Today is the 75th Anniversary of the first day of the Battle of El Alamein. 195.000 British and Commonwealth troops of the Eighth Army attacked Rommel’s German and Italian Panzer army. The battle lasted eleven days, almost exactly as Monty predicted! Allied casualties were 19,500 killed or missing and nearly 9000 wounded. The Aussie forces lost 5000 killed!! A massive casualty rate for the size of their contingent. I have a particular interest in this campaign as my late father was an anti tank gunner with the 7th Armoured Division. He was called up at the start of the war and apart from Dunkirk he took part in most of the major battles all the way to Germany in 1945. As you can tell our family are very proud of Dad, he was an ordinary man doing extraordinary things, ( like so many others) at that dark time in our history. R I P. all our Hero’s. regards Kevmac47.
Plus one there Kev , my late uncle fought in France , escaped through Dunkirk and was close to death with double pneumonia , but when he recovered he was sent to North Africa in time for Alemain . He was a dispatch rider for an armoured regiment . He went on through Sicily and ended his war in Italy . I remember him as a kind , gentle man with a gruff facade to hide it and always wondered if I would have his courage if it were needed . A generation of heroes indeed . Dave
my grandfather was in north Africa , he was R.S.M. in royal service corp and was awarded the M.B.E…sadly no one is really sure what he got it for ? he hid his medals away and refused to talk about them. I have a copy (somewhere) of the original handwritten citation however it is very difficult to read. from what can be made out it is something to do with the rescue of broken down ambulance(s) under enemy fire .