342
A.M. Pollock, Pienaar of Alamein, p65-66.
343
NCA, V. Harte Collection.
344
that the terms of surrender had been accepted at 0530.345 Hurley felt as if a great weight had been lifted off his shoulders and the colossus of the Amba Alagi took on a friendly appearance as numerous fires erupted all over it. For a while some men forgot about killing each other as grenades and flares erupted in celebration all along the front.346 With the campaign in East Africa nearing a successful conclusion the South Africans, after fighting the Italians since December the previous year, were now tasked with protecting their erstwhile enemies from the vengeful Africans.347
The Brigade then moved on to Decamere about 160 kilometres north for a three-week period of rest, recuperation and a most welcome change of scenery. Passing through the town with its bioscope and several modern shops some men began expressing the hope that a return to the Union might be a just reward for recent services rendered. The situation began improving for the Carbineers as they were billeted in a disused Italian aerodrome with some very nice wooden barracks.348 Then the news was received of the sinking of the battleship HMS Hood and the German invasion of Crete. To make matters worse a ban was placed on visiting the town.349 A further blow to the morale of the men was the rumours of the Brigade going north to Egypt. Their misgivings were confirmed on parade when Lt Col P. M. G. le Roux, Officer in Charge since McMenamin’s death, informed them that an advance guard from A and C Companies would leave for Cairo in a few days.350 On 25 May all money was changed into Egyptian currency and Jerry Hurley predicted a most depressing time ahead as his platoon was chased around doing fatigue duties and living off company cooking which meant less food prepared by even less enthusiastic kitchen personnel. News of the lack of progress from the rest of the war did nothing to change his mood.351
Then at last some good news. It was reported that the German battleship Bismarck had been sunk, but better news was to follow with the announcement that the ban on leave to Decamere was to be lifted and that daily leave after lunch would be granted from 28 May.352 In spite of efforts to keep the troops from becoming too familiar with the locals, a brothel was soon doing business at Decamere with specific hours reserved for officers and other times for the rest of the ranks.353 Michael the rooster’s east African campaign could also not have gone any better. By this stage of the war Michael lived in a box that was fixed to his platoon’s truck and even had several hens to keep him company. The imminent move to Egypt presented number twelve platoon with a dilemma since no livestock were allowed
345 DOD Archives, War Diaries Box 220, May, 17 May 1941.
346
NCA, J. Hurley Diary, 17 May 1941.
347
NCA, P. C. A.Francis Collection, History of the Carbineers. p5.
348
NCA, H.G. Symons Diary, 27 May 1941.
349
DOD Archives, War Diaries Box 220, May 1941, Routine Order No 28.
350
DOD Archives, War Diaries Box 220, May 1941, 25 May.
351
NCA, J. Hurley Diary, 26 May 1941.
352
DOD Archives, War Diaries Box 220, May 1941, Routine Order No 29.
353
on board the troopships. After some debate it was agreed that supper for the following few nights would consist of chicken in some form or another.354 C Company would, however, once more miss out on socialising with the populace as they left Decamere after sunset on 28 May, bound for Massawa from where they were to sail to Egypt.355 At Massawa they had to wait for their troopship to arrive and it was decided that leave would be granted to men wishing to visit Decamere again. Very few men took up the offer of traveling back along the route they have travelled but a few days before. Everyone wanted to ‘get on with it’ and teach “Adolf what’s-his-bloody-face” a lesson in humility.356 Those men who braved the trip per taxi to Decamere were rewarded with having the town almost to themselves. A typical day was spent taking a bath and eating. During one sitting, two brave Carbineers finished 24 eggs, 20 cakes, two bottles of wine, fried steak and several cooldrinks each.357 With Springboks touring the countryside and local taverns the campaign ended almost in the same fashion as it had started eleven months earlier. Looking back at the scoreboard, the men from Natal had every reason to feel proud of their achievements. Their Brigade, as part of the Allied effort, managed to remove from the conflict 30 Italian generals, 42 tanks, 403 guns and 170 000 troops.358 In the process, however, twenty Carbineers were killed in action during campaign with fifteen of them belonging to C Company.359 Worse was still to come, but during the last few days of their African safari for C Company the reality of war was something to be concerned about another day.
354
NCA, M. Alleyne to M. Coghlan, Notes on Michael the Rooster.
355
NCA, J. Hurley Diary, 28 May 1941.
356
NCA, J. Holland, Memoirs, Young Men from another Century.
357 NCA, H.G. Symons Diary Part 1, 2 June 1941.
358
A.M. Pollock, Pienaar of Alamein, p68.
359
Chapter 4
Egypt: 1941 to 1943
‘Shrapnel, Sand and Stukas’360 M. Coghlan, 1992
As the Springboks disembarked at port across Egypt they were assaulted, not by German or Italian troops but by Egyptian vendors selling anything from boiled eggs to tea coloured fluid which was promised to be the best whisky. Gone too were the days of living luxuriously in army issue tents. C Company had to learn to burrow underground to escape the constant German air bombardments which was a phenomenon never experienced in East Africa. When not required on at the front the South Africans once more seemed to be touring the ancient lands of the Pharaohs with trips to the beach, movie houses, various servicemen’s clubs and off course the unsanctioned activities the men were warned against. From the Allied veterans of the desert war C Company learned that one had to savour every moment out of action. The disasters of Sidi Rezegh and the surrender of Tobruk affirmed the aforementioned notion and many young South Africans discarded their moral values to experience life to the fullest before the next tragedy might befall the army. The German triumphant entry into Cairo, however, did not materialise and as the rest of the 8th Army slowly pushed the enemy out of Africa, Springboks marched east to troopships waiting to take them home while others were force-marched west into captivity where transports waited to ship them to POW camps in Italy and Germany.
In the Land of the Pharaohs
As the Cap St Jacques, a converted cattle-ship,361 slowly entered the Red Sea the men, dressed only in shorts due to the intense heat, reflected on their exploits up to date and speculated on what the future held.362Cliff Portsmouth remembered how he almost missed the Devonshire’s departure back in Durban. From an engineer on the little tug that pushed the Cap St Jacques away from the docks, he learned that the Devonshire had been sunk just after disembarking them the previous year. He also heard about a plane load full of German soldiers that arrived in Massawa prior to its capture by the South Africans. These Germans, he was told, were all big men and well equipped. They oversaw the scuttling of the ships in harbour and the blowing up of the docks. The men thought that the Germans did a much better job at destroying war material and infrastructure than the Italians.363 Very soon the
360
Title of a compilation of articles by Carbineers relating to their experiences in the North African
desert. M.S. Coghlan, Shrapnel, Sand and Stukas: The Carbineers in the Western Desert, 1941-1942.
361
M.S. Coghlan, Shrapnel, Sand and Stukas: The Carbineers in the Western Desert, 1941-1942, p3.
362
NCA. J. Hurley Diary, 29 May 1941,
363
Carbineers would be facing a different and more determined enemy on terrain they have not yet encountered.
With several new names added to the battle honours of the regiments of the 1st South African Infantry Brigade it became clear that Mussolini’s African Empire would not see the end of the war. Lieutenant-General G.E. Brink, 1st Division Commander left by air for South Africa to confer with Prime Minister J.C. Smuts on the future application of his brigades as Smuts had already committed to sending Union troops to the Middle East.364 At that stage 1st Division were concluding its campaign in East Africa, 2nd Division was preparing to deploy to North Africa and 3rd Division, 6000 strong, was to remain in the Union, ready to provide reinforcements and guard the home front against subversive elements. It was during one of the many meetings with the Chief of General Staff, Lt-Gen Sir Pierre van Ryneveld, that Brink expressed his doubt as to whether the planned three full divisions would receive sufficient support from the Union in terms of manpower and materiel. To add to his woe’s Brink was instructed, at the conclusion of the campaign in East Africa to leave his heavy guns behind and that he would have to rely on the British in Egypt for indirect fire support. The most depressing news, however, was that 13 000 vehicles were to be shipped from East Africa and allocated to the 2nd Division. The 1st Division would thus be without its full complement of transport as it entered the North African theatre with any request for replacement vehicles handled by Middle East Command.365
Brigadier Pienaar had a dilemma of a different nature to as he arrived in Egypt in June 1941. His reputation as bush warrior had preceded him and caused sceptics to comment that fighting incompetent and demoralised Italians in the bush and Mountains of Abyssinia was quite easy and that it was the opinion of other Commonwealth troops that the South Africans knew nothing of the desert or of fighting Germans.366 The last time they fought in desert conditions was during the last war twenty years earlier.
The men of C Company did not share the worries of their superiors but were instead more concerned about whether there will be hot food and sufficient shelter wherever they might end up. Their days at sea were filled with cleaning duties, inspections and lifeboat drills after breakfast, then lunch with a few hours of lounging in the sun before supper. Jerry Hurley and his comrades lived in luxury and felt like first class travellers after the deprivation of East Africa.367 The task of A and C Companies were to prepare the base area for when the rest of the regiment arrived later in the month. The troop train that was to take the troops to Amariyah368 was not yet ready and after devouring some sausages and tea the men lay
364