exciting but after the first night bombing mission he realised how terrible it was and told us most of the crew went AWOL !! No one went looking for them as they knew they would come back which they did.
He was a quiet man who I believed suffered most of his life from this experience and did not tell us too much, but what he did tell us was horrific. A couple of things he told us was sitting in the rear turret he did not have a parachute as there was no room in the confined space and if he would have had to bail out he would have had to find his parachute... so in other words no chance of survival! Imagine a Lancaster going down and those at the rear trying to claw themselves out at that angle of decent. Also he told us that many Lancs were lost as bombs hit those planes flying underneath them!!
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Jan Harmse Barendse . My grandfather was in Stalag 383, but I do not have much information. His name was Jan Harmse Barendse. Do you have any information to assist me in researching Stalag 383? I am lead to believe that he escaped from there.
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Flight Sergeant G H Barford . RAF 59 Squadron
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Sergeant G H Barford . RAF 59 Squadron
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Pte. Reginald Jonathan Barguss . British Army Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry from Abingdon Reg Barguss served during WW2.
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PFC. Earl S. "Mule" Barham . US Army from Texas
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Lt. Henry William Barham . Royal Army Service Corps 183 A.A. (M) Transport Co. I am trying to trace any information about my father who was serving with 183 A.A. (M) Transport Company R.A.S.C. in October 1943. I have a photograph of the company's officers taken at this time with all the officers named. I would like to know what this unit did during the war and where did it perform its duties? How do I find out more about the company and also more about my father> He was born in 1911 and married my Mother in August 1936. I do not know when he joined the army. At some point he had been a Corporal in the H.A.O.C. with Number 7634636. I know that he survived the war. Unfortunately, he left my Mother before being demobbed and after they were divorced he lived in Dorking, Surrey. I would be very grateful for any information which I can follow up.
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Spr. Sidney Cyril Barham . British Army 91 Field Coy. Royal Engineers from St. Leonard's-on-Sea, Sussex (d.1st January 1945) Sapper Barham was the son of Edward and Maude Barham; husband of Annie Caroline Barham, of St. Leonard's-on-Sea, Sussex.
He was 37 when he died and is buried in the Haaften General Cemetery, Gelderland, Netherlands.
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Sgt Stanley George Rayner Barham . Royal Air Force 78 Sqn from Harrow, Middlesex (d.13th Jun 1944) Stanley Barham served with 78 Squadron.
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Sgt Sam Barham. . RAF 12Sqd. (d.4th Jul 1943) W/Op Sam Barham was killed on 4th July 1943 in Lancaster III ED820 PH-A of 12sqd
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Pvt. Thomas Barka . United States Army Coast Artillery Corps from New Mexico, USA POW Camp Fukuoka 17 in Japan
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Pte. Albert Barker . British Army 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?
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Pte. Arthur Barker . British Army Royal Army Ordnance Corps from Stoke-on-Trent Arthur Barker was captured Singapore and was transported overland to Thailand in R Letter Party, Train 23 on 31st Oct 1942. His liberation questionnaire gives camps as Changi, Nong Pladuc, Thailand and Kaorin, Thailand.
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Gnr. Charles Frederick Barker . British Army 125th Anti-Tank Regiment Royal Artillery (d.29th Nov 1944) Charles Barker was my uncle who I never met. He was a POW in Thailand. He was a gunner in the Royal Artillery and died on 29th November 1944 he was 24 years young. This is all I have to go on so any help would be very much appreciated.
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Cyril "Jack" Barker . British Army 8th Rgt. Royal Artillery 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.
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Doris Violet "Tup" Barker . Womens Land Army from Ley St, Ilford, Essex
Doris Barker was my mum. I think she went into the Land Army sometime around November 1942 and worked on various farms in Essex. From what I know from surviving family members she got a compassionate posting to Valentines Park in Ilford as her mum was badly ill at the time. Apparently there were some AA guns in the park and the Land Army girls used to give the soldiers on the guns fresh vegetables. One of these soldiers was my Dad's brother. In early 1944 my Dad had returned from Italy with 7 Armoured Div and was stationed in North Norfolk training for the Normandy landings. He was introduced to my mum by his brother when he was on leave sometime before June 1944 and they married on 28th January 1945.
A couple of stories I've heard are the time mum was somewhere in Essex and was woken up by some noises. She looked out the window and thought it was the middle of the night so went back to bed. In fact it was the early morning and her normal getting up time - what she had thought was the night sky was in fact the black out curtain across the window - I don't think the farmer where she was billetted saw the funny side.
 Doris Barker on left with brother Frank and sister Rene.
Another story that mum always told as a joke but at the time must have been quite frightening. She was working in the Valentines Park, Ilford at this time when the alarm went and they heard a doodlebug coming. Mum for some reason decided to take a short cut to the shelter through a hedge, but got stuck in it and couldn't get out, just as the doodlebug's motor cut out which meant it was on its way down. I think she got out with some help and the bomb landed some way away.
Unfortunately I don't know the names of the other two girls in these photos.
Doris Barker on left working in Valentines Park, Ilford in 1944
Doris Barker on left, Valentines Park, Ilford in 1944
Mum died in December 1999. I would love to be able to get details of her number, dates of service and where she was stationed.
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Eric John Barker . from Harwich, Essex C.I.Horse and the enemy slogged out a battle over heads (kept well down) and though an enemy mine field. this party carried a director and two hurricane lamps two 4_gal petrol tins with one side cut out and a tape, fortunately the guards were throwing a lot of grenades around and shooting up the old sentries and distracting attention. we got to within about 500 yds of the gun position were we could see both our own o.p and the guns.we set up sub tense bases using our hurricane lamp inside the petrol tin and the o.p. director with a light though its optics (try finding a star with a blindfold) From then on it was a piece of cake. prearranged signals enabled us to range sniping that seriously depleted our et out idne range and a/s was computed from our guns to the enemy guns (75mm self-propelled) I cannot remember the outcome of this piece of nonsense. I dare say the enemy just withdrew to fight another day we now lead into the action at Alam Hamsa (we called it Cazalla) east of Tobruk. On the 13th or 14th December the 25 field had got into trouble with tanks and we were called upon and did some long range sniping that seriously depleted our anticipated. On the 14th the Germans had set up a strong defence line at Gazalla attacking a point known as pt.207, discovered that this position was undefended and ordered Brig. Russell to penetrate as far as possible. That evening we received our first issue of fresh rations (meat ant veg) but were unable to use them as it was vital to get though the gap at 207. This was done but in the morning of the 15th we came up against a strong mobile force with we believe were late in plugging up 207. we were in a very bad situation. the battlefield was completely flat and there was no cover of any sort absolutely ideal for tanks s.p.guns and lorried infantry. Of which the enemy seemed to have an unlimited supply. Our guns were limbered up travelling rapid support well in advance of the infantry and I tanks, far enough forward to be out of touch. On making contact the guns dropped trails and started to shoot by direct observation from troop positions. Slit tranches were dug whilst guns were in action there was no hope of digging the guns in or even putting up parapets. Our command post was just a slit trench about 5 ft long and some 3ft deep with scrub bushes scattered about the edges. The command post consisted of one telephone (remote) and we were linked only to battery r. In the command post was the g.p.o.a., g.p.o and two signallers. The weight of metal coming into the guns and battery position was phenomenal. I lost all count of time the guns soon started to run out of ammunition. The gads and other vehicles were trying to bring up fresh supplies but were being knocked out as fast as they approached, everybody joined in carrying ammunition from place to place and from gun to gun as each gun was knocked out. Then after what seemed to be two or three hours the German lorried infantry with heavy machine guns come around our right flank the hail of bullets is impossible to describe except that the scrub bushes around the command post were cut down to or three inches high. The I tanks brought up some ammunition but this was solid shot and of no use against infantry. Gradually the guns were silenced until only the one gun on the left flank was firing over on it's back we had lost all contact with the r.o.g.t. and the last message we received was that the Colonel had managed to escape in an I tank and to destroy all equipment, one of the signallers from the g.p. had gone back to try to get the command post p.o. vehicle at fifteen out to bring up supplies but he must have failed no vehicle could survive that barrage of shell and small arms fire the Germans finally over ran the gun positions and mopped up the gunners and infantry but we three in the command post evaded capture. The german commander in a tracked vehicle had passed right over the g.p.o myself and the signaller we crouched in the bottom of the trench at this point the Germans received reports from his junior commanders and apparently made the decision that force had been so seriously depleted by the action of the guns that he was no longer able to carry out his appointed task he moved off. His prisoners were lined up ready to march off and the mopping up was complete. We thought we had got away with it and were planning how to get back to our own people, at which point a German infantryman decided he needed to pee and thought our trench just the place. I don't know who was the most frightened him or us certainly he nearly shot us we only had one revolver between us. Any way we too ended up in the bag the German Commander was evidently a man of honour after the usual "for you the war is over" he paid us the high compliment that the Battery had fought a most gallant action and admitted that his group was now forced to retire. Unfortunately for us, we had pushed forward so far that no relieving force could catch up with us although one or two shells landed in the position so ended the battle of Alam Hamza, the complete destruction of a regiment of artillery and company of infantry and support troups of r.c.s., a.a. and r.i.a.s.c. I don't know what gains were made by the sacrifice my friend from the 25th Field was capture in the exact spot some time later when the "crusader" was in retreat back to El Alamein.
This is part of a diary left to me by my grandfather Eric John Barker it is the only piece I have as he died not long after my father was born in 1948 as a result of torture administered during his time in a P.O.W. camp. He managed to get home then died of a blood clot in the brain.
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