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World War II Resource Pack

Image: Machine gunners of the 6th Battalion Cheshire Regiment from a painting by David Rowlands

Produced by

Cheshire Military Museum

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Contents

Introduction Page 3

The Lost Drums Page 4

Cheshire Regiment Organisation Page 6

Infantry Divisional Organisation Page 6

Ranks in the Cheshire Regiment 1939-1945 Page 7

Extracts from the Report of ‘D’ Company,

4th Battalion Cheshire Regiment, May 1940 Page 8

Map: The Retirement of the 4th Battalion, 1940 Page 11

After the battle at Wormhoudt –

The personal recollections of Private Joseph Humphreys Page 12

The Way to Dunkirk – extracts taken from the transcription

of an interview of Major-General Peter Martin Page 14

A young lads thoughts on the siege of Malta 1940 – 1942 Page 17

Photograph: 1st Battalion on parade, Grand Harbour Valetta, Malta 1943 Page 19

Extracts from the War Diaries of Private Stanley Clifford Brooks,

4126142, 6th Battalion, Cheshire Regiment. Page 20

Map: North Africa Page 25

Photographs taken by A Barlow MM, 6th Battalion Page 31

Map: Italy Page 35

The Vickers Machine Gun Page 36

German propaganda leaflets, dropped in Italy Page 39

Action in the Salerno Beachhead – September 1943

Lieutenant J. K. Forgan, 6th Battalion Page 43

Map: Salerno Beachhead, September 1943 Page 44

D-Day 6 June 1944 – extracts from a transcription of a tape recording

of the memories of Major-General Peter Martin Page 45

Map: Normandy landings Maj-Gen Martin’s D-Day Page 47

Extracts from the diary of Private J McCarthy, 1st Battalion Cheshire Regiment Page 48

Map: The Low Countries and the lower Rhine Page 52

Glossary Page 53

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Introduction

The Cheshire Military Museum

Situated in the historic Castle area of Chester the museum displays artefacts relating to the soldiers

of Cheshire and their families with particular emphasis on the Cheshire Regiment, Cheshire

Yeomanry, 3rd Carabiniers (Prince of Wales’s Dragoon Guards), 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards

and the Mercian Regiment. The archive of the Cheshire Regiment is also held here.

The displays are interactive and suitable for all ages. The galleries are fully accessible. The museum is

open 6 days a week (closed Wednesday) from 10 – 5pm (last entry 4pm). Admission charge applies.

Please see the website for more details www.cheshiremilitarymuseum.co.uk or contact the Museum

Officer; Caroline Chamberlain directly on 01244 327617 museum@chester.ac.uk

This Resource Pack

This collection of documents was originally compiled in 1997 by members of the museum staff and

Peter Crook of Cheshire Education Services. It has been digitised and made available in this format in

2015 as part of the museums digitising programme. It is not intended to be a history of the Second

World War or a history of the Cheshire Regiment during that conflict; it is a collection of personal

impressions of the war recorded by a small number of individual soldiers.

This pack is for personal and educational use only copying of the material for other purposes

(without obtaining permission) is prohibited. Copyright is retained by Cheshire Military Museum

A note on spelling

Words have been spelled in this collection as they were spelled in the original sources – with the

exception of place names which have been corrected where necessary for comprehension.

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The Lost Drums

During the ‘phoney’ war of 1939-40 the 2nd (regular) and 4th (TA) Battalions of the Cheshire Regiment

were deployed in France. The 2nd was ordered forward to stem the German advance on 10th May

1940 from the area around the village of Bersee. The stores not immediately required, including the

drums, were left behind in the village. Events developed rapidly and the Battalion never got time to

collect their kit before finding themselves back at Dunkirk in the evacuation of the BEF (British

Expeditionary Force). The German Army neared the village on the 27th May. The village priest and

one or two others took it upon themselves to prevent the drums falling into the hands of the

Germans and hid them in various places.

After D-Day, 6th June 1944 the 2nd Battalion retraced their steps in the advance across France to

Belgium. As they approached the area of Bersee an officer recalling the drums of four years before

went to see if he could find them. The Boer Drum carried by the Commanding Officers drummer was

returned and is in the museum on display. The other however could not be located and it was

assumed it had been discovered by the Germans.

In late 1994 a visitor to the museum alerted us to a newspaper article which stated Monsieur Dutriez

in Bersee France had in his possession a drum marked ’38 Battalions in World War I’. The Regiment

sent a drummer and Officer to investigate and they returned with the drum (pictured on the

previous page) which Monsieur Fernand Dutriez had rescued as a small boy in 1940. Today visitors to

the museum can see the drum in our World War II gallery.

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Cheshire Regiment Organisation

During the war the Regiment was organised as a Machine Gun Battalions each of which supported

an Infantry Division. The organisation shown is that of 1940 – it changed a little during the war, for

example; once carriers (light armoured tracked vehicles) were issued the gun crews dropped from 5

to 3 men for each gun.

The Vickers Machine Gun could fire 0.303 inch Small Arms Ammunition to 4,800 yards.

Infantry Divisional Organisation

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Ranks in the Cheshire Regiment 1939-1945

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Extracts from the Report of ‘D’ Company, 4th Battalion Cheshire

Regiment, May 1940

Background

German forces attacked Poland on 1st September 1939. Britain and France had promised to help

Poland and declared war on Germany on 3rd September.

Just as in 1914, the British army went as the British Expeditionary Force to France and Belgium to

help the Belgian and French armies in the event of a German attack. For seven months there was

almost no military activity in Western Europe. This period was known as the ‘Phoney War’ or the

‘Sitzkrieg’. Of course, the German army and air force used this time to build up their strength and

make plans for their attack.

France had built a strong system of defence using reinforced concrete gun positions and deep

tunnels along its border with Germany. This was the ‘Maginot Line’ (named after its designer).

However, the Magniot Line stopped at the Belgium frontier. Therefore, since the German army

would want to avoid the Maginot Line any German attack would almost certainly be made

somewhere between the end of the Maginot Line and the North Sea coast.

In May 1940, having already invaded Norway and Denmark, Germany launched a massive attack on

Holland and Belgium with the intention of invading France from the north through Belgium. In that

way the German army could get around the Maginot Line. The attack on France came through the

Ardennes. This is the only hilly and heavily wooded area of Belgium and it was thought by the British

and French Generals that it was unsuitable for tanks which the German army was likely to use in

large numbers. By 14th May 1940 the German army was in France having experienced no difficulties

in advancing through the Ardennes. At this time ‘D’ Company of the 4th Battalion was at Beerzel, 8

kilometres south of Brussels. On 16th May they were sent south east to Waterloo to help prevent the

German advance.

The commander of the BEF, General Lord Gort, realised that it was not strong enough to prevent the

German advance. The German army had also broken through the French defences and was

advancing rapidly westwards to the south of the BEF. Lord Gort ordered the BEF to retreat towards

the channel coast to avoid being cut off and ‘D’ Company accordingly began its long journey

westwards – though as the map [page 11] shows, by no means in a straight line.

On 25th May Gort decided that the BEF should retreat to the sea at Dunkirk and on the 27th the

British government ordered their evacuation by sea.

In the meantime ‘D’ Company, having suffered some casualties from German attacks on the way,

had reached the Channel coast at La Panne on 24th May. La Panne is 16 kilometres to the east of

Dunkirk. However, on 27th they were ordered to leave La Panne via Dunkirk for Wormhoudt, 16

kilometres inland. The intention was to defend Wormhoudt and hold the German advance there.

The following report gives an account of this action.

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May 27th

…Platoons were in position by about 1900 hours…Machine gun positions were fair, but those on

the West of Wormhoudt were much exposed and rather close to each other…Road blocks were

flimsy…surrounding countryside was open and suitable for tanks…Anti tank guns appear scarce

and were sited in exposed positions… These formed a single line around WORMHOUDT and were

not sited in depth..

May 28th

About 0700 hours parties of troops were observed by Company H.Q. about one mile to the North…

About 0900 hours further troop movement was observed to the North, this time about 1000 yards

away… S.A.A1. fire was opened immediately…

From 0950 8 Platoon were fairly steadily engaged firing at… light vehicles advancing along road

from ESQUELBEC … and at infantry advancing on their left front. During this action 8 Platoon had

some casualties from mortar and S.A.A. fire and had two guns put out of action, their position

being much exposed and during the morning ammunition could only be conveyed to them by

means of a Bren Carrier2, this being done personally by Capt. Sir John Nicholson. Their Platoon H.Q.

and another house nearby were set on fire but they hung on gallantly and did most useful work

until their position was penetrated by …tanks

15 Platoon fired… for some time at infantry advancing on their front but finally withdrew…about

1330 hours… they took up a fresh position in the town, one section to the South of the square firing

down the Cassel road, and one section to the North firing up the DUNKIRK road. The first section

was not heard of again and it must be presumed that they were cut off when the enemy entered

the square. The (other) section… were ultimately put out of action by the enemy who had entered

the town square from rear, although before finally withdrawing they managed to get one gun into

action firing southwards into the square. In this last stage the Platoon Commander 2/Lieut J.D.

Ravenscroft was wounded in the leg and as he forcibly resisted an attempt to move him had to be

left behind. L/Sergt. Humphreys states that he fired one gun at Germans who were shooting down

British wounded who were leaving the F.A.P3….

13 Platoon… were cut off from Company H.Q. by the sudden enemy penetrations and nothing

further was heard of them.

14 Platoon were intermittently engaged throughout the day but were much handicapped by the

fact that their new guns… were provided with no spare parts…

It would appear that the light vehicles engaged by 8 Platoon … and a German recce. plane formed

a fairly accurate idea of the layout of the defences, as from about 1130 hours the whole area was

subjected to a most persistent and effective mortar fire. After about 1200 hours our own artillery

died down and was never effectively resumed…

1 Small Arms ammunition

2 A small lightly armoured truck 3 First Aid Post

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(Shortly after 1500 hours) … tank broke into the road behind which Company H.Q. was situated.

Anti-tank guns had apparently run out of ammunition and no Anti-tank rifles were available, all

personnel were therefore ordered to take cover in a slit trench. While the tank directed a heavy

fire at them for ten minutes. By the time the tank moved on the town itself was in enemy

possession…

14 Platoon about half of 8 Platoon and approximately half of 15 Platoon managed to withdraw.

The Roll Call at REXPOEDE showed a total strength of 70 all ranks which included some of ‘B’

Company and some of the 2nd Battalion. Only two machine guns remained intact…

Night 28th/29th

Remained billeted in houses in REXPOEDE – outskirts of village bombed and shelled.

May 29th 1940

…Orders were finally received to…move off… (‘D’ Company was ordered to make for Bray-Dunes at

2400 hours)…there possibly to get out to ships… but after one mile found the road blocked by

vehicles on fire and had to destroy its own vehicles and hump the guns…

The distance of over 12 miles was covered with only a three minute halt, and the column was

delayed considerably by roads blocked with abandoned transport, burning vehicles and

ammunition dumps. BRAY-DUNES was reached at approximately 0600 hours on the 30th and the

Column marched down to the beach…

Units were responsible for getting their own men off, and considerable difficulty was met…

obtaining small boats which were often left to drift about after men had reached the ships… Pte. T

Leap of ‘D’ Company removed his clothes and swam out several hundreds of yards, and brought a

boat in, and so ensures the Company of a means to get out to the ships… all were safely in ships by

2100 hours… travelling to various ports in England, notably – SHEERNESS, MARGATE and DOVER.

Casualties

Out of an initial strength of 5 officers and 134 other ranks only 2 officers and 82 other ranks got

back safely. Total casualties were therefore 3 officers and 52 other ranks (later reports show that

some of these men were prisoners of war and wounded).

A.H. KISSACK, Major

Commanding ‘D’ Company

4th Cheshires

July 1940

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After the battle at Wormhoudt – The personal recollections of

Private Joseph Humphreys

The following account is a summary of an interview given by Joseph Humphreys in the 1990’s, many

years after the events of 1940. Private Humphreys was in ‘D’ Company of the 4th Battalion and took

part in the battle on 28th May 1940 described by Major Kissack in the previous extract..

His section came under German mortar fire and seemed likely to be surrounded so, under

instructions from their Sergeant, they disabled their machine guns and began to retreat, closely

followed by a group of German soldiers who kept up a heavy fire. It was not long before Private

Humphreys and his comrades were caught by the Germans. Outnumbered and outgunned they

were forced to surrender.

They were marched to the edge of Wormhoudt where about 40 of them were shut first in brick

cow shed and then in a small ramshackle barn with walls made of pieces of wood and corrugated

iron. They had not long been in the barn when the Germans ordered five men to come out. Five

men went out and were lined up by the Germans and shot dead. Another small group was ordered

out and they too, were lined up and shot. A third group was ordered out but when they had been

similarly killed the men still inside the barn decided to stay where they were when the next group

was ordered out.

The German soldiers then spread out around the barn and those near the door threw in stick

grenades. After the grenades had exploded the Germans began firing into the barn through the

openings in its sides. Private Humphreys recalled that the noise was terrible – the detonation of

grenades and gunfire mingling with cries of agony of the wounded, the curses of those who were

still defiant and the prayers of those who expected to die.

The firing continued for some time and, when it eventually finished, Private Humphreys found

himself in the centre of the barn under a pile of his dead and wounded comrades. He, himself, had

been wounded but did not realise this until many years later when a medical examination for

arthritis in his leg revealed a grenade fragment.

He heard one of his section, ‘Tug’ Wilson, crying out for help but he could not see him. He found

that two other men (both Londoners, he thought) had also survived. He and these two men

crawled out through a hole in the wall of the barn.

Having made their way along a ditch about 300 metres from the barn the men saw a farmhouse.

Private Humphreys sensed danger and stayed where he was but the other two left the ditch and

approached the farmhouse. They were quickly cut down by a burst of machine gun fire. Two

German soldiers came from the direction of the farmhouse, checked the two dead soldiers, but did

not find Private Humphreys.

Private Humphreys lost consciousness for a while. When he came to it was dark and he decided to

try to find the retreating British forces. In the distance he could see the lights of a small town and

made off towards them.

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Eventually Private Humphreys found some British soldiers who turned out also to be Cheshires. He

told his story to the Company Commander and also to the Brigadier who told him there was

nothing they could do to help the men who might still be in the barn near Wormhoudt since they

were moving out of Cassel at midnight.

The following day Private Humphreys’ new unit came under heavy attack and the men were

ordered to split up into small groups and make for Dunkirk. Private Humphreys and a group of

about 8 Cheshires were cut off by a squad of German soldiers mounted on motorcycles with armed

sidecars. Once again Private Humphreys found himself in captivity. After a night spent locked in a

garage he and his comrades began a three week long march to STALAG 8 in Lannesdorf where he

was to spend most of the rest of the war.

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The Way to Dunkirk – extracts taken from the transcription of an

interview of Major-General Peter Martin

I joined the Cheshire Regiment in July 1939.

I did not go immediately as I was too young and inexperienced and had to do a machine gun

course at Chester. I was desperate to get back to the 2nd Battalion. I was told by the Adjutant4 of

the Depot that anyone who made advances to the niece of the Depot Commander was very rapidly

shunted. So I made advances to a delightful, sweet, pretty girl called Marigold. Within three weeks

I was on my way.. to the Battalion in France…

On 10 May the Germans attacked….We were told to advance….the River Dyle forward of

Brussels…I commanded 7 Platoon. I was incredibly raw. I am appalled to think how useless I was at

that time, but I had wonderful Sergeants, a superb Platoon Sergeant and superb Section

Commander who carried me.

When faced with some decision which I knew nothing about, my Platoon Sergeant would

immediately butt in and say “What your Platoon Commander is saying is…”, before I could make a

fool of myself…The soldiers were wonderful. If they liked you they would carry you; if they did not

like you they would ditch you…They ditched one fellow officer to my knowledge. Soldiers liked

officers to come from a different class to themselves. If they did not then they felt there was

something suspicious about it. He was ditched partly for snobbish reasons, partly because he was

an arrogant young man. He was a wartime emergency commissioned officer and they did a short

period in the ranks. He came from a lower middle class background. In those days soldiers liked to

be commanded by what they loosely called ‘gentlemen’. If you were not that you were treated

with suspicion…

We had been told that the River5 was very wide and easy to defend. In fact it was narrow, woods

came down right to the edge of the far bank and there was very little we could do to stop the

enemy crossing. However we dug in on the 12th…. As evening came on the 14th May suddenly all

hell was let loose on the far bank. At the time I was up at Company H.Q. getting fresh orders, so I

set off back down the river accompanied by my orderly… Private Bolton, a young man even

younger than I was. We had never been in action before and as we advanced about a mile towards

the river bank we suddenly became aware of a very unpleasant smell in the air and remembering

all the reports from the refugees of being gassed by the Germans our thoughts immediately turned

to gas. We had to crawl across a bit of ground swept by bullets, and in a brief pause we

remembered we were wearing brassards that were gas detectors…which were supposed to change

colour if you were being gassed. But being extremely raw, I had no idea which colour they were

meant to change to. So with the aid of a touch we inspected each other and they were yellow. So

we whipped out our gas masks and continued crawling…I then felt a nasty stinging sensation to

my hands so I thought it was probably mustard gas. We had some ointment to put on so we did,

and eventually we arrived at my Platoon HQ and there they were not wearing gas masks, totally

unconcerned, and wondering what the hell we were. In fact all we had smelled was cordite from

4 The officer responsible for administration 5 Dyle

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bursting shells which we had never experienced before and when we looked at our brassards

carefully they were covered with clay which we had been crawling through…Next day, when I

retraced my steps to the Company HQ I found I had been through the only bed of stinging nettles

in the area and they had stung me on the hand!

There we were until the afternoon of the 16th when we were suddenly told to withdraw. We were

amazed. The Germans on our front had been held by some good MG6 shooting at German snipers

in some trees about a mile down the river…They were hanging there by their belts…. Then we

would watch until people began to climb up to cut them down and we would shoot again. We had

been having quite good fun, if you could call it fun, without a great deal of danger and we were

utterly sick at being told to withdraw.

We knew nothing of the breakthrough of the German army in the Ardennes… began a pattern of

withdrawing by night, practically every night…

Going through [Tournai] without any sign of life at all was a very eerie feeling…In fact there was

another person and that was the Second in Command Tony Mellor, a very eccentric character who

before the war had been smuggling gold and jewellery for Jews out of Germany. On this occasion

he decided to go out on his own and he made contact with me later carrying two sandbags with

chickens to supplement the Company rations…

We went on withdrawing from river to canal to river, all the way back, until one day we were told

we were heading to Dunkirk…By the time we got back to Dunkirk I and my Platoon…doing a rear

guard every night and digging in by day… were literally exhausted… We slept for about twenty

four hours in the sand dunes…

I can remember those beaches absolutely covered in soldiers… long queues of soldiers standing up

to their shoulders in water, way out into the calm but very shallow sea….We got off about 31 May

or 1 June …. I remember waking up the Platoon and telling them to get organised …. And I went off

to Dunkirk to see if I could get any orders of any sort and I recall something which has harried me

for the rest of my life which was a French soldier with one eyeball hanging out way down his face

screaming for help …. Running around like a demented chicken and being absolutely powerless to

do anything about it ….

I could not get any instructions, so that evening I took the Platoon down to the water’s edge and

after a while we managed to secure a lift out to …. [a] destroyer7 …. in a whaler, a large rowing

boat manned by four soldiers of the Royal Engineers who were doing the rowing …. I got the whole

of the Platoon into this boat, about thirty of us, and about another ten of mixed bag including an

Army Padre who I had never seen before who sat right in the middle of the boat …. It was getting

very dark and we were within about a quarter of a mile of it [the destroyer] when it suddenly up-

anchored, swung round and headed towards England. The Padre got up and shouted “Lord, Lord

why hast Thou forsaken us?” Now we were so overloaded that with every stroke of the oars water

was lapping over the side but when he leapt to his feet and rocked the boat water came pouring

6 Machine Gun 7 Small fast warship

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over the side. Everyone with one accord said “Sit down!”. That great shout echoed straight across

the water to the destroyer which turned around and came and picked us up.

That was my own particular experience of Dunkirk evacuation!

[Lieutenant Martin, as he then was, later met up again with the eccentric Tony Mellor. He had got

away from France by paddling half-way across the English Channel in a Canadian-style canoe that he

had found in a boathouse before being picked up by a British destroyer.]

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A young lads thoughts on the siege of Malta 1940 – 1942

My family had arrived in Malta on posting in 1937, father was a Captain in The Royal Signals but

working for Rediffusion establishing a radio by wire service for the colony. The war saw to it that he

remained in post and rapidly promoted to Lieutenant Colonel. I was very young at the time so war

was exciting. By the time the siege got underway in 1940 it was all the rage to race the army out to

crashed German aircraft in search of souvenirs. I used to collect bullets, badges from the aircrew and

shrapnel. I made the mistake of starting the collection in my chest of drawers. One day a final piece

of bomb splinter tossed into the full top drawer caused a catastrophic failure and from top to

bottom each one gave way – I could not sit down for ages once mother found out! A friend of mine

whose father was a Royal Engineer had a prize trophy, a flying glove. One day in the heat of Malta’s

summer his noticed a strange smell in his room – to her horror she realised the glove still had the

fingers in situ. I think we were all, even as youngsters, becoming a little callous of life.

The bombing caused us to withdraw from normal life into communal rock hewn shelters. To a lad

these were great fun. Once in nobody really knew where you were. We lived in Whitehall Mansions

on Ta-xbiex by then, the main part was the home of a Company of 1st Battalion the Cheshire

Regiment. Two soldiers in particular used to look after me, Kebby and Charlie. They taught me to

load machine gun belts ready for the next attack and at the height of the air attacks in 1942 I even

used to stay out and watch. I could fire an Oerlikon anti-aircraft machine gun almost before I could

write. I also spent a lot of time on the Royal Naval Motor Launches which were based on Malta and

ran weapons and supplies to the Yugoslav Partisans. Later in the war I even sneaked a trip on one –

but that is another story.

Food became in very short supply and the family had to queue at the Victory Kitchens which were

set up in each area. You had to appear in person to get your ration of watery soup and slice of bread.

Cats and dogs became noticeably fewer – we all reckoned they were in the soup. Even the children

were beginning to notice the shortage of food. To give you an idea of the problem which persisted

for over two years, the ration in England was never less than 2800 calories a day, in Malta fighting

men got 2300 calories civilian workers 1500 and families a lot less. For heavy work the

recommended level was 4250 calories. Needless to say the Cheshire soldiers I lived amongst used to

slip me bread and jam from their small rations. A tremendous luxury.

The bombing became heavy. The island is only 14 x 7 miles and the built up area obviously a lot less.

Raids were taking place at one time nearly every 20 minutes around the clock. My father

subsequently told me that in late 1942 they expected to have to surrender. However in the nick of

time a convoy, despite heavy losses, was forced through to the Grand Harbour of Valetta. This was

Operation PEDESTAL. Everyone turned-to to unload ignoring the bombing. One ship was sunk at the

dockside full of ammunition and they still managed to unload most of her precious cargo even

though underwater. Night time was, to a boy, like one long Guy Fawkes show night after night. The

dive bombing of HMS Illustrious was particularly colourful with tracers in all directions, search lights

and explosions in the clear night sky. Our house was bombed several times. The worst bomb which

hit the front door killed my friend’s mother. I had a pet hen called ‘Peggity’ which my mother

managed to keep for eggs for me and my sisters. Poor Peggity was almost featherless in the hall. She

had been blown there by the explosion. We had a grand meal off her that night even if we were all

saddened by her loss alongside our neighbour. It was a very hard time .Malta took more weight of

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bombs in each month at the height of the siege than the whole of Britain received in the worst

month of the Battle of Britain. It was a noisy and dangerous place to live.

I am pleased to report school was demolished by an excellent Luftwaffe bomb aimer in the early part

of the siege and so there was no school from 1940 until after the Sicily landings in 1943. Great!

In late 1942 my father, just before he was badly wounded, managed to get a USAAF Liberator

bomber which had made it back to Malta after a raid to lift my sisters and I and a couple of other

families to Gibraltar for a good meal. We flew in the bomb racks. Gibraltar was heaven, no bombing,

lots of Cornflakes and fruit juice, bliss! We eventually returned to Malta via an anti-submarine patrol

plane to Cornwall and then a lift on a troopship moving men out of the Italian campaign. All great

fun for an 8 year old but nerve wracking for the adults.

Notes

Operation PEDESTAL, a relief convoy for Malta arrived August 1942. 14 merchant ships had loaded at

Birkenhead and left England with 85000tons of supplies. Only 32000 arrived in Malta.

72 naval ships escorted the convoy from the UK to Malta in all.

Sunk Badly Damaged

Aircraft Carrier Eagle Aircraft carrier Indomitable

Destroyer Foresight Cruisers Nigeria

Cruiser Manchester Cairo

Kenya

Merchant ships 14 sailed:-

Sunk Badly Damaged – but arrived

Clan Ferguson Tanker Ohio

Empire Hope Brisbane Star

Deucalion Rochester Castle

Almeria Lykes Port Chalmers

Santa Elisa Melbourne Star

Wairangi

Glenorchy

Waimarama

Dorset

JE Dec 96

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1st Battalion on parade on the dockside, Grand Harbour, Valletta, Malta at the unveiling of a

commemorative plaque in 1943. The destruction caused by the bombing during the siege can be

clearly seen.

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Extracts from the five War Diaries of Private Stanley Clifford

Brooks, 4126142, 6th Battalion, Cheshire Regiment.

The diaries cover the period 1942 – 1945

Background

By the morning of 4th June 1940 when the Dunkirk evacuation came to an end 338,000 British and

French soldiers had been taken to England. They had left nearly all of their vehicles and equipment

behind. Britain seemed to be the target for Hitler’s next invasion. However Britain still had the Royal

Air Force equipped with modern fighter aircraft and the Royal Navy which despite heavy losses

sustained during the Dunkirk evacuation remained overwhelmingly superior to the German Navy.

Before a German invasion could take place the RAF had to be destroyed. Then, and only then, could

Hitler risk sending his army across the channel as the German airforce (the Luftwaffe) could then

provide sufficient protection from the Royal Navy.

When the fighter pilots of the RAF defeated the Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain (July to September

1940) the planned German invasion was no longer possible. Hitler turned his attention to the Soviet

Union.

Britain tried to hit back at Germany through defeating her ally Italy. Italy had entered the war on

Germany’s side on 10th June 1940, she had large forces in Libya, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Italian

Somaliland. Britain had forces stationed in Egypt and Palestine (in between the two blocks of Italian

troops).

The British went on the attack in North Africa and by December 1940 had captured nearly 40,000

Italian soldiers and 400 guns. In January 1941 the British attacked Bardia and captured a further

45,000 soldiers, 462 guns and 129 tanks. Later that month they captured Tobruk taking 30,000

prisoners, 236 guns and 87 tanks. In February 1941 the British defeated the Italians at the Battle of

Beda Fomm taking 20,000 prisoner, 216 guns and 120 tanks.

In July and August the Italians had attacked in East Africa. However by May 1941 here to they had

been defeated and Haile Selassie reinstated as Emperor of Ethiopia. In this campaign a further

230,000 Italian soldiers were captured.

But in North Africa things had begun to go seriously wrong for the British. Instead of pushing

westwards and capturing the main Italian held port of Tripoli the British had stopped and sent

50,000 troops to Greece to prevent a German invasion there. The Germans invaded anyway, quickly

driving out the British force and resulting in 12,000 British soldiers, all their tanks and most of their

equipment being captured.

On the day that the Italians were defeated at Breda Fomm (6th February 1941) Hitler told a bright

young general who had distinguished himself in the attack on France, Erwin Rommel, to take a small

mechanised force to Tripoli to help out the Italians. Rommel was cunning and audacious. He began

to advance eastwards. Though he had far fewer tanks than the British he convinced the British that

he had many more by sending lorries out into the desert to create huge dust clouds similar to those

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made by large numbers of tanks on the move. The British began to retreat in some confusion and

two British generals (O’Connor and Neame) were captured. By the middle of April 1941 the British

had been swept out of Libya and eastwards over the Egyptian frontier, except for a small force shut

up in Tobruk. The British had now to begin all over again to clear North Africa – and this time it was

to be much heavier going because they had to defeat German as well as Italian forces.

A whole series of complex ‘to and fro’ battles occurred from mid 1941 to the autumn of 1942 in the

desert and along the coastal strip of Libya as British and German Afrika Korps (assisted by the

Italians) tried to drive each other out of North Africa. In June 1942 the worst British catastrophe

occurred when Rommel captured Tobruk. 35,000 men became prisoners and the German forces

gained a huge quantity of useful supplies.

This is no place for the details of the battles. But the student enquiring about the campaigns in North

Africa should appreciate the following:

Rommel was always outnumbered and under supplied but he was a master of

improvisation. For example to make the British think his forces were stronger than they

were he used wood and painted canvas to make lorries look like tanks and he used the

88mm anti-aircraft gun as an effective anti-tank gun. Rommel’s tactics made the best use of

his outnumbered forces, he would use gaps in minefields to funnel advancing British tanks

towards his anti-tank guns and only after they had hit as many targets as possible would he

release his outnumbered tanks to attack the surviving British tanks. The British problem was

finding a way of organising their forces so that they could bring their superiority of numbers

and equipment to defeat him.

Both the Germans and the British were never able to overcome the problems caused by the

extreme distances their campaigns were fought over. Both found that they tended to

outrun their supplies and had to break off battles and retreat because they were running

out of fuel and ammunition.

It became clear to the British and to their new ally, the USA, that the Germans would not be

defeated if they were only attacked from the east. The Germans would have to be attacked

from the west as well.

By the summer of 1942 the British were holding Rommel’s latest attack at El Alamein well inside

Egypt and only about 200km from Cairo. A new general, Bernard Montgomery, had arrived to

take command of the British 8th Army together with many more British soldiers, more tanks and

massive quantities of supplies. One of the British soldiers was Private Stanley Clifford Brooks of

the 6th Battalion, Cheshire Regiment. He had sailed on the transport ship ‘Orontes’ from

Liverpool on 29th May 1942. In order to avoid attacks from German U-boats and aircraft in the

Mediterranean, the Orontes had to take the long route around Africa via the Cape of Good

Hope to reach Egypt. After disembarking at Port Tewfik at the southern end of the Suez canal

the 6th Battalion reached the “Alamein Line” after a two and a half month journey on 13th

August 1942.

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1942

Oct, 19

…Now things begin to Move with a capital M. We are given the gen… In this do, Tripoli or

nothing… Never have I seen so much army equipment moving up before…If I survive this lot,

well I’m satisfied. German aeroplane flew across only a matter of feet off the ground

yesterday, but he was downed, must have been a hundred M/Gs8 opened fire on him. Still

burning… 10 German soldiers grave here, all tin hats on t. Also 88mm shell unexploded and

small wooden cross…

Friday 23rd Oct9

Great R.A.10barrage set up by 25 pounders all round us, on from 9.40 to 3.0 a.m., we could

not move all night, tanks followed in close by barrage objective then drove in wedge followed

by infantry…we move into position as Bgde. m/gunners…This day we are dive bombed pretty

fair but we are doing well all round, especially on northern front, armour has gone well in…On

our front we have driven through…minefields…Get 3 trenches, sixty prisoners, Ities, though all

very untidy…some with long trs. Some with shorts, all ages, half with beards and moustaches.

Most carry overcoats of a bright green shade, headgear of every description from

handkerchiefs to proper sun hats…any amount of either side equipment on the battle field.

German and Italian tin hats by the hundred.

Tuesday11

We inspect burnt German infantry car, huge engine, tracks at rear, driver still in, dead. All

rations were ours, captured by them from us at Tobruk…Any amount of alloy water bottles;

glad of the water…

Last night (today is Thursday 29) I saw a huge column of tanks such as the desert has never

seen before, lines of them as far as the eye could see, all emitting clouds of exhaust smoke and

smelling like a crude oil works on fire…Latest news disclosed that 2,010 prisoners have been

taken…three quarters of them Italians, Germans seem to be much better stuff…

I have a walk and find German equivalent to our jeep, small car , four wheel drive, spare

wheel carried on bonnet.12

Thursday Nov 5

All is well, the prisoner total has now risen from over 3000 to over 8000…We have knocked out

260 tanks, shot down 80 planes and grounded another 200…Early this fireworks day morning

we see dozens of tanks approaching. On closer inspection we discover they were canvas

8 Machine Guns 9 Battle of Alamein begins 10

Royal Artillery 11 27th October 12 Military development of the Volkswagen beetle, known as a Kubelwagen

Page | 23

affairs on trucks. At 1000 yards, even with glasses13 it is hard to tell them from the real thing,

turrets, guns, tracks, even wireless pole and flag, etc. They turn about when we fire… We

cannot move in daylight in this spot…

Had a hell of a time last night, we had to take rations out to Plts.14 Who had to go out bring in

Italian prisoners. We set off, Hill and I with Capt. Leonard…through minefields, first Captain

Leonard then me walking in front, we made good progress, 7 miles in all…we could only just

see in the half light…Where we kipped there were three Colonissimoes and a few Capitanoes

all with stars and stripes and crowns on their shoulders. In the morning they were taken away

on a truck…

Fri, morning

We see…more prisoners come in. They are all glad its over, no trouble at all…one man in

charge of 400 Ities. When he stopped they all stopped, a queer sight, all chattering and

dressed in every sort of clothing, many different ranks too. Most seem to have surrendered to

a pre-arranged plan, they all had their small kit and one blanket and a water bottle. Very

young most of them…

Along the tracks and in every conceivable spot the damned Italians have left A.P. mines like

money boxes, very dangerous to touch. They are red and balanced on the pull pin. Most

daylight hours we keep below ground, bullets all day, very low…many enemy vehicles running

about…we have to take great care now, traps and mines everywhere…

Saturday morning Nov 7

We set off again, another ten miles…We see another thousand or so prisoners come

in…General appearance of this place indicates they must have had to get out of it in a great

hurry, they were pushed so much in some places that we have actually seen food still on the

fire, food in mess tins, obviously caught in the middle of a meal…

Much of Private Brooks’ time after the Battle of Alamein seems to have been spent salvaging

vehicles, guns, ammunition, clothing and fuel. He mentions the landings of American forces

further west in North Africa, at Casablanca, Oran and Algiers and rekons that it will not be long

before the British and Americans join up.

Towards the end of November 1942 he is kitted out with new battledress and the Battalion

receives two new lorries. Private Brooks takes these as signs that the Battalion will shortly be ‘in

for a big move’. He was right. On 26th November they began to move out of the desert via Cairo

to Ismailia and a few days leave. The language of Private Brooks’ description of Ismailia and its

people is definitely not politically correct but his attitude was not untypical among soldiers at

the time.

13 binoculars 14 Platoons

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5th Dec

…To Ismailia it was an hour’s run by the Sweet Water Canal, not very sweet, dead cats, dogs,

even donkeys float about…There are plenty of native craft in the water, dhows, all carrying

war supplies…We pass on our journey a few _____villages, absolutely filthy places, usual

description, dozens of children, goats, mules, all living together. We reach Ismailia with its

_____quarter and modern quarters, the latter of American design….Ismailia is literally full of

____pestering to sell all manner of things from watches to gold rings, even postcards of the

filthy place. Boot blacks are everywhere, hanging on to clothing…often their brushes box and

all, go into the middle of the street, a second kick finding where the seat of their pants would

be if they wore them…No matter what you buy or off whom, they seller always asks twice too

much, and they have to be bartered…

We go to the Y.M15. for sleep. What a grand change it is to be between sheets again, it feels

almost too soft for comfort, I bet we feel it when we go back to the hard desert. Waking

up…we discover a ___ handing us a cup of tea, very welcome it is too, he wants 2 ackers, he

gets 3. We wash, let the barber shave us then go for breakfast, egg omelette and the

proverbial tomatoes fried. It is really remarkable the number of eggs we must consume per

day.

In the morning we wander aimlessly by the [Suez Canal], it is very nice, rather on the blue side

like the Med. We lie on the grass in the sunshine…then go for an iced drink as we are hot.

From this shore we can see tramp steamers and two Egyptian hospital ships…from what

appear to be overloaded dhows smoke curls up to the tall mast, it is acrid. They are eternally

brewing strong Turkish coffee, it pongs like C.C.C. tar boiler in full throttle…

15 YMCA (Young Man’s Christian Association)

Page | 25

Page | 26

1943

After a couple of weeks in Cairo the Battalion set off for Baghdad and Kirkuk. It was believed

that tribesmen in northern Iraq were being paid by the Germans to attack the British and that

perhaps a German attack on Iraq through Turkey was being planned.

In mid-March 1943 the Battalion returned to Egypt via Palestine which Private Brooks describes

as different and up to date…from what we are used to in other countries and having an ideal

climate. Everyone is disappointed (to leave), Palestine is such a grand place, near the Med. too.

At the beginning of April Private Brooks is back at El Alamein.

…the whole desert is literally covered as far as the eye can see with German burnt out trucks

of every description… We stopped a number of times to inspect German and Italian tanks in all

sorts of conditions, some complete and intact, others burnt to cinders with the crew inside.

Sometimes we passed American tanks with the German cross on, obviously they had been

captured from us before. Some places there were great dumps of enemy arms and A/T guns in

position just as they had left them. Along the edge of the road is scattered every article of

small kit of 3 countries, tin hats, rifles, packs and clothing enough to start another army…And

so this scene goes on mile after mile till after 4 hours … We reach El Daba where many

struggles have taken place because of the aerodrome … The Gerries have just jumped on their

lorries and run for it … Scattered over the landing field were at least 50, aircraft of all shapes

and sizes, as far as I could see all undamaged, just stood ready for taking off, great bombers

to fighters of the deadliest nature …

Another hour’s riding brings us to … Mersa Matruh, to say the least the place is a mass of

ruins, hardly a wall standing and certainly not a roof. The town looks to have held six or seven

thousand but now only a couple of dozen of the stalwart wogs are left, probably those who a

flock of sheep and could not get them away …

The following morning, Sunday … we are off again … We see a German light car blown up with

a bird’s nest built in the wadding of the driver’s seat, the young being fed on the flies from the

poor individual still dead on the back seat, all very horrible … Around this quarter the number

of crashed planes of both sides is probably one every half minute … This area has … almost as

many (graves) as at Alamein. By dinner time we reached Sidl Barranl, the scene of more great

battles, this town as all the others has hardly a wall standing, one building on the outskirts

had been a power house, it was blown to bits and its great machinery was spread over a

square mile …

Monday 4 April

… After we have been on the road 2 hours there is an unusual assortment of burned out

equipment … also many crashed planes, and no wonder, we are at Hell Fire (Helfaya) Pass … in

the background … are great mountains … and it is the winding road up these which is the

actual Hell Fire Pass … There is only one road up to the hills and it has been a death trap to

thousands … No tank or wheeled vehicle could get up this hill to Libya without using this road,

hence all the battles for it …

Page | 27

After leaving Bardia we go along a road strewn with all kinds of war material from an

aeroplane to a waterbottle cork … we come to Fort Capuzzo … one of Muzzo’s (Mussolini’s)

impregnable strong points … now no more than a mass of bricks, stone and concrete, no living

creature could have survived in there …

Next comes Tobruk, and we stop on the outer defences, miles of barbed wire and mine fields.

One very curious form of defence that I have not seen before was the turret of a busted tank

taken off and placed over an underground concrete tunnel. The only thing showing was the

turret big gun and periscope, a very neat thing. There were two of them each side of the road,

they must have taken some dislodging…

One of the lads had the misfortune to have his hands blown off with a booby trap, they are

deadly things …

Tuesday 6 April

Tobruk … has a grand harbour, it has been well bombed … There are at least a dozen vessels

on the bottom, just two masts sticking boldly out of the still water … The town of Tobruk was

out of bounds because of the danger of toppling buildings … A notice on one of the entrances

to the town centre was inscribed “Out of bounds to all ranks, all services, all nationalities”

that , I think, covered everybody …. We leave in a westerly direction …

Wed. 7 April

… We come to Derna aerodrome, what a place, big hangars and assembly shed burned to the

ground with many planes still inside like skeletons … On the landing ground there must have

been two hundred planes of all descriptions, in all conditions from a pile of scrap to an

undamaged job … we must have caught them napping there …

We see … the enemy graveyard, very big but well kept, crosses of every kind, a lot of propeller

blades, I take it they were airmen. A gigantic board read “they died for the fuhrer, the People

and the Fatherland” …

Thursday 8 April

(Benghazi) On each side of the road approaching the city there are great dumps of everything,

thousands of tins of petrol and oil, huge piles of shells … everything. There is one of the

greatest natural harbours I’ve ever seen with many ships large and small, on top and

underneath … Only a few of the Italians have left and the whole place carries on as it did

before we took over … The men we talk to don’t seem to be pro any nation in particular, peace

at all costs they want and I believe them …

Private Brooks’ journey continues westwards in the direction of the German retreat. He

mentions passing through El Aghelia and Buerat.

Monday (12 April)

From Buerat we travel 10 miles along the very edge of the shore and eventually camp on the

dunes. It is here that disaster overtakes us, as we all as soon as arriving stripped off and ran to

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the sea, lovely, warm, and blue … Everything enjoyable for ten minutes or so then Jock

Ferguson got in difficulties and the Sgt. Major had to pull him out. No sooner was he out then

there were four of five shouting for help, the sight was terrible the sea was treacherous, a

strong undercurrent was running and they were being dragged out to sea. We managed to

get Capt. Lees in and Burney Arden, Sgt. Lewis and two more, but we never found Harry

Stockley … Burney soon recovered … Capt. Lees was dead … This lovely golden sand and blue

sea has claimed two valuable lives. The camp is very hushed tonight …

Tuesday 13

… Lou Haye has found Stockley by the rocks. A stretcher goes down and he is brought up and

placed with Capt. Lees. All this is a pitiful sight … we move off and carry them with us … about

20 miles down the road we come across an English graveyard and there we bury them side by

side … We feel very sorry for the people at home. I wonder will they be told how they died …

Private Brooks and the 6th Battalion continue to move westwards. Near Tripoli he reflects that

they must have travelled 3,000 miles more or less non-stop since leaving Kirkuk in Iraq in mid-

March. On Tuesday 20th April they arrive at Gabes in Tunisia. On Monday 26 April the Battalion

moves into the front-line at Enfidaville where the German Afrika Korps is making a stand to the

south of the capital and port of Tunis.

… It is murderous, shell and mortar fire continuous. Duffy and Eastwood are hit before they

get into position. Duffy dies and is buried up there. Jim Burke’s truck run’s into a tank trench

whilst being shelled. Jimmy has to stay in a small hole all the daylight hours … I hope he comes

through he is right in the mortar range track. Enifidavile is a treacherous place, Gerry has a

hell of a good position here, the whole 24 hours there is either m.g (machine gun) mortar or

shell fire going on, that’s not mentioning the aircraft question.

Wed. April 29

… Gerry is getting out of hand, this place is getting too hot to move. Half a dozen have been

killed and a truck burned out …

May 6

… In the last two days they have sent over approx. 80 to 100 shells, we sent over 800 in two

hours …

We move back … out of range of guns, quite a relief

May 14

… We have won … the enemy roll in their thousands … most come in their own trucks, big

diesels driven by themselves, they appear quite harmless, they carry a lot of kit unlike the

Alamein crowds, great strings of others march along the road … they return our wave

cheerfully, they are better shod and in generally better condition than Alamein. Officers sail

Page | 29

through self driven in their staff cars, even D.Rs16. come to the pens on their B.M.Ws…. This

night we sleep very happily.

Later that month the 6th Battalion is withdrawn to the east of Tripoli. On Monday 6th September

they set off for Italy in three Tank Landing Craft, being attacked on the way by a German

aircraft. Just after 5.00am on Thursday 9th September Private Brooks’ ship hits the beach in the

bay of Salerno.

We get a dry landing, runways drop on the hard shingle … everywhere loudspeakers, flares.

A.A. (Anti-Aircraft) lights … mines … We at last get off the beach …

There are a lot of dykes here five foot deep and the enemy have flooded the roads and fields …

we have to keep diving down from M.G fire and mortars … 9 plt. take up position in a house

and open up on a machine gun post, they reply with mortar fire and Mr. Ball’s foot is blown

and Jock Fergle gets it in the leg, both are out of it … Mr Ball is very brave, he shouts sorry I

can’t come with you and good look, the bravest man I’ve ever seen17 …

2.00 pm … News comes through that the enemy armour is moving our way, we get well dug in

and ready. The armour happens at 3.00 entering the next field very slowly in the form of 3

Tiger tanks … 88 m.m. on.18 We decide to hold fire until they are very close, snipers follow …

our position becomes desperate as the tanks crawl slowly across the field … he is flinging

mortars and using and using spandoes (Spandau machine guns) from the turret. Bert Milan

arrives not knowing the position with ammo in a jeep, it is blown up and set on fire before he

can get out of it, just manages to dive in to the gutter in time. Half a dozen more mortars and

an anti-gun tank gun departs this earth, crew as well, all not ten yards from us. At this we

open up at about 400 yards, we smash one tank, it roars like a blowlamp and we all cheer,

black clouds of smoke come from it and that is its end. Then do we get the works … the

remaining two tigers pump everything they’ve got into our valley, we give it back at the same

rate and they veer to the far side of the field and all is quiet for a while … then the tanks move

again. We follow their movements carefully, they move very slow, bullets whistle almost

continuously, we are showered with wood chips and branches, leaves etc. but as long as we

keep to the earth we are not too bad … They draw away and we breathe again for a while.

5.00 pm we are in a bonny state, up to the thighs in water ... and thick slimy mud … we are

being relieved and we collect identity discs … (from those who have been killed)

Private Brooks writes of what happened to another platoon in the fighting.

8 plt. ... were attacked from the rear … two were killed … and Joe Bowness was taken

prisoner, they took all the valuables off him and his equipment, as they were going back our

lads opened up on them again, all but Joe and one German forgot to duck, this left only these

two, the German immediately gave Bowness his rifle and as good as said take me prisoner

now, which he did, and so Joe is now back with us no worse for wear. It is a great blow when

we think of those who are missing …

16

Dispatch riders 17 He later died of his wounds 18 German Tanks were armed with huge 88 mm gun

Page | 30

We are better after a night’s sleep and we move up the road. Under some trees Lou and I

plonk out kit between some big cane thickets by a stream. A stream, first running water I have

seen in 18 months, we all stand and look at it, then realise, water! And all have a wash down

…

Friday 17 Sept. (near Battipaglia)

Shells give us the works, as many as twenty drops in our area, only damage to trucks, a couple

of flat tyres. One shell hits my kit, the lot is blown to pieces, most of it I recover from the next

field, mess tins etc. This book (the diary) had the luckiest escape, the pack it was in was blown

into ditch and missed the shrapnel, my equipment is like a piece of old rag … He seems to shell

each section systematically, we get the works for half an hour then he taps over into the next

field for another half an hour, when he does this we are able to get about for a meal etc … By

dinner time it gets too much and we pile all into trunks any old how and away down the road

out of the trees, nerves are very bad, we had to take a gate off the field , every time anyone

banged it most would drop flat…

The 6th Battalion began to advance northwards from Salerno. Private Brooks came into contact

with Italian civilians, and like most British soldiers, seemed to get on well with them and felt

sorry that they lived in such dreadful conditions.

Oct. 4 finds us at Pagliano d. Arno, the place has been ruined and burnt down … We walk into

the streets and find all the buildings of any size are either blown up of burnt to the ground,

every shop has been raided of any valuables, any food is gone, the people are allowed a piece

of brown bread the size of a tennis ball a day, most terrible conditions in these towns, all in a

state of semi-starvation. People generally seem pleased that we are here, we are given veno

(vino = wine), horrible stuff, but they get it down … They are only too pleased for a little food,

we have our clothes washed, trs shirt and towel for pkt. biscuits, our soap of course, they have

none.

It is remarkable how many older men have been to America about 30 or 40 years ago. We

walk along the street and see no less than four who can speak a little English, one old man

said he left Baltimore 35 years ago and this was the first time he had tried since, had a job to

speak himself but recognised all the words as we said them, another … invited us to his house,

he told us of all the German doings over a fire made of charcoal. They had taken five men

away to act as guides to the district, two up to now had come back.

Oct.

We are in a little village near Cetrea, 150 kilo (km) from Rome … People are very frightened at

our guns on the outskirts of the town, we assure them they are safe, they seem to blame us

for damage the Bosch do … In this particular village we are in the Germans as they went

through took 15 people, including 5 priests, to guide them along the roads, all the people are

in hysterics from end to end of the town, they think we are going to do the same but by the

afternoon they are a little bolder and we play football with some of the youths … While I was

talking to a man who had been to the States an old woman came up and spoke to him,

afterwards he told me she has asked him how many Italian soldiers are left in Egypt. So many

Page | 31

seem to have fathers, sons, brothers on the Africa campaign, what a state these people are in

… Will you harm the Pope? … Will Rome be damaged? … The women are horrified at the

thought of Rome or the Pope being harmed.

Photographs of A Barlow MM

The following pages show photographs from the collection of A Barlow MM who was decorated for

bravery at the Battle of Enfidaville April –May 1943.They illustrate perfectly some of the scenes

described by S C Brooks in his diary as he advanced with the 6th Battalion across North Africa in the

spring of 1943.

Ships sunk

in the

harbour of

Tobruk

Ships sunk in harbour at

Benghazi

Page | 32

German Panzer Mark II tank

Panzer Mark III

Page | 33

Crashed German Junkers 87 dive bomber

Crashed German Messerschmitt 110 fighter-bomber.

Could his be A Barlow MM standing by the tail fin?

Page | 34

Dead soldiers – nationality

unknown

British and German

battlefield cemeteries.

There is a very

appropriate German

saying: ‘Freund und

Friend in tod vereint’ –

‘Friend and foe are

united in death’

Page | 35

Page | 36

The Vickers Machine Gun

The 6th Battalion was a Machine Gun Support unit. In addition to the Vickers illustrated below

the Battalion also fought with Bren guns (a light machine gun), Thompson sub machine guns and

the Lee Enfield rifle.

Page | 37

Diary of S C Brooks (continued) 1944

The allied armies found the going tough in southern Italy. The German army took refuge in the

hills and shelled Private Brooks and his comrades constantly. It was autumn and the weather

was frequently wet making roads impassable and living conditions extremely uncomfortable.

Over Christmas Private Brooks managed to see Naples and Pompeii. In early February he and

the 6th Battalion were near Teano (which is 50 kilometres north of Naples). He writes about the

suffering of Italian civilians.

… Generally the Italian civvies are in a bad condition. A lot have come across a mine field not

knowing the danger, some carry dead, one woman carries a dead baby, died with an

unavoidable lack of attention, it has to be taken off her and buried. The people in a horrible

state, unwashed, the lot, bare feet, with their only possessions on a roll of dirty clothing on

their head they are mud splashed and tired, some lie where they are in the dirt, most have

sheep, goats, even pigs on the end of a string …

The decision had been taken by the generals to outflank the German ‘Gustav Line’ by standing

allied troops on the coast behind it at Anzio. The landing had taken place on 22 January and on

18 February Private Brooks and the 2nd Battalion left Naples on a Tank Landing Craft bound for

Anzio. Although the initial landing had taken place almost a month before, progress had been

slow and as Private Brooks began to make his way inland he included:

‘… that the whole of the ground we hold can be shelled, take poor view of that … The Gerries

fly in at frequent intervals, who said he was short of planes …’

Night of Feb 21 and 22

We sleep in fox holes but are wakened at 2.0am by planes going low overhead … They have

dropped flares over the next field and are waiting for them to get low enough to see, then

they all come bombing … Two drop 50 yards from our three tonner, Lou is hit by a piece of

shrapnel, it throws him on the floor and tears his tin hat to ribbons. As far as we can tell he

has a head wound and blast has affected his legs, can’t stand up. Our M.O.19 … runs him over,

says he’ll be alright and away he goes (to a field hospital) … leaves pool of blood on the floor …

In his entry for 24 February Private Brooks thinks that some of the Battalion ‘got too far into the

German lines’. He describes some confused and desperate fighting as his comrades try to make

their way back to safety. At 6.00 pm he went out on patrol.

… Go so far on trucks then walk, we get a bit too close for my liking, verilights

(‘Very’lights=flares) are being fired over us and it meanes remaining like statutes, nothingis

flung at us but lots of stuff is falling around us. We get in and out O.K but get a little lost on

the way back, we arrive at our detrucking area to find everything gone but two of our trucks

are there battered up, looks like they have been hit by shells. We carry on, all we can do. Get

lost again, come across a Yank tank and the crew give us six tins of corn beef. We sit behind

the hedge and eat up, get lifts back at 4.30 a.m. …

19 Medical Officer

Page | 38

Before going to sleep Private Brooks decided to adjust the position of his bren guns (light

machine guns.) One of them went off and Private Brooks was shot. He was taken back to Egypt

to recover and returned to Italy on July 17 1944. On 2 August he visited Rome:’ it is quite the

most wonderful place we have been to yet’. 4 August found him at Assisi:

The … chaplain takes us round and explains all the paintings etc … We all walk from one

church to another, spending about an hour In each, wonderful places. In the centre of the one

house St. Francis lived in, it stands in the centre of the floor under the dome. Our guide tells us

it is just as it was 800 years ago, it is the size of a garage, build of stone and two feet thick

walls, one door, no windows. There are old paintings from top to bottom of the walls, inside

and out. Sexton plays the organ in one church … He gives us a few hymns and is just finished

off on likely Moor B’aht ‘At when the Senior Padre to the Divi. (Division) walks in and he took a

poor view of it. I notice a group of nuns frowning and wondering if it was holy music or not …

Private Brooks reaches the ‘Gothic Line’ near Rimini in late August.

I notice that I am more frightened than I used to be, shelling was always cause for good laugh,

now I am concerned should one do damage, same applies to aircraft, we always looked

forward to odd aeroplane coming over so we could have a ping off with a spando … now I

don’t like it Lou approached on the same subject says the same, and says he noticed it with

the other lads …

A little later at San Angelo Private Brooks writes about how different people react to shellfire:

… Reinforcements who have never been in it before do not know the dangers and are inclined

to stand about and have a look where that went, ducking and diving only because others do.

The next stage is when they’ve seen some killed and injured and probably had a close shave

themselves, then they are very frightened even of the least suspicious bang from the enemy

direction. The last stage is as most Eighth Army troops, they will stand about or keep on

working or maybe amble to the sheltered side of the nearest house just as we would from a

shower of rain, this is because they’ve had all the lessons and can rely on their own judgement

as to whether one is coming dangerously near, and their experience tells them to dive at the

right time and place as only experience can, so you can see why those just joining the Batt. are

often casualties, although there is all the banging they just can’t realise the danger …

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1945

Private Brooks continued with the advance via Forli and Ravenna and crossed the immensely

wide River Po over the pontoon bridge at Ferrara towards the end of April. On 3rd May he

reached the outskirts of Trieste. Although the resistance of the Germans had finished Trieste

was still an unpleasant and dangerous place.

... This is a hot spot, it takes some weighing up. There are two sets of partisans (local term for

the members of the anti-German resistance) here, one lot under Tito and the other (under)

Mihallovich, both fought the Germans now claim Trieste … Up to now we have, as the papers

will have shown we have given Tito support … It appears that Tito would take over this end of

Italy while Italy is so low and we have told him he can’t have any … On the walls of houses is

painted ‘Tito for ever’ … there are festival and parades … in his honour, I don’t know what

they’ll do when they discover we won’t let him come here. Our infantry are roaming round all

day long in jeeps with machine guns mounted on the bonnet, machine guns are mounted on

all road crossings and bridges, we have to carry revolvers or rifles everywhere we go, it is far

more difficult to fight civilians than soldiers because you don’t know who they are. There are a

lot of Tito partisans here and it’s not beyond them to do a bit of sniping at night, it is not wise

to allow yourself to be seen in a well-lighted room after dark …

Although the war in Europe ended at midnight on 8 May Private Brooks and his comrades in the

6th Battalion were still far from safe. It was a strange and dangerous anti-climax after nearly 3

years away from home.

The last entry in the diary was for 6 June 1945. On 7 July Private Brooks went home on leave

and the last date in his paybook is 3.1.46. There is no further written information on Private

Brooks’ war.

Private Brooks wrote his diaries in pencil in five small notebooks. They were transcribed in to

typewriting by his sister, Edith, who presented them to the Regimental Archives in 1990.

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Action in the Salerno Beachhead – September 1943

Lieutenant J. K. Forgan, 6th Battalion

After a few days of helping the anti-tank gunners to protect the right flank of the Salerno

bridgehead, my platoon was ordered forward to support our infantry, who had been forced

back from Battipaglia to a position just in front of the little of St. Lucia …

(Lieutenant Forgan decided to conceal his troops in a tobacco plantation and used a hedgerow

as cover an anti-tank gun and his platoon’s machine guns.)

… We decided that it was essential to hold fire as long as possible. That evening the new

position were very carefully prepared, only very narrow slits being cut in the bottom of the

hedge. The top was wired so that it was it was undisturbed in spite of the roots being chopped

away. Later, I had an opportunity to look from the enemy side and found it impossible to spot

the positions even from fifty yards …

It was soon after light and still a little misty when about seven Mark IV tanks appeared on the

edge of the tobacco, they were about thirty yards apart and heading straight across the open

field …

The only order I gave was to lay on the right hand tank and then waited. As they emerged from

the tobacco, each tank was seen to be closely followed by about one section of Germany

infantry. I noted with relief that the tanks were closed down and would therefore have to get

very close if they were to have a chance of seeing us.

When they were about seventy yards away, the 6 pounder on my left opened up on the right

hand tank, stopping it with the first shot and ‘brewing it up’ with two more in quick succession.

At the same time we opened up, (with the machine guns) hitting the infantry and the tank crew,

who were very quick to bale out, one diving under the tank and the rest staggering bout in the

smoke like bewildered animals.

It was a very one-sided slaughter…

All that remained was one tank in the undergrowth to the right of the road; this had been

stopped by the other anti-tank gun, but was still firing its guns …

No. 1 gun was now found to have a bullet stuck in the barrel and the spare was with the carrier

on the far side of the road. No. 4131836 Private Thomas …dashed back some 100 yards in the

open, regardless of heavy fire from enemy tanks to fetch the spare barrel, and so enabled the

gun to go on shooting; an action for which he was later awarded the Military Medal …

Two Sherman’s (British American- built tanks) now appeared and going straight across the field

to where the remaining Mark IV was still firing, knocked it out before it had even seen them.

One then turned and drove straight along our hedge with its gun pointing directly at us. I think

this frightened me more than the Germans, because the tank crew could not have known we

were there and might easily have mistaken us for the enemy.

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Lieutenant (later Captain) John Keith Forgan had joined the 6th Battalion in March 1942. He

served continuously for two years as a Platoon Commander and took part in all the actions in

which the 6th Battalion fought from El Alamein until he was killed in northern Italy on 18

September 1944. He was 23 years old. He is buried in Coriano Ridge Cemetery, Plot 19, Row M,

Grave No. 5.

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D-Day 6 June 1944 – extracts from a transcription of a tape

recording of the memories of Major-General Peter Martin

We were [given] over prints of the maps of the area without the names of places on. They

featured the actual area of the place we were going to invade with 24 hour updates of all the

latest beach defences. We could see all these things going on along the waterline with the pill-

boxes behind. I can remember talking to Tony Mellor … and reckoning that we were never going

to survive beyond the beaches …

We were sealed in our camps about a week before D-Day. It was like being in a prison. We went

aboard our various craft by 3 June … packed like sardines below deck…

On the 5th about 8.30 pm we set sail for Normandy. We had an extremely rough crossing. The

craft were manned by the US Navy. I remember a member of the crew who wore a t-shirt with

‘Angel’ written on it … Angel was responsible for the gallery (small kitchen). We were put on

board with ‘Soya Links’ sausages for our breakfast meal. However, during the night all the

gallery crockery came crashing down and the fires wouldn’t light. When the time came to eat

people were either so sick they couldn’t eat at all or … put off by cold ‘soya links’. I felt queasy

even on a self-heating can of chocolate drink …

We were to land at 10 am … It was an absolutely fantastic sight … there were these things like

rocket batteries mounted on LCT’s [Landing Craft – Tank]; there were self-propelled guns firing

[from their landing craft] whilst the air force were in absolutely non-stop motion over us …

Things were fairly clear on the beaches apart from craft turning and others on their sides and all

those obstacles sticking out of the water with bombs and mines stuck to them. We went in

more or less on time. Our job was to move, via La Riviere … on to an assembly area on the

Meuvaines Ridge just beyond Ver-sur-Mer. We marched up through La Riviere and I remember

seeing the odd Frenchman who obviously was partly in shock after all the noise but clearly

absolutely disgusted by these noisy and tiresome people who were upsetting his daily routine …

We went up on to the Meuvaines Ridge where all our transport met up with us and everything

went absolutely according to plan. There was a little bit of sniping and, very occasionally, a

mortar bomb landed near you. You could hear fighting going on to our rear… in the

Arromanches area… In our particular sector between La Riviere and Arromanches we seemed to

be in a completely quiet and almost unmanned sector of the line…I had a platoon of the 4.2 inch

Mortar Company under command with me and the Platoon Commander got wounded taking on

a sniper with his pistol which was not very clever. We had one of our carriers run over by one of

our tanks coming through a hedgerow in the assembly area without looking.

Otherwise, absolutely dead quiet.

We encountered various Germans, most of whom were fairly elderly and only too happy to

surrender. They appeared to be walking back the way we were going…I acquired a very nice pair

of Zeiss binoculars and a Luger pistol…

We pushed forward and long before nightfall…we got onto the line just before Esquay-sur-

Seulles…I was supposed at this stage to be leaving 151 Brigade and joining 8 Armoured

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Brigade…We were supposed to rendezvous at a place called Rucqueville. As everything was

dead quiet I went up to Rucqueville to have a look and everything was dead quiet there so I

pulled on to the main Caen-Bayeux road and I said to my driver, an excellent young chap called

Addis, “Shall we go down to Bayeux and liberate it?” He said “What a good idea”. So we set off

cruising down the road towards Bayeux which I thought must now be in our hands. We went

slower as we got into the built-up area and then a Frenchman on a corner whistled through his

teeth and said “Boche! Boche!” and pointed just down the road. So, we did a quick turn and

headed back again only to be attacked by an American fighter plane which machine gunned us.

We got into a ditch in time but the only damage to the Jeep was a bullet through one of the

tyres. So there, in this slightly built-up area of Bayeux, with the Boche somewhere quite close

we did the quickest wheel change that as ever been done outside a grand prix meeting! We got

back to join our HQ at 151 Brigade.We were told by 151 Brigade that the move was not going to

take place… That evening came but after all our terrors and apprehension about the murder on

the beaches we would all have to go through, it had been one of what we called at the time “a

real doddle”. The quietest day of the war as far as we were concerned…

[The next day was also quiet. On 8th June 8 Armoured Brigade did start its drive inland. By then

German reinforcements had started arriving and General Martin’s life became much more

hectic and action-packed…]

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Extracts from the diary of Private J McCarthy, 1st Battalion

Cheshire Regiment

11.2.1945

High Ho! Here we go again, aboard a Naval vessel, H.M.S. St. Helier. Sgt. Beswick, a nice enough

chap but, like so many regular soldiers, a trifle eccentric, decides to smuggle his dog on board:

the dog is a small nondescript mongrel bitch; black and white in colour and about twelve inches

high. Bill (Sgt. Beswick) insists the dog’s presence is necessary in order to increase the general

level of intelligence within the platoon…So the dog is smuggled aboard in a kit bag.

[The Battalion disembarks at Ostend and on 14th February moved inland to Brussels. On the way

Private McCarthy...]

Passed a sign that read ‘Mons – 24 kilometres’ and I suddenly thought of my old man. He was

there at Mons, never spoke about it but I saw the medal. He keeps it in a little tin box with two

others. Strange, isn’t it; all that so long ago and now this again? He had other memories of Mons

that cannot be kept in a little tin box.

15.2.45

…Move off in convoy north/westwards over the Albert Canal into Holland and towards

Eindhoven. Sgt. Beswick has managed, with some help, to keep his dog, Julie…The countryside is

flat and flooded, drab and depressing…

16.2.45

Or transport is parked close to some homes and attempts at communication are surprisingly

successful. Our section makes friends with a family, the Jansens: mother daughter and son.

Have not met father and somehow feel it indelicate to ask of his whereabouts….Mrs J asked me

if I would spare some time to talk with Jo (her daughter) who wished to broaden her vocabulary

and correct faults in her pronunciation! Derision from Eddie Field, who tried to warn her of a

permanently maimed diction brought about by trying to learn English from a Bog Irishman….

In the small garden behind the Jansen home, and not far from the back door, lies a newly dug

grave. On the grave a simple wooden cross, and on the cross, there hangs a German helmet.

Strange how its presence was never discussed between us and the Jansens….Maybe some

things are too incongruous, absurd or perhaps obscene for normal discourse…

17.2.45

….Bill Beswick’s ‘intelligent’ bitch has given birth to seven pups: Bill pretends to be unperturbed!

Eddie suggests an organised raffle with seven prizes. Tickets to be sold to the good Dutch

burghers….Beswick not amused!

….The distant artillery seems louder, barrages more prolonged. We spend some time cleaning

weapons, checking ‘ammo’ and in general preparation….

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18.2.45

Move out and forward to the River Maas. Dismount from our vehicles about 8 or 9 kilometres

from the river and move forward on foot. Rest in what appears to be a disused brickworks. Bill

Beswick takes a small reconnaissance party forward. Stake out and maintain a state of semi-

alertness; smoke and try not to think about anything. Bill returns and confirms ‘nowt this side of

river’ ….move close to river and take up positions.

19.2.45

Cold and wet with slithers of ice on the grass. God what a cheerless place! Try to scrape out

some slit trenches and wonder what lies before us on the east bank…

20.2.45

Early morning mortar attack lasting fifteen to twenty minutes. Sustain some casualties. Some of

us have every reason to fear the efficiency, accuracy and thoroughness of German Mortar Units

from our experiences in Italy…

22.2.45

…We have spent eight bloody hours crouched on the river bank as part of a ‘listening patrol’.

Hear nothing apart from the aerial activity overhead…Most of us, however are convinced that

there is an enemy presence across the river; waiting and listening over there, just like us…

24.2.45

Detailed to join a fighting patrol. We go over the river tonight. Object of the patrol is to test

enemy strength and return with a prisoner for interrogation…

…Stand to, empty pockets, nothing allowed only identity discs! Daub faces, check webbing

pouches, equipment and ensure nothing rattles. At 22.00 we move out…

Silently down to the river’s edge, dinghy launched. Bloody hell, the paddles sound like the beat of Zulu drums! The river is as wide as the English Channel! Reach other side, disembark and crawl forward up to and then over a small escarpment. So far, so good!

Move forward some more – strands of barbed wire. Sgt Beswick motions two men forward; while they hold he cuts. Sudden pandemonium: Spandaus, two or maybe three, open up. Mortars scream overhead, some finding the river behind. The element of surprise gone so, gritting my teeth, I hug the ground and try desperately to gather my senses. Apart from the gun flashes ahead, the scene remains dark. I recall thinking: no flares, why aren’t they lighting up the area? Yet praying to God they wouldn’t! As to how long we remained pinned down I have no idea. In these sort of circumstances time as a different measurement – five minutes? Perhaps a trifle longer. The firepower, thank God, is not accurate nor concentrated but sort of spread out wide to our left and right as if they are unsure of our exact location or our strength. On reflection I can only conclude that their panic was greater than ours.

Above the din I hear the voice of Sgt. Beswick O.K. you _______, rapid fire. Let’s get the _____out of here. Hey, watch it, you stupid_____!’ this was to me, who began firing as he got to his feet! Strange how the mind records such a scene….Above the shouts and din I am aware of

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Bellamy’s ‘Bren’20 chattering away to my left as, from a kneeling position he provides us with covering fire.

We are now back to the riverbank and much less exposed, the little escarpment….providing cover. Bellamy joins us. One Spandau on our left/front seems to have found our whereabouts and is inhibiting our movement. Bellamy inches forward a yard or so and , in the prone position, resights and fires; the Spandau is silenced! Retreat back to the river, dinghy intact…Suddenly all is quiet, just the sound of our paddles and our gasping breath.

Debriefing, counting the cost, one wounded, one dead, Moulton, our wireless operator, missing. Disappointment at failure of patrol to achieve objective is offset by the relatively small number of casualties; no way of knowing how many casualties sustained by the enemy…

[Moulton survived and was rescued by another patrol.]

3.3.45

Bill Beswick receives bad news: Julie and her litter are no longer part of C Coy, 1st Cheshires! The Sgt. Major has intervened and ordered the cook to…find the dog a good Dutch home or else! Bill is even more morose than usual.

5.3.45

We are over the Maas, well over, somewhere between Goch and Kevelaer…well into German territory…It is a most peculiar feeling to be moving forward into the Third Reich; a sort of increased apprehension and yet a slow, simmering elation…

Two of us avail ourselves of the opportunity to drive to Cleve: rarely seen such devastation. We met up with some commandos in the process of rejoining their unit. ‘Did you lot do this?’ we enquired. ‘Not us, mate. We weren’t involved here…Lancasters flying low over the bloody trees; that’s what done this!’…Later we exchanged words with a young woman, twenty fiveish, a student from Hamburg. From her we learned that Cleve had been a beautiful place with English historical connections. The ‘light’ dawned! Of course, Anne of Cleves, on of Henry VIII’s wives! Returned to our unit in the evening, feeling flat and somewhat depressed.

17.3.45

Moved forward to perhaps 10 kilometres from the Rhine…A new type of weapon has appeared on the scene. It is a phosphorous grenade; a truly obnoxious bloody thing. We have seen its effect; it explodes on impact and the contents seem to spew outwards and stick like silvery treacle to the arm leg or face of the target and it glows, even when the stricken arm is submerged in water!

18.3.45

….We’ve been told that the Enemy has, in places, adopted the attitude of surrender and when approached, then drops to the ground, a sort of Judas goat or decoy role!

19.3.45

…We advance in battle order across open fields, not quite sure of our position…Suddenly rising from the ground some yards directly in front are two German soldiers. Hands aloft, they stand still; one says ‘Kamerad!’ We hear the command…’Fire! Fire!’ We fire. As if in slow motion, I can

20 Light machine gun

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still see the face of the one nearest to me and the ‘peppering’ of his camouflage jacket. He seemed to fall slowly and we saw each other’s eyes. Both men were not quite dead as we walked past.

Reach the village: a white flag flutters from an upstairs window. As we approach a Spandau fires from another house farther on. House clearing begins: covering each other to get close to house then the grenades, wait for the explosion and then in firing. A German soldier, covered in phosphorous, runs screaming from the house across the road. He is mercifully shot dead…

20.3.45

Am deeply disturbed by the events of yesterday; not so much the fighting in the village! But, Jesus, they were unarmed! It was the closeness, the face. I wish to God I could erase the picture of his jacket ripping and the disintegration as the rounds went in but I know I will not, cannot, ever forget and that is how it should be, I suppose.

24.3.45

At dawn we cross over,21 ferried by guys in naval uniforms. How the hell did they get here? Tremendous artillery cover as we move forward. Sgt. Major treads on a Personnel Mine over to our left: ‘Spread out; don’t bunch you stupid buggers!’ as two or three stop to give him attention. They keep moving! Lt Gerwin, next platoon, killed. Dixie Dean killed. Absolute bedlam. Pockets of resistance to our front. Over to our right scores of German soldiers have surrendered. They look grey and haggard and totally demoralised. It’s that merciless pounding over the past twenty four hours, I guess. Maybe hunger as well. Enter the town of Wesel…The Commandos have passed through…and there are bodies everywhere, mostly German….See a number of gliders their fuselages smashed open. They belong to the Sixth Airborne Division which flew low over our heads this morning.

25.3.45

…Move through Wesel and trudge on. Everything around here is battered, dead or dying. Lots of dead German soldiers lying about. Cattle in a dreadful state, injured, dead, bloated. Spent most of the night asleep in a German slit trench dead to the world!

21 The River Rhine

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Glossary

Anti-Tank Gun A small wheeled gun designed to fire an armour piercing shell at a much higher speed than an ordinary high explosive shell fired from a field gun. Early in the War Boys Anti-Tank Rifles were also issued to infantry regiments. These worked like normal Lee Enfield rifles but had longer and stronger barrels and fired armour piercing bullets. Their recoil was extremely uncomfortable to the operator and they were quite useless against the latest German tanks

Battalion (Batt.) Four Companies (Coys) of soldiers – for the Cheshire Regiment in the Second World War this was just over 700 men at full strength.

Jeep American designed and built light ’General Purpose’ vehicle slightly smaller than a modern open topped Land Rover.

Mess Tins Plates, bowls, cups etc made of metal and used by soldiers in the field

Minefield An area where numerous mines were buried just under the surface of the ground. The mines exploded when subjected to pressure. Mines buried in this way were Anti-Personnel – designed to kill or injure soldiers who trod on them or Anti-Tank – designed to destroy tanks or blow their tracks off when they rolled over them

Mortar Resembling a length of metal drainpipe about a metre long, mounted on a baseplate this weapon lobbed cylindrical or finned bombs about 30cm long over a short distance. Mortars were effective against men sheltering in trenches – which would protect them against shells, rifle and machine gun fire.

Platoon (Plt/Pl) A third of a Company (Coy) – commanded by a Lieutenant or 2nd Lieutenant.

Pontoon Bridge A bridge across a river built on flat bottomed boats (pontoons)

Section (Sect) A third of a platoon – commanded by a Sergeant

Small Arms Pistols, rifles and light machine guns

Unit A slang/ informal term often used to refer to a Company or Battalion

Y.M.C.A. Young Men’s Christian Association. This organisation provided food, entertainments and affordable accommodation for soldiers on leave.