How do you think you would feel, waiting to attack in your first battle, as the guns opened up, on this the 64th anniversary of El Alamein, 23rd October 1942.
How do you think you would feel, waiting to attack in your first battle, as the guns opened up, on this the 64th anniversary of El Alamein, 23rd October 1942. I would be s**t scared from head to foot. The closest I have come to a barrage is watching a movie, so being present would be something I could just not imagine and have no wishes to be involved in. Possibly why I have always admired my fathers mates who were "Rats of Tobruk". They were bombed every day or night except one for over 250 days. This is only one instance with other Allied and Axis troops and civilians suffering a similar fate. The part that saddens me is that with every year their contributions are somewhat belittled by minority groups attempting to judge their deeds of heroism 60 years hence.
Sherman II tanks of the Queen's Bays (2nd Dragoon Guards), 2nd Armoured Brigade, moving up to the Alamein line, 24 October 1942. (IWM) "Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning." & perhaps more debatable, "Before Alamein we never had a victory, after Alamein we never had a defeat."
& perhaps more debatable, "Before Alamein we never had a victory, after Alamein we never had a defeat." Must admit that I always wondered what he had been on when he said this. I suppose he had a certain context in mind.
