Community - My War An Article By Ron Petherick
I did my military training at the Royal Corps of Signals Depot in Catterick and was posted to Aldershot for training as a despatch rider. I was offered the chance of a trade as a lineman and switched to that. A lineman is responsible for building and maintaining the army’s communications. I had been posted to Mauritius but then the war broke out. Within 2 weeks of the outbreak of war I was in France (as was my father 25 years earlier). After a night spent on Le Mans motor racing circuit we set up our operations in a village (Estree-Cauchy possibly) just outside Arras. We were to stay there until June 1940. We were able to visit places around where we were based and the most interesting was the Maginot Line which was very impressive. We couldn’t imagine the Germans getting past that (“Ils ne passeront pas” was the French slogan). When it came to it the Germans went around the end of it!
In June 1940 we were ordered to retreat to Dunkirk. We were able to drive to within 10 miles of the port where we had to sabotage our trucks. We walked the rest of the way along roads jammed with refugees and with the Luftwaffe strafing us all the time. When we got to the beach we had been able to get some supplies including water so we were able to wait for rescue. We were bombed by Stuka dive bombers which were fitted with sirens so that they shrieked as they came down towards us - not pleasant! We avoided the Mole (a jetty) which was bombed continually and finally, on the fourth day, were able to wade out to a fishing boat, manned by its fishermen crew who took us back to Ramsgate where a marvellous WVS welcome waited. We then moved through a number of holding centres – the territorial barracks in Battle near Reading and then a Holiday Camp in Prestatyn from where we were sent on leave until we were recalled to our unit. I then had a spell in an army hospital at Askham Grange near York for a shrapnel wound to be sorted out.
I was in barracks in York when orders came through for us to join the Middle East Land Forces. After a tedious journey we arrived in Liverpool and boarded the SS Ascanius on 6th February, 1941. The Ascanius was launched in 1910 and did not have too good a reputation amongst Australian troops in the First World War. Since then it had been a meat freighter on the Liverpool – Australia run! We were to be on her for a long time! As we were part of a 72 ship convoy it took some time to get under way. We then travelled to Port Said on a roundabout route, sighting Newfoundland at one point and then stopping off at Freetown Sierra Leone on 2nd March and Cape Town from 22nd to 27th March whilst the fresh water supply was being repaired. Cape Town was a lovely place and we were allowed to pay for nothing when ashore. The treatment of the black Africans was very unpleasant to see however. We rounded the Cape and went on up to reach Suez on the 20th April and then through the Suez Canal to arrive in Port Said on 22nd April, 1941. A train took us to Cairo and trucks took us on to the Signals Depot. On the 25th May, 1941 we set off by truck for the 300 mile journey to take up our duties in the area between Mersah Matruh and Tripoli. Our task was to establish and re-establish lines as requested. The communication lines were constantly broken through enemy action and through the weight of our own tanks passing over them and mines were a constant problem. We carried one man tents and supplies so that we were able to establish a temporary base anywhere.
During the retreat from Tripoli we were trying to find and re-establish forward communications around the Tobruk area when we ran into a German patrol. They politely enough took us prisoner and handed us over to the Italians (keeping our truck – which, much later, led to a formal enquiry into its loss). The Italians were not so polite and tried to work us very hard. Our village barber, Jack Midgeley, was a tank driver who went out on the same convoy as me. He received very bad treatment when a prisoner of war in Italians’ hands. After a few days of this, fortunately for us, RAF Wellingtons came over and bombed the Italian positions. In the ensuing chaos two of us were able to escape. Knowing the terrain we were able to follow the road South travelling mostly at night until after a couple of days we were picked up by a South African Patrol who could not take us with them but gave us supplies and arranged for our collection. We stayed some time with the South Africans in Tobruk and then rejoined my unit, who were at El Alamein prior to the start of the battle on 23rd October, 1942. My parents had received a message (which I still have) which told them that I had gone missing on the 25th June, 1942. They did not know of my survival until a couple of weeks after I got back to El Alamein. I will never forget the barrage at El Alamein. Night turned into day and the noise just overcame our senses. This went on for several days. Soon after this point my unit was relieved and we went back to the depot to recuperate.
I now received my second stripe and was posted to a heavy ac-ac (anti-aircraft) unit in Alexandria. Some of the local ladies who had formed a popular concert party (“Twinkle-Toes”) invited me to join them as the compere. We raised money for charity and did shows for troops in the area. I still have the letter dated 29th April, 1943 from Mrs Ades asking my CO’s permission for me to be allowed to travel with them to out-of-bounds areas. He gave me a special dispensation and I had a very welcome break from tedious routine. I will not go into the envious comments and speculations of my comrades!
After Alexandria I was made sergeant and moved to Palestine where I joined the Air Formation Signals Company where we laid and maintained communications lines on a very large aerodrome at Gaza where fighter pilots were being re-trained to handle Wellington bombers. Our headquarters were at Ramallah and we also had units in Jerusalem. Whilst out of the front line life was not without its tensions in Palestine. There were a number of bombs from Irgun Zwei and the Stern Gang. Christmas 1943 was snowy and the thing that really stays in my mind about Palestine is a Christmas Eve service in the fields outside Bethlehem to which we were all invited by the Greek Orthodox Church. It was a cold starlit night and it was truly an unforgettable experience to be, as we were told, in the same fields as the shepherds. We all sang carols and home was very much on my mind.
Before long I was on the move again with a unit made up from a Rhodesian Officer and NCO’s and about 40 Basuto troops. We went to Italy, landing at Salerno in late 1944 and made our way up through Italy, mostly removing lines no longer required; until we arrived at Udine very close to the Austrian Border. The work in Italy up to this point had been very unpleasant with numerous losses from mines. So at this point, the war having come to an end, I declined a 2 year extension of my engagement and went back up to Catterick, where I had joined up 8 years ago, and left the army - a full circle.
Marriage and the buses followed but that is another story.
Ron Petherick