Gents and ladies, Please find a link here to a battlefield guide describing the 38 (Irish) Brigade's actions north of Bou Arada during January and February 1943. http://www.irishbrigade.co.uk/media/A%20practical%20guide%20to%20the%20Irish%20Brigade%20battlefields%20in%20the%20Bou%20Arada%20area%20(2).pdf [still one or two gremlins to be ironed out shortly]. Myself and, especially, my brother Edmund have worked on this guide since we visited Tunisia in April - this will be the first of a series of such detailed guides that will be produced for various Tunisian, Sicilian and Italian battlefield areas over the coming months. The guide is, of course, primarily focused on the Irish Brigade's role, within 6th Armourerd Divison, during this part of the campaign including reference to the vital support given by the brigade's armoured, artillery, pioneer, and comms regiments. The detailed maps and narratives, though, may hold a wider resonance within the WWII Talk community - of course this same area of ground became important again during April 1943 for another group of most brave men. Our thanks are due to our friends in Tunisia, Ireland and England who helped us with the research. Especial mention should also be made of the surviving veterans of this sometimes forgotten campaign - special greetings go out to my father's comrades at the Battles of Bou Arada : Sgt Charles Ward of G Coy, and Rifleman Robert Randall of F Coy, both from 2 London Irish Rifles, and both still going strong at the age of 93 and 92 respectively. And of course, we remember the thousands of men who did not get the chance to return to their families and remain at peace in the many war cemeteries of Tunisia and Algeria. Quis Separabit.
Blimey that does look good. I hope that helps anyone planning on visiting there. Great stuff & thanks for sharing. I've made thread sticky.
Owen, Thanks for the comment. I'm sorry to say that after all these months there are still one or two typos - I'll have these corrected on our web site pronto (by Friday).
Richard most excellent account and description of those action and the photos and schematics are excellent also and well worth your trouble to produce them for all of us - Did get a chuckle though at the mud - as you know we were later camped on a hill at Pentheverie south of Bone - all tents with little channels as rain just didn't happen e.g. the sahara not a milion miles away etc - first rainstorm - we were digging 24 " x 24' channels with duckboards in case anyone was lost - those were the happy days before Italy Cheers
Thank you for your kind comments, Tom. Yes, that Algerian/Tunisian climate is amazingly dry in the springtime.. !! The Tunisian/Italian campaigns seemed to have followed a pattern of mud, mud before sandflies, then mosquitos and razor sharp lava beds, and then more mud, mud, and blizzards, before rainstorms, and then sunstroke, before more mud, and mud.. then the River Po and the untouched beauty of Carinthia. Oh, there were also a few nasty people shooting at you.. Lesley, thanks again for your thanks. best wishes,
Hi Richard, I have just posted a note about my recent tour; I am going back in April for the Takrouna 70th anniversary event - when/where are you going, could meet-up?