Military History Group U3A Dorking

Newsletter Number 11 June 2021

Meetings via Zoom during Pandemic

Any contributions to the newsletter are very welcome and should be sent to Robert Bartlett at [email protected]

Contents

Parish Notes 2 Next Meeting 2 MHG Future 3 Autumn Talk schedule 3 The Start of the Franco-Prussian War 1870 4 Meeting in a garden in Brockham 7 Light Car Patrols in the Libyan Desert First World War 8 Father of first Surrey Constabulary police superintendent Dorking 1851 19 Book reviews 24

1

Parish Notes

Fellow enthusiasts – greetings from Barrie Friend

As we are unable to meet face to face our July 6th talk will again be by Zoom.

During the lockdown our monthly Zoom talks attracted up to 60 viewers of whom the majority were Dorking u3a Group members who were not members of the Military History Group. This was most heartening, and we received numerous positive comments about the quality and interesting content of the talks delivered by group members and the guest speakers. A summary of the latest talk on The Franco Prussian War in 1870 is below.

We will continue to invite Dorking u3a Group members to our meetings as guests to hear the range of talks we are planning for the Autumn and for 2022. It is our intention to meet in September in Brockham Pavilion. The talks will be delivered by members of our group and by guest speakers some of whom will be members of other u3a Military History Groups. The aim of the meetings is to share knowledge and understanding whilst maintaining the u3a ethos of developing friendships.

The lockdown has had another positive impact upon our Military History Group which has seen the size increase to 28 members, and our last two members, Carolyn Wilson and Teresa Mills joined only weeks ago. Welcome to you both.

We wouldn’t have stayed together or grown without the commitment from all members of the group - you have kept the faith, thank you. A Mention in Despatches is awarded to the members who had a higher profile and helped behind the scenes in many ways: our loyal Zoom speakers Jim, George and Mike, our Newsletter contributor and editor Bob, and also Hilda whose roses we smelled and shortbread we devoured. We shouldn’t forget the Committee members without whom we would not have had such a high profile and excellent method of communicating, John Sinclair, Mike Docker and Gareth Balle.

Our Next Meeting

Date: Tuesday 6th July

Venue: Link to Zoom Meeting https://zoom.us/j/94889472345?pwd=QkhtdTNnSGdzMC95Q0xNVVBqVllqdz09

Speaker: Group member Tony Barnes will talk on “The Battle of Kasserine Pass; Rommel’s Last Victory.”

2 Tony will describe how, following the Torch landings in North Africa, Rommel gave the Americans a bloody nose in November 1942 and the consequences for the allies.

Starting: 1030 am

A summary will appear in the MHG Newsletter as always.

Our Future

You’ll recall the two challenges for the group in the coming months - membership and speakers.

To build membership we will maintain our relationship with those on the Zoom guest list whilst looking outside Dorking and District u3a group. Teresa Mills, mentioned above, is one who has made that very small leap from ‘Zoom guest’ to MHG member.

The quality of speakers and their topics will continue to attract new members and I’m pleased that our speaker pool is increasing from those of our group who find face to face talking a more preferable method for them than Zoom and we are also developing close relationships with adjoining u3a Military History Groups. Milton u3a MHG has offered to visit and talk, and Mike Smith has introduced speakers to us from the Bookham u3a MHG.

Our future looks bright.

Autumn Talk Schedule

September 7th: Bob Bartlett: "Wheels Across the Desert: Light Car Patrols during First World War in the Libyan Desert.” (Part one of potentially a series of three talks)

October 5th: Joint meeting with Miford, Surrey, u3a Military History Group in Brockham Pavilion

November 2nd: New member Liz Lockhart-Muir: “The Wasbies.”

How an intrepid group of women - the Women's Auxilliary Service (Burma) - supported the 14th Army in Burma in WWII.

December 7th: Guest Speaker from Bookham u3a MHG Julian Roberts: The Russian Japanese War

Our 2022 Talk Schedule

Watch this space: it’s looking good.

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The Start of The Franco Prussian War, July 1870

Guest speaker Tim Pritchart - Barrett delivered a very knowledgeable and enthusiastic talk at our last Zoom meeting. His talk, covering the causes and the start of the war up to the Battle of Sedan, will be uploaded onto our YouTube site through D&D u3a web page. Here is a summary to accompany this.

Origins of the Franco - Prussian War: power, pride and lies

Prussia’s defeat of Austria in 1866 had confirmed Prussian leadership of the German states and threatened France’s position as the dominant power in Europe. The immediate cause of the Franco-Prussian War, however, was the candidacy of Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern (related to the Prussian royal house) for the vacant Spanish throne. The Prussian chancellor, Otto von Bismarck, and Spain’s leader, Juan Prim, persuaded Leopold to accept the Spanish throne in June 1870. This move greatly alarmed France, which felt threatened by a possible combination of Prussia and Spain directed against it. Leopold’s candidacy was withdrawn under French diplomatic pressure, but Prussian King Wilhelm 1 was unwilling to bow to the French ambassador’s demands that he promised to never again allow Leopold to be a candidate for the Spanish throne. Bismarck ‘edited’ William’s telegraphed description of this interview, and on July 14 he published this provocative message (The Ems Telegram), which accomplished his purposes of infuriating the French government and provoking it into a declaration of war.

The French emperor, Napoleon III, declared war on Prussia on July 19, 1870, because his military advisers told him that the French army could defeat Prussia and that such a victory would restore his declining popularity in France. The French were convinced that the reorganisation of their army in 1866 had made it superior to the German armies. They also had great faith in two recently introduced technical innovations: the breech-loading chassepot rifle, with which the entire army was now equipped; and the newly invented mitrailleuse, an early machine gun. The French generals, blinded by national pride, were confident of victory.

Otto von Bismarck saw war with France as an opportunity to bring the South German states into unity with the Prussian-led North German Federation and build a strong German Empire. The Germans had superiority of numbers as the South German states of Bavaria, Wurttemburg and Baden regarded France as the aggressor in the conflict and had thus sided with Prussia. An equally important asset was the Prussian army’s general staff, which planned the rapid, orderly movement of large numbers of troops to the battle zones. This superior organisation and mobility enabled the chief of the general staff, General Helmuth von Moltke, to exploit German superiority in numbers in most of the war’s battles.

4

The French collapse, the siege of Paris and the loss of Alsace and Lorraine

The efficient German mobilization contrasted with confusion and delay on the French side. Germany was able to deliver 380,000 troops to the forward zone within 18 days of the start (July 14) of mobilisation, while many French units reached the front either late or with inadequate supplies. The vast German and French armies that then confronted each other were each grouped into right and left wings.

5

After suffering a check at the Battle of Worth on August 6th 1870, the commander of the French right (south) wing, Marshal Mac-Mahon, retreated westward. That same day, about 40 miles to the northeast, the commander of the French left wing, Marshal Achille Bazaine, was dislodged from near Saarbrücken and fell back westward to the fortress of Metz . His further retreat was checked by the German right wing in the blundering Battles of Hard and Gravelotte on August 16th and 18th and he then took refuge behind the defences of Metz indefinitely.

The French right wing, commanded by Mac-Mahon and accompanied by Napoleon himself, attempted to relieve Bazaine but was itself encircled and trapped by the Germans at Sedan on August 31. The following day, the Germans on the surrounding heights poured deadly artillery fire down on them. The Battle of Sedan was a disaster for the French. Trapped against the Belgian frontier, the French lost 17,000 men and were compelled to surrender on September 2. About 104,000 officers and men were taken prisoner, including both Napoleon and Mac- Mahon. German losses numbered 460 officers and 8,500 men. Since Bazaine’s army was still bottled up in Metz, the result of the war was virtually decided by this surrender.

French resistance was carried on against desperate odds by a new government of national defence, which assumed power in Paris on September 4, 1870, and proclaimed the removal of the emperor and the establishment of the Third Republic. On September 19 the Germans began to besiege Paris. Foreign minister Favre serving in the new French government, went to negotiate with Bismarck, but the negotiations were broken off when he found that Germany demanded Alsace and Lorraine. Leon Gambetta, the leading figure in the provisional government, organised new French armies in the countryside after escaping from besieged Paris in a balloon. These engaged but could not defeat the German forces. Bazaine capitulated at Metz with his 140,000 troops intact on October 27, and Paris surrendered on January 28, 1871.

Following the armistice according to The Treaty of Frankfurt (May 1870) France not only forfeited billions of francs but also Alsace and Lorraine.

From Barrie Friend: MHG Meeting in a garden at Brockham

The day after the country was given some lockdown freedom, at the invitation of Hilda over twenty of the group met in her delightful garden for coffee and cakes. Apologies were received from three other members.

It gave us the opportunity to rekindle friendships and to welcome five new members to the group.

We talked about life in lockdown and how we were able to keep the group spirit alive through Zoom meetings, emails and phone calls. Discussions then centred around our future and

6 meeting in the Brockham Pavilion after our final Zoom talk on 1st June about the Franco Prussian War.

All members were keen to extend a welcome to the D&D group members- some fifty- who viewed the Zoom talks as 'guests' of the Military History Group to attend our future face to face meetings in The Pavilion.

There was interest in arranging a visit to a local site of military interest when appropriate.

7 Long Range Desert Group Origins and Formation Only men who do not mind a hard life, with scanty food, little water and lots of discomfort, men who possess stamina and initiative need apply

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Robert Bartlett MHG Dorking U3A

The LRDG can trace its origins from the Light Car Patrols that operated in the Libyan Desert 1916-1918 during a counter insurgency operation against the Senussi who were supported by the Turks and Germans. In this fight the British Empire troops were supported by the Italians. The work of the LCP can be linked to the exploration of the desert between the wars and the formation of the LRDG by Major Bagnold one of the best known of the desert explorers. The LRDG were to develop much of the specialist equipment used by the Patrols and adopt the learning of the explorers in their living in the desert for weeks at a time. It is hoped that this little known story will be told at the September meeting of the MHG at Brockham, followed by a further talk in the new year on the formation of the LRDG and its operations in the desert, the Greek Islands and Albania.

8

Was this 1940 or 1916? Egypt had been invaded; thousands of British and colonial soldiers were rushed to the Western Desert to stop the enemy before he can get to the Nile; a tiny force of volunteers organised into motor patrols carries out extraordinary journeys deep inside the desert. The Second World War had its forgotten 14th Army in the Far East. The First World War, fighting in North Africa has been subsumed and mostly neglected by the horror of the Trenches. Another forgotten army?

Faced with impenetrable desert and concerns about attacks from the indigenous Senussi and Italian army the movement from Camel transport to motor vehicles was established in 1916.

The 1st Armoured Car Section was formed in Melbourne in 1916 and equipped with three armoured cars built at the Vulcan Engineering Works in South Melbourne, a 50 HP Daimler, a 60 HP Mercedes and a 50 HP Minerva. All were armoured and the Daimler and Mercedes were armed with Colt machine guns. Became 1st Light Car Patrol 3 December 1916 and were to see action in the Sudan, Egypt, Western Desert.

It was General Sir Archibald Murray (commander of British forces in Palestine and the Middle East) who seized upon the use of motor vehicles as a way of solving the problems of desert warfare. The first vehicles were not manned by the British Army but by the Royal Navy with a view to reconnaissance the vehicles seen as a ground adjunct to the Royal Naval Air Service. Having a use for scouting there was also a role rescuing downed pilots.1

Most of the vehicles used in the early stages of the Patrol, were 1914 model Rolls Royce covered with a thin layer of armour, weighing 3 tons with a crew of four men and mounted

1The Other Desert War: British Special Forces in North Africa, 1940-1943 By John W. Gordon Page 5

9 machine guns they were able to take on any lightly armed band of desert guerrillas. There were considerable drawbacks with the vehicles tending to bog down and requiring a considerable amount of fuel so had to be supported by several tenders.2

General Murray formed the men and machines into a “task organised force” called Light Armoured and Motor Machine Gun Batteries. His initial thoughts were that the new force could hit quickly and powerfully concentrations of the Senussi whilst the Camel Corps, whose training was nearly completed, could take on the more sedentary role of patrolling the isolated oasis to the south.3

1st Light Car Patrol: As their original vehicles became worn out from hard use in the Western Desert and were irreparable due to shortages of spare parts, the unit was reequipped with six Ford light cars. Extra drivers and motorcycles were provided, and the unit became the 1st Light Car Patrol 3 December 1916. These were traded in for six new Fords on 11 December 1917.

Murray has sought a lighter faster form of motor vehicle one better suited to the task of scouting the enemy over long ranges. Trials with motorcycles were a failure. The Model T Ford was available in abundance as the army had shipped hundreds to Egypt for use in as transport on the line of communication. Making these “Tin Lizzies” with their twenty horsepower, four- cylinder engines, into the dependable mechanical mounts of a long-range scouting force required little more than the mounting of a .303 calibre Lewis gun on two of them. The volunteers to man them were drawn from British and Australian units already in the Middle East. Using the structure of the Light Armoured Motor Batteries as a model they were in early 1916 were formed into independent units officially designated Light Car Patrols. Ultimately there were to be 6 of these patrols each with two officers and 12 other ranks riding in five or six vehicles. 4

The tiny force covered great distances covering an 800-mile frontier of lifeless, waterless country using dead reckoning and mapping using a speedometer and compass bearings. This way a great part of the northern desert between the Nile and Siwa were mapped for the first time.

The British Light Car Patrols of 1916 patrolled the north-western desert frontier of Egypt against the Senussi threat. In mid 1916 the half a dozen Light Car Patrols (LCP) were ordered south to cover the southern Egyptian Oases where they quickly proved themselves to be more than just auxiliary to the air and Camel Corps patrols trying to contain the Senussi. In fact, the LCP soon acquired the primary role. As a first step dumps of fuel and food were established to increase the range and duration of any mission. 5

2 The Other Desert War: British Special Forces in North Africa, 1940-1943 By John W. Gordon Page 12 3 The Other Desert War: British Special Forces in North Africa, 1940-1943 By John W. Gordon Page 5 4 The Other Desert War: British Special Forces in North Africa, 1940-1943 By John W. Gordon Page 13 5 The Other Desert War: British Special Forces in North Africa, 1940-1943 By John W. Gordon Page 8

10 The Australian Light Car Patrol hoisted the British flag in Dakhla on 18th December 1916 and conducted several surveying patrols to the south and west of Dakhla till June 1917. (The pass 60 kms to the south of Dakhla along the Darb el Terfawi is named “Australia Pass”). In 1917 Siwa was captured from the Senussi by an armoured car division crossing the desert from the Mediterranean coast to Siwa in a surprise attack.6

In May 1917 the unit was redeployed to Palestine by rail and served there throughout the remainder of the campaign.

Australian Light Car Patrols

6 The Other Desert War: British Special Forces in North Africa, 1940-1943 By John W. Gordon

11

Success with the use of motor vehicles in the desert was followed by extensive exploration in between the wars. A number of the explorers both civilians and Army became involved in the formation and operation of the Long Range Desert Group.

Exploration of the Desert Between the Wars

The LCP and in the Second World War the LRDG were, amongst their other accomplishments, explorers of the unknown desert mapping large areas for the first time and establishing routes

12 through unknown and previously considered impenetrable country. The use of motor vehicles in wartime unlocked opportunities to explore vast areas of desert across sand and rock, a mixture of both hard and soft going.

1917 On a surveying trip with the Light Car Patrols, Ball and Moore discover 'Pottery Hill', later termed 'Abu Ballas' by Prince Kemal el Din. Skirting the southern edge of the Sand Sea, Ball and Moore reach the broken foothills of the Gilf Kebir without recognising the true nature of the plateau beyond.

1920 November - 1921 February Rosita Forbes (disguised as a Bedouin woman) and Ahmed Hassanein visit Kufra Oasis.

1921, 1922-1923, 1924 Lt. Colonel N.B. de Lancey Forth made several camel journeys into the Great Sand Sea, reaching 200 km to the south of Siwa, and Rohlfs' Ammonite Hill from Bir Abu Mungar.

1923 January – June Starting from the Egyptian port of Sollum with camel caravan, Ahmed Hassanein crosses the Libyan Desert from north to south via Kufra Oasis, reaching el Fasher in the Sudan. During this trip Hassanein discovers the 'lost oases' of Jebel Arkenu and Jebel Uweinat and makes first mention of the rock art at Karkur Talh.

1923-1924 Prince Hussein Kemal el Din makes several desert trips with Citroen half-tracks and Ford motorcars, accompanied by John Ball and Major Jarvis. In February 1924

1925 January – March Prince Hussein Kemal el Din, accompanied by John Ball car expedition, from Kharga, via el Sheb and bir Terfawi to Jebel Uweinat. They continue to Ennedi and discovered Merga Oasis on the return journey. Kemal el Din is the first to make a scientific report on the numerous rock art sites he discovered at Karkur Talh.

1926 March László Almásy (The English Patient) made his first motorcar trip in Egypt, driving along the Nile valley from Cairo to Khartoum with Prince Eszterházy. They continue with their Steyr till the River Sobat in southern Sudan.

1927 autumn Ralph Bagnold (one-time LRDG) led a direct traverse with motorcars across the desert from Cairo to Siwa.

1927 November – December Douglas Newbold and W.B.K. Shaw (one-time LRDG) 1000- mile camel journey exploring the southern part of the Libyan Desert (northwest Sudan) from el Obeid to Wadi Halfa, definitively mapping the region

1927 – 1928 H.J. Llewellyn Beadnell surveys the Egyptian desert south of Kharga Oasis and west till Jebel Kamil and sinks the well of Bir Missaha to test Ball's groundwater theory (with success).

13 1929 November Bagnold (one-time LRDG) with others explored the Sand Sea to the west and southwest of Ain Dalla, penetrating 100 kms into the Sand Sea due west, then reaching Ammonite Hill.

1930 Colonel Wilson (Chief Staff Officer, Sudan Defence Force) reconnoitres a car route from Dongola to Laqiya and then on to Merga Oasis

1930 October – November Bagnold (one-time LRDG) with companions traversed the Sand Sea from Ain Dalla, breaking out at the northwest corner of the Gilf Kebir, then continue to Jebel Uweinat. They return via Selima Oasis.

1930-1931: Patrick Clayton (one-time LRDG) carries the triangulation from the Nile valley to Jebel Uweinat. On April 2nd, 1931, on a single day he makes a 200 km run north along the western edge of the Gilf Kebir till Wadi Sora point

1932 April A major expedition is organized by Almásy and Sir Robert Clayton East, with Patrick Clayton (one-time LRDG) and H.W.G.J. Penderel, Gypsy Moth aeroplane to western side of the Gilf Kebir. To replenish water supplies, Almásy a daring solo trip to Kufra and back.

1932 October – November Bagnold (one-time LRDG) and party drive to Uweinat (Bagnold, Boustead, Paterson and Shaw (one-time LRDG) are the first to reach the summit on 11th October), explore Jebel Kissu & Yerghueda hill, then continue to Sarra Well, Erdi & Ennedi before reaching El Fasher. On their return journey they explore parts of the south Libyan Desert along the Darb el Arbain till Selima and Wadi Halfa.

Captain Holland, WB Kennedy Shaw (standing and later intelligence officer LRDG) Douglas Newbold, Lt Dwyer, Major Bagnold.

1932 December - 1933 February Patrick Clayton (one-time LRDG) makes the first successful east - west crossing of the Great Sand Sea from Ain Dalla then south to Wadi Hamra and Wadi Abd-el Melik, the wadis glimpsed from the air in the spring, but never entered on the ground.

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1933 February Orde Wingate camel trip into Sand Sea from Abu Mungar, and returning to Dakhla

1934 December Patrick Clayton (one-time LRDG) expedition with Spencer, Keeper of Minerals at the British Museum

1938 February – March Bagnold (one-time LRDG) and the Egypt Exploration Society scientific expedition to the Gilf Kebir and Uweinat.

In 1940 July Bagnold a veteran of the Somme and Ypres, formed the LRDG. Shaw, Patrick Clayton and many others of the explorers are involved with the preparations and subsequent exploits. He had spent much of 1930S driving Model A Ford around the vast desert between Cairo and Iain Dalla searching mythical city Zerzura. In 1932 he drove 3,000 miles and wrote “Never in our peacetime travels had we imagined that war could ever reach the enormous empty solitudes of the inner desert, walled off by sheer distance, lack of water and impassable seas of sand dunes.”

Major Bagnold the explorer

15 The original Car Patrols of the First World War developed the practice of reduced tyre pressure and wider tyres to increase speed across desert. Bagnold augmented the early versions of the radiator condenser to save water and adopted the sun compass for navigation during desert exploration.

The Libyan Desert is the size of India, 1,000 miles south from the Mediterranean and 1200 miles from the Nile Valley to the mountains of Tunisia and Algeria. One of the most inhospitable places on earth with daytime temperatures soaring to almost 60 degrees C and below freezing at night. Water was only found in a small number of oases.

The desert campaign took place in a comparatively narrow strip as so much of the land was inaccessible to men and machines of a modern army. Farther to the south, beyond the oases of Siwa, Jarabub, and Jalo, lies the inner or Libyan desert of which the Western Desert is a mere fringe

Except within the oasis depressions, the Libyan Desert is uninhabited and utterly without life. Through this inner desert ran the eastern frontier of Libya, and within their territory the Italians had established a system of military posts and landing grounds. The Italians organized special colonial forces for duty in the desert. Of these the motorized Auto Saharan Company had the advantage of the permanent co-operation of a few reconnaissance aircraft with a role to patrol over comparatively good surfaces, principally between and around their military positions.

The threat was the Italian danger just outside the British area of operations. There were two armed Italian forces ten times the size of anything the British might muster against them; one along the Mediterranean coast beyond Matruh and Sollum, convenient for an advance on Alexandria and the Canal. The other in Eritrea and Abyssinia, ready to swoop down on the Sudan. There was also a third direction from which the Italians might attack, the unknown interior of Libya in the west that had kept so many defensive troops tied up in the scattered oases during the last war. Light well equipped mechanised enemy columns on the ground supported by bombers in the air. The menace centred on Kufra, and the threat was to the Upper Nile, to river communications with Khartoum.7

The whole 400 miles of Egypt’s totally uninhabited western frontier south of Siwa oasis lay unguarded and unwatched. Even on the coastal plateau to the north of Siwa, on which alone large armies could operate, the units of our armoured division had only enough transport for a range of action of a paltry 100 miles; not enough to defend more than half of the open front between the coast and the beginning of the inner sands.8 Bagnold suggested to GHQ Cairo the idea of setting up a deep reconnaissance unit capable of operating deep behind enemy lines.

Bagnold wrote - - how easy it would be for their (Italian) specialised vehicles and their desert trained aircraft to reach Wadi Halfa unheralded and unopposed, and to destroy the steamer and

7 The Geographical Journal Vol CV Nos 1-2 Jan-Feb 1945 page 31 Bagnold presentation 15 Jan 1945 8 The Geographical Journal Vol CV Nos 1-2 Jan-Feb 1945 page 31. Bagnold presentation 15 Jan 1945

16 railway terminus there, and so block all traffic between Cairo and Khartoum. Moreover, they had shown much enterprise and skill during the Kufra campaign in 1931. They already had an advanced post too at Uweinat on the Sudan frontier, where they could accumulate supplies; and from here Wadi Halfa lay only a 400-mile journey across good firm sand, which we had crossed more than once in little over a day. However, our official enemy was Germany and not Italy and so we looked north not south. June 1940 Italians declared war.9

Bagnold wrote that there were rumours that Marshal Balbo had pushed down south-westwards from Kufra and had established some sort of air post at Sarra Well. From here the new route would be within his reach. He was beginning to use Uweinat too, as a halfway re-fuelling point for his air reinforcements for east Africa. So, on many counts it was important to discover whether the enemy intended to use Kufra for offensive action against us. But we had absolutely no contact with the place, 700 miles away across dunes and waterless desert, and no suitable aircraft that could do the double range. The only solution was to drive into inner Libya and find out.10

Bagnold who was on route to Kenya (the military personnel system did not recognise he was one of the foremost explorers of the desert of his age) when the Italians declared war. He later wrote: “I took my courage in my hands and asked a friend of mine to send a note to the Commander-in- Chief. Within an hour I was sent for by Wavell and I told him that we needed a small mobile force able to penetrate the desert to the west of Egypt to see what was going on. Wavell said, “What if you find the Italians are not doing anything in the interior at all?”. I said without thinking “How about some piracy on the high desert?” At this his rather stern face broke into a grin, and he said, “Can you be ready in six weeks?” I replied: “Yes, provided …” “Yes, I know,” he interrupted, “there’ll be opposition and delay.” He then rang his bell, and a lieutenant general came in as the chief of staff. Wavell said: “Bagnold seeks a talisman. Get this typed out and I’ll sign it straightaway. “I wish any requests made by Major Bagnold in person should be met instantly and without question.”” And it was like a talisman. I had complete carte blanche to do anything I liked. Within six weeks we’d got together a volunteer force of New Zealanders. The New Zealand Division had arrived in Egypt but had yet to be supplied with arms and equipment because of shipping losses. So, they were at a loose end. Apart from that I wanted responsible volunteers, who knew how to look after and maintain things, rather than the ordinary British Tommy who was apt to be wasteful. They were a marvellous lot of people, mostly sheep farmers who’d had fleets of trucks of their own and were used to looking after them.”11

Major Ralph Bagnold, Royal Corps of Signals, had persuaded General Wavell (who had served in the desert during the First World War) that there was an intelligence gathering role for mobile forces. Bagnold was the right man, with the right idea at the right time; just what Wavell was looking for! When Italy declared war on 10 June 1940 there was an acute scarcity of

9 The Geographical Journal Vol CV Nos 1-2 Jan-Feb 1945 page 32. Bagnold presentation 15 Jan 1945 10 The Geographical Journal, Vol CV Nos 1-2 Jan-Feb 1945, page 32. Bagnold presentation 15 Jan 1945 11 IWM Desert War. – Bagnold Page 189

17 intelligence on the enemy within North Africa and so there was urgent work to be undertaken. The LRDG was raised 3rd July 1940 with its precursors the World War One Light Car Patrols used against Senussi tribesmen and the knowledge gained by expeditions of discovery. The provisional war establishment of the Long LRDG was a unit of 11 officers and 76 men.

Following successful patrols, during November 1940 the establishment was raised to 21 officers and 271 men divided between HQ and two Squadrons. Each Squadron had three patrols transported in 10 vehicles, open top 30 cwt Chevrolet trucks. By March 1942 the establishment numbered 25 officers and 324 men.

Ralph Alger Bagnold 1896-1990

Geophysicist born Devonport Ed Malvern College and RMA Woolwich. 2nd Lieutenant 1915- served Ypres, the Somme, Passchendale; Captain 1919. Studied at Gonville and Caius Cambridge, Engineering Tripos - completed degree in 2 years. 1921 Army -5th Division Signals Co then served in Ireland - RE Signals became Royal Corps of Signals. Was posted to Signals Training Centre first as an instructor in electricity, then as the chief instructor. 1926 to Egypt for two years then Major - took him to the NW Frontier of India 1928-1931 where he commanded the Waziristan Signals. After a period in England as chief instructor at the School of Signals Catterick, Bagnold was posted to the Far East as OIC Signals China Command 1937. - Retired a brigadier.

There were a handful of Englishmen whose professions had taken them to the Middle East between the wars, and who had made a hobby of desert travel and exploration. Among these were Bill Kennedy Shaw, Pat Clayton, and Guy Prendergast, with Major Ralph Bagnold as prime mover and leader. Between 1932 and 1938 they had learned much about motor travel in the inner desert, and some had crossed the Egyptian Sand Sea. They had acquired the skill to discern a course amidst the huge sand dunes and mastered the art of driving a vehicle up and across them without embedding or overturning it. All were to become key members of the LRDG.

18 Outline History of Samuel Sargent

father of Superintendent Phillip Sargent Surrey Constabulary 1851 The National Archives and other sources

Jenny Tuffs May 2021

Philip Sargent transferred into the Surrey Constabulary in January 1851 on the formation of the new force. He was number five in the appointment register. Before coming to Surrey, he served in Bath and Essex and after being dismissed from Dorking for being in debt, where he was the first Surrey Constabulary superintendent, he went on to serve as a superintendent in Buckinghamshire and Lincoln. His father served in the Army and below is set out the details of his service. It is unusual to see the career of a junior officer set out in such detail. His service included India and New Zealand.12

Superintendent Dorking Police 1851 following on from Inspector Donaldson GO are numbered General Orders published by Chief Constable Hastings

5 Phillip Bath Appointed January 9 GO 55 26 July 1851Permitted to Samuel Police, sworn 25 Jan aged 29 resign owing to debt. The repeated Sargent Essex Chief Constable: communications which the Chief resign for the lax way Constable has received for some he did his duties and months from Bath, Essex and for being in debt Dorking having left those places in showing he “was not debt together with the very lax fit for the responsible manner in which some of his duties situation of have been performed is not fit for superintendent.” the responsible situation of GO 53 1 July 1851 superintendent. Not wishing to appointed removed injure the prospects permitted him from Dorking to resign. Later appointed Supt Division by Bucks then Lincoln Superintendent Bedwell then report to the office of the Chief Constable.

Father of Superintendent Sargent Surrey Constabulary 185113

12 www.surrey-constabulary.com 13 From Robert Bartlett’s www.surrey-constabulary.com

19 The interest of this piece is how it opens the long-closed door onto a normal military family, no great career success, nothing infamous or famous but establishing the life and career of a junior military officer and his family.

Samuel Sargent: The military promotions and exchanges are from the War Office records.

1809 1st November Samuel Sargent age 16, was Ensign in 1st Royal Veteran Battalion 14

1810 October 17, became Lieutenant

1817 December 24 placed on half pay

1818 January 28 reported 7 February Ennis Chronicle: Marriage Samuel Sargent Esq., of Kilfinane Co Limerick to Maria youngest daughter of Roger Adams Esq., of Ballyannon. Three children but not consistent dates of birth.

1821 Phillip born in Ireland. On some occasions this was recorded as being born in Somerset. Briefly, superintendent Surrey Constabulary. Philip Samuel: Born July/ September 1821: Mother Maria 1800 – 1861. On joining Surrey Constabulary aged 29.

(Superintendent Phillip Samuel Sargent, Bath and Essex Police, Surrey Constabulary Appointment Number 5 9 January 1851- July 1851, Superintendent Lincoln, and Buckinghamshire. Born 1821 Died 1870)

1823 23rd February half pay but 'desirous of service' later placed on full pay in 1st Royal Veteran Battalion.

1823 24th March 1st Royal Veteran Battalion Lieutenant Samuel Sargent from the half pay of 60th Regiment to be Lieutenant vice Donald Munro to be placed on the retired list.

1825 29th May Eliza Maria Sargent born in Ireland.

1825 28th October Lieutenant Samuel Sargent from 1st Royal Veteran Battalion to be Lieutenant 1st Regiment of Foot (Several men transferred from Ist Royal Veteran Battalion to Foot Regiments at this time probably because all the Royal Veteran Battalions in Ireland were disbanded by 1826)

1826: ' Have been in Ireland until January 1826 then Jersey and France' Document dated December 1826

1826 7th April - 51st Regiment of Foot Lieutenant Arthur Lyttleton Mcloud from the half pay vice Samuel Sargent whose appointment has not taken place.

14 https://www.napoleon-series.org/military-info/organization/Britain/Infantry/Regiments/c_Veterans.html

20

1827: Sister Eliza born 1827 Galway; Sister Susanne born 1832 St Servan, Brittany

1828 9th September Susannah Dickens Brown Sargent was born in France.

In December 1828 Samuel wrote that he was with the 1st Royal Veteran Battalion in Ireland until 24th June 1826 since then in Jersey and France. He signed it - Samuel Sargent Lieutenant 1st Royal Vet Batt (?) Half pay. He was also placed on half pay 24th June 1826.

1832 Samuel Tomyns Sargent was born in St Servan, France – Verified in 1841 when family were in Guernsey and 1861 when he was with Arthur and Eliza Grosvenor nee Sargent, Arthur being head of house and Samul his brother-in-law.

1849 18th May 91st Regiment, (Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders) Samuel Tomyns Sargent, gent to be Ensign without purchase vice Manners. Served as Ensign in 91st, (1849) 51st, (1850), (2nd Yorkshire West Riding) Regiment of Foot, 53rd (Shropshire) Regiment of Foot and (1850) 63rd (West Suffolk) Regiment of Foot.

1851stationed in Madras; Campaign Medal: Indian Mutiny Samuel was awarded the India Medal as Samuel Tomyns Sargent

1850 8th March - 51st Ensign Samuel Tomyns Sargent from 91st Foot to be Ensign vice Baille

1851 1 January – 1 April 1851 S T Sargent Ensign 51st Foot, the 2nd West Riding or The King’s Own Light Infantry Regiment was in Madras now Cennai, India. Campaign Medal: Indian Mutiny Samuel was awarded the India Medal as Samuel Tomyns Sargent

1852 23rd April Promotions and Appointments for her Majesty’s Troops in India, 51st Foot Ensign Samuel Tompkins (sic) Sargent to be Lieutenant without purchase vice Bateman deceased.

1852 23rd June 51ST Foot Ensign Samuel Tomyns Sargent to be Lieutenant without purchase vice Marston.

1852 12th November Memoranda – the dates of the Commissions of the following officers of 51st Foot have been altered in order to place them in their proper position in the regiment Lieutenant Samuel Tomyns Sargent, July 9th

1853 29th July 51st Foot To be Lieutenant without purchase Samuel Tomyns Sargent.

1854 Hart’s Army list - Lieutenants Glover and Sargent served with 51st throughout

Burmese War of 1852 (medal) on board the E. I. C. steam frigate Ferooz (Built in Bombay in 1848, 8 guns, 1440 tons in weight) during the naval action and destruction of the enemy’s

21 stockades on the Rangoon River, during the succeeding 3 days operations in the vicinity at the storm and capture of Rangoon.

1857 /59 Samuel Tomyns Sargent, of 43rd Foot (Monmouthshire Light Infantry) awarded India Mutiny Medal) 1857: A Samuel Tomigns (Tomyns) Sargent served as Captain 1857-1863 with 43rd Foot (TNA)

1858 2nd February London Evening Standard - Army- Officers for Madras- Lieutenant Samuel Sargent 43rd Foot, instructor of the Enfield Rifle and Staff Assistant Surgeon Symons proceed from Woolwich to Southampton tomorrow to embark on the steam mail packet Pera for Madras.

1858 – Marriage- 14th December, Eliza Maria, eldest daughter of Samuel Sargent Esq., of Curry Rival, Somerset and late of 60th Rifles

1859 Harts Army List 43rd (Monmouthshire) Regiment of Foot Lieutenant Samuel Tomyns Sargent, Ensign 18th May 1849 and Lieutenant 9th July 1852. They embarked for Cape of Good Hope from Chatham 10th October 1851, serving in India.

1859 - 4Th March - Regiments serving in or proceeding to India - 43rd Lieutenant Samuel Tomyns Sargent to be instructor of Musketry

1860 23thSeptember - Regiments serving in or proceeding to India 43rd Foot Lieutenant Samuel Tomyns Sargent to be Captain, without purchase, Charles William Pole Warner to be Ensign without purchase in succession to Lieutenant Sargent, promoted.

1861 February Captain Samuel T Sargent 43rd Light Infantry and others left Chatham on route for the barracks at Eastbourne.

1862 5th July London Evening Standard - Detachments of Royal Engineers left Chatham to occupy new barracks at Gravesend There were 160 men of all ranks and several officers including Captain Samuel T Sargent 43rd.

1863 29th October London Evening Standard - Troops for New Zealand - A notification has been received at 43rd depot Chatham that the regiment has been dispatched from Bengal to the hostilities in New Zealand. Among the officers to go with the troops - Captain Samuel T Sargent who takes command.

1865 4th February Naval and Military Gazette - 43rd Foot Captain Samuel Tompkyns Sargent who arrived this week from New Zealand served with 51st Regiment throughout Burmese War.

1865 18th April 43rd Foot Lieut Henry Charles Talbot to be Captain by purchase vice Samuel Tomyns Sargent who retires.

22 1866 28th July – Southern Times and Dorset County Herald - Deaths- Sargent on the 17th Inst at Folkstone while on a visit to her daughter Mrs. A W Grosvenor of Clapton, Maria Furlong wife of Samuel Sargent Esq., of Curry Rivel, Somerset. (Eliza Maria married Arthur W Grosvenor in 1858).

1866 Samuel 1793-1866 died Hackney, death reported in Western Gazette 10th August 1866 - Curry Rivel – on 31st ult., Captain Sargent of Stoneleigh Villa died at Clapton, surviving his wife, who died at the same place only a fortnight ago. Samuel died at his daughter’s home in Clapton.

1866 December Military Obituary from the War Office Samuel Sargent Ist Veterinary Battalion. 1870 Superintendent Philip Samuel Sargent: 1870 died Langport Somerset; buried 28 July 1870 Abney Park Cemetery Stoke Newington

Samuel Sargent Will 1866

Book Reviews

A Lancashire Fusilier’s First World War

23

Written by Norman Hall and edited by his granddaughter Published by P3 Publications in 2020 Paperback ISBN 978 0 9934889 2 4 344 pages including endnotes and index. Illustrated Price £15

An excellent review of this book is to be found at https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/review-of- a-lancashire-fusiliers-first-world-war posted by Chris Baker on 4 November 2020

Chris Baker wrote: This is a splendid book; the result of much hard work by Patricia (Tricia) Rothwell. It is mainly based on the first three of five volumes of the original diary produced by her grandfather Norman Hall, which are now held by the Imperial War Museum. They cover his time with the 2/5th Battalion of the Lancashire Fusiliers up to and including September 1916. The content of the last two volumes, about his service with the 1/5th Battalion, thereafter, are summarised. The diary was not written at the time, apparently being compiled from 1919 and up to 1928, so does have the benefit (and possibly filter) of hindsight and reference to some published work.

Normall Hall was born in Bury in 1892 and after attending the local grammar school went to Owens College (Manchester University) to graduate in chemistry. He went on to work for Lever Brothers both before and after the war. While at university Norman had been a member of the Officer Training Corps, but, keen to get involved, he enlisted into the ranks of the King’s (Liverpool Regiment) in early September 1914. Within a few days he was interviewed as a potentially suitable man to become an officer – and he says that on 14 October 1914 he was astonished to read in the newspaper that he had been commissioned into the Lancashire Fusiliers.

Tricia Rothwell’s treatment of the diary leaves it mainly unchanged, with only minor details omitted and corrections of spellings and punctuation for consistency. She greatly enhances it with additional information and observations in the form of copious footnotes and illustration. Her grandfather was placed into what was initially called the 5th Reserve Battalion, but which

24 eventually became the 2/5th. He served as a junior officer through its training at home, move to France in May 1915 and its subsequent service as part of the 51st (Highland) and then 55th (West Lancashire) Divisions. Norman’s narrative is illuminating, with many individuals and minor incidents being discussed as well as the major movements and actions experienced by his battalion. The diary will be of particular interest to those studying the Battle of the Somme, for he devotes many pages to the period up to his wounding on 9 September 1916. Norman goes on to describe his medical evacuation and the final parts of the book summarise later events.

The book is produced on high quality paper, with use of colour for some maps and a diagram. Many other illustrations are black and white, including a plentiful selection of family and regimental portraits. The sans serif font used is not one of my favourites and I found the page layout (with very narrow edge margins) made it less easy to read than it may have been, but these are personal preferences and should in no way detract from what is, overall, a terrific piece of work, a good read and a useful reference for future use.

Norman Hall enlisted as a private in Liverpool in September 1914, becoming an officer with the Lancashire Fusiliers in Bury about a month later. He went to France with the 2/5th Lancashire Fusiliers in May 1915. This version of his diaries focuses on the 2/5th training, deployment in the trenches, and the Battle of the Somme. An Afterword summarises Normans later service with the 1/5th Lancashire Fusiliers.

Norman was naturally observant, and took a keen interest in his surroundings, his companions, and, in fact, everything that he experienced or saw. His military career was unusually varied, including service as a Signalling Officer, Company Commander, Quartermaster and Adjutant. The result is a fascinating insight into life as a soldier on the Western Front, covering a broad range of subjects, such as anecdotes about fellow soldiers, what it was like to be in the trenches, time spent out of the Line, demonstrations of new weapons, the evolution of the gas mask, skirmishes in No Man’s Land, a gas attack by the British, the capture of a German prisoner, and much more, sadly it also includes some heart-achingly poignant accounts of the deaths of a number of Normans comrades in arms.

Robert Bartlett: This book was passed to the MHG of Dorking U3A for circulation to members. It is self-published and a steal at £15. You can buy a copy direct from the author on [email protected]. It is pleasing to learn that the diaries have been deposited in perpetuity at the Imperial War Museum. A significant point is these are not contemporaneous diaries but written after the war given time for reflection and possibly with a mind to publication. This does not however, make them overtly less accurate than had they been scribbled at night in barracks or a trench, surrounded with all the influences that would bring to a balanced diary. When Hall wrote his section on the origin of the war, he had no way of knowing what a controversial subject this would become! He also mentions in notes on page 160, the Portuguese Expeditionary Forces of 55,000 men on the Western Front. Who knew that? That is a feature of this work, the lengthy and informative notes not annoyingly at the end of the volume but at the bottom of the relevant page.

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A labour of love. Top end family history. If you have an interest in First World War individuals who were in the trenches, particularly from county infantry regiments this becomes a “must have.”

The Saboteur

True Adventures of the Gentleman Commando Who Took on the Nazis

Paul Kix

Publisher: William Collins (8 Mar. 2018) Language: English Hardcover or paperback ISBN-10: 0007553803 ISBN-13: 978-0007553808

This book was recommended by MHG U3A member Robert Cowen

About the Author: Paul Kix is a senior editor at ESPN Magazine, and has written for numerous publications from the Boston Globe to the Wall Street Journal and The New Yorker.

26 Synopsis from the publisher

In the tradition of ‘Agent Zigzag’ comes a breath-taking biography of WWII’s ‘Scarlet Pimpernel’ as fast-paced and emotionally intuitive as the best spy thrillers. This celebrates unsung hero Robert de La Rochefoucauld, an aristocrat turned anti-Nazi saboteur, and his exploits as a British Special Operations Executive trained resistant.

A scion of one of the oldest families in France, Robert de La Rochefoucauld was raised in a magnificent chateau and educated in Europe’s finest schools. When the Nazis invaded and imprisoned his father, La Rochefoucauld escaped to England and was trained by a collection of SOE spies, in the dark arts of anarchy and combat; cracking safes, planting bombs, and killing with his bare hands. With his newfound skills, La Rochefoucauld returned to France and organized Resistance cells, blew up fortified compounds and munitions factories, interfered with Germany’s wartime missions and executed Nazi officers. Caught by the Germans, La Rochefoucauld withstood months of torture and escaped his own death sentence, not once but twice.

More than just a fast-paced, real-life thriller, The Saboteur is also a deep dive into an endlessly fascinating historical moment, revealing the previously untold story of a network of commandos, motivated by a shared hatred of the Nazis, who battled evil and bravely worked to change the course of history

Reviews It is probably hyperbole to talk of untold stories. The use of the term commando is out of place but there are numerous reported reviews include the following comments:

‘Kix has produced a narrative that is both chilling and powerful … This is first-class adventure writing, which, coupled with a true-life narrative of danger and intrigue, adds up to all-night reading’ New York Times

‘’The Saboteur’ is completely engrossing and elegantly told, which means any reader of this work will inevitably want more and more’ Washington Post

‘A mesmerizing book that builds up propulsive momentum until its final twists. It was a joy to disappear into this story. Like only the very best historical biographers, Paul Kix has turned years of deep reporting into a tightly coiled narrative that you never want to put down’ Eli Saslow, Pulitzer Prize winner and author of Ten Letters: The Stories Americans Tell Their President

Review

There is some confusion. One reviewer describes the book as a work of fiction taking in all the reviewers. “This is a work of fiction and it's simply amazing that so many serious but gullible reviewers and readers have been deceived by this 'Walter Mitty' character into believing that it is a true story.” The author declares this is a work of narrative non-fiction. What exactly does

27 that mean? One definition from the Internet, “using literary techniques and styles to tell a true story.” So, it is true, but that truth may be embellished to produce a literary work not just tell the tale as it stands. That raises the problem of what is true and what is literary artifice?

The author says the narrative is the result of four year’s work with research and reporting undertaken in five countries. He talked with dozens of people, read fifty books in English and French, analysed thousands of pages of documents ensuring the book contains numerous footnotes on sources. Paul Kix had the assistance of Robert's memoir and the recollections of his children in writing this history. Kix gives a very clear picture of what life was like in France during World War II, when brave men and women who joined the Resistance put at risk not only their own lives but those of their families.

A reviewer from the United States wrote that the seventeen-year-old was determined to fight the Germans making a hair-raising escape into Spain, travelling to England where he was accepted for training by the Special Operations Executive. He eventually returned to France, where he took part in a series of successful sabotage attacks on the German occupying forces. It was extremely dangerous work, and he was captured several times (note: I think twice) and tortured but managed to escape. His activities continued past D-Day into the final days of World War II, after which he returned to private life, saying little about his experiences (though fortunately writing a memoir for his family) until his death at age 80.

It all seems remarkable. Extraordinary how he could have survived but he did, and his story is endorsed by Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_de_La_Rochefoucauld:

Work for the S.O.E The British flew La Rochefoucauld to London, where they trained him to jump out of airplanes, set off explosives and kill a man quickly using his hands. They parachuted him into France in June 1943. In France, he destroyed an electric substation and blew up railroad tracks at Avallon but was captured and condemned to death by the Nazis. While being taken for execution, he jumped from the back of his captors' truck, dodged bullets, then ran through nearby streets. He ended up outside a German headquarters, where he spotted a limousine flying a swastika flag, its driver nearby and the keys in the ignition. He drove off in the car and then caught a train to Paris, hiding in one of its bathrooms. In May 1944, La Rochefoucauld parachuted back into France. Dressed as a workman, he smuggled explosives into a huge German munitions plant in Saint-Médard (near Bordeaux). Over the course of the four-day mission, code named "Sun", smuggled 40 kilos of explosives, concealed in hollowed-out loaves of bread and specially designed shoes, into the factory. He set off the explosives on 20 May and, after scaling a wall, fled on a bicycle. After sending a message to London (the reply read simply: "Félicitations"), he enjoyed several bottles with the local Resistance leader, waking the next day with a hangover.[5] However, La Rochefoucauld was soon imprisoned by the Germans once more in Fort du Hâ. In his cell, he feigned an epileptic seizure, and, when a guard opened the door, La Rochefoucauld hit him over the head with a table leg and then broke his neck.

28 He took the guard's uniform and pistol, shot two other guards, and escaped. Desperate to avoid recapture, he contacted a French underground worker whose sister was a nun. He donned her habit and walked unobtrusively to the home of a more senior agent, who hid him. With D-Day imminent, La Rochefoucauld didn't extract back to London, choosing instead to stay in France to help the Resistance overthrow the Germans. He carried out dozens of sabotage and espionage missions throughout the Normandy campaign as the Allies pushed the Germans back to Berlin. During one mission, he was captured by the Schutzstaffel, brought out to a field to be executed by firing squad, but before the Nazis could complete the execution, La Rochefoucauld's fellows in the Resistance occupied the Nazis machine guns, buying Robert time to leave safely. His final behind-the-lines assault came in April 1945, when he led a night raid to knock out a casemate near Saint-Vivien-de-Médoc, on France's western coast at the mouth of the Gironde. Paddling up the river, he approached the casemate, killed a guard there, and blew it up, forcing the Germans to pull back to their final defensive position on the sea at Verdon. Shortly afterwards, his knee was injured in a mine explosion, forcing him to take a month's leave. La Rochefoucauld made the trip to Berlin after V-E Day and got kissed on the mouth by Soviet Red Army officer Georgy Zhukov, who was then commander of the Soviet zone of occupation.

29