Speaker for Tuesday 5th February 2013 - Norman Irwin
07/02/13 08:30
Photo: President Graham Kane greets club member Norman Irwin, with Secretary Mike Turner
Talk by Norman Irwin - ‘Part 2 of Wartime Memories - The North African Dessert’
Our newly elected President Graham Kane welcomed members to the meeting and then introduced our speaker for the morning, club member Norman Irwin, who gave an excellent talk, which were the second part of his wartime memories.
Norman began his talk with a short reminder of where he had got up to in Part One of his World War Two experiences. This had began with the general call-up in 1939 and culminated with being sent to North Africa for training in 1942 - and looking around, he realised that with all the young faces, not everyone in the room had been born then!
The training was destined to be realistic and hard, especially as it took the life of two of the lads in a 'friendly fire' incident. But the training ground was some 2500 miles from the dessert war front (at that time) in Tripoli. The troops set of with kit, armed transport, tanks, guns and supplies. They soon ran into trouble at he 'Merenth Line' (?Spelling?). This was an area of lots of little hillocks that had been heavily mined. The official army orders for dealing with the mines Norman call 'Prayer Mat Philosophy', such was there usefulness, and many men (mainly officers who were not battle hardened and lacked wartime experience), were lost following procedure. The Merenth Line was 26 miles long, from the sea into the roadless dessert. The battalion managed to find a week spot, broke through and captured the defenders. The advance towards the front continued with a few skirmishes on route, but the troops finally arrived outside Tunis, it had taken around four months to get that far.
In early May 1943 the combined troop Battalions took part in a big push and brook into the city. 250,000 were taken prisoner, but General Rommel had fled. Despite that, the war in North Africa was essentially over. First Montgomery, then Churchill and finally the King came out to 'review' the troops. All saying that they would be home soon. But the troops stayed with the invasion of Sicily were being planned. Norman was tasked with collecting and securing the transport in preparation for an invasion. He was also requiring to 'water proof' the vehicles. This wasn't too difficult until you got to the battery - water and electric terminals don't go well together! A novel method the protection was discovered when someone suggested contraceptives!
The subsequent invasion of Italy was very difficult. For Norman, he thought that if it hadn't been for the 14" guns on the battleships, the landing craft and transport would never have made it to the beaches. The American General leading the force wasn't much help, and over the seven day battle lost 5000 troops. Several of Norman's regiment went on to receive medals for their particular bravery, including a V.C.
The troops then pressed on to Naples, where the battle was furious. Conditions were made worse buy the retreating German army blowing up both water and sewage pipes. The risk to the advancing troops of disease as high and the idea was to give injections to all the troops, but there wasn't enough vaccine. After the fall of Naples, the next stop was Rome along the Appian Way. This took time as much was blown up and river crossing taken out.
Norman told the members of many serious incidents, but he also found some lighter moments. These included the great cellar investigation, which netted Champagne, Brandy and plenty of food, all beating the official Army 'Emergency Rations' they should have been eating.
Eventually the troops made it to Monte Casino, but once there, they were ordered back to Sorrento and had to give their equipment to Canadian troops. It was from there, they embarked for shipping back to Liverpool and home. It had been four years since they first set sail. However, the problems weren’t quite over for Norman. Because of the risk of infections, once again all the troops had to be inoculated, With no 'disposable' syringes, it was the same needle for everyone. By the time it got to Norman's turn, the injection really did hurt, but it was the Doctor that fainted at the end!
The talk concluded with a highly interesting question and answer session, all be it too short for everyone's interest. Among the questions were 'what sort of air support did you get in Africa' - good! 'what type of transport did you have across the dessert' - scout cars, tracked lorries and tanks. ''was Monte Casino taken in the end' - yes, but it should never have been attacked.
A vote of thanks was proposed by Leslie Brennan, who said that we had been given a remarkable talk by a remarkable man, which gave us new and vivid insights into WW2. A truly masterful speaker giving a full 45 minutes talk with hardly a glance at any notes, 15 minutes of questions and all with a pin sharp mind and memory. The President passed on our thanks, and the members showed their appreciation.
Talk by Norman Irwin - ‘Part 2 of Wartime Memories - The North African Dessert’
Our newly elected President Graham Kane welcomed members to the meeting and then introduced our speaker for the morning, club member Norman Irwin, who gave an excellent talk, which were the second part of his wartime memories.
Norman began his talk with a short reminder of where he had got up to in Part One of his World War Two experiences. This had began with the general call-up in 1939 and culminated with being sent to North Africa for training in 1942 - and looking around, he realised that with all the young faces, not everyone in the room had been born then!
The training was destined to be realistic and hard, especially as it took the life of two of the lads in a 'friendly fire' incident. But the training ground was some 2500 miles from the dessert war front (at that time) in Tripoli. The troops set of with kit, armed transport, tanks, guns and supplies. They soon ran into trouble at he 'Merenth Line' (?Spelling?). This was an area of lots of little hillocks that had been heavily mined. The official army orders for dealing with the mines Norman call 'Prayer Mat Philosophy', such was there usefulness, and many men (mainly officers who were not battle hardened and lacked wartime experience), were lost following procedure. The Merenth Line was 26 miles long, from the sea into the roadless dessert. The battalion managed to find a week spot, broke through and captured the defenders. The advance towards the front continued with a few skirmishes on route, but the troops finally arrived outside Tunis, it had taken around four months to get that far.
In early May 1943 the combined troop Battalions took part in a big push and brook into the city. 250,000 were taken prisoner, but General Rommel had fled. Despite that, the war in North Africa was essentially over. First Montgomery, then Churchill and finally the King came out to 'review' the troops. All saying that they would be home soon. But the troops stayed with the invasion of Sicily were being planned. Norman was tasked with collecting and securing the transport in preparation for an invasion. He was also requiring to 'water proof' the vehicles. This wasn't too difficult until you got to the battery - water and electric terminals don't go well together! A novel method the protection was discovered when someone suggested contraceptives!
The subsequent invasion of Italy was very difficult. For Norman, he thought that if it hadn't been for the 14" guns on the battleships, the landing craft and transport would never have made it to the beaches. The American General leading the force wasn't much help, and over the seven day battle lost 5000 troops. Several of Norman's regiment went on to receive medals for their particular bravery, including a V.C.
The troops then pressed on to Naples, where the battle was furious. Conditions were made worse buy the retreating German army blowing up both water and sewage pipes. The risk to the advancing troops of disease as high and the idea was to give injections to all the troops, but there wasn't enough vaccine. After the fall of Naples, the next stop was Rome along the Appian Way. This took time as much was blown up and river crossing taken out.
Norman told the members of many serious incidents, but he also found some lighter moments. These included the great cellar investigation, which netted Champagne, Brandy and plenty of food, all beating the official Army 'Emergency Rations' they should have been eating.
Eventually the troops made it to Monte Casino, but once there, they were ordered back to Sorrento and had to give their equipment to Canadian troops. It was from there, they embarked for shipping back to Liverpool and home. It had been four years since they first set sail. However, the problems weren’t quite over for Norman. Because of the risk of infections, once again all the troops had to be inoculated, With no 'disposable' syringes, it was the same needle for everyone. By the time it got to Norman's turn, the injection really did hurt, but it was the Doctor that fainted at the end!
The talk concluded with a highly interesting question and answer session, all be it too short for everyone's interest. Among the questions were 'what sort of air support did you get in Africa' - good! 'what type of transport did you have across the dessert' - scout cars, tracked lorries and tanks. ''was Monte Casino taken in the end' - yes, but it should never have been attacked.
A vote of thanks was proposed by Leslie Brennan, who said that we had been given a remarkable talk by a remarkable man, which gave us new and vivid insights into WW2. A truly masterful speaker giving a full 45 minutes talk with hardly a glance at any notes, 15 minutes of questions and all with a pin sharp mind and memory. The President passed on our thanks, and the members showed their appreciation.
(Secretary, Mike Turner)
