Last Action II

Morning came, and with it the certainty that within a few hours, we should be rounded up like so many head of cattle and herded behind barbed wire.

After a snack, I sought to ravage among Army trucks for some clothing, for if capture was near, it was up to me to get all I could now; it might be months before the Germans gave us any. I was lucky, for one of my gunners saw me and shouted 'Sergeant! I thought you had been killed!' All the lads who had been with me were safe and were 50 yards away collecting clothing from our own Battery Q stores which was situated on a three-ton lorry.

It was good to see the lads again and soon we were talking about the happenings of the last few hours before the fall of Tobruk. In the scramble for clothes I managed to get a better pair of khaki overalls and a forage cap, and I was fixed up better than some.

My watch said it was nearly 8am, and the Germans were on the move again, the fighting had broken out again near the harbour, or was Jerry firing to tell us he was on the way to get us? Captain Roy called us all together for a roll call, 38 of us. The Sergeant Major was there, 5 Sergeants, and 32 other ranks. Roy told us of the certainty that the chances of evacuation were very remote. The surrender was certain, more certain was our capture by the Germans in the next hour or so. The C.O. had been badly wounded and was in Tobruk hospital, so Captain Roy was now in command.

'Sergeant Major.'

'Sir,' replied he.

'We are going on a recce, you and I, and the rest will stay behind and destroy all the vehicles and anything else that might be of use to the enemy.'

'Stay here, sir, while you are safe! Why go on a recce when you are safe here?'

'Sergeant Major,' replied the Captain, 'are you coming or not?'

'I am not refusing, sir, but only speaking for your own good.'

'Very well, Sergeant Major, I shall go alone and deal with you later.'

Thus alone went the Captain, only to be stopped a few minutes later by the ugly muzzle of a Spandau. Yes, this was it! There on the escarpment above us and in the wadi itself were dozens of Jerry infantrymen. Our job of destroying the trucks had been done, but only just in time.

All was pandemonium now, within the hub of voices one could almost imagine oneself in Caledonian Market. The Germans were rounding us up and a few lads paid the penalty for trying to resist capture. 'Komm! Komm! Komm! Schnell!' shouted the Germans.

'Komm'. Ah yes, this must mean 'come', yes, I had better go, that Mauser in my back doesn't feel too comfortable. And so I started on the long, long trail to the place called home. England, my England; how long, how long...