Nothing happened during the morning. There was a great deal of artillery fire. We saw a large variety of people at Division HQ, including the interpreter and some war correspondents.
The interpreter was quite interesting. He had just finished interviewing some German prisoners. He told us that you could get nothing out of German artillery or tank personnel, but the mechanized infantry always volunteered something.
The perimeter has come in for some very formidable dive-bombing and machine-gunning from the air. We get a very clear view from our position and it is certainly a grim spectacle to see 40 or 50 dive-bombers hurtling down, dropping up to six bombs and machine-gunning.
I saw three German prisoners outside HQ. They looked very fatigued but appeared well fed. I saw the Australian sentry give each of them a drink of water from his own water bottle.
Friday, 2 May
I reported at dawn with my wireless truck at Division HQ. Derrick Warwick of C Battery also reported with his.
A very severe sand storm has been blowing for the last 24 hours and visibility is practically nil. We were given the state of the battle. The counter-attack we made last night was held up by machine-gun fire.
I had a postcard from Daddy, which took just over a month to arrive. A new special postcard airmail service has been started for ME Forces. One also came from Ione and Bridget.
Another heavy air raid on the harbour in the evening.
Sunday, 4 May
Usual routine during the morning and also the usual raids.
A plane came over while we were having lunch. We heard the whistle of a bomb, which landed not very far from our mess. The individual actions of those having lunch were quite amusing to watch. For some reason I ran rather hastily to my bedroom, a very foolish place to make for. Jack Whiting went under the table, which actually I think was the right thing to do. Mike Gold threw himself on the floor and Scottie ran for the shelter.
In the evening 20 planes, escorted by fighters, first dive-bombed the inner perimeter, aiming at our artillery. Twelve more then flew over the harbour and each one deliberately dive-bombed the hospital ship, which came in during the morning. Bombs fell all round her (at least 40) but not one hit her. But I am afraid that some fell so close to her that her plates were damaged and she had to be towed out of harbour after dark. That is the second deliberate attack on a hospital ship during a month. They are all painted white with enormous red crosses.
Two more planes came in from the north and dropped about 12 bombs right from the old POW camp to the ordnance depot. They were only about 800 yards from us. The raid lasted about ¾ of an hour. We saw one plane crash into the sea through the rangefinder about 12 miles out to sea.
Scottie and I both hinted to Henry Trotter that a drink would be most acceptable before returning home but the old Scotchman didn’t play. Both Scottie and I were wild.
Mike Gold told us a good tale at dinner. At RHQ we have a few Australian Ordnance attached, including one officer. One of them went to the field hospital and our colonel went to see him. He wrote and told a pal that the colonel had visited him and described him as being ‘stonking lovely’. Flash Kellett, our colonel, is always beautifully turned out under any conditions, and does use a certain amount of eau de Cologne. The same Australians have made up a most clever song about the Yeomanry.
However nerve-racking it was to be on a ship when under attack from the air, it was still very difficult for aircraft to hit a moving vessel. At any kind of height of more than, say, a couple of thousand feet, ships often looked like little more than narrow pencils, while swooping in low was extremely dangerous: not only did the aircraft become a bigger target in turn, there was less room for manoeuvre should anything go wrong.
Monday, 5 May
In spite of raids, we are arranging to have a gun team competition for our two guns in this battery. Stephen Mitchell, Peter and Mike Laycock will be judges. I can’t judge as I am in charge of one of the teams.
Tuesday, 6 May
One of the worst sand storms today that I have ever seen. Visibility absolutely nil. You can’t keep the sand out. It gets into your eyes, hair, food and ears. It’s quite hopeless trying to compete until the damn thing is over. It lasted all day. As a result there was no activity either from air or land, which was some compensation.
Wednesday, 7 May
We had five air attacks today, two really bad ones and each of those two were directed on the distillery the other side of the harbour. The large minesweeper had two direct hits and sank immediately. Only one person was killed on board, which is absolutely amazing. The captain was blown off the bridge into the water, and so were many of the crew. The harbour was shelled again during the afternoon and some of the small craft had lucky escapes. Some of the shells landed in the water not far from us.
Rather a hectic day. Despite it all we had the first round of the gun team competition. Our team under Sergeant McCann just managed to beat Jack’s team under Sergeant Hunt. There was terrific enthusiasm among the men. The shelling started just as we had finished.
Thursday, 8 May
Air activity not so bad today. During the evening the Germans dropped one shell very close to our magazine. It made the hell of a noise but we found the nose cap, which showed it to be an AA shell. It appeared to be made of poor stuff and had hardly any effect on the ground.
During the afternoon we carried on with the gun team competition and the other two teams contested. I am afraid that our team lost to Jack’s by three marks. That leaves Sergeant McCann’s team and Sergeant Kettner’s team in the final.
After dinner we played ‘Little Old Man’ – a great success as I caused much amusement. This was followed by a kind of acting charade game. To see Mike Laycock endeavouring to convey ‘The Boy Stood on the Burning Deck’ to the rest of his side by acting without words was a sight for the gods. This was followed by a game of Mike’s in which each person had to draw a plan of a part of London and put in the name of the streets and important buildings. It really was rather a good game.
As usual, Mike Gold was in terrific form, kept us roaring with laughter and the war topic was kept off most of the evening. We eventually went to bed at 1.15, to the boom of artillery, which continued throughout most of the night.
Saturday, 10 May
My turn for duty in the BOP. Only one raid, bombs dropped on the other side of the harbour.
Mike Gold and Sergeant Stockton are going on a mechanical course to Palestine, the lucky dogs. The colonel and Henry Trotter came and had some food with us this evening and we gathered from the colonel that an ‘all arms force’ was due to come up from Egypt and that the road from here to Egypt should be open again in the not too far future. Let’s hope there is truth in that.
I had a look at the harbour this evening as I was walking back to the mess. There was no shipping in at all but I counted 20 wrecks, of all shapes and sizes, protruding out of the water. On the other side of the harbour, beached and burned out, were two Italian troop ships. In the middle of the harbour the mast of Lord Magnus yacht, which had been converted into an armed merchantman, and which I saw sunk full of Italian prisoners. Tobruk harbour has been the grave for many craft of all nationalities and kinds, and we have witnessed the destruction of many of them since we have been here.
Sunday, 11 May
We had the final of the team competition, Sergeant McCann v. Sergeant Kelfrian.
The colonel also came down and watched the competition. We lost by two marks. We gave the winning team a bottle of beer and a packet of cigarettes each, and a bottle of whisky for the sergeant.
After dinner we had a most hectic time. It started off by Jack Whiting endeavouring in vain to be initiated as a cardinal by Scottie by drinking the health of Cardinal Puff in whisky. Of course, old Jack got hopelessly tight. Highly amusing.
Scottie and Jack Whiting, May 1941.
Monday, 12 May
Two very bad air attacks during the day, both concentrated on the south
-west corner of the harbour and, sad to relate, they secured two direct hits on the Ladybird, which came all the way from China at the beginning of the war where she was a river gunboat, and has been in Tobruk ever since we occupied the place. Our people here made particular friends with the crew, especially the first mate, who came ashore and helped us a lot with our 4-inch guns.
Wednesday, 14 May
At 5 o’clock in the afternoon the colonel made an address to all officers, WOs and sergeants. He started off by saying that he felt some of us had lost the spirit of aggression that was essential to win this war. It is quite clear that this pep talk was caused through Henry Trotter being most averse to firing his naval gun across land to silence the German gun that has been shelling the harbour and shelled us yesterday when we opened fire. As usual, he spoke very well and what he said in principle was quite right. But, as Peter pointed out, one must fight with one’s head as well as one’s heart.
The colonel went on to say that the experience we had had out here had been most valuable both to us and to him. He had been able to see how officers and men behaved under shellfire and dive-bombing, and on these pictures he would build up the construction of the Regiment when it re-formed to train with the new 1st Cavalry Division.
He read us all one passage from a book he had been reading about the fall of France: ‘Prosperity in France had undermined her capacity for aggression.’
He ended up by reading a telegram received informing him that two batteries of coastal defence would be ready to relieve us at Tobruk at 24 hours’ notice from 16 May. On being relieved the Notts Yeomanry would report back to Palestine to train with the 1st Cavalry Division. This was received with great enthusiasm.
But on the other hand, in spite of all the bombing and shelling, the men have been more content here than doing nothing in Palestine.
Sunday, 18 May
Again some bombers came over before dawn. They hang around for about an hour. It’s rather a bad time because the lights can’t pick them up and the AA can’t see them.
During the morning we spent an hour or two on signalling. The Morse procedure takes a lot of learning but it’s quite interesting.
I was on duty in the BOP during the day. News came through that we had captured Fort Capuzzo again and also Sollum, where we had captured 400 German prisoners and put 200 tanks out of action.
In the evening I had a bathe. At the moment the climate here is absolutely perfect – sunshine throughout the day with a slight breeze coming off the sea. It is much more pleasant than Palestine and everybody feels so well.
At the moment I am reading Gone With the Wind, which I find a most depressing book.
Tuesday, 20 May
After lunch I went down to the docks with Donny Player to collect some food and drink which had been sent up by Jack Abdy on a small vessel that arrived last night. An Australian called Captain Palmer runs the ship and he has no other officer with him. We found that our stuff took up most of his vessel. It included whisky, gin, soda water, lime, eggs, oranges and some fine cooking stuff for the men. It could not have come at a more appropriate time, as there is not a spot of drink in the place and the NAAFI is completely out of everything. We have had no ships in at all for the last week.
The water question was also getting rather bad. We only drink sea water which has been distilled. Each battery has made its own distillery. But all the water has a strong taste of either salt, rust or both.
We asked Captain Palmer to come and have a drink with us before going to dinner at HQ. We asked about his various trips up here. Last time he said that a submarine had fired five torpedoes at him but missed each time. The time before, a Heinkel bomber nosed around him for a long time but he didn’t fire, neither did the bomber, which, to use his own words, ‘tickled’ him somewhat, ‘as I had several tons of high explosives on board’.
Among the things he brought up for us were some baking powder and blancmange for the men. When one of his crew saw these packages clearly marked with their contents he turned to him and said, ‘God, sir, look at this. No wonder the bloody army is always retreating!’ He really was a most charming person and highly amusing.
We heard today that the Germans have made a large-scale attack on Crete, using airborne troops – parachute troops and troops landed from gliders. The prime minister had made the announcement and told us that the position was in hand. He also added that the troops had landed in New Zealand uniform.
Half of the Regiment are there manning coastal defence guns, one battery under Tony Holden and the other under Sydney Morse. Mike Parish is there as well. All this trouble will probably mean there will be a delay in both ourselves and the batteries on Crete being relieved. It really will be great fun when the Regiment all gets together again. I have not seen Mike Parish for almost seven months.
I understand that we shall re-form at Allenby Barracks, Jerusalem. But there is absolutely no telling when we will be relieved, and when we are, and if we do go to Jerusalem, I anticipate that our real job will be patrolling the pipeline in trucks. I simply can’t see our getting tanks.
This was the day the Italians in East Africa formally surrendered after a 94-day campaign. However, that piece of good news was severely dampened by the German attack on Crete the same day, in which some 8000 paratroopers were dropped on and around the key airfields of Maleme in the west and Heraklion in the centre north of the island. Defending Crete were some 32,000 British and imperial troops and 10,000 Greeks under command of the New Zealand general Bernard Freyberg, a First World War winner of the Victoria Cross, and a soldier much admired by Churchill. Although poorly equipped in terms of artillery, armour and air support, Creforce, as Freyberg’s defenders were called, should have been strong enough to see off the initial assault.
Wednesday, 21 May
Henry Trotter and Sergeant Major Sayers left Tobruk in the evening as advance party to Allenby Barracks, Jerusalem. He went on the schooner, which left harbour at stand to in the evening. I bet he hopes he has seen Tobruk for the last time!
Another small mail came in, which brought me a letter from Mummy and from Ione.
I hear that the Germans are continuing their attack on Crete by parachutists and airborne troops. I gather that they attempted to land a division. I feel quite certain that when they try and attack this place again they will drop parachute troops in the back areas and try and get control of the harbour. It remains to be seen whether we will have been relieved by then.
Ione in her letter told me that she had heard from Dennis Hamilton, now a prisoner of war in Germany. The letter only took a month and he said he had Kenneth Crockett with him. Her letter was very cheerful.
Thursday, 22 May
Three air raids, nothing very personal. The colonel told me today that he might send me on a signalling course at Cairo in place of Mike Riviere, who at the moment might not be able to go as he must be rather busy in Crete. It would be a good break, especially in getting away from here. If I did go it would probably mean a trip in a destroyer.
Friday, 23 May
A cable arrived from Daddy, sent off on 30 April, so it took just over three weeks to reach me. It was addressed to Captain Christopherson. First time!
Saturday, 24 May
We heard the most distressing news that the battleship Hood has been sunk by the new German battleship, Bismarck. A lucky shot penetrated the magazine.
There is still no sign of our being relieved. It is now almost 10 days since the colonel told us that some coastal defence gunners were at 24 hours’ notice to come and relieve us. Events in Crete, I suppose, won’t help the other half of the Regiment being relieved from there.
They still continue to land parachute troops and airborne troops. The navy, however, laid hell into a convoy of 30 ships, sinking one destroyer and sending all the other ships back that were carrying troops to Crete. Our forces there are without any air support.
Sunday, 25 May
We had a service in the gun pit in the m
orning. The padre is rather good at these short services. He gave us a short sermon, his text was ‘endurance’ and ‘the ability to carry on’. Just as he had completed his talk with the words, ‘you must always carry on’, the AA opened up and he turned to Peter and said, ‘Shall I carry on?’ After taking cover for a short time he completed his service by saying a special prayer for our families, wives and sweethearts. I was standing next to Peter and when he paused for us all to say a silent prayer for our sweethearts I kept on wondering which of his many sweethearts Peter was praying for. He couldn’t decently have prayed for more than one at a time.
During the morning German bombers attacked three ships entering harbour, a couple of minesweepers and a schooner. They had some very narrow misses, which made us hold our breath, but they all got back into harbour. I am afraid, however, they sank our oil tanker about 70 miles out to sea on its way here.
Monday, 26 May
Today, 29 years ago, Stanley Douglas Christopherson was born to Alma Christopherson, wife of Douglas Christopherson. On that night, previous to the great day 29 years ago, the said Alma Christopherson went to a theatre called Autumn Manoeuvres. She only just got home in time. On the same day 70-odd years ago, Queen Mary was also born.
I have just had breakfast, having been relieved by Stephen in the BOP where I had a disturbed night. The telephone kept ringing and I couldn’t sleep on my right side as I have a boil on my right hip, which is most painful. It’s a most glorious morning, beautiful sunshine with quite a fresh sea breeze, the sea looks bluer than I have ever seen it before, and there’s not a ripple on the water. The beauty of the whole situation is spoiled by this damned war.
An Englishman at War Page 17