War memories of the Libyan desert related by my father

1: During a lull in the fighting the commanding officer put up the wrong recognition signal for the day to an RAF plane. They all saw this while the fighter squadron wheeled to attack. They all ran about a mile away from the laagered tanks to avoid the resulting bombing and strafing. My father had been a good 440 yard hurdler in his youth and said this run was almost as fast.

2: In an action ahead of the infantry an enemy shell knocked off the track of my fathers tank, stranding the Matilda across an enemy trench. While defending the tank something, probably a cartridge case, stopped the turret turning and the enemy was getting bolder. My father volunteered to defend the tank using a pistol from the hatch while his mates reloaded for him. He did this successfully for several hours until the British infantry caught up with them. Later the CO offered him the Military Medal, but he felt that all the crew deserved the same, so he did not get it.

3: Going into action with an Indian regiment he saw his squadron friends from a damaged tank being machine gunned by Indian troops in a lorry. In the heat of the moment to save the British tank crew he machine gunned the troop transport..

4: On leave in a Cairo local market with a friend a crowd of arabs became threatening. Fortunately one of them had a pistol and showed it to the crowd, preventing them being molested. They escaped down a sidestreet.

5: A keen motorcyclist before the war, my father found a German BMW which he used in the desert. Unfortunately he found that he burned his boots through resting his feet on the opposed cylinders as it had no footrests.

6: Reg Harris (the later racing cyclist) and my father were friends on leave at one time in Cairo or Alexandria.

7: B squadron was virtually wiped out and there was only one other of the fifty people left of original squadron shipped out, when my father was invalided out.

8: Each time they collected a replacement tank at the railhead they had to take off a lot of equipment, especially the gunsights. They had found that the only way the Matilda could fight effectively was to 'duck and drake' the shell across the desert in front of the Panzer tank to knock its track off. The armour of the enemy tank could not be pierced by their two pounder gun.

9: The enemy 88mm gun would pierce the Matilda armour. In one action they found one shell had pierced both sides of their tank just underneath the legs of the driver.

10: The enemy often found out about intended attacks and found the wavelength of the squadron radio. They then would transmit messages to the British tanks saying they 'were waiting for them' to alarm them as they were going into action.

11: On one occasion when the tank was jacked up for maintenance the oil spurted out under the tremendous weight and pierced the side of their bivouac tent.

12: The South African government under Smuts encouraged the people to look after British servicemen when they stopped on their way to North Africa round the Cape. They gave my father for Christmas 1941 a specially made tin box printed with Smuts image and printed with the thanks and pride they felt in the British servicemen. They were so well looked after there that he said he considered emigrating to South Africa after the war. I may have been born there if they had.

13. The 'Illustrated' magazine of May 16th 1942 was printed with an article about 'Three men in a Tank', all about my fathers tank crew, except him, there are in fact four in a Matilda.. It told about the daily routine of Sgt Brooks, Driver Charlesworth and Gunner Fox. My father declined to take part as he did not expect to survive. In fact they were all probably killed except him.

14. During an action, when a tank was knocked out and the crew killed often the tank would continue running along. The tank gun would elevate as the gunner fell against it. The tank continued until the tank hit an obstacle. If it caught fire, they would call it being 'brewed up'.

15. There were three tanks in a platoon and five platoons in a squadron. They all communicated by radio. My father always remembered his morse code learned then.

16. In one action they camouflaged the tank, a Valentine at that time, in a frame and netting that made the tank look like a lorry.

17. My father when shipped home in the Queen Mary in April 1943, brought his pistol, but as they traversed the western approaches he threw it overboard.

18: During the later stages of his convalescence back in Croydon when ever the bombers came over he was so nervous he dived into the Anderson shelter ahead of my mother. He was always agitated by any very unexpected loud noise, especially with young children when he had fallen asleep in an arm chair. He was treated for some months at Brookwood Hospital in Surrey. My mother said he only really recovered after VE day, the victory in Europe.

19. The squadron was shipped to North Africa in the SS Sobieski in April 1941 through some very rough weather. My father overheard some sailors after they docked talking about how rough it had been. These sailors on a much larger ship said 'did you see that Sobieski rolling, it looked likely to sink at one stage'. My father then realised how rough it must have been.

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