North Africa

From Roscommon to Anzio

Francis Donnelly, a Roscommon man attached to the Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment, was awarded the...

My Billets in Algiers: A Pub, a Casino and a Bank

One evening, while taking the air outside our pub I was accosted by a young French officer who invited me...

Action at Tobruk

We will stop about half a mile out from Tobruk, and land the commandos in two waves from small boats, one...

It Was All a Very Long Time Ago...

Granfa's ship had to negotiate this stretch of water in order to land. Granfa was lucky enough to land...

Bradford to Bradford in 5 Years 11 Months

In November we got orders to prepare to move, and one evening were transported to Famagusta again, leaving...

Tunisia, 1943

This just happened to be our tank driver, Charley Bailey from Keithley, Yorkshire, who was called...

A View from a Stretcher: Cheshire Regiment in North Africa and Italy - and Life as a Wounded POW

By the time he was repatriated, shortly before me, we could converse fairly easily in a strange mixture of...

L/Cpl David B Murdoch: Lost In A Dry Land

The others had belonged to my grandfather who had served with the Army in India during WWI. Thinking back...

From Tobruk to Tripoli

For two days we pummelled away at the Italian and Libyan troops, holed up in their little desert outposts....

Mail from England: Joy and Grief in Algiers (1943)

There is more about my wife Minna in A Dane in - and out - of the ATS, Journey through the Blitz...

A Cook's Tale

It was on one of my trips into Beirut I contracted "Sand Fly Fever", and was admitted into...

The Anguish of Absence: Algiers, 1943

Minna and I had endured an 18-month separation before she came to England to marry me. He offered to carry...

Tom's Story of El Alamein

Tom did more than his share Tom was wounded at the Battle of El Alamein, during 'Operation...

North African Campaign: Tunisia Part 1

The paper I originally used for the notes was Italian, the pen American and the ink probably German, found...

Air Raids on Egypt, 1941

In the end, it must have dawned on someone in authority that we were serving no purpose by staying in...

First Encounter: 11th Hussars in North Africa

The lads were taking it easy, cleaning the breakfast dishes in the sand, yarning, smoking and listening to...

The Darkest Hour — 5th Northamptons (Part 1)

It so happened the Northamptonshire Regiment, with other regiments, were to put in a Christmas Eve attack...

CAUSE AND EFFECTOF SURVIVAL: Memories of the Royal Navy

The destroyer was destined to remain in the eastern Mediterranean, so from Alexandria she patrolled and saw...

The Defence of El Taqa Plateau, El Alamein, with the Scots Guards

Spotting the enemy I saw Johnny raise his head to look over the wee escarpment to find out where the enemy...

Desert Airforce vs Rommel

And I joined a Squadron there that was formed up mainly as a Heavy bomber unit because they found out that...

Sailing Round The Gulf Of Suez

Rosie,theres a boat down there" I heard the cry.It was Lambert,pointing down towards the beach.We had...

Our Man in Yugoslavia: The Story of a Secret Service Operative

Owen Reed was an army officer who was recruited into the British Secret Intelligence Service in Cairo in...

Buried Alive in the North African Desert

So, there was my mum and two children and Pat the Alsatian dog that dad asked mum to bring as well. Mum...

Alamein —The Final Assault on German Outposts

Then I was aware of Jimmy Shrimpton closing in from the right and being shot as he jumed in among the...

The Sollum Incident

The Australians took over from us and pushed on to Bardia and we were IT — we had to guard thousands...

Serving in the 457 Light Battery RA

Because of this we had to revert to using Mules to pull the guns... This was sometimes funny as the Mule...