1 00:00:10,480 --> 00:00:15,560 The Second World War was the ultimate conflict of the machine age. 2 00:00:15,560 --> 00:00:18,920 And this machine was its iconic symbol, 3 00:00:18,920 --> 00:00:22,240 the decisive weapon of the war on land. 4 00:00:22,240 --> 00:00:27,440 From north Africa to the Russian front, tanks ruled the battlefield. 5 00:00:27,440 --> 00:00:31,920 And if you didn't master armoured warfare, you faced annihilation. 6 00:00:35,760 --> 00:00:37,800 It's quite terrifying, really, 7 00:00:37,800 --> 00:00:41,080 because you could see these flashes of the enemy's guns 8 00:00:41,080 --> 00:00:44,640 in the distance, and you think, "Any minute, one of them is going to hit me." 9 00:00:47,840 --> 00:00:50,360 Tanks were there at the beginning of the war, 10 00:00:50,360 --> 00:00:52,400 and tanks were there at the end. 11 00:00:52,400 --> 00:00:54,240 The men who fought inside them 12 00:00:54,240 --> 00:00:56,960 had an exceptional view of the entire conflict... 13 00:00:58,280 --> 00:01:01,760 ..from the fall of France, to the deserts of Africa. 14 00:01:01,760 --> 00:01:05,200 From D-Day to the final victory in Germany. 15 00:01:08,440 --> 00:01:12,120 As a young officer training in the Royal Tank Regiment, 16 00:01:12,120 --> 00:01:14,960 I was indoctrinated in their exploits. 17 00:01:14,960 --> 00:01:19,200 And who could fail to have been awe-inspired by the way those men 18 00:01:19,200 --> 00:01:24,520 faced death time and time again, in these iron-clad monsters? 19 00:01:27,160 --> 00:01:32,360 When I first went in, I thought it was going to be great fun, and all that. 20 00:01:32,360 --> 00:01:34,680 But I realised it wasn't. 21 00:01:34,680 --> 00:01:38,040 There was a tank near me, I saw just blown to bits. 22 00:01:38,040 --> 00:01:41,560 A couple of my mates were in that. It was terrible. 23 00:01:43,200 --> 00:01:46,360 The bond you established in Tank, 24 00:01:46,360 --> 00:01:51,560 was not a normal relationships of friends. 25 00:01:51,560 --> 00:01:54,960 You were a partnership, it was closer than friendship. 26 00:01:54,960 --> 00:01:57,520 That crew were friends for life. 27 00:01:58,640 --> 00:02:04,120 This is the story of six remarkable men from one armoured unit, 28 00:02:04,120 --> 00:02:07,600 The 5th Royal Tank Regiment, 5 RTR. 29 00:02:07,600 --> 00:02:12,320 Or to those who really knew them, the Filthy 5th. 30 00:02:12,320 --> 00:02:16,040 Their war is brought to life not only by the few surviving veterans, 31 00:02:16,040 --> 00:02:20,120 but also by previously unseen letters and diaries 32 00:02:20,120 --> 00:02:25,240 that give us a real insight of the visceral reality of tank warfare. 33 00:02:27,720 --> 00:02:30,480 Each of these men has his own story. 34 00:02:30,480 --> 00:02:35,000 Some were wounded, some captured and some were killed. 35 00:02:35,000 --> 00:02:38,760 A few, the lucky few, went all the way through. 36 00:02:38,760 --> 00:02:42,920 Together their accounts form a unique picture of the war. 37 00:02:42,920 --> 00:02:45,960 And they weren't called the Filthy 5th for nothing. 38 00:02:56,120 --> 00:03:01,080 The Filthy 5th's odyssey began at the very beginning of the war. 39 00:03:01,080 --> 00:03:03,640 Not with a bang...but a whimper. 40 00:03:05,280 --> 00:03:11,040 In June 1940, men from the 5th Tanks are stuck at Cherbourg, waiting for a ship home. 41 00:03:13,200 --> 00:03:16,600 Having been bloodied in the disastrous battle for France, 42 00:03:16,600 --> 00:03:18,640 the unit was scattered. 43 00:03:18,640 --> 00:03:20,880 Its men bitter and disillusioned. 44 00:03:22,520 --> 00:03:25,360 It had, after all, only arrived a few weeks earlier. 45 00:03:30,680 --> 00:03:33,520 Their mission had been straightforward enough... 46 00:03:33,520 --> 00:03:36,560 to reinforce the British expeditionary force in France, 47 00:03:36,560 --> 00:03:39,560 and halt the German onslaught across northern Europe. 48 00:03:42,760 --> 00:03:46,520 But as they approached the River Somme, in tanks that were fast 49 00:03:46,520 --> 00:03:52,000 but poorly armoured and already obsolete, the 5th Tanks 50 00:03:52,000 --> 00:03:56,320 were given the sledgehammer treatment by superior German Panzers. 51 00:04:01,840 --> 00:04:07,240 By 1940, the tank was the essential component of warfare on the ground. 52 00:04:07,240 --> 00:04:10,680 Yet Britain simply didn't have what was needed. 53 00:04:10,680 --> 00:04:14,320 In the years before the war, they'd left it too late 54 00:04:14,320 --> 00:04:18,560 to start their rearmament and there was nobody for whom that failure 55 00:04:18,560 --> 00:04:21,200 was more galling than the Royal Tank Regiment. 56 00:04:25,720 --> 00:04:29,800 Pursued by the German Panzer divisions, the 5th Tanks went to pieces, 57 00:04:29,800 --> 00:04:34,760 claiming they never got any orders, let alone food. 58 00:04:34,760 --> 00:04:37,640 As they retreated along with their French allies, 59 00:04:37,640 --> 00:04:40,280 they left most of their equipment behind. 60 00:04:41,720 --> 00:04:44,200 It was a shambles on a grand scale. 61 00:04:48,680 --> 00:04:53,120 During those few weeks in France, they'd lost most of their tanks. 62 00:04:53,120 --> 00:04:56,960 They could only claim a single, knocked out German one, 63 00:04:56,960 --> 00:05:01,160 and many of the soldiers confessed they'd spent much of the time drunk. 64 00:05:01,160 --> 00:05:06,920 The 5th Tanks' first experience of the war had been an exercise in humiliation. 65 00:05:11,280 --> 00:05:14,440 Corporal Harry Finlayson, 25, a regular, 66 00:05:14,440 --> 00:05:17,600 had already seen service in India. 67 00:05:17,600 --> 00:05:21,920 But commanding a tank in France was bewildering. 68 00:05:21,920 --> 00:05:24,360 Couldn't believe we'd be pushed back. 69 00:05:24,360 --> 00:05:28,200 It never entered my head. I thought we'd go straight into Germany, 70 00:05:28,200 --> 00:05:30,840 was so sure about it. 71 00:05:30,840 --> 00:05:34,120 When we started getting pushed back, I couldn't believe it. 72 00:05:38,240 --> 00:05:43,880 When you think of the tanks the Germans had and the tanks we had, they were all over us. 73 00:05:43,880 --> 00:05:46,000 We didn't have a chance. 74 00:05:46,000 --> 00:05:48,480 There were Germans everywhere, like. 75 00:05:58,320 --> 00:06:02,360 Harry wasn't the only one dismayed by the 5th's French farce. 76 00:06:04,000 --> 00:06:08,080 A canny 25-year-old Glaswegian, Trooper Jake Wardrop, 77 00:06:08,080 --> 00:06:12,760 provided one of the most perceptive accounts, written in a pocket diary. 78 00:06:15,280 --> 00:06:18,640 "It was all as inadequate as would have been an effort 79 00:06:18,640 --> 00:06:22,080 "to tie down a mad bull with white cotton. 80 00:06:22,080 --> 00:06:25,320 "We had a ridiculously small amount of material, 81 00:06:25,320 --> 00:06:29,000 "and an even smaller amount of organisation. 82 00:06:29,000 --> 00:06:31,760 "My own opinion of the Somme episode 83 00:06:31,760 --> 00:06:34,520 "was that it was a very silly place to be." 84 00:06:36,120 --> 00:06:39,760 Jake Waldrop was a great treasure to the 5th Tanks. 85 00:06:40,960 --> 00:06:44,400 He was no fool, he was able to assess the situation very... 86 00:06:46,640 --> 00:06:49,240 ..adequately for his own satisfaction. 87 00:06:49,240 --> 00:06:51,040 Hence the diaries he wrote. 88 00:06:51,040 --> 00:06:53,400 Which, of course, he shouldn't have been writing. 89 00:06:53,400 --> 00:06:57,240 Because if the tank was captured and the diary was in it, 90 00:06:57,240 --> 00:07:01,880 positions and the details of the unit would be available. 91 00:07:01,880 --> 00:07:07,200 But 5th Tanks had regard to those rules which... 92 00:07:07,200 --> 00:07:11,440 they liked to abide by, and not those they didn't. 93 00:07:14,000 --> 00:07:18,160 Back in England, the 5th Tanks regrouped at an army base in Surrey. 94 00:07:19,560 --> 00:07:22,600 Here, the old regulars were joined by new recruits, 95 00:07:22,600 --> 00:07:26,240 citizen soldiers, like 24-year-old Gerry Solomon. 96 00:07:27,640 --> 00:07:33,800 When I arrived, I felt like a fish out of water, because there were we, more or less rookies, 97 00:07:33,800 --> 00:07:38,080 as they called them, and all these other people 98 00:07:38,080 --> 00:07:42,960 had just come back from France and they were more hardened soldiers. 99 00:07:44,200 --> 00:07:47,360 They didn't sort of include you in their conversations. 100 00:07:47,360 --> 00:07:52,480 "He's a new boy, so he wouldn't understand it." 101 00:07:52,480 --> 00:07:55,320 But, eventually, I was accepted. 102 00:07:57,280 --> 00:08:00,000 And just as Trooper Solomon was settling in, 103 00:08:00,000 --> 00:08:04,440 5th Tanks was told to make ready for active service abroad. 104 00:08:04,440 --> 00:08:05,880 CROWDS CHEER 105 00:08:07,840 --> 00:08:12,600 In June 1940, the Italian dictator, Benito Mussolini, 106 00:08:12,600 --> 00:08:15,000 declared war on Britain. 107 00:08:15,000 --> 00:08:17,440 HE SPEAKS ITALIAN 108 00:08:25,240 --> 00:08:26,560 CROWDS CHEER 109 00:08:29,600 --> 00:08:33,240 His ambition was to conquer British-occupied Egypt 110 00:08:33,240 --> 00:08:36,640 and the strategically vital Suez Canal. 111 00:08:36,640 --> 00:08:41,840 Libya, an Italian colony, provided the launching pad for this invasion. 112 00:08:45,720 --> 00:08:49,600 By the autumn of 1940, the men of 5th Tanks were on their way 113 00:08:49,600 --> 00:08:53,000 to the Middle East to the Allied garrison, protecting Egypt. 114 00:08:55,920 --> 00:08:58,480 For some, it all seemed like an adventure. 115 00:09:00,520 --> 00:09:04,160 Well, I was excited about going abroad and seeing the Middle East. 116 00:09:05,440 --> 00:09:09,520 I was regarding it as a sort of sightseeing tour, more than anything. 117 00:09:16,000 --> 00:09:20,800 On the morning of Christmas Eve, 1940, after almost two months at sea, 118 00:09:20,800 --> 00:09:25,200 the 5th Tanks gathered in the Egyptian port of Alexandria. 119 00:09:29,160 --> 00:09:32,880 Far from home, each man thought of those they'd left behind. 120 00:09:37,040 --> 00:09:40,280 My mother, she was very upset because I was going. 121 00:09:41,480 --> 00:09:45,920 She said to me, "Promise me, Harry, that you'll come back." 122 00:09:45,920 --> 00:09:50,640 I said, "Yeah, I promise you, I'll come back." And she was crying. 123 00:09:50,640 --> 00:09:55,160 I told her, "No, don't worry, nobody there is going to kill me, 124 00:09:55,160 --> 00:09:56,440 "I'll come back." 125 00:10:05,080 --> 00:10:08,760 At the front, a small force of Allied troops was giving 126 00:10:08,760 --> 00:10:11,120 the Italian invaders a beating. 127 00:10:18,240 --> 00:10:25,040 For the loss of only 500, British forces had turned the tide and advanced into Libya. 128 00:10:25,040 --> 00:10:28,240 News that cheered the newly landed 5th Tanks. 129 00:10:30,520 --> 00:10:36,160 When we arrived we'd heard they had taken no end of Italian prisoners. 130 00:10:36,160 --> 00:10:40,120 Everybody was very, sort of, jubilant about it all, 131 00:10:40,120 --> 00:10:43,360 because I think it was possible we weren't going to be needed. 132 00:10:46,040 --> 00:10:49,800 But if Gerry Solomon thought they might be spared the unpleasantness 133 00:10:49,800 --> 00:10:53,280 of actual fighting, they were about to think again. 134 00:10:56,720 --> 00:11:00,960 In February 1941, a battle-hardened German force 135 00:11:00,960 --> 00:11:04,880 arrived in North Africa to rescue their Italian allies. 136 00:11:04,880 --> 00:11:07,000 The Afrika Korps. 137 00:11:08,880 --> 00:11:12,120 Armed with better tanks than the British, the Afrika Korps 138 00:11:12,120 --> 00:11:15,600 was led by a man who would change the dynamic of desert warfare... 139 00:11:18,320 --> 00:11:19,920 ..Erwin Rommel. 140 00:11:21,840 --> 00:11:25,960 Jake Wardrop described him as the bold, bad policeman. 141 00:11:25,960 --> 00:11:29,880 But he was more commonly known as the Desert Fox. 142 00:11:31,560 --> 00:11:36,240 The 5th Tanks had already encountered Rommel in France. 143 00:11:36,240 --> 00:11:42,440 But it was out here that the German general's talents found a perfect arena. 144 00:11:42,440 --> 00:11:46,880 It was, he wrote, "The only theatre where the principles 145 00:11:46,880 --> 00:11:51,520 of motorised and tank warfare could be applied to the full." 146 00:11:51,520 --> 00:11:54,360 And he had big plans for the Afrika Korps - 147 00:11:54,360 --> 00:11:59,040 to conquer British Egypt and drive onwards to the Arabian oil fields. 148 00:12:02,000 --> 00:12:06,240 On 24th March, 1941, Rommel launched an offensive. 149 00:12:07,440 --> 00:12:11,240 British headquarters had believed he wouldn't be ready for months. 150 00:12:13,080 --> 00:12:16,880 So when, on April Fools' Day, the 5th Tanks were attacked, 151 00:12:16,880 --> 00:12:21,880 they had been told by their commanders it could only be the hapless Italians. 152 00:12:26,480 --> 00:12:29,760 We'd got in this ditch and we saw some tanks coming, 153 00:12:29,760 --> 00:12:33,040 huge great tanks with big, black crosses on them. 154 00:12:33,040 --> 00:12:37,280 I said, "Bloody Germans!" We didn't have any Germans there. 155 00:12:37,280 --> 00:12:40,840 And then we see lorries coming with Germans in them. 156 00:12:40,840 --> 00:12:44,040 So I went back and reported and they wouldn't believe me. 157 00:12:44,040 --> 00:12:47,240 Company commander wouldn't believe me. "There's no Germans there." 158 00:12:47,240 --> 00:12:50,840 I said, "Well, they are." The next morning, we knew they were there. 159 00:12:51,960 --> 00:12:55,320 The tanks we had against theirs was impossible. 160 00:12:56,640 --> 00:12:59,160 They knew from bitter experience 161 00:12:59,160 --> 00:13:02,240 that British tanks such as the A-13, 162 00:13:02,240 --> 00:13:06,280 which had performed so poorly in the battle for France, 163 00:13:06,280 --> 00:13:10,040 were simply no match for the German Panzers. 164 00:13:10,040 --> 00:13:14,600 So, here it is - the A-13, a tank that embodies everything 165 00:13:14,600 --> 00:13:18,080 that was worst about British inter-war armoured vehicle design. 166 00:13:18,080 --> 00:13:20,920 It was overly ambitious in its technology 167 00:13:20,920 --> 00:13:24,560 and shoddily executed in the way it was manufactured. 168 00:13:28,600 --> 00:13:32,280 But the A-13 was also a death-trap to the men of the 5th. 169 00:13:34,200 --> 00:13:38,760 Get inside one of these and you'll see how hard that was to do. 170 00:13:41,240 --> 00:13:47,360 Or, more to the point, how hard it was to get out of them in a hurry. 171 00:13:47,360 --> 00:13:49,920 And that, combined with the thin armour, 172 00:13:49,920 --> 00:13:52,920 deprived the crew inside of the sense of security 173 00:13:52,920 --> 00:13:55,520 that you might have expected them to have. 174 00:13:59,120 --> 00:14:03,880 The 5th were now facing an enemy they simply weren't prepared for. 175 00:14:05,840 --> 00:14:09,680 Their poorer tanks were struck down by German shot. 176 00:14:09,680 --> 00:14:12,920 They were assailed from the skies by Stukas and Dorniers. 177 00:14:14,120 --> 00:14:17,440 The British command structure went to pieces. 178 00:14:17,440 --> 00:14:21,640 And, for some in the 5th, it was their first taste of action. 179 00:14:21,640 --> 00:14:26,920 Once you get into battle, you think, "Well, this is it. It's me or them." 180 00:14:29,640 --> 00:14:33,640 Everybody was scared. Everybody was sort of jittery and jumpy. 181 00:14:35,280 --> 00:14:39,920 When you're in a tank and you're being fired at, 182 00:14:39,920 --> 00:14:42,560 it's quite frightening. 183 00:14:42,560 --> 00:14:48,680 Because you're sure that he's going to hit you before you hit him. 184 00:14:50,280 --> 00:14:52,960 I don't think I ever prayed in the desert. 185 00:14:55,000 --> 00:14:59,120 I often wondered afterwards why I didn't. 186 00:15:06,760 --> 00:15:11,080 What Gerry Solomon and the others in 5th Tank were up against again was 187 00:15:11,080 --> 00:15:16,280 the superiority of the German mark three, the Panzerkampfwagen III. 188 00:15:16,280 --> 00:15:19,440 It had several advantages over British tanks. 189 00:15:19,440 --> 00:15:23,560 It weighed nearly twice as much and most of that was armour. 190 00:15:23,560 --> 00:15:25,240 And it was more reliable. 191 00:15:30,960 --> 00:15:35,160 The mark three is very well designed from the human perspective. 192 00:15:35,160 --> 00:15:40,280 The commander, who sat in this position, had fantastic all-round visibility - 193 00:15:40,280 --> 00:15:45,560 better, in fact, than I did in the same slot on a Chieftain back on Cold War exercises in the 1980s. 194 00:15:45,560 --> 00:15:48,520 He could also talk to other members of the crew very easily. 195 00:15:48,520 --> 00:15:53,440 The gunner, for example, who sits where I am. They've got very easy eye contact and all the rest of it. 196 00:15:53,440 --> 00:15:58,360 And, if it does all go horribly wrong, they've got escape hatches there, behind me and in the hull. 197 00:15:58,360 --> 00:16:01,400 They can get out much faster than the British crew could. 198 00:16:05,720 --> 00:16:08,520 As the German Panzers overran the British lines, 199 00:16:08,520 --> 00:16:11,960 chaos and confusion spread like wildfire. 200 00:16:13,880 --> 00:16:17,840 The funny thing was I don't think I felt scared. 201 00:16:17,840 --> 00:16:22,720 I think I was more worried about my crew. 202 00:16:22,720 --> 00:16:26,800 And I was telling the driver where to go. 203 00:16:26,800 --> 00:16:30,840 And I felt disappointed because we didn't have the power 204 00:16:30,840 --> 00:16:32,880 to knock Jerry tanks out. 205 00:16:36,720 --> 00:16:38,560 In the midst of this 206 00:16:38,560 --> 00:16:42,840 was a veteran officer aged just 26. 207 00:16:42,840 --> 00:16:44,720 Lieutenant Arthur Crickmay. 208 00:16:46,240 --> 00:16:50,400 Arthur Crickmay understood this landscape better than most. 209 00:16:50,400 --> 00:16:56,000 Before the war, he'd been out here with his best friend, Ted, as students exploring. 210 00:16:56,000 --> 00:16:59,560 Then he'd been posted ahead of 5th Tanks to another battalion 211 00:16:59,560 --> 00:17:04,160 that was already "up the blue", as the army called this wilderness. 212 00:17:06,400 --> 00:17:10,320 But he was dismayed at the failure of those in charge, 213 00:17:10,320 --> 00:17:13,480 as his letters home show so eloquently. 214 00:17:15,960 --> 00:17:20,520 "There was no information about what was happening. Rumour was rife. 215 00:17:20,520 --> 00:17:23,280 "It was April 1 and no mistake. 216 00:17:23,280 --> 00:17:28,200 "As the Daily Mail would say, 'Let us draw a merciful feel 217 00:17:28,200 --> 00:17:31,560 " 'over the next six days of muddle and confusion, 218 00:17:31,560 --> 00:17:33,560 " 'order and counter-order.' 219 00:17:37,640 --> 00:17:42,120 "My most vivid memory is one of our tanks exploding. 220 00:17:42,120 --> 00:17:45,800 "All the ammo inside must have gone up at once. 221 00:17:45,800 --> 00:17:48,440 "I've seen many tanks on fire, 222 00:17:48,440 --> 00:17:52,040 "but have never seen one go off like that before or since. 223 00:17:52,040 --> 00:17:56,240 "The next few days were among some of the most unpleasant I can remember." 224 00:18:00,800 --> 00:18:04,440 Lieutenant Arthur Crickmay understood only too well 225 00:18:04,440 --> 00:18:07,240 what happened when a shell struck a tank. 226 00:18:07,240 --> 00:18:11,440 It was the fate that befell so many of the men here. 227 00:18:11,440 --> 00:18:14,440 The projectile penetrating one side 228 00:18:14,440 --> 00:18:18,320 would lack the energy to exit through the other, 229 00:18:18,320 --> 00:18:22,360 ricocheting about inside, tearing people to pieces. 230 00:18:22,360 --> 00:18:27,240 If it struck ammunition or fuel, a fire could soon take hold. 231 00:18:27,240 --> 00:18:32,080 Smoke and flames would billow from the turret and, within 30 seconds, 232 00:18:32,080 --> 00:18:35,760 the temperature inside could match that of a furnace. 233 00:18:35,760 --> 00:18:38,800 The crew would be incinerated. 234 00:18:43,520 --> 00:18:48,760 Rommel's blue-eyed boys, as Wardrop called them, had in just over a week 235 00:18:48,760 --> 00:18:50,600 reversed British fortunes 236 00:18:50,600 --> 00:18:54,240 and regained all the territory the Italians had lost. 237 00:18:55,880 --> 00:18:58,120 Rommel was good, of course he was, 238 00:18:58,120 --> 00:19:02,760 but in this attack he hardly had to be brilliant. And here's why. 239 00:19:02,760 --> 00:19:09,080 Of 5 RTR's 52 tanks, nine had been destroyed by the Germans, 240 00:19:09,080 --> 00:19:11,400 two had limped into Tobruk, 241 00:19:11,400 --> 00:19:16,800 and the rest - 41 of them - had broken down in the desert. 242 00:19:16,800 --> 00:19:19,440 How good did the Afrika Korps have to be 243 00:19:19,440 --> 00:19:22,080 when the British had tanks like that? 244 00:19:25,160 --> 00:19:29,240 We were quite aware of the specifications of the German tanks. 245 00:19:29,240 --> 00:19:32,000 All their tanks had longer barrels 246 00:19:32,000 --> 00:19:35,280 which meant higher velocity for AP rounds. 247 00:19:35,280 --> 00:19:39,760 And we never really caught up until late in the war. 248 00:19:43,600 --> 00:19:46,840 Outgunned and outmanoeuvred, the 5th retreated 249 00:19:46,840 --> 00:19:51,280 to the only town in eastern Libya that Rommel hadn't taken. 250 00:19:51,280 --> 00:19:53,160 Tobruk. 251 00:19:54,560 --> 00:19:58,440 Bereft of their tanks, Corporal Finlayson and his crew 252 00:19:58,440 --> 00:20:01,480 were packed off to the trenches as infantry. 253 00:20:03,200 --> 00:20:06,720 We were surrounded at Tobruk at the time. 254 00:20:08,440 --> 00:20:11,640 And I was writing a letter to my wife. 255 00:20:11,640 --> 00:20:17,120 And a mate of mine was writing - one of the chaps was writing - 256 00:20:17,120 --> 00:20:19,160 a letter to his mother. 257 00:20:19,160 --> 00:20:23,280 And he said to me, "If I don't come out of this, will you post this letter for me?" 258 00:20:23,280 --> 00:20:27,280 I said, "Yeah. If I don't come out, post this letter." He said yes. 259 00:20:27,280 --> 00:20:31,040 So we wrote these letters. 260 00:20:31,040 --> 00:20:33,240 And we were in a trench. 261 00:20:33,240 --> 00:20:35,400 We sat down there in the trench writing, 262 00:20:35,400 --> 00:20:38,840 and when I had finished I turned around and looked at him. 263 00:20:38,840 --> 00:20:41,680 He was lying there dead with a bullet through his head. 264 00:20:43,840 --> 00:20:47,840 He was lying there, blood coming out of his head there, he was dead. 265 00:20:47,840 --> 00:20:50,440 Oh, it was terrible. 266 00:20:52,040 --> 00:20:54,280 And he'd only half done this letter. 267 00:20:54,280 --> 00:20:57,240 I didn't know what the devil to do, whether to send it or not. 268 00:20:57,240 --> 00:21:01,120 I thought, "No, I'd better not. It wouldn't be nice." Horrible thing. 269 00:21:01,120 --> 00:21:04,480 He was writing that and died, so I thought I'd better not. 270 00:21:04,480 --> 00:21:06,280 So I didn't send it. 271 00:21:06,280 --> 00:21:08,320 I did get in touch with the mother 272 00:21:08,320 --> 00:21:10,520 and told them I was with him when he died. 273 00:21:12,600 --> 00:21:16,200 I said he didn't suffer, he was killed outright. 274 00:21:21,920 --> 00:21:24,760 After weeks of being trapped in Tobruk, 275 00:21:24,760 --> 00:21:29,200 the 5th Tanks were delivered from that hell by the Royal Navy, 276 00:21:29,200 --> 00:21:31,880 taking their chances with the dive bombers 277 00:21:31,880 --> 00:21:35,920 and leaving the port to be defended by the Australians. 278 00:21:37,040 --> 00:21:40,400 By the time they returned to the comparative sanity 279 00:21:40,400 --> 00:21:44,880 of their base outside Alexandria, it was the end of spring. 280 00:21:44,880 --> 00:21:47,080 Having arrived at Christmas, 281 00:21:47,080 --> 00:21:52,000 they'd yet to experience the roasting heat of an Egyptian summer. 282 00:21:52,000 --> 00:21:54,400 Water was always an issue. 283 00:21:55,600 --> 00:21:57,880 Water was rationed in the desert. 284 00:21:57,880 --> 00:22:02,160 Each man got about this much to last 24 hours. 285 00:22:02,160 --> 00:22:06,120 That's if supplies got through - that was often a big if - 286 00:22:06,120 --> 00:22:09,440 and if they didn't have a leaking radiator on their tank 287 00:22:09,440 --> 00:22:11,280 that they had to pour some in. 288 00:22:11,280 --> 00:22:14,120 On their first march through the desert, 289 00:22:14,120 --> 00:22:18,160 some of the men in 5th Tanks became so desperately thirsty 290 00:22:18,160 --> 00:22:21,440 that they tore the seat cushions from their vehicles, 291 00:22:21,440 --> 00:22:24,880 left them in the desert overnight to collect dew 292 00:22:24,880 --> 00:22:28,240 and wrung them out into their mouths in the morning. 293 00:22:28,240 --> 00:22:32,600 It tasted disgusting, but what choice did they have? 294 00:22:35,280 --> 00:22:38,680 Some reprieve from the hardships of the desert 295 00:22:38,680 --> 00:22:42,240 came when the 5th were given leave in Alexandria. 296 00:22:42,240 --> 00:22:47,440 This allowed them to indulge in a little of what they fancied. 297 00:22:47,440 --> 00:22:52,560 Jake Wardrop headed to one of his favourite haunts, The Golden Bar. 298 00:22:52,560 --> 00:22:55,960 "At 9am, we hit the place. 299 00:22:55,960 --> 00:23:01,040 "And at 5am the following morning, we decided to call it a day. 300 00:23:02,200 --> 00:23:04,800 "What a time. A notable session." 301 00:23:08,680 --> 00:23:12,000 Well, Jake Wardrop survived that particular visit 302 00:23:12,000 --> 00:23:14,440 to The Golden Bar without a scrap. 303 00:23:14,440 --> 00:23:18,080 In his diary, he's rather coy about how many beatings 304 00:23:18,080 --> 00:23:20,560 he did in fact hand out. 305 00:23:20,560 --> 00:23:23,640 But we know from others there were quite a few. 306 00:23:23,640 --> 00:23:28,840 Wardrop himself said he couldn't resist tweaking the noses of those in authority. 307 00:23:28,840 --> 00:23:31,120 And soon after he'd got to Egypt, 308 00:23:31,120 --> 00:23:35,560 he was court martialled for a noisy drinking session in his tent. 309 00:23:35,560 --> 00:23:37,680 Officers came to the view that 310 00:23:37,680 --> 00:23:41,240 Wardrop was one of those men best kept in the field. 311 00:23:43,480 --> 00:23:46,800 Jake Wardrop was a very nice fellow. 312 00:23:46,800 --> 00:23:51,200 But he was a bit rough, if you know what I mean. 313 00:23:51,200 --> 00:23:54,760 And, according to what I'd heard, 314 00:23:54,760 --> 00:23:57,720 he was nothing but a source of trouble. 315 00:23:58,920 --> 00:24:01,360 You know, he would be lance corporal one day 316 00:24:01,360 --> 00:24:06,440 and a week or two later, he'd go out and get drunk 317 00:24:06,440 --> 00:24:10,480 and sort of smash places up and he'd be back to a trooper. 318 00:24:11,720 --> 00:24:14,440 But, of course, he was quite fearless. 319 00:24:18,080 --> 00:24:22,400 But while Jake and the boys enjoyed the drinking dives of Alexandria, 320 00:24:22,400 --> 00:24:26,160 everyone understood that in order to beat the Afrika Korps, 321 00:24:26,160 --> 00:24:28,800 the 5th and the rest of the British forces 322 00:24:28,800 --> 00:24:31,120 were going to need some new hardware. 323 00:24:33,240 --> 00:24:39,000 On 22 July, the 5th Tanks received some new American-made armour. 324 00:24:39,000 --> 00:24:42,480 The M3 Stuart - or, more commonly, the Honey. 325 00:24:44,960 --> 00:24:49,520 The old sweats cast a hard eye over this new American import, the Honey. 326 00:24:49,520 --> 00:24:52,360 And in some ways it was quite similar to the British tanks 327 00:24:52,360 --> 00:24:55,760 they were used to. Same sort of weight, about 12 tonnes, 328 00:24:55,760 --> 00:24:58,040 37mm gun also similar. 329 00:24:58,040 --> 00:25:00,080 But the really key difference 330 00:25:00,080 --> 00:25:03,440 was that the Americans used off-the-shelf technology 331 00:25:03,440 --> 00:25:05,760 and that made it much more reliable. 332 00:25:05,760 --> 00:25:07,560 The suspension - look at this - 333 00:25:07,560 --> 00:25:11,680 came from a tractor that had been built in America in the '30s. 334 00:25:11,680 --> 00:25:15,840 And the engine was from a fighter plane. It was a radial piston. 335 00:25:15,840 --> 00:25:17,480 Now, what all of that meant was 336 00:25:17,480 --> 00:25:20,560 it would keep going for far longer and far less trouble. 337 00:25:20,560 --> 00:25:24,120 And a nice side effect of the air-cooled engine, 338 00:25:24,120 --> 00:25:27,240 you didn't need water - very precious in the desert - 339 00:25:27,240 --> 00:25:32,560 and it sucked its air through the crew compartment - air conditioning. 340 00:25:36,080 --> 00:25:39,920 For the men of the 5th Tanks, the Honey was to be tested to the limit 341 00:25:39,920 --> 00:25:43,320 in one of the most visceral battles of their war so far. 342 00:25:43,320 --> 00:25:45,960 Operation Crusader. 343 00:25:49,640 --> 00:25:55,200 On 18 November 1941, after four long months of preparation, 344 00:25:55,200 --> 00:25:58,920 the 5th Tanks crossed the border into Libya. 345 00:25:58,920 --> 00:26:01,000 As part of the 7th Armoured Division, 346 00:26:01,000 --> 00:26:03,640 they were in a 750-tank army, 347 00:26:03,640 --> 00:26:07,320 twice that of the Axis Forces put together. 348 00:26:07,320 --> 00:26:09,760 They also had generous air support. 349 00:26:12,360 --> 00:26:15,000 Their mission was ambitious - 350 00:26:15,000 --> 00:26:17,120 to retake eastern Libya, 351 00:26:17,120 --> 00:26:20,320 relieve Tobruk, and destroy the Afrika Korps. 352 00:26:21,520 --> 00:26:26,440 To do this, they hoped to envelop the Axis Forces along the frontier 353 00:26:26,440 --> 00:26:28,960 with a great left armoured hook. 354 00:26:28,960 --> 00:26:32,160 This would bring them up close to the Tobruk garrison 355 00:26:32,160 --> 00:26:34,120 which would then break out to meet them. 356 00:26:34,120 --> 00:26:36,960 The Afrika Korps would be trapped 357 00:26:36,960 --> 00:26:40,200 between Tobruk and the Egyptian border. 358 00:26:41,840 --> 00:26:45,080 Churchill signalled the importance of the battle to come. 359 00:26:45,080 --> 00:26:47,520 He said, "For the first time, 360 00:26:47,520 --> 00:26:52,320 "British and Empire troops will meet the Germans with modern weapons. 361 00:26:52,320 --> 00:26:56,280 "The battle will affect the whole course of the war. 362 00:26:56,280 --> 00:27:00,320 "The desert army may be able to write a page in history 363 00:27:00,320 --> 00:27:03,760 "that will rank with Blenheim and Waterloo. 364 00:27:03,760 --> 00:27:06,600 "All of our hearts go with you." 365 00:27:12,120 --> 00:27:15,520 Within two days of crossing the border, the 5th Tanks had 366 00:27:15,520 --> 00:27:20,760 bypassed their enemy's frontline and advanced an extraordinary 150 miles. 367 00:27:22,240 --> 00:27:24,920 When we got the Honeys, 368 00:27:24,920 --> 00:27:29,240 that was when we really started to get involved in the fighting. 369 00:27:29,240 --> 00:27:32,200 The Honey was a very manoeuvrable tank, 370 00:27:32,200 --> 00:27:34,960 it could get in places where others could not get. 371 00:27:37,880 --> 00:27:41,480 The Honey's speed and reliability helped the 5th rush ahead 372 00:27:41,480 --> 00:27:44,760 to the airfield of Sidi Rezegh near Tobruk. 373 00:27:44,760 --> 00:27:48,280 The British seized it with a surprise attack, 374 00:27:48,280 --> 00:27:52,160 but soon that success turned sour as British commanders 375 00:27:52,160 --> 00:27:55,120 decided that the tactic of rushing the Germans, 376 00:27:55,120 --> 00:27:59,200 rather like the charge of the Light Brigade, might keep working. 377 00:28:02,960 --> 00:28:07,360 Balaclava charges, rushing towards the enemy, were a tactic 378 00:28:07,360 --> 00:28:10,560 frequently used by British tank regiments in the desert. 379 00:28:12,040 --> 00:28:16,120 To Jake Wardrop and his mates, that was absolute madness. 380 00:28:16,120 --> 00:28:21,240 A - because it did not work, and B - because it cost lives. 381 00:28:24,320 --> 00:28:28,240 "It was decided to give them the good old charge again. 382 00:28:28,240 --> 00:28:31,720 "Quite frankly, I was not so strong for this charging business, 383 00:28:31,720 --> 00:28:34,200 "although we continued to do it. 384 00:28:34,200 --> 00:28:39,440 "Off we went. We went storming right into these tanks, firing as we went." 385 00:28:43,840 --> 00:28:48,600 Rommel had to break out of the British encirclement or face defeat. 386 00:28:48,600 --> 00:28:52,640 Sidi Rezegh became the focus of his efforts. 387 00:28:52,640 --> 00:28:55,160 Anti-tank guns and tanks slugged it out. 388 00:29:02,320 --> 00:29:05,000 It was like a scene from the Apocalypse. 389 00:29:07,040 --> 00:29:09,000 My tank was hit. 390 00:29:09,000 --> 00:29:12,160 It immediately went up into flames. 391 00:29:13,960 --> 00:29:18,880 One of the crew scrambled out of the tank, and he was... 392 00:29:18,880 --> 00:29:24,320 What little bit of clothing he had left was still flaming. 393 00:29:24,320 --> 00:29:27,680 And, er... 394 00:29:27,680 --> 00:29:32,560 he, when we managed to get to him and tend to him, 395 00:29:32,560 --> 00:29:39,040 his skin had all rolled off, curled up and rolled off. 396 00:29:41,840 --> 00:29:46,400 We thought we'd go and look in the burnt-out tank, and we looked down 397 00:29:46,400 --> 00:29:52,400 and there was a bleached skeleton, right across the floor of the tank. 398 00:29:52,400 --> 00:30:00,080 There was just these steel-rimmed glasses on the skull. 399 00:30:00,080 --> 00:30:01,080 There. 400 00:30:05,760 --> 00:30:07,840 Gerry Solomon had received a salutary lesson 401 00:30:07,840 --> 00:30:11,680 in the limitations of the popgun, as he and the others 402 00:30:11,680 --> 00:30:16,520 started calling the 37mm cannon mounted on their Honey tanks. 403 00:30:16,520 --> 00:30:17,760 It fired one of these, 404 00:30:17,760 --> 00:30:21,200 and in order to have a decent chance of knocking out a German 405 00:30:21,200 --> 00:30:25,400 armoured vehicle, you had to get to within about 800 yards of it. 406 00:30:25,400 --> 00:30:28,560 All the time you were trying to do that, you could be under 407 00:30:28,560 --> 00:30:33,680 fire from an 88mm German gun with a range of two miles. 408 00:30:34,840 --> 00:30:37,640 It fired one of these. 409 00:30:43,360 --> 00:30:48,600 Desperate to avoid defeat, the Axis troops attacked again and again. 410 00:30:48,600 --> 00:30:53,080 It became a grim slugging match, a battle of attrition in which 411 00:30:53,080 --> 00:30:57,600 superior German guns and armour began to tell. 412 00:30:57,600 --> 00:31:02,480 As regards firepower, the Honey was inadequate against the German armour, 413 00:31:02,480 --> 00:31:07,320 which was three or four inches thick. 414 00:31:07,320 --> 00:31:09,120 The shells would just bounce off. 415 00:31:13,440 --> 00:31:17,280 By the evening of the 21st November, 5th Tanks had been 416 00:31:17,280 --> 00:31:21,400 sucked into the desperate fighting on Sidi Rezegh airfield. 417 00:31:21,400 --> 00:31:24,360 One of the commanders there, Brigadier Jock Campbell, 418 00:31:24,360 --> 00:31:26,600 took matters into his own hands. 419 00:31:35,680 --> 00:31:39,000 At the height of the battle, Brigadier Jock Campbell 420 00:31:39,000 --> 00:31:44,080 appeared through a hail of shot and shell in an open-top staff car 421 00:31:44,080 --> 00:31:47,720 and urged the 5th Tanks' Honeys to follow him forward. 422 00:31:47,720 --> 00:31:52,000 It was an act of courage bordering on madness, for which he won the VC. 423 00:31:53,320 --> 00:31:56,880 But an officer from the 5th Tanks tried to stop him, 424 00:31:56,880 --> 00:31:59,280 and Brigadier Campbell drew his revolver, 425 00:31:59,280 --> 00:32:02,360 telling the officer that the tank men had been sent there 426 00:32:02,360 --> 00:32:06,000 to die anyway, and if he got in the way he would shoot him. 427 00:32:12,920 --> 00:32:15,600 The price of this attack was heavy. 428 00:32:15,600 --> 00:32:18,600 When Harry Finlayson's tank was knocked out that night, 429 00:32:18,600 --> 00:32:22,360 he joined the list of those missing in action. 430 00:32:26,360 --> 00:32:29,640 They just put a shell on my engine and blew it up. 431 00:32:29,640 --> 00:32:32,400 That was it, we were right in the middle of the German lines, 432 00:32:32,400 --> 00:32:33,680 we couldn't do anything else. 433 00:32:34,840 --> 00:32:37,400 I stood on the top of the tank, put my hands out, 434 00:32:37,400 --> 00:32:41,640 when they came round surrounding us, I got my crew out 435 00:32:41,640 --> 00:32:47,080 and the German officer said, for you, the war is over. 436 00:32:51,800 --> 00:32:55,000 After weeks of fighting, Rommel battered his way 437 00:32:55,000 --> 00:32:59,640 out of the Allied trap, saving the Afrika Korps from destruction. 438 00:32:59,640 --> 00:33:02,480 In early December, the British relieved Tobruk 439 00:33:02,480 --> 00:33:06,320 and completed the reconquest of eastern Libya. 440 00:33:06,320 --> 00:33:10,160 The 8th Army had succeeded in two out of three aims, 441 00:33:10,160 --> 00:33:13,680 but Rommel's escape and the scale of the slaughter 442 00:33:13,680 --> 00:33:18,560 meant its soldiers were hardly in a mood to celebrate. 443 00:33:18,560 --> 00:33:21,160 Arthur Crickmay had lost his best friend. 444 00:33:22,800 --> 00:33:27,840 The operation as a whole can only be described as a gigantic cock-up. 445 00:33:29,640 --> 00:33:33,160 We won in the end, but at what cost? 446 00:33:36,600 --> 00:33:39,920 Returning from the front, the men of 5 RTR lost themselves 447 00:33:39,920 --> 00:33:44,320 in the bars and brothels of Alexandria and Cairo. 448 00:33:47,000 --> 00:33:49,440 Having garrisoned the country for 60 years, 449 00:33:49,440 --> 00:33:53,680 the British Army knew plenty about Egypt's brothels. 450 00:33:53,680 --> 00:33:55,320 They gave the men condoms 451 00:33:55,320 --> 00:33:58,960 and brought doctors to inspect the prostitutes for VD. 452 00:33:58,960 --> 00:34:03,680 In the 1930s, a certain lieutenant colonel, Bernard Montgomery, 453 00:34:03,680 --> 00:34:05,480 who we will meet again soon, 454 00:34:05,480 --> 00:34:10,120 had insisted on medical inspections of this kind, because he said 455 00:34:10,120 --> 00:34:14,400 his men absolutely required their horizontal refreshment. 456 00:34:17,480 --> 00:34:23,920 Horizontal R&R and heavy drinking provided short-lived catharsis 457 00:34:23,920 --> 00:34:26,320 for those in 5 RTR, 458 00:34:26,320 --> 00:34:29,440 who'd come through the meat grinder of Operation Crusader. 459 00:34:29,440 --> 00:34:31,800 For many in the 5th Tanks, 460 00:34:31,800 --> 00:34:37,000 Sidi Rezegh marked their first real taste of the bitter reality of war. 461 00:34:37,000 --> 00:34:41,840 For anyone still with the Battalion who thought the war was 462 00:34:41,840 --> 00:34:45,560 a bit of a lark, illusions had been shattered. 463 00:34:45,560 --> 00:34:47,720 They now wanted vengeance. 464 00:34:52,320 --> 00:34:57,440 Vengeance for the 5th came in early 1942 in the form 465 00:34:57,440 --> 00:34:59,000 of new tanks from Uncle Sam. 466 00:35:07,000 --> 00:35:10,040 There's nothing quite like a bit of American overkill, 467 00:35:10,040 --> 00:35:12,280 and this is a monster. 468 00:35:12,280 --> 00:35:16,360 It weighs in at 26 tonnes, and look at the height of it. 469 00:35:16,360 --> 00:35:20,400 But the most important feature was the arsenal of weapons. 470 00:35:20,400 --> 00:35:22,720 It's got the same 37mm popgun up there 471 00:35:22,720 --> 00:35:24,960 in the turret that the Honey had, 472 00:35:24,960 --> 00:35:29,560 but the key thing is that it mounts this 75mm cannon here. 473 00:35:29,560 --> 00:35:32,960 This, for the first time, allowed the British tank crews to knock 474 00:35:32,960 --> 00:35:38,240 out not just Panzers, but anti-tank guns using high explosive shells. 475 00:35:38,240 --> 00:35:42,160 It also has machine guns in the hull and on the turret. 476 00:35:42,160 --> 00:35:45,960 One British commander described its arrival in the desert 477 00:35:45,960 --> 00:35:48,840 as being like the shift from sail to steel. 478 00:35:53,920 --> 00:35:57,920 Men were moving on, too - Arthur Crickmay was sent to Burma 479 00:35:57,920 --> 00:36:01,640 and Gerry Solomon, the former grocer and one-time rookie, 480 00:36:01,640 --> 00:36:04,080 was now a corporal commanding a tank. 481 00:36:07,720 --> 00:36:12,600 Jake Wardrop, despite his longer service, was still just a driver. 482 00:36:14,960 --> 00:36:18,320 The Allied front was settled on the Gazala line. 483 00:36:19,560 --> 00:36:23,360 It stretched from Gazala on the coast to the old 484 00:36:23,360 --> 00:36:27,000 Turkish fortress of Bir Hacheim, 40-odd miles to the south. 485 00:36:27,920 --> 00:36:30,320 But this was a risky position. 486 00:36:30,320 --> 00:36:36,760 The Gazala line didn't extend all the way to the impassable sands of the Sahara. 487 00:36:36,760 --> 00:36:38,720 This open flank had been left 488 00:36:38,720 --> 00:36:40,840 to allow the British to resume 489 00:36:40,840 --> 00:36:46,120 their advance, unless the Germans went inland and used it first. 490 00:36:49,880 --> 00:36:56,160 On the afternoon of 26 May, 1942, Rommel attacked the Gazala line. 491 00:36:56,160 --> 00:37:00,600 His artillery pinned the Allied troops close to the sea, while his 492 00:37:00,600 --> 00:37:04,680 armoured divisions were sent south of the Gazala line to attack their flank. 493 00:37:10,120 --> 00:37:16,400 On the morning of 27 May, 5 RTR were told to pack up and get ready. 494 00:37:18,640 --> 00:37:23,680 "The Bosch were not far away now, and we had to keep an eye on them. 495 00:37:23,680 --> 00:37:28,360 "I got up, had a wash, shave, cleaned my teeth and slicked my hair up. 496 00:37:28,360 --> 00:37:32,240 "In fact, it used to be quite a ritual with us to get queened up, 497 00:37:32,240 --> 00:37:36,160 "as though we were going to the Plaza when we had a date with Erwin." 498 00:37:41,160 --> 00:37:45,280 Throughout the small hours, reports had been flying around that 499 00:37:45,280 --> 00:37:49,640 something very sizeable was going on to the south of the Gazala line. 500 00:37:51,120 --> 00:37:55,360 At 7.30pm, the order came through to move to battle positions. 501 00:37:57,800 --> 00:38:01,680 Five minutes later, the Honeys and the new Grants lurched forward. 502 00:38:15,080 --> 00:38:18,720 In the confusion of a desert battle, your enemy could be two miles away, 503 00:38:18,720 --> 00:38:23,000 and you have to scan the horizon with the utmost attention. 504 00:38:23,000 --> 00:38:25,840 A kick of dust was a gun firing. 505 00:38:26,880 --> 00:38:30,840 A second or two later, a sound like ripping paper announced 506 00:38:30,840 --> 00:38:34,160 a high-velocity round flashing past you or overhead. 507 00:38:36,600 --> 00:38:40,840 If the light burning in its tail was red, it was British fire. 508 00:38:40,840 --> 00:38:44,120 If it was green or yellow, it was enemy. 509 00:38:44,120 --> 00:38:46,320 Registering those fleeting sights 510 00:38:46,320 --> 00:38:50,240 and sounds could make all the difference between life and death. 511 00:39:03,680 --> 00:39:07,240 The hot, dry wind, which was so unpleasant that the Arabs 512 00:39:07,240 --> 00:39:11,400 claimed it was enough to excuse murder, started to blow as well. 513 00:39:14,400 --> 00:39:17,920 British commanders had been caught by surprise. 514 00:39:17,920 --> 00:39:22,880 In the unfolding mayhem of confused close-range fights, the generals' 515 00:39:22,880 --> 00:39:27,400 habit of keeping ordinary tank crews in the dark cost them dear. 516 00:39:32,080 --> 00:39:35,960 It was very confusing, you could not get any definite information. 517 00:39:35,960 --> 00:39:38,760 They didn't want you to have information, in case 518 00:39:38,760 --> 00:39:42,240 you got captured and you gave it away. 519 00:39:42,240 --> 00:39:44,400 They kept information from you. 520 00:39:45,520 --> 00:39:48,120 They only told you what they wanted you to know. 521 00:39:54,240 --> 00:39:58,080 On the 2nd June, the 5th Tanks suffered their worst day of the war. 522 00:39:58,080 --> 00:40:02,680 Only eight Honeys and one Grant returned from battle. 523 00:40:02,680 --> 00:40:07,200 Some 51 officers and men of tank crews were dead or missing. 524 00:40:10,800 --> 00:40:15,520 The surviving officers decided to fortify their men by a method 525 00:40:15,520 --> 00:40:18,400 used since antiquity, a rum ration. 526 00:40:22,880 --> 00:40:25,680 Alcohol might have numbed them temporarily, 527 00:40:25,680 --> 00:40:28,960 but the grim reality got clearer by the day. 528 00:40:28,960 --> 00:40:32,200 The Gazala line had collapsed. 529 00:40:35,800 --> 00:40:42,560 On 21 June, 1942, Tobruk's garrison of 30,000 surrendered. 530 00:40:42,560 --> 00:40:48,240 After trying to take the city for two years, Rommel was triumphant. 531 00:40:53,400 --> 00:40:56,120 The British Army was now in full retreat, 532 00:40:56,120 --> 00:40:59,600 having been out-gunned, out-manoeuvred, and out-generalled. 533 00:41:00,680 --> 00:41:04,680 Those in charge called it a strategic withdrawal, 534 00:41:04,680 --> 00:41:07,680 but this was a disaster by any other name. 535 00:41:08,960 --> 00:41:12,240 Just a few weeks before, the British had built up a huge 536 00:41:12,240 --> 00:41:15,880 superiority in weapons, and were poised to mount their own 537 00:41:15,880 --> 00:41:19,640 offensive, yet now they were in headlong retreat. 538 00:41:19,640 --> 00:41:25,880 How had it happened? Many soldiers had a one-word explanation, Rommel. 539 00:41:25,880 --> 00:41:29,960 It's true the conduct of his campaign had been brilliant. 540 00:41:29,960 --> 00:41:33,160 In my view, the only one in the desert war where 541 00:41:33,160 --> 00:41:36,440 he really deserved his stellar reputation. 542 00:41:36,440 --> 00:41:40,120 But the real failure was that of British military leadership. 543 00:41:43,920 --> 00:41:47,640 While Rommel basked in glory, Churchill was desperate. 544 00:41:49,160 --> 00:41:53,440 He wrote, "Defeat is one thing, disgrace is another." 545 00:41:57,440 --> 00:42:00,760 5 RTR had to be rebuilt - and quickly. 546 00:42:00,760 --> 00:42:04,600 Dozens of new recruits arrived, like Bill Chorley 547 00:42:04,600 --> 00:42:09,200 and fellow conscript Bob Lay, both in their early 20s. 548 00:42:10,480 --> 00:42:13,000 Bill and I were in the same tank. 549 00:42:13,000 --> 00:42:16,600 I was the operator and Bill was a gunner 550 00:42:16,600 --> 00:42:20,800 and because of the loneliness 551 00:42:20,800 --> 00:42:23,720 of the desert, your social life was 552 00:42:23,720 --> 00:42:27,360 limited to your crew every day. 553 00:42:27,360 --> 00:42:28,800 You knew everything, 554 00:42:28,800 --> 00:42:31,840 everything there was to know about each other. 555 00:42:33,760 --> 00:42:37,720 And you had a very, very good bond with them. 556 00:42:41,200 --> 00:42:44,040 "Bob Lay has been with me since I joined up. 557 00:42:44,040 --> 00:42:45,760 "We spent six weeks at base. 558 00:42:45,760 --> 00:42:48,080 "Most of the time was taken up 559 00:42:48,080 --> 00:42:50,560 "on wireless and driving courses. 560 00:42:50,560 --> 00:42:55,000 "This was our introduction to the desert. It was a rough do, there." 561 00:43:01,280 --> 00:43:06,280 By 30th June 1942, the British had fallen back to 562 00:43:06,280 --> 00:43:11,240 the only defensible line between the frontier and the Nile Delta, 563 00:43:11,240 --> 00:43:14,760 a railway halt just 60 miles from Alexandria, 564 00:43:14,760 --> 00:43:16,320 El Alamein. 565 00:43:18,920 --> 00:43:22,840 The geography of the North African coast offers very few places 566 00:43:22,840 --> 00:43:25,240 where you can make a stand. 567 00:43:25,240 --> 00:43:28,920 If you put in a blocking position on the coastal strip, 568 00:43:28,920 --> 00:43:33,400 people can simply go round on the inland side and bypass it 569 00:43:33,400 --> 00:43:35,800 and that's what Rommel did time and again. 570 00:43:35,800 --> 00:43:39,880 This is one of the few places that's different, Alamein. 571 00:43:39,880 --> 00:43:41,320 Inland, there's the 572 00:43:41,320 --> 00:43:43,760 Qattara Depression, an impassable 573 00:43:43,760 --> 00:43:45,880 area of sand dunes that Rommel 574 00:43:45,880 --> 00:43:48,120 simply couldn't get through. 575 00:43:48,120 --> 00:43:50,880 This is where the British chose to fight. 576 00:43:54,720 --> 00:43:58,760 And Churchill decided that for this battle the Desert Army needed 577 00:43:58,760 --> 00:44:01,200 a clean sweep at the top. 578 00:44:01,200 --> 00:44:05,560 His senior generals had presided over woeful failure. 579 00:44:05,560 --> 00:44:08,480 They hadn't delivered the victory he so craved 580 00:44:08,480 --> 00:44:10,040 and that Britain so needed. 581 00:44:11,280 --> 00:44:14,680 On 20th August, he made a personal appearance in the desert. 582 00:44:16,600 --> 00:44:19,280 'We felt very proud and honoured when Churchill came 583 00:44:19,280 --> 00:44:22,040 'and he was all praise for us.' 584 00:44:22,040 --> 00:44:25,800 We knew very well the job wasn't done. 585 00:44:25,800 --> 00:44:28,400 We had to go and make sure 586 00:44:28,400 --> 00:44:30,080 the enemy was out of the desert. 587 00:44:32,480 --> 00:44:34,160 Churchill was joined by 588 00:44:34,160 --> 00:44:37,400 Lieutenant General Bernard Montgomery. 589 00:44:37,400 --> 00:44:39,800 The Times newspaper reported that, 590 00:44:39,800 --> 00:44:42,320 "It may well be that historians will 591 00:44:42,320 --> 00:44:46,400 "point to this date as decisive in determining the course of the war." 592 00:44:52,160 --> 00:44:54,760 The one great thing that Montgomery did 593 00:44:54,760 --> 00:44:57,080 was to ensure that 594 00:44:57,080 --> 00:45:01,320 everybody knew what the opposition was, 595 00:45:01,320 --> 00:45:04,000 what the objectives were, 596 00:45:04,000 --> 00:45:08,040 so we had a concept of what was expected of us. 597 00:45:08,040 --> 00:45:11,880 He was the type of man who would say, "You want me to beat the 598 00:45:11,880 --> 00:45:14,560 "Germans in the desert, 599 00:45:14,560 --> 00:45:19,440 "you must give me enough tanks and men to do it. 600 00:45:19,440 --> 00:45:22,040 "And they are not going to do it until you do." 601 00:45:22,040 --> 00:45:23,560 That was his attitude. 602 00:45:23,560 --> 00:45:25,720 And so it was. 603 00:45:25,720 --> 00:45:28,640 We couldn't believe the amount of stuff that was coming up there. 604 00:45:33,560 --> 00:45:36,680 Monty also had a real flair for publicity. 605 00:45:36,680 --> 00:45:41,080 He took to wearing a black RTR beret with the regimental tank badge 606 00:45:41,080 --> 00:45:43,280 next to his general's one, 607 00:45:43,280 --> 00:45:48,920 as a sort of sign of respect for men like Gerry Solomon and Bob Lay. 608 00:45:48,920 --> 00:45:53,600 As to what they made of him, that was a more complex issue. 609 00:45:53,600 --> 00:45:57,200 Many relished the change in atmosphere that his arrival brought, 610 00:45:57,200 --> 00:46:00,880 but equally, they couldn't forget that he might send them 611 00:46:00,880 --> 00:46:04,600 to their deaths and he didn't really understand tank warfare. 612 00:46:08,360 --> 00:46:11,520 But what Montgomery did understand was that Rommel could be 613 00:46:11,520 --> 00:46:13,880 relied upon to try the tactics 614 00:46:13,880 --> 00:46:16,560 he'd used so effectively before. 615 00:46:16,560 --> 00:46:18,520 And Monty had a plan. 616 00:46:18,520 --> 00:46:23,000 He would secure his inland flank south of Alamein at a ridge 617 00:46:23,000 --> 00:46:24,600 called Alam Halfa. 618 00:46:30,320 --> 00:46:33,160 During the early hours of 31st August, 619 00:46:33,160 --> 00:46:35,760 the Germans were sighted moving north. 620 00:46:35,760 --> 00:46:38,840 British intelligence had pinpointed the time 621 00:46:38,840 --> 00:46:41,320 and place of this thrust with precision. 622 00:46:43,080 --> 00:46:45,040 Alam Halfa arose 623 00:46:45,040 --> 00:46:49,800 because Rommel liked to make surprise attacks in force 624 00:46:49,800 --> 00:46:53,440 and at speed. 625 00:46:53,440 --> 00:46:56,200 We had Enigma then 626 00:46:56,200 --> 00:46:58,920 and we prepared for it. 627 00:47:02,480 --> 00:47:05,560 Rommel assumed that he had a clear desert ahead 628 00:47:05,560 --> 00:47:08,600 and that he could repeat his Gazala success, 629 00:47:08,600 --> 00:47:13,560 hardly imagining that it was now his turn to waltz into an ambush. 630 00:47:20,800 --> 00:47:24,880 Waiting for him were, among others, 5 RTR. 631 00:47:28,000 --> 00:47:30,040 And we waited 632 00:47:30,040 --> 00:47:32,880 and he appeared. 633 00:47:32,880 --> 00:47:37,120 We let him come on and when he was 634 00:47:37,120 --> 00:47:38,960 in range, we let him have it. 635 00:47:45,440 --> 00:47:47,320 It was at Alam Halfa that the 636 00:47:47,320 --> 00:47:50,960 desert war reached its real turning point. 637 00:47:50,960 --> 00:47:54,400 The British brigade had been deployed along this ridge, 638 00:47:54,400 --> 00:47:57,360 slap bang in the path of a German Panzer division, 639 00:47:57,360 --> 00:47:59,280 advancing from the south. 640 00:48:06,400 --> 00:48:09,920 In a couple of hours, its integrated defence of artillery, 641 00:48:09,920 --> 00:48:12,480 anti-tank guns and the Grants of 5th Tanks, 642 00:48:12,480 --> 00:48:14,400 took apart the Panzer division. 643 00:48:18,360 --> 00:48:21,000 Rommel had tried his old trick, 644 00:48:21,000 --> 00:48:24,440 out-flanking from the inland side, and failed. 645 00:48:24,440 --> 00:48:26,320 He'd been beaten at his own game. 646 00:48:28,960 --> 00:48:33,000 One endeavoured to get as close to the enemy as possible, 647 00:48:33,000 --> 00:48:35,200 so that your gun was in range 648 00:48:35,200 --> 00:48:38,480 and could knock him out. 649 00:48:46,000 --> 00:48:49,440 The Battle Of Alam Halfa lasted just over a week. 650 00:48:50,880 --> 00:48:54,120 Alam Halfa was a significant battle 651 00:48:54,120 --> 00:48:57,400 for the 5th RTR, because we'd 652 00:48:57,400 --> 00:48:59,920 adopted new tactics 653 00:48:59,920 --> 00:49:04,280 and we'd given the Panzer division a good hiding. 654 00:49:09,040 --> 00:49:11,880 With his supply situation precarious 655 00:49:11,880 --> 00:49:14,320 and superior Allied firepower, 656 00:49:14,320 --> 00:49:16,480 Rommel fell back to regroup. 657 00:49:26,960 --> 00:49:29,600 While the Afrika Korps licked its wounds, 658 00:49:29,600 --> 00:49:33,960 British forces rehearsed every detail for the battle ahead. 659 00:49:33,960 --> 00:49:38,360 5th Tanks, exhausted after two years of fighting, 660 00:49:38,360 --> 00:49:40,840 were asked whether they were still up for it. 661 00:49:42,040 --> 00:49:43,320 "A parade was called 662 00:49:43,320 --> 00:49:45,960 "and we were given the choice of going to Cairo 663 00:49:45,960 --> 00:49:47,600 "and missing the push, 664 00:49:47,600 --> 00:49:50,160 "or staying on the blue and taking part in it. 665 00:49:51,560 --> 00:49:54,840 "At the end of his speech, we were asked to step forward 666 00:49:54,840 --> 00:49:56,080 "if we wanted to stay... 667 00:49:57,520 --> 00:49:59,920 "..and the whole battalion took a pace forward." 668 00:50:03,760 --> 00:50:06,640 Having rededicated themselves to the fight, 669 00:50:06,640 --> 00:50:10,520 the 5th Tanks came back out to the Alamein position. 670 00:50:10,520 --> 00:50:14,200 Montgomery had received vital strategic intelligence from 671 00:50:14,200 --> 00:50:17,600 intercepted German communications - Ultra. 672 00:50:17,600 --> 00:50:20,480 He also had hundreds of new tanks, 673 00:50:20,480 --> 00:50:22,000 ample supplies 674 00:50:22,000 --> 00:50:24,760 and substantial RAF support. 675 00:50:24,760 --> 00:50:28,760 It was time for the 8th Army to take the offensive. 676 00:50:34,280 --> 00:50:38,720 At 1900 hours, on 23 October 1942, 677 00:50:38,720 --> 00:50:45,120 220,000 men and over 1,000 Allied tanks lined up along the front. 678 00:50:48,560 --> 00:50:52,600 The long-awaited British assault to smash Axis forces 679 00:50:52,600 --> 00:50:57,600 and then drive them out of Africa altogether was about to start. 680 00:51:01,880 --> 00:51:04,920 To achieve this, the enemy needed 681 00:51:04,920 --> 00:51:06,600 a bit of softening up. 682 00:51:10,560 --> 00:51:13,280 EXPLOSIONS 683 00:51:18,760 --> 00:51:22,800 The sky was illuminated by continuous flashes of light. 684 00:51:22,800 --> 00:51:26,040 The whole horizon was covered. 685 00:51:28,080 --> 00:51:30,920 Not good for your ears. Hearing aids. 686 00:51:35,000 --> 00:51:37,640 The barrage lasted for six hours. 687 00:51:37,640 --> 00:51:41,920 It could be heard all the way to Alexandria, over 60 miles away. 688 00:51:50,400 --> 00:51:53,880 Once guns had been fired, German morale pummelled 689 00:51:53,880 --> 00:51:56,360 and minefields breached, 690 00:51:56,360 --> 00:51:59,360 it was time for Monty to let the armour loose. 691 00:52:02,080 --> 00:52:05,240 British tanks, including the 5th Tank Regiment, 692 00:52:05,240 --> 00:52:06,880 cut through the enemy lines. 693 00:52:08,560 --> 00:52:12,760 The biggest tank battle of the Desert Campaign had begun. 694 00:52:19,240 --> 00:52:22,920 We knew that this was going to be a God Almighty fight. 695 00:52:25,360 --> 00:52:29,440 I think after about a week we did start to get through. 696 00:52:30,640 --> 00:52:34,920 And I could see this monumental task that lay ahead of us. 697 00:52:38,960 --> 00:52:40,480 Losses were heavy. 698 00:52:40,480 --> 00:52:45,000 200 British tanks in the first 48 hours, 699 00:52:45,000 --> 00:52:48,320 as many as the Germans had started the battle with. 700 00:52:52,480 --> 00:52:55,600 But the 8th Army pressed on regardless. 701 00:52:55,600 --> 00:52:58,760 They had overall superiority and they knew it. 702 00:53:04,560 --> 00:53:06,600 GUNS FIRE 703 00:53:14,120 --> 00:53:17,760 It became quite apparent, very quickly, 704 00:53:17,760 --> 00:53:21,040 that they were making a run for it. 705 00:53:21,040 --> 00:53:23,480 There were tanks burning all over the place. 706 00:53:25,920 --> 00:53:29,480 And we were collecting prisoners, particularly the Italians, of course, 707 00:53:29,480 --> 00:53:31,040 cos they were left behind. 708 00:53:34,000 --> 00:53:35,640 "There were thousands 709 00:53:35,640 --> 00:53:37,680 "and thousands of prisoners. 710 00:53:37,680 --> 00:53:39,920 "If we happened to stop beside any, 711 00:53:39,920 --> 00:53:42,360 "we nipped out, pinched their watches, 712 00:53:42,360 --> 00:53:44,040 "binoculars, or anything else 713 00:53:44,040 --> 00:53:46,000 "they had and carried on." 714 00:53:54,680 --> 00:53:56,480 By the end of October, 715 00:53:56,480 --> 00:53:59,360 the situation was critical for Rommel. 716 00:53:59,360 --> 00:54:02,520 Having lost a vast quantity of his armour, 717 00:54:02,520 --> 00:54:05,080 his position was hopeless. 718 00:54:09,920 --> 00:54:12,640 On 4th November, the Afrika Korps 719 00:54:12,640 --> 00:54:14,440 began a full retreat. 720 00:54:17,280 --> 00:54:19,520 BELLS RING 721 00:54:19,520 --> 00:54:21,960 In Britain, as the news came through, 722 00:54:21,960 --> 00:54:25,120 Churchill ordered the church bells to be rung. 723 00:54:25,120 --> 00:54:29,000 It was the first time that this had been allowed since Dunkirk. 724 00:54:32,720 --> 00:54:36,520 On November 13th, Tobruk was retaken. 725 00:54:39,640 --> 00:54:42,960 In mid January 1943, Tripoli fell. 726 00:54:46,280 --> 00:54:48,640 Four months later, the Axis forces 727 00:54:48,640 --> 00:54:51,360 had been overwhelmed in North Africa 728 00:54:51,360 --> 00:54:54,600 and more than a quarter of a million prisoners taken. 729 00:54:56,080 --> 00:54:59,120 Churchill sensed a turning point in the war. 730 00:55:02,560 --> 00:55:05,000 CHURCHILL: 'Ah, this is not the end. 731 00:55:05,000 --> 00:55:08,680 'This is not even the beginning of the end. 732 00:55:08,680 --> 00:55:10,920 'But it is, perhaps, 733 00:55:10,920 --> 00:55:12,360 'the end of the beginning.' 734 00:55:15,320 --> 00:55:19,720 Churchill added, "When any man is asked what he did in the war, 735 00:55:19,720 --> 00:55:24,520 it will be sufficient for him to say, 'I fought in the Desert Army.' " 736 00:55:24,520 --> 00:55:28,800 Well, many in 5th Tanks took that as a hint that, in future, 737 00:55:28,800 --> 00:55:30,400 others would be called upon. 738 00:55:33,680 --> 00:55:35,400 No such luck. 739 00:55:35,400 --> 00:55:38,560 As the 5th shared the Desert Army's triumph, they were 740 00:55:38,560 --> 00:55:42,400 greeted by the news that they were now to be engaged in the fight 741 00:55:42,400 --> 00:55:45,640 for Italy, piercing what Churchill called, 742 00:55:45,640 --> 00:55:47,880 "Europe's soft underbelly." 743 00:55:50,120 --> 00:55:51,400 GUN FIRES 744 00:55:51,400 --> 00:55:52,760 After the desert, 745 00:55:52,760 --> 00:55:55,400 the close-range fighting in southern Italy 746 00:55:55,400 --> 00:55:57,320 came as a strain for everyone. 747 00:56:02,120 --> 00:56:03,600 We thought we'd had enough. 748 00:56:03,600 --> 00:56:05,440 Let somebody else have a go. 749 00:56:06,560 --> 00:56:09,880 But, you see, they wanted seasoned troops 750 00:56:09,880 --> 00:56:12,200 and there weren't many seasoned troops. 751 00:56:15,280 --> 00:56:18,560 On 7th January 1944, 752 00:56:18,560 --> 00:56:20,960 the 5th returned home at last. 753 00:56:20,960 --> 00:56:24,840 They'd been away for three years and 69 days. 754 00:56:26,280 --> 00:56:28,680 Most couldn't wait to get home, 755 00:56:28,680 --> 00:56:31,920 but leave, like much else, was being rationed. 756 00:56:33,560 --> 00:56:35,840 Men who'd been fighting overseas 757 00:56:35,840 --> 00:56:37,960 for more than three years were 758 00:56:37,960 --> 00:56:41,200 then given barely two weeks' leave. 759 00:56:41,200 --> 00:56:44,680 That felt like an insult, because they knew that soldiers who'd 760 00:56:44,680 --> 00:56:47,400 been sitting back in Britain throughout that period 761 00:56:47,400 --> 00:56:50,120 got two weeks' leave every three months. 762 00:56:51,640 --> 00:56:55,880 The 5th's new home was a secret military camp in Norfolk, 763 00:56:55,880 --> 00:56:57,520 known as Shakers Wood. 764 00:56:57,520 --> 00:57:00,560 Damp, grotty, and bitterly cold, 765 00:57:00,560 --> 00:57:03,440 many of the 5th's veterans felt 766 00:57:03,440 --> 00:57:07,480 they'd been dumped by an ungrateful government in the middle of nowhere. 767 00:57:09,720 --> 00:57:12,800 But they'd been recalled for a reason. 768 00:57:12,800 --> 00:57:16,360 Experienced, trusted and battle-hardened, they were part of 769 00:57:16,360 --> 00:57:20,920 the famous Desert Rats, too valuable to sit out the rest of the war. 770 00:57:22,280 --> 00:57:24,160 The fighting far from over, 771 00:57:24,160 --> 00:57:28,400 who better than the 5th to spearhead a second front? 772 00:57:31,880 --> 00:57:33,920 That's the way it was. 773 00:57:33,920 --> 00:57:36,960 If you've ever witnessed a green regiment... 774 00:57:38,240 --> 00:57:41,040 ..going in for the first time, 775 00:57:41,040 --> 00:57:46,360 you would understand how completely unprepared they are. 776 00:57:46,360 --> 00:57:48,360 The experience of going into battle 777 00:57:48,360 --> 00:57:52,400 is absolutely necessary to become competent. 778 00:57:55,040 --> 00:57:57,600 And so, our heroes would fight again, 779 00:57:57,600 --> 00:58:01,640 in some of the biggest battles of the Second World War. 780 00:58:06,240 --> 00:58:10,040 Next episode, the 5th face D-Day... 781 00:58:11,280 --> 00:58:15,720 ..the battle for Normandy and the eventual defeat of the Nazis. 782 00:58:24,480 --> 00:58:27,760 Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd