An Englishman at War

by James Holland

  Two days later, on 9 April, Rommel captured Bardia and the following day, the 9th Australian Division withdrew into Tobruk. The events Stanley describes were the first German attacks on the garrison. On 12 April, the encirclement of Tobruk was complete. The siege had begun.

  6

  The Siege of Tobruk

  Still smiling. Standing by during an air raid on Tobruk.

  Saturday, 12 April 1941

  THE BATTLE STILL goes on around Tobruk. There has been a considerable amount of artillery fire all day and I gather that we are holding them on all sides. I understand that we are using both the inner and the outer perimeter used by the Italians. It’s very difficult to get any accurate news and we live on rumours. Last input, I gather we repulsed five tank attacks. News also came through that the German and the Italian columns engaged each other! I am not surprised as we, the Germans and the Italians are all using Italian tanks!

  We had a series of air alarms during the morning and five German planes came over just before lunch. The AA on our point brought down one bomber, which landed very close to our HQ. Both pilots were taken into the orderly room and both were unhurt. I gather they came from Derna. The Australians got to the plane first and stripped the pilots of their revolvers and watches until they were stopped by some of our RA. They were very confident that our army would be cut off in Greece, that more German forces were arriving, which would take Egypt, and the war would be over by November. Mike Gold, who saw them, told us that both pilots stank of scent! One was a corporal and the other an operator. I understand that a couple of Italian fighters were escorting.

  Tomorrow is Easter Day. How I wish that I could be at home.

  Sunday, 13 April: Easter Day

  At 06.45 I went up to HQ for Holy Communion, which was held in an enormous cave. It was an ideal place and forms an excellent air-raid shelter.

  During the day we had three air raids, the worst in the evening about five o’clock. We heard that 12 planes were brought down. On the news tonight from England the Germans claim to have captured Bardia and surrounded Tobruk. The BBC didn’t confirm this. If this is true it means the road to Egypt is cut and our only outlet is by sea.

  The news from Greece is not encouraging. Russia and Japan have signed a pact, which says, I gather, that in the event of either party being attacked the other would remain neutral. Not so good.

  Stanley was right about the situation in Greece, which had been attacked on 6 April through Bulgaria. Three days later, the key port of Salonika had been captured, while German troops from Austria, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria also poured into Yugoslavia. In the face of this onslaught, it was clear the Yugoslavians were crumbling, while in Greece British forces began falling back towards Mount Olympus. To add to British woes, there was also an Axis-led revolt in Iraq.

  The only cause for British joy was in East Africa, where their forces continued to trounce the Italians. Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia was captured on 6 April and two days later Massawa, the last Italian stronghold in Eritrea.

  Monday, 14 April

  At about 9 o’clock in the morning we had the code-word down from RHQ that some German tanks had broken through the perimeter, which meant that there was a formal stand to. Later we heard that 12 tanks had broken through and later still we heard that we had scuppered 10 of these tanks and we had taken 200 German prisoners.

  During the stand to we had a nasty air raid. I should think at least 30 planes came over, dropped bombs on the harbour and on the town. Later during the day I heard that we had brought down 12 planes. Fortunately their bombs did little damage. The colonel lost his private car at HQ and Laurence’s bedroom was destroyed.

  On the news tonight we hear that Bardia and Sollum have both been captured by the Huns. But, still, he has a hell of a line of communication to maintain.

  Stanley is as perceptive as ever. Yes, Rommel’s lines of communication were certainly now overstretched and, having reached Sollum on the Egyptian border, he ordered his troops to halt their advance. The ability of each side to manage its lines of supply in the vast open stretches of desert was to prove the key feature of the war in North Africa.

  Wednesday, 16 April

  On the news tonight we heard that Yugoslavia had fallen. Churchill gave us to understand that the position in Greece and Libya was serious.

  Last night the Huns made two attacks but were repulsed each time. We heard that Jerry pushed the Italians forward on the point of the bayonet to lead the attack, and we gave them stick.

  On 14 April, the Germans had destroyed the Yugoslavian Army in the south and then poured through the Monastir Gap, so cutting off much of the Greek Army in Albania.

  Thursday, 17 April

  A most hectic day, possibly a little too exciting. After lunch, at a time when I was hoping for a quiet afternoon in the BOP, the code-word came that 12 German tanks had broken through the perimeter defences so we had to stand to for a couple of hours. During the morning we had a dive-bombing attack by German planes but nothing fell close to us. I should think at least 20 came over.

  To cap it all, later in the afternoon some enemy artillery started shelling the harbour from the south side. It was most difficult to see what was firing, but we could clearly make out the flash. Their ranging was very accurate and they almost scored a hit on a minesweeper, destroyer and gunboat in the harbour. Some of the shells came unpleasantly near our shore. The destroyer and the gunboat dashed out of the harbour and started a bombardment, after which we got no more shelling. Certainly an exciting day.

  Saturday, 19 April

  I slept in the billets last night and Stephen was in the BOP.

  The raid started early this morning, at 4.30, and continued until dawn. They dropped a good many mines in the harbour and all around the coast. Not many bombs were dropped.

  During the morning a large convoy came into the harbour so all day we were expecting a raid, and sure enough, it came about 3 o’clock in the afternoon when 17 German dive-bombers came and attacked the harbour and the town. At the time I was in Navy House with Scott. We went down to the shelters, which were quite amazing, extending miles underground and absolutely safe from any direct hit. While down there I had a long talk with the skipper of a merchant boat in harbour, which had been dive-bombed here the other day, and damaged. He only lost one man, the gunner, who had his leg shattered. In the last war he was torpedoed off the north coast of Ireland and spent one hour in the water in November. But the Merchant Navy take it all in their day’s work. They are amazingly brave and don’t really get all the credit due to them.

  A terrific barrage went up over the harbour, especially the escort vessel to the convoy, which let them have it. Seventeen planes came over and six were brought down, four by AA and two by fighters. Two crashed into the harbour, two out to sea and the fighters got theirs over land. All the pilots who came down into the sea must have been killed instantaneously.

  As we were leaving Navy House with a couple of naval officers an Australian came up and asked us to have a look at a bomb that had landed about 300 yards away and practically next door to the NAAFI. We followed him and found the largest bomb I have ever seen, which had gone straight through a house and broken in two. The nose of the shell stood about 4 foot high with a diameter of 2 feet. Fortunately, especially for the Australian, the bomb had failed to go off. The plane that had dropped it, so the Aussie told us, had come very low over the town, machine-gunning, and had finally dropped this contraption.

  Another bomb fell right in the middle of the courtyard of Area Headquarters, making a crater 15 feet deep, but again no damage to personnel.

  Tuesday, 22 April

  Today was Stephen Mitchell’s birthday. He is 28. I wished him birthday greetings at stand to, i.e., 3.30 in the morning.

  I spent last night in the BOP. A most disturbed night as one gun kept on maintaining that a motor-boat was somewhere outside the harbour.

  As a matter of interest, the colonel told us that since
arriving here we have had 100 air-raid alerts and 80 raids.

  Wednesday, 23 April

  During the morning, the colonel, Derrick Warwick and I went out towards El Adem to look for possible observation posts in the event of a breakthrough and our having to shoot our guns across the land.

  On our way back a tremendous air raid started: almost 30 German bombers escorted by fighters came over. The fighters had their battle right over our heads but it was most difficult to distinguish what exactly was happening. It was a distressing sight to see one of our Hurricane fighters crash in and burst into flames. I am afraid that we lost three but six enemy planes were brought down.

  On the road we passed one Hurricane brought down on Easter Monday. The pilot had been buried beside the wreckage of his plane and on the simple white cross there was his name, ‘Pilot Sergeant Webster, killed in action 4.4.41’. On the cross lay his flying helmet and stuck in the grave the blade of the propeller.

  April 23 had been a day of heavy air activity. Some 70 enemy aircraft had attacked Tobruk, mostly Stuka dive-bombers and Messerschmitt 110 twin-engine fighters. In the mêlée, Sergeant Webster shot down a German Hesche 126, then, having suffered some damage to his Hurricane, force-landed. As he did so he was shot up by an Me110 and killed. It was a bad day for 73 Squadron, who also lost their hugely popular and highly experienced Canadian flight commander, Flight Lieutenant ‘Smudger’ Smith, a veteran of France and the Battle of Britain. Both men now lie in Tobruk War Cemetery.

  One of the failings of the RAF in the first part of the war was the lack of Spitfires sent to the Mediterranean and Middle East. In 1940 the Hurricane had been under-performing against the latest German Messerschmitt 109E fighter aircraft, and most certainly so by 1941, when 109Fs were entering theatre. Although it was a solid gun platform, most Hurricanes were equipped only with machine-guns rather than cannons and lacked the kind of rate of climb needed, which meant it was invariably vulnerable to attack from above. It was also slower than both the Spitfire and the Me109. Spitfires were far more plentiful than Hurricanes and new cannon-armed Spitfire Mk Vs were now running off the production line, yet RAF Fighter Command insisted they should be kept in the UK. It was a poor decision.

  Thursday, 24 April

  During the raid this morning it looked as though Tobruk had been completely blotted out, but after the dust had blown away, from here it looked exactly as before.

  Friday, 25 April

  Last night I was on duty in the BOP. During stand to in the early morning we had a raid and about six bombs were dropped among our tanks. A slit trench with 10 men inside was straddled and the sentry on duty had one bomb bursting five yards away from where he was lying and never had a scratch. It was certainly his lucky day. A sergeant major had one 20 yards in front of his tank.

  The men are bearing up wonderfully well to all this bombing.

  During the morning we had a battery commanders’ conference and as Stephen is still sick I had to attend. We organized a scheme to deal with an attempted landing on our piece of coastline, which quite likely may be attempted, especially as we have made landing parties on Bardia and Sollum with considerable success. There is no reason why the other side shouldn’t try the same.

  I went into Tobruk afterwards to get the pay for the men. The place is in a dreadful mess. Every house appears to have been damaged. I have never seen such a desolate sight. They scored a hit on Navy House, causing considerable damage but no casualties. The NAAFI also had a hit and has moved out of the town.

  At 5 o’clock I paid out the battery. There is absolutely nothing to spend money on here for the men.

  I had a grand mail today, letters from the family – Dosai [?], Mother, Pat, Ione, Ursula and Clive. How wonderful it is to receive letters from home. It’s also fun writing them.

  News from Greece is not good and I am afraid that we shall have to consider the campaign as a magnificent withdrawal.

  Saturday, 26 April

  A sand storm blew all day, visibility nil, hence we were free from any raids for 24 hours. What a change.

  We are rather expecting to hear at any moment that Greece has capitulated. She has made a most gallant fight and we couldn’t do anything else but send troops and material to her aid.

  The colonel came down from HQ and had dinner in our mess.

  The campaign in Greece was now all but over. On 19 April, the Germans had captured Olympus and Larissa, and the Waffen-SS troops of the Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler cut off the retreating Greek troops. There was now very little defence left, with the British now in full retreat. The next day, Alexander Korizis, the Greek prime minister, committed suicide and on the twenty-third the King and government fled to Crete. The evacuation of British troops began that day, while Athens fell on 27 April. The last British troops were lifted on 30 April, and although some 50,000 men escaped, the Greek campaign had cost Britain dear in terms of men, equipment and shipping.

  Sunday, 27 April

  I saw a copy of the signal sent by Cunningham to Navy House here. ‘Congratulations to mine spotters. Keep your tails up.’ SNOIC’s answer to this was, ‘Roof down but tail well up.’ Navy House scored a direct hit yesterday.

  Churchill made a speech on the wireless at 11 o’clock at night. I didn’t hear it as I was up in the BOP, but Mike got it on his wireless. It was quite up to his usual standard. He made it quite clear an invasion of England would be impossible, which was most encouraging. He was very rude about Mussolini.

  This was Churchill’s first speech since February and one in which, despite all the terrible setbacks that had occurred in the interim, he tried, as ever, to be positive. ‘Tobruk – the fortress of Tobruk – which flanks any German advance on Egypt, we hold strongly.’ He ended by pointing out that there were many more British – and American – people in the world than Germans and that together the British Empire and the United States ‘possess the unchallengeable command of the oceans, and will soon obtain decisive superiority in the air. They have more wealth, more technical resources, and they make more steel, than the whole of the rest of the world put together.’ Churchill’s point about resources and shipping was undeniable.

  Monday, 28 April

  German planes started coming over here at 5.30 in the morning and continued periodically throughout the day. We have no fighters here at all now and for some reason our AA fire seems quite ineffective. In consequence, the Hun does more or less what he likes. One Messerschmitt flew over us only a few hundred feet up. There are none of our fighters to engage them so they come along and machine-gun the ground.

  Wednesday, 30 April

  Run-through on gun drill during the morning.

  At 12.30 I left with a wireless truck, signaller and Sergeant Kettner for my forward OP. On arrival I established communication with Stephen, who would control the shoot from 2 Battery BOP for our landward firing. Derrick Warwick did the same for C Battery. Communications were excellent. I found some tanks had taken up a position around our OP. They were charming fellows, showed me over their tanks and gave me some tea.

  When I got back I found the two Cocks (alias Mike and Peter Laycock) reinforcing our air-raid shelter. After tea we all worked on that.

  The colonel rang up and wanted to discuss our proceedings during the afternoon and I went up to HQ. After the conference the air-raid alarm went. I went up to C Battery BOP from where one had the most amazing view over Tobruk, the harbour and the perimeter defences. And they are in communication with FOP who put through all details, e.g., 40 planes from south bearing one hundred, height 8000, eight miles away. Their information is amazingly accurate.

  The attack this evening was on the perimeter and we saw the explosions all the way along, and the planes diving. Two planes attacked and machine-gunned a minesweeper, about four miles out to sea, but they missed. Fortunately they left the convoy of small tankers, which had just left harbour. After the raid we put up a tremendous artillery barrage on the perimeter. It’s still going on now. Whether we a
re preparing for a push, or being pushed, remains to be seen.

  We hear that the evacuation of Greece still continues. Up to the present, 40,000 have got out; 3000 casualties killed and wounded.

  Turkey has made a trade agreement with Germany, which is rather distressing news. I should think the Germans would endeavour to take this place before we get reorganized in Egypt after the evacuation of Greece.

  Today Tobruk had its 154th raid since we took the place and I should think that I have been here for ¾ of them. I am most weary this evening. The barrage still goes on but I shall go to bed.

  How I wish all this would end.

  I have not gone to bed yet. I am still talking in the mess. The conversation has turned to public schools. Five of us are sitting here, Peter Laycock, Mike Laycock, Stephen Mitchell and Mike Gold and self, and all were at Eton except myself, who was at Winchester. We were discussing which school we should send our sons to if not either Winchester or Eton. How different the Etonian is from the Wykehamist.

  Thursday, 1 May

  Rather a hectic day. The Germans launched their largest attack so far against Tobruk and penetrated the outer perimeter. At 8.30 this morning the code-word came through for us to stand to, followed very shortly by the code-word for us to be prepared to shoot landwards. So Derrick and I each got into our wireless truck and proceeded to Division HQ. Mike Gold came with me, as we had to produce a liaison officer. We had to be prepared to occupy our OPs at a moment’s notice.