I am now having to select a fresh crew for my own tank since my driver, Bielby, has been killed, and Sergeant Bacon, the operator, has left to go to an OCTU. My selection has been as follows: the driver – Trooper Bland, who is a Yeoman and one of the original recce troop; gunner – Trooper Randall, who is also a Yeoman and has always been my gunner; operator – Trooper Simons, who joined the Regiment as a Yeoman and was also at one time a member of Sam’s recce troop.
Crusaders from Stanley’s A Squadron by Keith Douglas.
On Saturday, 8 May, we had some wonderfully encouraging news about the progress of Eighth Army on our left, who have linked up with First Army, and the progress of the Americans and the French. We heard that both Tunis and Bizerte have now been occupied by our forces. The air force has been wroughting [sic – wreaking] terrific damage and is reputed to have sunk 25 out of 30 Axis ships crammed with troops who have left all their equipment behind.
The line in front of us is still held by the enemy and it remains to be seen whether they will attempt to evacuate. According to a report from a Pole who was captured, the whole area is extremely heavily mined. This Pole is a sapper and gave the whole layout of the enemy minefields.
Lawrence Biddle, the brigade major, came over and visited the Regiment. We had a talk about the present position and about what the future would hold for us after all this had been cleared up. We came to the conclusion that home leave for any of us would be very unlikely, and rather anticipated that First Army would remain, first to clear up this area and then possibly as garrison troops, that Eighth Army and any of First Army who could be spared would go back to the Delta and train for some kind of combined operation. I hope that I may be wrong in my supposition that we get no home leave, especially as regards those who have been out here for three and a half years.
The war in North Africa was now all but over. On 5 May, First Army, having been given X Corps, made their final assault in the Medjerda Valley in a thrust to break through to Tunis. The battle, planned by General Tuker of the 4th Indian Division, not only went almost entirely to plan but was so successful it was all over in a day. Both Tunis and Bizerte fell on 7 May. The last remaining Axis troops were now cornered into the Cap Bon peninsula.
Tuesday, 11 May
We heard today that approximately 11,000 Germans and 9000 Italian infantry remained in North Africa to fight it out. They are supported by approximately 50 tanks from 10th and 21st Panzer Divisions. Those figures come from First Army. According to Eighth Army estimates there are about 30,000 troops facing them. We heard today that the 15th Armoured Division blew up its tanks and surrendered. This division is one of the oldest in North Africa and can claim the honour of getting nearer to the Nile than any other German unit in August 1942, when Rommel made his unsuccessful ‘recce in force’. As the New Zealanders say, this unconditional surrender is hardly a suitable conclusion to a career that hitherto has been distinguished and extremely gallant.
We heard today that our padre, George Hales, has to leave the Regiment to go to X Corps with the rank of major. It will mean promotion for him but will be a very great loss to the Regiment, and he is very loath to go, but I am afraid he can’t get out of it.
Wednesday, 12 May
The forces opposite Enfidaville on our front are now completely surrounded, as First Army has worked round behind them and captured Bouficha on the coast. It remains to be seen how long they will hold out. A great many more prisoners have been taken. A terrific barrage has been put down all day by our gunners and a tremendous air attack took place this afternoon. We heard today that General von Arnim was captured by elements of 6th Armoured Division (First Army) and is reputed to have stated that he ordered cease fire at 16.00 hours.
General Messe, GOC 90th Light Division, is reputed to have been captured, and I only hope by Eighth Army. They have been the most ancient and formidable division against the 8th Armoured Brigade ever since the Battle of Alamein.
I gather that tonight organized resistance has practically ceased, but we have not yet heard the final figure of prisoners and war matériel.
Thursday, 13 May
The victory in Africa was officially declared completed and the campaign officially ended soon after 8 o’clock last night, Tunisian time. At the moment we have taken 150,000 prisoners and vast quantities of war matériel.
Somehow it is extremely difficult to fully realize that the war out here is finished, and everybody is speculating wildly about the future. I am afraid that home leave appears to be out of the question but, still, one never knows.
General Alexander, C-in-C 18th Army Group, signalled to Churchill at 1.16 p.m. on 13 May, ‘Sir, it is my duty to report that the Tunisian campaign is over. All enemy resistance has ceased. We are masters of the North African shores.’
Final numbers of prisoners vary, from 275,000 registered by the Americans to 238,000, according to British figures. At any rate, around a quarter of a million surrendered, along with a huge arsenal of tanks, guns, and aircraft. It was a huge victory, the biggest of the war to date, and one that eclipsed even the German loss at Stalingrad back in early February in terms of numbers.
Friday, 14 May
At 12.30 all senior officers of 8th Armoured Brigade had an informal address from General Freyberg. He first of all told us that he came to bid us farewell as all the New Zealanders were returning to Cairo tomorrow. He pointed out that the New Zealanders had worked with this brigade ever since Alamein, and that it was entirely due to the 8th Armoured Brigade and the New Zealanders that the line at Mareth was broken as a result of our famous Left Hook. He added that all New Zealanders wished to thank us for the close co-operation and the support we had always given them.
In the afternoon Myles Hildyard, Stephen Mitchell and I visited and climbed to the top of that ancient fortress, the Arab village of Takrouna. It really was most interesting, examining some of the infantry positions that the Germans had had on that hill, and I shall never cease to wonder at the superb view of the whole surrounding countryside, which one got from the top. No wonder we were so heavily shelled and machine-gunned as we worked our way round on the morning of the attack, trying to get behind the village and up the valley between the high ground.
I saw the positions where Sergeant Dring and I engaged a machine-gun nest on the far side of the valley, and I saw the machine-gun nest on the side of Takrouna, which was captured single-handed by the Maori. It was certainly most interesting having a look at the ground and the various positions after it is all over.
I shall never cease to wonder and admire the extraordinary feat performed by the New Zealanders and the Maori battalions in capturing that hill. There were a lot of New Zealanders inspecting the battlefield.
The view of Takrouna is largely unchanged since the ferocious battle there. It is quite possible to clamber up to the top of the hill and still see the remains of mortar and machine-gun pits carved into the rock.
Saturday, 15 May
The officers’ mess gave a cocktail party, to which they asked various members of regiments from the brigade. We put up four tents and decorated the interior with flowers, of which there was a large and varied assortment, including roses and geraniums, and gave one the impression of an English flower show. The party eventually broke up at about 10 o’clock at night after Michael Laycock and Michael Farquhar from the Staffs had collapsed from the top of the tent into the centre of the room.
Sunday, 16 May
The corps commander (General Horrocks) addressed all squadron leaders and their SSMs at rear Corps HQ in order to explain the last phase of the battle of Tunis. He spoke very well, and what he said was extremely interesting. After the first attack of First Army not being altogether successful he told us that the army commander had decided to break the line here at Enfidaville. He never liked this plan, owing to the extreme difficulty of the country and the well-fortified positions held by the Bosch, and was very well pleased when eventually it was decided that the attack should take p
lace further west in First Army where the whole of the air force out here, with the 7th Armoured Division and the 1st Armoured Division, had been sent to increase the strength of First Army. And as Horrocks admitted, with such an amazingly strong force under his command, if he had failed he would certainly have deserved to be sent home with a bowler hat.
As regards the future, he told us that none of us were going home as the shipping situation would not allow it and that we should have to fight our way home through Europe. We should go back to an area near the sea where we would have a fortnight’s relaxation before we started once again to be reinforced, re-equipped and trained flat out.
A mobile cinema visited the regimental area and we saw Desert Victory, which was not the same as they showed in England but quite enjoyable and fairly accurate in detail.
Monty and General ‘Von Thoma’ Thomas of 43 Division, Brunssum, November 1944.
PART III
D-DAY TO VICTORY
June 1944–May 1945
14
D-Day
Gold Beach, D-Day.
AFTER THE END of the war in North Africa, the Sherwood Rangers remained in Tunisia for a few weeks and then were sent to a camp near Tripoli before finally heading back to Egypt in October. On 17 November, they sailed from Alexandria – the Mediterranean was open once more to Allied shipping – and, after a week in Sicily, set sail for England via Gibraltar, arriving into Greenock on 9 December.
Throughout this time, Stanley stopped writing a day-by-day diary. Instead, and for the rest of the war, he jotted down his experiences intermittently.
Between May 1943 and February 1944, much happened in the wider war. In July, the Allies invaded Sicily in what was to be – and would remain – the largest seaborne invasion ever mounted. Later that month, after it became inevitable that Sicily would fall, Mussolini was overthrown. The island surrendered on 17 August, but not before some 60,000 German troops escaped across the Strait of Messina to mainland Italy.
Along the Eastern Front, the Germans counter-attacked the Kursk Salient, but were repulsed and then forced to retreat; that July marked the last time German troops advanced eastwards. Elsewhere, in the Crimea and around Kharkov, the Germans continued to fall back. By January, the Red Army had crossed into Poland. In the strategic air campaign, Allied bombers continued striking at German cities and other targets throughout the Reich; in September, Berlin became the latest to feel the full weight of Allied bombers. At sea, the German battle-cruiser Scharnhorst was sunk, while the U-boat force was being hammered by Allied navies in the Battle of the Atlantic.
In the Mediterranean, Italy signed an armistice, announced on 8 September, and the following day the Allies landed at Salerno, to the south of Naples. Bad weather and German determination to fight for every yard ensured there would be no easy march on Rome, however. By February 1944, the Allies were stuck at the Gustav Line, stretching across the leg of Italy and, at its closest, some 60 miles south-east of Rome, and in a small bridgehead at Anzio.
In the Far East, American forces continued to retake one Pacific island after another and were now dominating the skies with the introduction of the new B-29 Superfortress. In Burma, the British recaptured the key port of Maungdaw and Australian troops were winning the battle for New Guinea.
In this now truly global war, the net was inextricably tightening around the Axis. In the coming summer, the Soviet Union would launch Operation BAGRATION along the Eastern Front while the Allies would, at long last, make their cross-Channel invasion of France. This was Operation OVERLORD, and in the forthcoming battle for Normandy, the Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry would have a crucial role to play.
February–6 June 1944
A month’s leave, after four years abroad, was indescribably good. I spent all my time with my family in London paying several visits to different parts of the country, which looked so very lovely.
My home in the centre of London was surrounded by bomb damage, but beyond several bruises and holes our building was intact. During all the bombing – like all other Londoners – the family, all of whom were doing war work, must have had a nerve-racking time, and had spent many nights in the basement. My father had aged, and I found him a sick man. After having worked hard all his life, he found retirement and enforced inactivity unbearable, suffering so acutely from sciatica. He knew that he would not live much longer and his one great wish was to see me again – a wish which was happily granted. He died during my leave.
My mother I found exceedingly well, and looking as young and pretty as when I last saw her four years ago. The loss of my father, after 30 years of married life, was a great blow to her. In spite of 20 years between their ages, they had found great happiness together and enjoyed unique companionship.
My brother, refusing to take a commission, left for Italy soon after my arrival in England, but it was a great joy to see him again even for a short time, and to find that he was the same big-hearted, cheerful but completely irresponsible person I had known four years ago.
My two young female cousins, cared for and brought up by my family since the loss of their parents, had grown from gawky, long-legged flappers into exceedingly attractive young girls. The eldest one had qualified as a VAD, and the younger one was employed at the Foreign Office in some ‘hush-hush’ capacity. I promptly fell in love with my younger cousin, much to the consternation of the rest of the family, who immediately had visions of barmy grandchildren.
As usual, my leave went far too quickly and at the end of January 1944 I rejoined the Regiment at Chippenham Park, near Newmarket.
I was delighted to hear on my return that I was still to command A Squadron, and gradually the squadron reassembled as the various leave periods were up, and a number of people, including George Harding, returned married. George Jones came back engaged, and Neville Fearn also returned in some kind of matrimonial tangle, the exact nature of which was not very clear.
Following the end of the war in North Africa, the 8th Armoured Brigade, with which the Sherwood Rangers had fought from Alamein to Enfidaville, was broken up. For the forthcoming invasion, Montgomery wanted experienced units mixed with those new to battle, so the Staffordshire Yeomanry and the 3rd Royal Tank Regiment left the brigade, to be replaced by the 4/7th Royal Dragoon Guards and the untried 24th Lancers. The Essex Yeomanry were to join them as artillery, as were the 12th Battalion of the 60th Rifles, as motorized infantry.
The Sherwood Rangers also had a new commanding officer, the sixth of the war: Lieutenant Colonel J. D’A. Anderson, a regular cavalry officer, who immediately insisted the Regiment smarten up. Away went the desert boots and lax attitude to uniform and even discipline. The Sherwood Rangers were now, after their long apprenticeship in North Africa and the Middle East, the senior regiment in the brigade. In the forthcoming battle for north-west Europe, they would be expected to take the lead. Anderson wanted them to set an example.
Stanley’s A Squadron was now re-equipped with American Sherman tanks and in the re-shuffling of the Regiment, Keith Douglas became squadron second-in-command.
Chippenham Park was a most delightful country estate surrounded by a park, and situated about five miles from Newmarket. The whole of the 8th Armoured Brigade had been stationed in the park, the beauty of which was somewhat spoilt by the erection of Nissen huts and concrete tracks for tracked vehicles. However, we were very comfortable, and the owner of the estate, a charming old lady, did all she could to add to our comfort.
Soon after our arrival at Chippenham we were informed that the 8th Armoured Brigade, consisting of my regiment, the 4/7th Royal Dragoon Guards and the 24th Lancers, would take part in the initial assault of the invasion of north-west Europe, and that our time for training would be limited. This news was received with mixed feelings. Naturally we had anticipated that we should be used somewhere in north-west Europe, for which purpose we had been brought back from the Middle East, but the idea of invading Europe in a tank was somewhat alarming.
Soon after t
he reception of this news, reinforcements and equipment began to arrive, and intensive training started in earnest.
After a short time, our days at Chippenham became extremely hectic, when the individual training of the new reinforcements commenced. This consisted of teaching the driver to drive and maintain his tank; the gunner to fire and look after his guns; the wireless operator to work and understand his set, and to load the 75mm gun, which was one of his duties; the co-driver to be able at any time to take over the duties of any other member of the tank crew; and finally the tank commander to direct the driver by means of internal communication when in action, to spot and direct gunfire on to any target, and, at all times, to be in constant wireless communication with his troop leader, and to be able to work in tactical co-operation with the other two tanks of his troop.
Troop training followed individual training. Each troop of each squadron, under its troop leader, was taught, and practised, to operate together, and to work tactically. Then followed squadron training, regimental training and finally brigade training.
I am convinced that the most important and essential part of our training was the original individual training, especially the gunnery and wireless parts. The success of any tank versus tank battle depended on accurate and quick fire, and it was quite impossible to fight any kind of battle, either on a troop, squadron, regimental or brigade level, unless wireless communication was good, which could only result from thoroughly sound basic training.
An Englishman at War Page 35