Desert Rats at War: North Africa. Italy. Northwest Europe

By George Forty

70 years ago, on 7 June 1944, the British 7th Armored Division landed in Normandy, halfway through a wartime journey that had started in north Africa. Formed on 16 February 1940, it adopted the Jerboa as its divisional sign—and while many units that fought in the desert call themselves by the name, 7th Armoured Division are the original ‘Desert Rats’. The division helped destroy the Italian Tenth Army at Beda Fomm on 7 February 1941, defeat the Desert Fox—Rommel—at El Alamein in October 1942, and drive Axis forces out of North Africa. After the desert, 7th Armored Division landed at Salerno on 15 September 1943, in time to help repulse concerted German counterattacks, before—as part of U.S. Fifth Army’s British X Corps—it took Naples and crossed the Volturno.

Pulled out of Italy, it reached England in January 1944 where it prepared to enter the Northwestern European theater at Gold Beach from 7 June, equipped with the new Cromwell and the Sherman Firefly. The division had difficulties in Normandy, particularly at Villers-Bocage, and suffered the ignominy of having its GOC—George Erskine—and a number of officers sacked and moved to other positions. Erskine was replaced by Gerald Lloyd Verney on 4 August 1944. He helped reinstill confidence and discipline to the division which took part in the Allied liberation of France and Belgium, entering Ghent in September. Verney was, in turn, replaced by Lewis Lyne in November 1944 and Lyne led the division on their final advance through Holland and into Germany.

The Desert Rats ended the war with the liberation of Hamburg on 3 May 1945 after one of the most remarkable military journeys in history and was chosen to take part in the Allied victory parade held in Berlin on 21 July 1945. Winston Churchill recognized the achievements of the division when he spoke at the opening of a soldiers’ club in Berlin: ‘Dear Desert Rats! May your glory ever shine! May your laurels never fade! May the memory of this glorious pilgrimage of war which you have made from Alamein, via the Baltic to Berlin never die!’

Desert Rats at War is an evocation of what it was like to serve with the division, in the African desert and Europe, from the first encounters by the Mobile Force in 1940 to Berlin in 1945. Full of eyewitness accounts and private photos, Desert Rats at War has been completely revised and updated, with additional text, maps and photographs.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Air Sea Media
• Release date: Jun 19, 2014
• ISBN: 9780957691551

George Forty

George Forty had three careers: as a serving officer for 30 years in the Royal Tank Regiment; as curator of the world-famous Bovington Tank Museum; and as a prolific author of military books.

Book preview

DESERT RATS

AT WAR

North Africa • Italy • Northwest Europe

GEORGE FORTY

Crusader II CS leads a line of tanks in the Western Desert, 1942.

First published 2014 by Air Sea Media Services, an imprint of Forty Editorial Services Ltd

www.airseamedia.co.uk

ISBN 978-0-9576915-2-0

Copyright © 2014 Air Sea Media Services

All rights reserved. With the exception of quoting brief passages for the purposes of review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without prior written permission of the Publisher.

The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. All recommendations are made without any guarantee on the part of the Author or Publisher, who also disclaim any liability incurred in connection with the use of this data or specific details. We recognize, further, that some words, model names, and designations mentioned herein are the property of the trademark holder. We use them for identification purposes only. This is not an official publication.

Printed and bound in China.

Note on photographs and quotes

The majority of the photographs in this book come from the collection George Forty built up in some 40 years of writing. The collection contains much British Official, Crown Copyright material and photos from NARA—including material from IWM, still the best repository of wartime photographs in the UK. The original research for the Desert Rats at War titles also provided a plethora of personal material, some of which had to be dropped from this combined version. The ones kept in have been credited where possible below, apologies if anybody has been missed:

Peter and Linda Anderson, 122–123, 124, 125 (all except BL), 223T; APTC Museum, 108, 109L; Arts et Metiers Graphiques, 16T; A. Atkins, 42, 120TL, 121T, 130, 132, 145 (both), 190, 213 inset; H. Auger, 18T, 148TC; Maj A.H. Barnes, 153C; Battlefield Historian, 184TL and TR; Big Rolo Images/fotolia, 148B; N. Bloomfield, 198; Mrs D. Boggie, 74T; Maj A.S.C. Blackshaw, 25T; C.E. Chapman, 94B, 97B; The Commanding Officer, QOH, 62; Brig Sir F. Coates, 21; T.P. Dalton, 144, 153B; D. Dickson, 186, 200 (1), 201 (4), 201 (5); Editions de la Bevue du Caire 1942, 70TR; La 13e Demi-Brigade de Légion Etrangère, 71B; Mark Doherty/fotolia, 96L; Maj H. Firth, 27CR, 32C; Maj I. Fowler, 12; F.H. Granger, 83, 120BL; N. Hall, 201 (6, 7, 8); R. Hardy, 212 (3); N.C. Harper, 7BR, 127T; Rev E.G. Hazelton, 33 (7); Home HQ 1 The Royal Hussars, 153T; Home HQ KRRC, 33 (5); Home HQ RGJ, 67 (5), 93L; B. Hook, 17T, 19C, 127B, 210 (3); Illustrated London News, 105, 110, 113, 185, 196L, 197R, 206; Col W.M.S. Jeffery, 7 inset TR; Col W. Kaulback, 86; L.J. Lee, 24T, 38; Leo Marriott, 57B; H. Martin, 176; John McDonnel (Surrey Comet), 120TR; Canon K. Meiklejohn, 28; Maj C. Milner, 183, 200 (3); Maj F.J. Mitchell, 131, 148TL; Mjkujipers/fotolia, 15T; Mrs S.M. Moore, 212 (1); E. Morrall, 192, 193T; NARA, 35R (199510); J.H.J. Orchard, 98L, 99T, 117BL; V. Overfield, 43T; R. Parker, 196R; D. Penty, 1 (and subsequent usage), 186 inset, 187 inset; Maj N. Plough, 49C, 49B, 61, 63BR; A. Potter, 27BL, 118TL, 147 (2), 160; K. Popplewell, 775T; Punch magazine, 2; Royal Signals Institution, 101 (1), 102TL; RA Institution, 93TR; RAC Tank Museum, 32 (1); RAOC Museum, 75T, 111, 112, 114 (2); RASC Museum, 104; 4RTR, 19T; Pascal Rateau/fotolia, 151B; W. Rendall, 18B; W.R. Reynolds, 171 (6), 171 (7); Maj-Gen G.W. Richards, 27T, 29; Royal Signals Museum, 15 inset, 63BL, 98R, 100 (both), 101B, 102TR, 102B, 103 (both), 119 (8), 222; RTR Association, 219; Col S.C.F. Salis, 96B; R.W.E. Smith, 129BL; Soldier magazine, 220; Col A.H. Stanton, 26 (4); Miss J. Surgey, 45; Brig P.A.L. Vaux, 27 (1), 70B; R.D. Walls, 200 (2); F.J. Williams, 24B.

Quotes are credited below or, if possible, in the text itself:

Jerboa extract from The Mammals by Desmond Morris, reproduced by kind permission of Hodder & Stoughton; Letter to The Duke of Connaught published courtesy RHQ The Royal Green Jackets; Maj A. L. King-Harman piece reproduced from the Royal Artillery Commemoration Book 1939–45 by kind permission of the Royal Artillery Institution; ‘Cherry Pickers bring off the Hat Trick’: from the Egyptian Mail of 29 June 1942, which appeared in a wartime edition of the 11th Hussars Journal (11HJ)and is reproduced here by kind permission of Home HQ, The Royal Hussars; obituary of Renton p33 published by kind permission of RHQ, the Royal Green Jackets; quote in Preparations for Normandy taken from the private papers of the late Gen Sir George Erskine and published by kind permission of Maj P. N. Erskine; personal impressions of D-Day extract from the Victory number of the 11HJ and published here by kind permission of Home HQ, The Royal Hussars; Wittmann quote from Profile AFV Weapons Book No 48 by P. Chamberlain and C. Ellis; ‘The Inniskilling Dragoon’ was written in the 18th century by Charles Lever and turned into a march by E. Adams, who presented it to the regiment in 1931—from Regimental History of The 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards, by Maj-Gen R. Evans, CB, MC; Charlie Love quote first published in the Victory number of the 11HJ and published here by kind permission of Home HQ, The Royal Hussars; surrender of Hamburg quoted from ‘The Capitulation of Hamburg 3rd May 1945’ by Dr J.K. Dunlop, published in the RUSI Journal, February 1954; Churchill’s Dear Desert Rats speech extracted from A Short History of the 7th Armoured Division June 1943-July 1945; ‘Roll on My Demob!’ reproduced by kind permission of RHQ (Northumberland) The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, journal loaned by R. Jarvie; ‘Sand at the finish" quote from Soldier Magazine, March 1948.

Thanks to Jo and Sandra for scanning, Ad for badges, Mark Franklin for maps and Jan Suermondt and Richard Wood for vehicle recognition. In particular, thanks to Patrick Hook for writing up some of his father’s stories about his time in the desert and NW Europe. An RA territorial, Barry Hook may not have served in 7th Armoured but he fought alongside the division and his tales capture the spirit of the times.

The Western Desert was the backcloth for 7th Armoured Division from its formation in 1940 until it left for Italy in 1943. Andries Oudshoorn via Wikicommons

CONTENTS

Abbreviations

PART 1: NORTH AFRICA

Chronology

Foreword

Preface

The Desert Rat

Setting the Scene

Prologue: The Mobile Division

Divisional HQ

Leaders

Reconnaissance

The Tanks

‘Fox Killed in the Open’

The Infantry

The Gunners

Sidi Rezegh

The Sappers

Communications

The Services (A and Q)

Desert Life

El Alamein

The Race to Tunis

The Price

Homs: The Division Relaxes

PART 2: EUROPE

Chronology

Foreword

Preface

The Invasion of Italy

The Invasion of France

Into the Bocage

Belgium: ‘You Are Quite Welcome’

Holland: Winter Operations

Continental Living

Into the Fatherland

Berlin: The Greatest Day

Final Acts

Desert Rat Medals

Index

ABBREVIATIONS

Siwa village is situated in the heart of the desert. The Long Range Desert Group was based at the historic oasis, but the Afrika Korps also took possession of it three times during the campaign.

Fort Capuzzo was much-fought over, changing hands at least eight times during the desert war.

A sandstorm heads towards Sidi Rezegh—such storms were a regular desert hazard.

The ‘Mosque’ at Sidi Rezegh—the tomb of a holy man—and the many graves that surrounded it after the battle.

Piccadilly Circus, south of Tobruk. Eros was constructed from petrol cans.

PART 1: NORTH AFRICA

CHRONOLOGY

1938

17 September Matruh Mobile Force formed.

Maj-Gen Percy Hobart sent to Africa after the Munich Crisis to organise the Mobile Force

1939

July Wavell named as General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Middle East Command

Mobile Force becomes the Mobile Division

16 November Hobart’s detractors in England engineer his replacement. Maj-Gen Sir Michael O’Moore Creagh takes over the division

1940

15 February Wavell’s title changes to Commander-in-Chief Middle East as his responsibilities expand to include East Africa, Greece and the Balkans

16 February Mobile Division renamed 7th Armoured Division

10 June War declared on Italy

11 June Cherry Picker armoured cars cross into Libya and attack the Italians near Fort Capuzzo, taking the fort on the 14th

16 June Battle of Girba—7th and 11th Hussars win the first tank battle in the desert

19 August Mussolini orders Graziani to invade Egypt

22 August Churchill sends 150 tanks to reinforce the Middle East; convoy lands 24 September

13 September Five Italian divisions with 200 tanks advance toward Sidi Barrani. The 7th Armoured and 4th Indian Divisions have orders to withdraw as far as Mersa Matruh and then stand and fight

24 September 2RTR, 7RTR (with Matildas), and 3rd Hussars arrive in the Middle East

8 December Start of Operation Compass

11 December Sidi Barrani captured. 4th Indian Division taken out of combat and sent to Sudan; replaced by 6th Australian Division

17 December Sollum and Fort Capuzzo fall

19 December Mussolini asks for a German assistance

21 December Bardia is surrounded

Infantry squad training. Brens were generally issued on a scale of one per rifle section.

Light tanks of the 8th Hussars in their tank park at Helmiya 5 June 1940.

The Italian Semovente 75/18 assault gun was armed with a 75mm main gun and was widely used in the North African campaign.

1941

1 January Western Desert Force renamed XIII Corps

5 January General Bergonzoli surrenders the Italian XXIII Corps at Bardia

11 January Hitler Directive No.22 confirms military support for the Italians—Operation Sonnenblume (Sunflower)—and the formation of the Afrika Korps

4 February The Italians start to evacuate Benghazi towards El Agheila. 7th Armoured Division is instructed to cut off the Italians’ escape route

5 February Combe Force intercepts the Italians 70 miles south of Benghazi, cutting the coast road at Sidi Saleh

6 February Battle of Beda Fomm. Italians routed. Rommel is appointed to command the German forces being sent to Africa.

12 February The Italians surrender. As Eden says, ‘Never has so much been surrendered, by so many, to so few.’ 7th Armoured retires to Cairo to refit

13 February Rommel arrives in Tripoli and reports to General Gariboldi who has replaced Graziani

14 February Leading elements of 5th Leichte Division arrive at Tripoli and move up to Sirte

24 February 5th Leichte recce troops clash with British forces for the first time in Africa, near El Agheila

24 March Rommel takes El Agheila

31 March 5th Leichte pushes the British out of Mersa Brega and recaptures Agedabia on 2 April

4 April Axis troops enter Benghazi unopposed and two days later 5th Leichte captures Mechili

7 April 5th Leichte captures Derna and two British generals—Neame and O’Connor

10 April 9th Australian Division withdraws into Tobruk and withstands German attacks

13 April German forces capture Sollum

27 April German troops cross the Egyptian border and capture the Halfaya Pass

15 May Auchinleck launches Operation Brevity which retakes the Halfaya Pass, Sollum and Capuzzo. Counterattacks see Sollum and Capuzzo are recaptured by 16 May

27 May 15th Panzer Division reinforces Rommel who retakes the Halfaya Pass

15 June Operation Battleaxe starts; designed to relieve Tobruk it is called off on the 17th after serious losses

5 July General Wavell is relieved of his command as C-in-C Middle East, by General Sir Claude Auchinleck

19 August Polish reinforcements arrive in Tobruk by sea

14 September 21st Panzer attacks towards Sidi Barrani

26 September Eighth Army formed in preparation for Operation Crusader

18 November Operation Crusader starts. XXX Corps advances 50 miles to just south of Sidi Rezegh

20 November The Tobruk garrison tries to break out and link up with XXX Corps

22 November XIII Corps captures Sidi Omar and Capuzzo. Jock Campbell wins VC for bravery at Sidi Rezegh

24 November Rommel orders the ‘dash for the wire’; his tanks attack the rear of Eighth Army.

8 December Eighth Army relieves Tobruk and attacks Rommel at Gazala, forcing the Germans to retreat

25 December The British retake Benghazi

The American M3 and M4 mediums provided the British with much-needed firepower and a gun tank that could engage the PzKpfw III outside the range of its main gun.

Matilda of D Squadron, 7RTR, survives a simulated Stuka attack.

The Desert Fox—7th Armoured Division would come across Rommel again in Normandy.

1942

1 January The British take Bardia, by the 12th Sollum, and Benghazi on the 20th

21 January Rommel starts a new offensive

22 January Rommel’s command becomes Panzer Armee Afrika

29 January German forces recapture Benghazi

7 February Rommel's counter-offensive halts in front of the Gazala line

5 May Rommel resumes the offensive with Operation Venezia, as the Afrika Korps thrusts south. Free French forces at Bir Hacheim hold up this advance, only succumbing on 10 June

27 May British 1st and 7th Armoured Divisions attack

31 May Battle of the Cauldron begins and Rommel takes it on 1 June.

5 June Eighth Army counterattacks the Cauldron and is repulsed with heavy losses. They are forced to retreat

17 June Eighth Army withdraws to the Egyptian frontier

21 June Tobruk falls

24 June The Germans advance into Egypt as the British retreat continues to Mersa Matruh. Auchinleck relieves Ritchie and takes personal command

26 June Rommel is made field marshal and launches attacks against Mersa Matruh. The British withdraw towards El Alamein which Rommel reaches on the 30th

2 July The British hold at El Alamein despite heavy attacks, and Rommel digs in

7 August Eighth Army commander Gott’s aircraft is shot down and he is killed. Montgomery is the replacement

13 August Monty takes command

15 August Rommel takes command of Panzer Group Africa while Ludwig Crüwell commands the Afrika Korps

18 August Alexander replaces Auchinleck as C-in-C

30 August Rommel tries to break through at El Alamein in the battle of Alam Halfa. He is repulsed

23 September Rommel takes medical leave and hands over command to General von Thoma

23 October Second Battle of El Alamein begins. Rommel breaks off his sick leave to take charge

2 November Operation Supercharge, the breakout at El Alamein, gets under way

8 November Operation Torch begins. Anglo-American forces under Eisenhower lands in Morocco and Algeria against minimal Vichy French resistance

13 November Eighth Army captures Tobruk and Monty says: ‘We have completely smashed the German and Italian armies’

20 November Eighth Army reaches Benghazi

29 November British paratroops drop south of Tunis.

1943

14–25 January Casablanca conference

19 January Eighth Army captures Homs and enters Tripoli on 23 January

14 February Battle of the Kasserine Pass bloodies the Americans’ noses but the Afrika Korps withdraw to the Mareth line

9 March Von Arnim replaces Rommel as C-in-C of the Axis forces

19 March Eighth Army begins its offensive against German and Italian defenders of the Mareth line forcing the Axis troops to retreat to the north by the 26th

30 March Elements of the Eighth Army break through at Gabes Pass

7 April Eighth Army joins up with the US II Corps in central Tunisia

22 April Start of final offensive to destroy the Axis bridgehead in Tunisia

9 May The unconditional surrender of all Axis troops in Tunisia takes place at 11:00

When the 7th Armoured Division entered Berlin in the summer of 1945, they erected a stone monument at the end of the Autobahn and AVUS.* The monument, which is a record of the Division’s route from El Alamein to Berlin, consists of a rectangular stone plaque showing Divisional signs, place names and dates. Road-works being carried out by the Germans in the area of the monument made it necessary for it to be taken down and moved to England where the Staff College has provided a lasting and final site for it near the XXX Corps Memorial.

*The AVUS—Automobil-Verkehrsund Übungsstraße (automobile traffic and training road’)—in Berlin, Germany, it is the oldest controlled-access highway in Europe, opened in 1921. Today the AVUS forms the northern part of Bundesautobahn 115.

TO ALL DESERT RATS WHO MARCHED FROM MERSA MATRUH TO BERLIN

A MARCH UNSURPASSED THROUGH ALL THE STORY OF WAR

May the fathers long tell the children about this tale! May your glory ever shine! May your laurels never fade! May the memory of this glorious pilgrimage of war never die!

Berlin, 21 July 45. Winston Churchill

FOREWORD

Field Marshal Sir Michael Carver, GCB, CBE, DSO, MC

Desert Rats at War paints a vivid picture of what it was like to serve in 7th Armoured Division between its formation in Egypt in 1939 and its victorious entry into Tunis at the end of the North African campaign in May 1943. I myself was privileged to serve in the division for almost the whole of that period, a lieutenant in 1st Royal Tank Regiment in 1939 and when we reached Tunis, a lieutenant-colonel commanding the regiment, one of the few units to serve with the division from the time of its formation not only until the end of the North African campaign but right up to the end of the war on the outskirts of Hamburg. It will awaken many memories among that gallant and cheerful band of desert veterans who proudly wore the red jerboa as their sign, and it will give a younger generation a clear idea of the conditions under which we fought. It was an exciting time for a young man and in many ways it was a clean war. There were almost no inhabitants to suffer from the destruction and suffering which war brings in its train. But however clean, war is an ugly business and we must beware of endowing it with too much romance.

PREFACE

A Formation of All Arms

‘An armoured division is a formation consisting of all arms.

Tanks by themselves cannot win battles, and the unarmoured units of the armoured division are indispensable, whilst the administrative services play roles no less vital and equally dangerous in maintaining supplies of all kinds, and in dealing with casualties to men and vehicles.

Each arm or branch of the service is a member of a team and has its vital part to play. Mutual understanding and confidence, based on experience during training and during action, form the keystone to success.’ (Extract from Military Training Pamphlet No 41 dated July 1943.)

This quotation, taken from a wartime military training pamphlet, describes very clearly what this book is all about. Every single member of the 7th Armoured Division had a vital part to play in ensuring that the Desert Rat flash was, and still is, one of the most famous and respected formation signs to be found in any army anywhere in the world. I have tried, by means of photographs and first-hand accounts, to explain some of the many and varied wartime tasks undertaken by the men of this famous division. I realise that my book is far from complete and I apologise to those who may be expecting a more detailed history, but in the space available this has proved impossible.

It has, of course, been a great privilege for me to write this book. When I was commissioned from the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, in July 1948 I joined the 1st Royal Tank Regiment, who were then part of 7th Armoured in Germany, so the first divisional flash I ever wore was a Desert Rat and I can therefore fully understand the pride felt by all those original Desert Rats who served with the division during its glorious and triumphal progress from Mersa Matruh to Berlin.

My first task in obtaining material for the book was to try to get in touch with as many ex-members of the division as possible. The Daily Telegraph, the Sun and the Daily Mirror all allowed me to publish letters in their columns, and appeals were put out on my behalf by Charlie Chester on BBC Radio 2, local radio and newspapers, regimental magazines and many other agencies; indeed, I was even interviewed on BBC TV’s South Today. I am ever in the debt of these many kind people, because the results they achieved on my behalf were truly staggering. I received a flood of letters and offers of help from over 700 ex-members of the division and amassed such a wealth of material that it was soon evident I had to divide the story into two parts. The first book, published in 1975, dealt only with the exploits of the division in North Africa, from its formation in Mersa Matruh to eventual victory in Tunis. For those who served in Italy and North-West Europe a second book, published in 1977, covered their story.

It is, unfortunately, impossible for me to catalogue the names of all those Desert Rats who have freely given me so much help and advice. I have received so many treasured mementoes, photographs, reminiscences and anecdotes that many have had to be left out. For this I apologise, but I hope sincerely that the selection which I have managed to include is truly representative of all members of this great division. One message has come over loud and clear from all who have written to me, and that is their pride in having served with the division. The comradeship, loyalty and devotion to duty of all who wore the Desert Rat is something which it is difficult for many people to understand in this self-centred age.

I must particularly thank Ted Flatters and Alan Atkins for the tremendous help and advice they have given me with the photographic material which forms such an important part of this book; Martin Brice of the Department of Photographs at the Imperial War Museum for his invaluable assistance and patient understanding; Jon, for his kindness in allowing me to reproduce his unforgettable ‘Two Types’ cartoons; and all the many others who contributed. Finally, I’d like to thank my wife and sons who have encouraged and assisted me with this updated edition as well as those who have contributed new material. Thanks, too, to Mark Franklin for his splendid work on the maps and diagrams. I hope they will all think that the end product is worthwhile.

Floreat Jerboa!

George Forty

Briantspuddle, Dorset, January 2014

THE DESERT RAT

The Desert Rat

During the last war the term ‘Desert Rat’ was used to serve two purposes, one animal and one human.

The Animal Desert Rat

There are twenty-five species of jerboas alive today. Twenty-two of these are confined to Asia, but three occur in North Africa: the Egyptian Four-toed Jerboa (Allactaga tetradactyla); the Lesser Egyptian Jerboa (Jaculus jaculus); and the Greater Egyptian Jerboa—the ‘Desert Rat’ of World War II (Jaculus orientalis). This species is found in the desert lands of Arabia. Like all jerboas it has pale, sandy-coloured fur, large eyes and ears, minute front legs and huge back feet.

Although only a few inches long it can jump as much as six feet in a single bound. The long balancing tail has a characteristic black and white tuft at its tip. This is no doubt used as some form of signalling device in Jerboa sign language. When they are standing still the tail acts as a prop.

Despite the fact that they live in intensely hot desert regions, jerboas cannot endure high temperatures for any length of time. They survive by retreating during the day to their comparatively cool underground tunnels. The hot air is kept out by tightly plugging the entrance to the burrow. This is done in the early morning after their nightly food forays, before the arrival of the hot air.

They sleep standing up, but rolled forward into a ball, with the ears folded down. They become rather cramped in this position and their first action on breaking through the entrance barrier is to roll and stretch on the sand. They clean themselves vigorously, grooming each of the large hind toes individually

The Human Desert Rat

Homo sapiens, the human species of Desert Rat, was originally a member of the Mobile Division which, on 16 February 1940, was officially designated as the 7th Armoured Division. The jerboa was adopted as the divisional sign and its soldiers became known as Desert Rats, a nickname which has stuck to every member of this famous division and has subsequently been loosely attached to any member of the forces who served in the Western Desert.

Who better to symbolise the human Desert Rat than two of the division’s greatest soldiers: Strafer Gott and Jock Campbell, pictured below.

The Greater Egyptian Jerboa (Jaculus orientalis).

Jock Campbell and Strafer Gott at Benghazi, 29 December 1941. In February 1942 Campbell was promoted major-general and given command of 7th Armoured Division died shortly after when his jeep overturned. Gott died in a plane crash on the way to take up command of Eighth Army. His death paved the way for Percy Hobart’s brother-in-law, Bernard Montgomery.

SETTING THE SCENE

The Western Desert has been somewhat cynically described as a place fit only for war. And yet the vast majority of British soldiers who lived and fought there found a strange fascination in the stark beauty of this barren landscape. Those who served ‘on the Blue’, as the desert was called, will never completely forget what it was like, so strong is the desert’s hold on the minds of men. That famous explorer of deserts, Wilfred Thesiger, wrote in Arabian Sands:

‘No man can live this life and emerge unchanged. He will carry, however faint, the imprint of the desert, the brand which marks the nomad; and he will have within him the yearning to return, weak or insistent according to his nature. For this cruel land can cast a spell which no temperate clime can match.’

The Bedouins say that the desert is a fortress to him who knows it, but a grave to him who does not. So perhaps we should do well to heed their warning and devote a few lines at least to describing the ground—in any event, didn’t a famous general once say that time spent in reconnaissance is seldom wasted?

Running alongside the sparkling blue waters of the Mediterranean coast of Africa is a broad sandy plain with an average width of about 30 miles. It stretches from the Cairo-Alexandria road to the Cyrenaican frontier at Sollum. Here it narrows to a bare few hundred yards, where the escarpment almost reaches the sea. Here also in 1940 you would have seen the start of the rusted barbed-wire fence (‘the Wire’) which ran southward, along the frontier, down to the far-off wastes of the Great Sand Sea.

Signpost on the outskirts of Alexandria.

The Great Pyramids and village of Giza. A British colony since 1882, Egypt had nominally been independent since 1922, but such was the importance of the Suez Canal that British influence remained the key factor in Egyptian politics and government ... and would do until after the 1956 Suez Crisis.

The escarpment is several hundred feet high, with few motorable tracks up it, one of the most important being the rough, winding path through Halfaya Pass about five miles south east of Sollum. Beyond the escarpment to the south lies the desert proper, sand, stones and rock, with a few good tracks linking the occasional bir (Arabic—a well), which are the only source of fresh water. Much of the area is sparsely covered with scrubby camel-thorn and supports little life beyond snakes, scorpions and other venomous insects, lizards, a few tough little rodents such as the now famous jerboa, and the occasional black tents of the nomadic Bedouin. A compass is as vital in this terrain as it is to a sailor at sea. The climate ranges from scorching heat by day to extreme cold by night. The Khamsin, a hot, dry wind blowing from the south, whips up great clouds of dust and sand which finds its way into every crack and crevice, every eye, ear and nostril, until life is almost unbearable. Once experienced it is never forgotten, as this extract from a diary written by Kenneth Watt of 3RHA vividly shows:

‘We had a very intense Khamsin wind with a heavy dust storm straight from the centre of Africa today. I managed to rig up a tarpaulin against the windward side of the truck somehow or other, with two chaps, although it left us quite exhausted. We even managed to brew up some tea and force ourselves to eat a bit, before slithering under the truck to lie panting while the wretched thing vented its ill humour at us. The Khamsin is just like a blast from hell and completely saps all energy out of friend and foe alike. This particular one gave way in the evening to our customary off the sea breeze, and we were able to emerge and to remember that there was a war on.’

It is easy to see why the Arabs say that after five days of it even murder can be excused! If you were to have followed the coast road from Alexandria all those years ago and your work ticket had withstood the searching gaze of the MP on duty, then you would motor on past El Alamein, soon to take its place in history, stop perhaps for refreshment at the Noah’s Ark NAAFI at El Daba, past Mersa Matruh where the Mobile Division was first assembled, and on westwards to ‘the Wire’ and beyond it ‘up the Blue’!

This marble arch marked the boundary between Tripolitania and Cyrenaica—the halfway point between Tripoli and Egypt—it was built during the days of Italian colonization on the Libyan Coastal Highway. Over 100ft tall, it was demolished in the 1970s by the Gaddafi regime.

MP on the road to Mersa Matruh.

Looking out over the Qattara Depression. Considered impassable by tanks, the depression formed the southern edge of El Alamein defensive lines.

Mersa Matruh camp circa 1939.

Tocra (or Teuchira) Fort one of the landmarks on the Cyrenaican coast.

Sollum. One of the main Commonwealth War Graves Commission graveyards, Halfaya Sollum War Cemetery is on the main coast road from Mersa Matruh through to Libya, and is on the east side of Halfaya Sollum, approximately 3.5 miles from the Egypt/Libya border. The Halfaya Pass was the scene of heavy fighting in 1941 and 1942. The cemetery now contains 2,046 Commonwealth burials of which 238 are unidentified.

PROLOGUE:

THE MOBILE DIVISION

The King’s Royal Rifle Corps

The 60th Regiment was raised in North America—Christmas Day 1755 has been adopted as its birthday. At Montmorency Falls, below Quebec, on 31 July 1759, its speed and courage won the motto of ‘ Celer et Audax’ (Swift and Bold) from General Wolfe. The regiment became the King’s Royal Rifle Corps (KRRC) in 1830. Men from the KRRC have won 24 VCs including that by Rifleman John Beeley in 1941 (see p93) when the regiment fought almost to the last man at Sidi Rezegh: only 55 men survived the battle. KRRC served with 7th Armoured from the start of the North African Campaign until after El Alamein.

In 1938, the year of the Munich crisis, an officer was flown from England to Egypt on an important mission. ‘Create an Armoured Division’ … those were his orders. (Extract from the Egyptian Mail, Wednesday 10 February 1943.)

In the Middle East at that time was the Cairo Cavalry Brigade whose equipment by present standards would be considered prehistoric. There was a limited number of light tanks with worn-out tracks and precious few replacements; an RASC Company scratched together from the Canal Area; and Blenheims from Iraq, ‘the first we had ever had in Egypt.’

Such was the humble beginning. For it is not possible to write of the 7th Armoured Division as we know it, and the Germans feared it, today without praising the name of the man whose enthusiasm and inspiration made it possible in the dark and dangerous pre-war months.

Maj-Gen P.C.S. Hobart was that man. He started from scratch. He had to create a new organisation and a new administration and he succeeded. It