Tony Clarke's World War II 152945 Pte Edward Anthony Clarke 2BPFC, RASC The photo was taken while on leave in 1946, after 6 years in uniform, in Bath, with the parents of his army mate Royston Wall Tony's experiences are in bold-face type Relevant occurrences in the theatre he was in are in normal type Key events in other theatres are    ○  indented Prelude Jan-Apr 1940 8 Months France Apr-May 1940 6 Weeks U.K. Jun-Dec 1940 6-1/2 Months All At Sea Dec 1940 - Feb 1941 2 Months North Africa Feb-Mar 1941 6 Weeks Greece Mar-Apr 1941 3 Weeks Crete Apr-May 1941 4 Weeks North Africa May 1941 - Mid-1945 4 Years U.K. Mid-1945 - Aug 1946 15 Months

Prelude – Jan-Apr 1940

• The Third Reich begins its expansion:
• 1 Sep 1939 – Nazis invade Poland
• 3 Sep 1939 – Britain, France, Australia and New Zealand declare war on Germany
• 17 Dec 1939 – After a spree, the Graf Spee is cornered in Montevideo, and scuttled
• 22 Jan 1940 – Tony enlists, shortly after his 20th birthday, avoiding conscription and with it a likely early end to this story on HMS Hood or in the Hampshire Regiment
• late Jan – ?10 Feb 1940 – Does basic training at Newport on the Isle of Wight, beside the prison (at Camp Hill NW of the town), to learn marching and the stripping of Boys rifles and Bren-guns. So cold the toilet-blocks freeze (on mild IOW?!) [They went to War, admittedly in what was then thought of as a service, not an arm, on 2 weeks' training, most of which would have been on the drill-square ...]
• 10 Feb 1940 – Is posted to the newly-formed 2 Base Petrol Filling Centre (2BPFC), Royal Army Service Corps (RASC) at Broadstairs in Kent
• 22 Feb 1940 – Has the first of a series of vaccinations (TAB – Typhoid Fever family, TT – Tetanus toxoid). [It's remarkable that his vaccinations were one of the few pieces of documentary evidence we had to work with in compiling this document!]
• 16 Mar 1940 – Germans bomb Scapa Flow naval base in the Orkneys
• 9 Apr 1940 – Nazis invade Denmark and Norway

France – Apr-May 1940

• c. 15 Apr 1940 – Tony goes with 2BPFC to near Lille
  For Tony's description of this phase, see 'A DUNKIRK HERO(??) REMEMBERS' (October 2006)
  For Roger's description and photos from a visit in 2017, see Lille to Dunkirk
• 10 May 1940 – Nazis invade France, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands
• 10 May 1940 – Tony's site near the marshalling yards bombed
• 15 May 1940 – Holland surrenders to the Nazis
• 25 May 1940 – Tony is evacuated from Lille by truck in the evening, westwards via Armentieres, in the direction of Dunkerque
• 26 May 1940 – Tony's unit is holed up in a barn outside Armentieres during the day, as the Germans bombed it. And he wrenches his knee while taking refuge there. During the evening, they drive throught the burning town NW towards Dunkirk
• 26 May 1940 – Evacuation of Allied troops from Dunkirk begins
• 27 May 1940 – Tony reaches the dunes behind the beach at Dunkirk, the last few miles in a purloined car. He was presumably towards the western end of the beach within 1-2 miles of Dunkirk itself
• 27 May 1940 – Rommel takes Lille
• 28 May 1940 – Belgium surrenders to the Nazis (although the main German force, with the bulk of the armour, had already encircled the BEF, and was approaching the French coast to the south of Dunkirk)
• 28 May 1940 – Tony is on the beach and in the water, waiting for a small boat to ferry them to the larger vessels in deeper water. It doesn't happen, so they return to shore and sleep wet-through
• 29 May 1940 – Tony gets on a boat out of Dunkirk from the eastern breakwater/mole.
  (Tony thought he got out on 31 May, and 30 May is also possible, but 29 May seems most likely).
  The vessel was relatively large, because he boarded not from the water, nor from the duckboards across the chain of lifeboats, but from the mole. He didn't remember it as being a naval vessel. The larger civilian vessels were Canterbury, King George V, Lady of Mann, Maid of Orleans, Royal Daffodil, St. Helier, Tynwald (paddle-steamer – but he'd have noticed) and Whippingham. Here's an index of the vessels.
  He says he landed at Ramsgate, whereas most went to Dover 20 miles to the south. Here are the routes used
  The favourite is Royal Daffodil, which landed not at Ramsgate (the marshalling point for the small boats) but at Margate, on each of 28, 29 May and 2 Jun.
  He got back. But so much for the 6-week holiday in France
• 4 Jun 1940 – Dunkirk Evacuation ends, as German land forces reach the beach
• 10 Jun 1940 – Italy declares war on the Allies
• 17/22 Jun 1940 – France surrenders

UK – Jun-Dec 1940

• Jun 1940 – Tony's unit re-forms near Chipping Norton and then Marlborough
• 10 Jul 1940 – Battle of Britain begins
• Jul-Sep 1940 – Tony's unit in a big camp under canvas at Wenvoe, 7 miles west of Cardiff, manning road-blocks and checking everybody's identity (why??), with Boer War Ross rifles and a Boyse Anti Tank Rifle 5ft long with a solid 1/2 inch bullet
• 13 Aug 1940 – German bombing offensive against airfields and factories in England
• 7 Sep 1940 – German Blitz against England begins
• 13 Sep 1940 – Italians invade Egypt
• Oct 1940 – Tony's unit moves to winter quarters in Caerphilly
• 28 Oct 1940 – Italy declares war on Greece
• 11-12 Nov 1940 – successful RN attack on the Italian fleet using torpedoes from 21 Swordfish biplanes (Battle of Taranto)
• 9 Dec 1940 – British begin a western desert offensive in North Africa against the Italians

All At Sea – Dec 1940 - Feb 1941

• 13 Dec 1940 – Tony's unit was ordered abroad, so he skipped the cartilage operation he was waiting for in hospital, and rejoined his unit. (He did eventually have the operation on the knee – but not until 65 years later, in 2005)
• 16 Dec 1940 – Tony's unit leaves Avonmouth (near Bristol) aboard the Rangitiki, as part of convoy WS-5A, mirrored here. There were 26 vessels in the convoy, plus 7-10 escorts, but the photo that the publisher used was of Tony's vessel, the Rangitiki).
  Convoy WS-5A sailed via the Irish Sea to the North Atlantic, then south to West Africa and round the Cape to the Red Sea – to avoid both the U-boats SW of Ireland and the Med. (Tony's notes corresponded almost exactly with the report on the Web, which was found 4 years after this page was first published).
• 17 Dec 1940 – the batman to Lt Baylis failed to get to the ship, so Tony accepted the posting as his batman. The Baylis family were in biscuits. Tony never really liked him
• 25 Dec 1940 – Tony's Christmas celebrations are interrupted by Admiral Hipper. Postscript: Tony passed away 70 years later to the day
• 29 Dec 1940 – Only just remembers to celebrate his 21st, in the North Atlantic.
  For Tony's description of the voyage, see 'ALL AT SEA' (October 2005)
• 31 Dec 1940 – Allied forces drive Italy out of the Western Desert
• 5-8 Jan 1941 – In Sierra Leone
• 10 Jan 1941 – a major air-raid on Portsmouth. Fratton Rd was ablaze both sides, including the Co-op where Enid worked, when she attempted to turn up on her birthday and all!! Fred's house was hit and not repaired until after the war
• 22 Jan 1941 – Rounded the Cape of Good Hope
• 25 Jan 1941 – sailed from Cape Town
• 29 Jan 1941 – In Durban

See also Tony's own notes on this, the first of what ended up as 4 very long sea-voyages.

North Africa – Feb-Mar 1941

• 12 Feb 1941 – German General Erwin Rommel arrives in Tripoli, North Africa
• 16 Feb 1941 – Tony's unit arrives in North Africa, at Suez
• 20 Feb 1941 – Tony's unit arrives in El Kirsh / Ismailia, half-way along the west bank of the Suez Canal. The night before they arrived, the Aussies burnt the NAAFI tent down and there were no facilities, not even the infamous Rock Cakes to ease life. The reason? They ran out of beer of course

Greece – Mar-Apr 1941

• 1 Mar 1941 – Germany overcomes Bulgaria, reaches Greek border
• 7 Mar 1941 – British forces arrive in Greece (another ridiculous Churchillian manoeuvre)
• 10 Mar 1941 – another big air-raid on Portsmouth
• ?28 Mar 1941 – Tony goes with half of his unit to Greece, first east of Athens, then on the north coast of the Gulf of Corinth. The other half goes to Tobruk. (Neither venture turned out very well)
• 6 Apr 1941 – Nazis invade Greece and Yugoslavia
• 9 Apr 1941 – German armour takes Saloniki
• 10 Apr 1941 – Siege of Australian 9 Div in Tobruk begins, lasting 7-1/2 months
• 12 Apr 1941 – German armour destroys British 1st Armoured Brigade in central Greece
• 14 Apr 1941 – Rommel attacks Tobruk
• 15 Apr 1941 – British decision to evacuate Greece
• 18 Apr 1941 – Tony gets a day's leave, and stands in the Parthenon overlooking the smoke from the previous night's raid on Piraeus
• 20 Apr 1941 – Tony's unit sails from Piraeus on a cargo ship with no bridge or compass or normal steering, using an Army Pocket Compass
• 20/27 Apr 1941 – Greece surrenders
• 25 Apr 1941 – British/Australian/NZ evacuation of Greece completed

See also Tony's own notes on the Greece escapade.

Crete – Apr-May 1941

• 21 Apr 1941 – the (future) Queen's (real) 15th Birthday – arrives at Suda Bay, in the north-west of Crete, under air-attack, defended (?) by Gladiators, amidst sinking ships, including HMS York which rested on the bottom until the end of the war
• 22 Apr 1941 – Tony meets sailors who've run the gauntlet of the Mediterranean, and gets his first news from home since December, including the big raid of 10 Jan
• 30 Apr 1941 – Allies in Crete comprise 7700 NZ, 6500 Aust, and 1500 non-combatant British (and 11000 Greek militia)
• 15 May 1941 – German air attacks on Crete
• 15 May 1941 – Unsuccessful British counter-attack in Egypt (Operation Brevity)
• 18 May 1941 – Tony escapes Crete, again only just in time
• 20 May 1941 – German invasion of Crete begins
• 21 May 1941 – Tony's unit gets back to Egypt, except the rearguard under Capt. Windsor, who was killed by shrapnel
• 24 May 1941 – Sinking of HMS Hood by the Bismarck – significant because among the 1,000 men who went down (3 saved) were many Portsmouth tradesmen, still finishing the re-fit when she was scrambled to confront the Bismarck
• 27 May 1941 – a successful Australian / New Zealand counter-attack, the the Battle of 42nd Street – a very early Allied success against German forces – gained time for the evacuation, but resulted in the loss of two Australian battalions, many into POW camps for the next 4 years
• 27 May 1941 – Sinking of the Bismarck by the British Navy, again thanks to Swordfish torpedoes (the very first major allied success against the Germans of the entire War)
• 31 May 1941 – The mostly NZ/Australian evacuation of Crete completed
• 1 Jun 1941 – Crete lost, remains in German hands until the end of the War

See also Tony's own notes on the Crete escapade.

North Africa – May 1941 - Mid-1945

• -------- Q3-Q4 1941 -------
• 21 May 1941 – Tony's unit gets back to Egypt
• ?Jun 1941 – Tony in Cairo briefly on leave, then back to Ismailia
• 22 Jun 1941 - Germany invades Russia, in Operation Barbarossa, "the largest and costliest land offensive in human history, with around 10 million combatants ... and over 8 million casualties"
• ?Jul 1941 – Tony's unit moves to Amrya, 20 miles from Alexandria
• 18 Nov 1941 – Allied offensive in North Africa, Operation Crusader, begins
• 27 Nov 1941 – Siege of the Australian 9 Div in Tobruk ends
• 25 Dec 1941 – Christmas in Alexandria, still a batman at that stage
• 30 Dec 1941 – Operation Crusader peters out, with insufficient gains
• -------- 1942 -------
• 21 Jan 1942 – Rommel's counter-offensive from El Agheila begins
• Jan-Jun 1942 – a 6 month battle along the length of the Libyan coast, 900km from West of Tobruk to El Alamein, a natural 100km-wide choke-point north of the Qattara Depression
• ?Mar 1942 – The unit took over the night shift at the Shell production site. (The natives quit because of the nightly bombing that had started). This continued up to Alamein ("about time we did something worthwhile", Tony reckoned). Tony re-joined the ranks after 15 months as a batman, and did his stint on the night shift. He was later asked to resume as batman, but declined
• 26 May 1942 – Germans begin the Gazala Offensive
• 21 Jun 1942 – Rommel captures Tobruk, at the eastern end of Libya
• 30 Jun 1942 – Rommel reaches El Alamein, 40 miles west of Alexandria and 150 miles north-west of Cairo
• 1 Jul 1942 – Germans commence First Battle of El Alamein
• 10 Jul 1942 - Australian counterattack at Tel el Eisa diverts Rommel's forces for some days, undermining his plans
• 27 Jul 1942 - German attack on the Allied line at El Alamein peters out
• ?Aug 1942 – A week's leave west of Alex., on the bay overlooking the lighthouse site
• 7 Aug 1942 – Montgomery takes command of the Eighth Army
• 30 Aug 1942 – Battle of Alam Halfa, near El Alamein
• 5 Sep 1942 – German attack peters out
• 23 Oct 1942 – Allied forces launch the Second Battle of El Alamein
• ?24 Oct 1942 – Twenty miles behind the lines at El Alamein, the sappers wired the petrol dump, and Tony guarded them against the locals, and prepared to withdraw to ... nowhere in particular
• 3 Nov 1942 – Second Battle of El Alamein won (the second and critical allied success against the Germans)
• --------- 1943 ------
• 25 Dec 1942 – Spends Christmas in a camp to the east of Alexandria
• 23 Jan 1943 – Montgomery's Eighth Army takes Tripoli, at the western end of Libya
• 2 Feb 1943 – Germans surrender at Stalingrad (the third major allied success)
• ?Early 1943 – Tony's unit in Benghazi. He remembers that they were in awe of the 'jerry-cans' used by the Germans, which were far superior to the weak, throwaway packaging used by the British Army at the time
• ?Mid-1943 – Tony's unit in Tripoli
• 7 May 1943 – Allies take Tunisia
• 13 May 1943 – German and Italian troops surrender in North Africa
• 3-9 July 1943 – Still (or again?) in Benghazi, takes leave in Alexandria
• 9 July 1943 – Allies land in Sicily
• 9 Sep 1943 – Allied landings at Salerno and Taranto
• 1 Oct 1943 – Allies enter Naples
• 25 Dec 1943 – Spends Christmas in Beghazi
• ---------- 1944 --------
• 22 Jan 1944 – Allies land at Anzio, just south of Rome
• ?Early 1944– Tony's unit moved back to a different camp, just west of Alexandria
• 6-12 May 1944 – Tony takes leave in Cairo
• 5 Jun 1944 – Allies enter Rome
• 6 Jun 1944 – D-Day landings in Normandy
• 20-26 Oct 1944 – Tony takes leave, somewhere in Egypt
• 25 Dec 1944 – Spends Christmas just west of Alexandria
• --------- 1Q-2Q 1945 ------------
• Allied forces advance from Normandy to Berlin, in a desperate race against the Russian forces converging from the East, with slow progress also from Rome to Bologna
• 2 May 1945 – German troops in Italy surrender
• 7 May 1945 – Unconditional surrender of all German forces to the Allies
• 8 May 1945 – V-E (Victory in Europe) Day

UK – Mid-1945 - Aug 1946

• ?At some stage, mid-to-late 1945, was Tony's unit, 2BPFC, moved back to the U.K.?
• 2 Sep 1945 – V-J (Victory over Japan) Day
• ?Nov 1945 – Posted to a unit in the Channel Islands
• ?22 Dec 1945 – 'Negotiates' leave
• 25 Dec 1945 – Spends his first Christmas and Birthday at home since 1939
• ?Tony 8 months in various places, including Ascot, Taunton and Aldershot?
• 21 Aug 1946 – Tony is de-mobbed after 6 years and 7 months in uniform, from the age of just 20 to nearly 27, into an economy that offered few jobs because a year's worth of de-mobilisations preceded his, there were no jobs any more of the kind he'd had for 5 years 1935-39 (professional 'grocer', as distinct from 'greengrocer'), rationing for another 7-8 years and economic depression for another 35 years until c.1980.
  His Record of Service, Discharge Document and Release Leave Certificate bear mute testimony to the schemozzle that was post-WWII England.

This a page within Roger Clarke's Family Web-Site

Contact: Roger Clarke

Created: 29 Dec 2006 (Tony's 87th Birthday); Last Amended: 31 Dec 2014, 4 Feb 2017 (refinements re Dunkirk), 1 Jun 2021 (Royal Daffodil), 25 Dec 2024 (refinements based on Bowraville War Museum booklets)