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World War Two: 1939 to mid-1943
January 1, 2009
My father, Ken Gambrill, never talked at home about his seven years of WW-2 military service.
In contrast, his photo album, c1950, has several pages of WW-2 photos, and memorabilia.
The album page alongside is typical - the backdrop is a map of the Arabian Desert.
I have placed this as the 8th Army crossing Iraq in late 1942 - early 1943.
Decades later, at Ken’s 70th birthday party, conversation somehow drifted to “water conservation”. Ken immediately held centre stage and described his WW-2 water rationing experiences in the Sahara Desert, as if it had happened yesterday.
“Water and ammunition were the most important resources in desert warfare. Drinking water was rationed, and issued regularly during the day. For personal hygiene and laundry, each soldier received a daily allowance of a single mug of water. Guard duty of the drinking water supply almost took priority over defeating the enemy, as no drinking water meant certain death!
Sept 1939: Britain declares war on Germany. Ken reports for duty and undergoes Basic Training - “Boot Camp”.
17 Feb 1940: Ken is assigned to the British General Hospital at Camiers, on the north coast of France, as part of the British Expeditionary Force sent to aid in the defense of France against German invasion. Camiers Hospital treated the seriously wounded troops evacuated from the front lines.
10 May 1940: The German invasion of Luxembourg, Belgium and France begins. In the next 2 weeks German forces advance rapidly and Allied Forces retreat to the north coast of France.
21 Mar 1942: Ken marries Dorothy Taylor at Church-in-the-Woods, Hastings, Sussex. There was a surge of war-time marriages in early 1942 ,,,, the word was out that troops were soon going overseas.
Jul 1942: Ken receives mobilization orders with the 56th London Division for Services Overseas (destination unknown).
Leave time is granted, for troops to say their farewells to family and friends.
I can’t imagine the emotions of that day ...
will Ken survive the war ... do either of them know that Dorothy is pregnant (I was born almost 9months later).
Ken reports-in for overseas duties, close to Liverpool docks. For reasons of security, the troops are still not privy to when or where they are going.
Use the map alongside to follow Ken’s movements.
Aug 1942: Ken embarks from Liverpool docks for overseas duties. Convoy heads NW into Atlantic Ocean to clear clear the range of German submarines, then head south towards the west coast of Africa...destination still not revealed.
Sep 1942: Ken in Cape Town, South Africa for supples and brief shore leave. Ken’s papers have reference to secret briefing sessions for the officer ranks. Troops are kitted out with hot climate army fatigues, and this started a flurry of destination guesses.
Oct 1942: Ken in Bombay, India, but only for supplies and briefing on upcoming desert warfare.
Nov 1942: 56 London Division disembarks at Basrah in Iraq, and prepare for warfare as they cross the deserts of Arabia.
The troops now know that they are en-route to join Field Marshall Montgomery’s 8th Army in warfare against German & Italian Forces, to gain control of the Western Desert of North Africa.
”What is so important about control of North Africa?” and “Why have we travelled so far away from Europe, where the war rages on?” These were thoughts that must have gone through the minds of many soldiers as they crossed the desert.
Nov 1942 - Jan 1943: The 56th London Division convoys 1000 miles across the Arabian Desert to protect Palestine. Hitler’s target was to eliminate the Jewish state, population included. The 56th London troops reached Palestine in December, and Ken’s album includes a Christmas note he sent to
his mother from Bethlehem.
As an officer, Ken had access to a camera, and he took these photos as they crossed the desert.
Months later, in Cairo, Ken had the film processed and added some hand written comments on the back of some photos, which were then dispatched to family in England. These photos are the only record I have of Ken’s unique style of handwriting. As a child, I was fascinated by his handwriting style (individual letters, generated at high speed, much as a typewriter would). His style was certainly contrary to the school dictum of teaching “proper handwriting”. Ken, I imagine, was severely reprimanded at school for this non-compliance , and this stress in fact resulted in a lifelong speech stutter impediment.
En route, troops learn how to survive
the ever changing conditions of the desert.
Winter nights in the desert were bitterly cold. The wind was relentless for days on end. I remember Ken recalling years later “sand got into every nook and cranny of your body... you ate, drank and shi**ed sand”.
By chance, by Christmas time 1942 the troops had reached Bethlehem, and Ken noted this on the back of one his photos, as his mother had strong Christian beliefs.
Jan-Jun 1943: Served with 8th Army, under the command of Field Marshal Montgomery. Served in several desert campaigns against Italian and German air and ground forces. The campaign to take Tobruk featured heavily in Ken’s memorabilia. This was head-on warfare against elite German air and ground forces. Field Marshal Montgomery was the victor - a war hero to Ken - he felt honored to have served under Montgomery’s command.
Apr 1943: A telegram is sent to Ken from family in England announcing birth of a son - (me). Notice that an Army censor has cut out, with scissors, all location information, in case the telegram fell into enemy hands.
In April, Ken was somewhere in the desert, engaged in warfare. The telegrams were held in Cairo, so the news of my birth did not reach Ken until his return to Cairo in June 1943.
So, for 3 months I’m sure my poor mother was distraught as she had no idea if her husband was alive or dead.
May 1943: Axis forces surrender to Allied forces on 13 May 1943, yielding 275,000 German & Italian prisoners of war.
Jun-Aug 1943: The victorious 8th Army returns to Cairo for much needed rest from desert warfare. British troops now prepare for the anticipated invasion of Italy (next story).
I wanted to know more about Ken’s war experiences, but sadly he passed away within weeks of his 70th birthday. Fortunately Ken’s memorabilia and his files of 35mm negatives have revealed a partial picture of his WW-2 service. This, combined with the timeline of his official Army Service Record, provided enough for me to piece together the story below. Any text in italics is my personal interpretation of events.
29 Aug 1939: All British male adults, aged 18 and over, are required to register for military service. Kenneth Neill Gambrill (Ken), a student at an agricultural college, registers in his home town and is enlisted into the Army at the rank of Private.
Private Gambrill is assigned to the Royal Army Medical Corps. His assignment to a medical unit possibly reflects a shortage of trained medical staff, but Ken’s Agricultural College curriculum included ‘animal husbandry’. Possibly the army logic was - if he can handle sick cattle, then he can handle injured soldiers better than most civilians.
22 May 1940: Secret Order issued by Britain High Command to evacuate all medical patients from Camiers Hospital and transport them back to England. Ken returns to England as part of the team moving and caring for the wounded.
26 May - 3 June 1940: “Operation Dynamo” is undertaken, where 221,455 British and 121,445 French and Belgium troops are evacuated from the beaches of Dunkirk under heavy enemy air attack. My mother’s brother, Roland (Jim) Taylor, was one of those killed by enemy fire while evacuating troops from the beaches.
By the end of June 1940 Germany controlled the coastland of mainland Europe from the France/Spain border to Denmark. The next target for Germany was bombing cities and key installations in Britain, in preparation for an invasion of Britain.
1940/41: Ken and Dorothy met in Hastings, and enjoyed time together whenever Ken was granted leave.
Ken was based in the London area during the Blitz (a period of non-stop night time bombing of London). I suspect Ken was associated with rescue operations following the nightly bombing on the civilian population in London.
Aug 1941: Corporal K.N.Gambrill receives Orders to proceed to A/A (Anti-Aircraft) Training Regiment at Deepcut in Hampshire. (Ken served with Anti-Aircraft Regiments for the next four years: 1941/42 in Essex defending military air fields against German air raids; and then overseas.
Nov 1941: Ken reports to the 133rd Officer Cadet Training Group in Berkshire. On the train journey to Shrivenham Ken strikes up a conversation with another officer cadet, Christopher Milne, heading for the same training program. Ken soon realizes that he is traveling with the real-life “Christopher Robin”, the son of A.A. Milne, author of the Winnie the Pooh books.
I have discovered from a recent biography of Christopher Milne that he and Ken spent their war years together in the Middle East deserts and then in Italy. On completion of his officer training, Ken is promoted to officer rank of 2nd Lieutenant, and returns to
Essex, to continue anti-aircraft duties, defending Royal Air Force bases in Essex against nightly German air attacks.
Margaret Reed (Groom’s cousin)
Donald Gambrill (Groom’s brother)
Kenneth Gambrill (Groom)
Dorothy Taylor (Bride)
Joan Taylor (Bride’s sister)
Camiers Hospital (pre 1939 image)