George Taylor served with 505 Field Company Royal Engineers.
The story of my father's wartime experiences from Dec 1940 to Jan 1946, created from his Service Record, letters, diaries and photographs by his son Norman Taylor.
My father was born in Finchley, North London in Nov 1912. He married in June 1939 and moved into a new house in Barnet, Herts the same year. He was conscripted into the Army in Aug 1940, passing his Medical A1 in July of that year.
Training for the Royal Engineers took place at Clyst Hydon in Devon from where he passed as a Sapper in December 1940. He joined C Company, the 505 Field Company, Royal Engineers, part of the 50th Northumbrian Infantry Division and was based in Slaithwaite in West Yorkshire until being sent to the Middle East in May 1941. So began a two and a half year adventure for a recently married Bus Conductor who had never been further afield than Margate in Kent.
The Convoy WS.8 departed Glasgow in May 1941. They travelled via Freetown in Sierra Leone and Durban in South Africa before arriving in Egypt in the middle of July 1941. The travelling didn't end there, since they continued on to Cyprus and Palestine before entering Iraq in Nov 1941.
George's diary shows that the winter in Eskilich, Iraq was very cold and the ground hard making the burying of mines on the border with Turkey very difficult.
In Feb 1942 the Company moved to the Western Front near Tobruk. This was a 10 day, 2000 mile journey by trucks and trains, passing through Tuz Khurmatu, the RAF base at Al Habbaniyah, Tel Aviv, Ismailia, Cairo, over the Nile and passed the Pyramids before moving through the desert to the Gazala line west of Tobruk.
George worked on laying mines around the defensive Boxes for the next four months. This was combined with Guard duty since they had captured several hundred prisoners of war. In June Rommel attacked and swept round the Southern edge of the defensive line and George's diary reports that they were surrounded. However, their Company of the 505th were facing an Italian section of the line which they attacked, escaping to the West!
They followed Rommel's forces round to the south and east before eventually arrived back at Mersa Metruh. George reports that they had left some of their fellows behind (to be captured by the Germans) but it was the quick thinking of their Captain that had saved them! However, Rommel attacked again and surrounded the Allied forces a second time. Once more they managed to escape, this time eastwards, back towards Alexandra and the Nile. Here they regrouped for what was to come El Alamein.
During the preparation of a defensive line, they were heavily bombed by Stukas which George refers to as coming over in a regular parade. Other German heavy bombers joined in and there is reference to George being knocked up with his nerves being shot to pieces because of the bombing. However, by September, the RAF got the better of the Germans when he reported watching 10 planes being shot down within the day.
The 50th Division where in the middle of the El Alamein line when Montgomery attacked the Germans, and George reported that the Barrage that we put over for a whole week was terrific! As the Allies pushed forward George was on Salvage Duty and by the time the 505th reached El Daba, some 50km west of El Alamein, they were able to go through the battlefield of Tanks and recovered sufficient to make up for all our previous losses. Every step of the battlefield was covered in shrapnel a dozen pieces to every step and this covered several square miles!
On the push west George reports that they were involved in clearing mines and other likely objects, spending Christmas just south of Tobruk. They continued their push until Tripoli, where George reports seeing Churchill who was visiting the town. It was on the following forward push that George was thrown out of a jeep he was travelling in and ended up being out of it for three weeks. The Germans then established the Mareth Line between Medenine and Gabes in Tunisia. George was a recce sapper during the subsequent attack on the Mareth line and reports that things hummed that night things did. But after further attacks he wrote that his nerves were very ragged after the two innings that they had had. The 505th pushed forward towards Tunis but on the 20th of April 1943 they were withdrawn from the front back to the Nile Delta; a journey of close on 2000 miles.
Unfortunately, Georges diary for 1943 has not been found, but his letters home reflect that he did participate in Operation Huskey the invasion of Sicily. However, he had several bouts of malaria during this time. By Nov 1943 he was sufficiently ill that he was evacuated back to the Military Hospital at Netley, Southampton and discharged from the 505th Field Company.
He continued to have bouts of Malaria through the first half of 1944. Eventually he joined 4th Mechanical Equipment HQ in Jul 1944 and was sent to France. The HQ moved with the 8th Army through France, Belgium and Germany as they advanced. George was mainly involved with administrative work during this time. He ended up in Bas Salzuflen (Germany) until he was discharged in Jan 1946.
