With the Argylls by Ray Ward Robin Ward

With the Argylls by Ray Ward Robin Ward

Author:Ray Ward, Robin Ward [Ray Ward, Robin Ward]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, Europe, Western
ISBN: 9781495654817
Google: A2HMswEACAAJ
Publisher: Birlinn
Published: 2014-01-15T02:44:33+00:00


6 The Shores of Sicily

In March 1943 the battalion moved across the Sinai Desert to a tented camp on the Palestine coast 50 kilometres north of Tel Aviv. The Argylls were to form the nucleus of a new Combined Operations formation, 33 Beach Brick, one of several such teams which would land, defend and distribute all the paraphernalia needed to sustain a seaborne invasion of enemy territory. This was a novel assignment for us, training for an imminent invasion of Europe we assumed. Where that would be we were not told and speculation was rife. The team was composed of an infantry battalion (1st Argylls), plus two infantry companies of the Frontier Force Rifles (Indian Army), Royal Artillery ack-ack, Royal Engineers (sappers), RAF and Royal Navy liaison officers, and officers and men from the army’s medical, signals, pioneer and transport corps: a total of 125 officers and 2,056 men commanded by our CO, Lieutenant-Colonel McAlister.

In mid-May, on a desert plain near Damascus, we had a dry run simulating landing and setting up positions. The landscape retained its biblical resonance on the drive north along the shores of Lake Galilee. The plain was east of Mount Hermon and at night the wind from its snowy peak, the first snow I had seen since I left the UK in January 1941, was perishing cold. The training was meant to be realistic, so we slept in the open on hard ground, clad only in khaki shirt, shorts and pullovers. I kipped down with our signals officer, Lieutenant Scott-Barrett, who had accompanied me on night patrols on Ruweisat Ridge. He and I unrolled army maps and wrapped them around ourselves trying to keep warm. We saw little of Damascus, going into the city only once, splashing out in a French restaurant and drinks at a cabaret where we were entertained by belly dancers. The Vichy régime had been in control in Syria and Lebanon until 1941 when it was toppled during an Allied campaign from Palestine, which was now militarised with army camps and soldiers everywhere.

I received a telegram from my brother Cecil with the news that in April my father had died. He’d had heart trouble since the blitz on Glasgow two years before. I remember him as a quiet, reserved, God-fearing man and a rather remote figure in my boyhood and youth. I took the news badly, but remember the kindly sympathy I received from my friends Mac and Shaw. Letters from home were a comfort and inspiration all the time I was overseas and I knew I would miss his. He had been a regular correspondent, as my mother was. She was left to cope alone because her four sons were now in the Forces. When I got back to Alex, I arranged for a draft from my pay to be sent to her every month.

At the end of May we moved to a camp near Port Tewfiq. Officers went on courses at Combined Operations at Kabrit or kept the men training.



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