Diary of Garth Edward Sommerville Clabburn - 1942-1944 - Part 14

& "things" should be very much the same as

at El Alimien except that we will be

doing all the bombing.  I feel that we

will see even more action now that

the enemy's supply lines are so short &

feel that we will - or may be hit hard.

But that the Army will go through because

of its sheer weight in tanks & men.

The 1st Army in Tunisia is not making

any progress because of insufficient air

strength.  Lack of good aerodromes

XX large enough for heavy machines

is the bug bare - but we will find

a way, & all this great effort will

not just peter out.

[*7th Dec*] Early this morning Huck & I went walking

& collecting mushrooms.  After luncheon

we took George Barton along with

us to show him the great canyon

we had found yesterday afternoon.

The sun was warm & the air fine

& clear after the rain.  Everywhere

was deep green grass & bags

of wild flowers & we all

thoroughly enjoyed our ramble.

We found very few mushrooms but

had a funny conversation with

a very small Bedouin boy & his

sister who were minding some sheep

& goats.  We also had a yarn with

two Bedouins who were tilling some

dirt with their old wooden ploughs

& they were very friendly &

working hard.  One chap promised

to have for me on the morrow

a great bag of mushrooms if

I went & saw him at the

same spot.

Unfortunately news has just come

through that we push off to

the front 1st thing in the morning.

So I will not be able to

keep my date with the mushrooms.

[*8th Dec.*]  This day I have seen Cirene. Without

a doubt here is one of the

world's most compact beauty spots.

From Matuba we drove along

the Southern road Westward.

Great convoys were streaming

the same way & we past.

hundreds of light tanks & heavy guns

all being towed on their trailers together

with their crews.  Many New Zealanders

were amongst them & they are to

be the spearhead of the main

attack on the Aghelia positions.

On either side of the road as

far as the eye could see were

burnt out bashed out & wiped

out trucks guns cars trailers cook-

houses & mobile shops & gear

of all kinds.  The majority

of this stuff had been accounted 

for by straffing during the enemy

retreat, when his Airforce was

giving him no support at all.

The great deserts are now away

to the South & we are driving

through luscious green country.

The soil is red & the Italian

farm houses snowy white, the sea

is a brilliant blue & our

outlook is bright.

At about 11AM we arrived

in Cirene. I find it hard to

describe the beauty of this old Roman

town bathed in the warm morning

sunlight of an autumnal Meditteranean

day because it was all such a

tremendous contrast to what we

had been used to out in the

"Blue". Evidently, so history has it, the

Romans decided in years well before Christ

to colonize Nth Africa & selected

Cirene for their capital.  On a great

escarpment, & fully 2000' above &

overlooking the sea they built a

beautiful city of stone & marble. They

cut great rooms out of the rock

cliffs & constructed many grand

temples, amphitheatre's & swimming

pools. Right through the solid rock

they cut great water channels &

for miles around they fenced

their fields with massive blocks

of stone. All this we saw

with an excellent background of

sunlight & shadow. The shadows

being cast by the many large avenues

of Australian gums &

plantations of fir & yews that now

enhance this peaceful spot. I hope

later on to read about Cirene &

its history & the people that built

such a beautiful city as it must 

have been; for they were artists of

the highest ranking & a people

who built with great industry

for art & not for personal gain.

Their ruins after two thousand

years make the work of their Italian

counterparts look shoddy & cheap; &

makes one realise just how 

temporary & artificial our life is

today.

After bully & biscuits on top of the pass

overlooking the ancient city we motored

on through miles & miles of Italy's

colonisation scheme.  It's farm houses

farms, communual centres, factories

mills & village dwellings were now

absolutely deserted except for

a wandering Senuisi selling eggs.

We stopped once or twice & wandered

through one or two of the neat

white homes in places like D'Ammunsio

& it was a pathetic sight to see the

haste in which their owners had left.

All furniture paintings & papers had been

left.  The chairs & tables had been

turned over & beds & cupboards

thrown about by the looting Arabs

& perhaps advancing troops, & everywhere

were obvious signs of happy peaceful

hardworking families having been routed

out from all that was dear & personal

to them. Here in lies Mussolini greatest

crime, brought about when the hyena

in his nature prompted him to stab

conquered France & threatened Britain

in the back. From now on more

& more of his peaceful followers

will be made miserable. It is easy

to see that he was a great man

& wrought wonders in colonising this

country as he did, & it is such

a waste of effort to undo all

this fine work by trying to make

the quick but wrong road to

riches by way of rioting & loot.

During the push before this the settlers had

remained & worked their farms but

evidently this time the retreating army

or Mussolini himself had ordered them

to leave thereby depriving the 8^th Army

of the bountiful harvest of fresh 

food that would have been available

had they continued to work the

soil.  They must now be all in &

around Tripoli for I cannot see

the Axis solving the problem of shipping 

these many thousands of farming

families to Italy in view of their

great shipping losses.

The great highway was a credit to its

builders, beautifully graded & banked

& the passes were constructed with

fine engineering skill.  Each pass had

been blasted by the retreating enemy

but had been repaired in great

haste & labour by our engineers.

We are camped this night in a great

valley about 20 miles from Barcè.

It is very cold & we are

happy around a roaring wood

fire drinking billy after billy of hot

tea. Bill Marsh has just remarked that

he wouldn't by any of these eggs that

the bloody wogs are carting around

because, "they may have been laid

for the last push". Big white wild

dogs are prowling around the camp

& are very hungry. There were

six here a few minutes ago but

Tubby fired a shot in their direction

& they fled off into the dark.

We have all enjoyed this day immensely

& my one regret is that we had

no camera to record in pictures all

the fine country & finer Roman ruins

we have seen.

We have the comfortable "opps" trailer complete

with bunks & bed rolls & George has

all the lights & his smelly kerosine

heater fired up so thing are going

to be snug.

[*9th Dec.*] We rose fairly early & enjoyed breakfast.

I had only hot tea because I had

not slept well at all last night.

For some silly reason I was mentally

upset & could think of nothing but

fellows missing & killed & could

not sleep. However we were soon

on the road & making for Barcé where

we bought a bit of food & then

pushed on to Bengahsi. The city

was crushed & every building that

had not collapsed was potmarked

all over with shrapnel holes. Here

George Barton found his brother Geoff

& we lunched in the Naval Hq.

wardroom on bully biscuits & pickles.

This was most welcome especially as

we had two whiskies before hand.

Geoff is in charge of the repairing

of the port & the whole place

was a great hive of activity. Already

a convoy was in & they were

getting 2000 tons of supplies

ashore per day which was wonderful

considering the tremendous damage done

to all the wharfs & jetties. Wrecks were

as thick as flies on sugar, one great

ship was still blazing furiously.  Several

bodies of German sailors were still

lying about & such wreckage of all

kinds as littered the shore, I have never

seen.  The enemy bomb the town at

night & y last night a stick of four

straddled the bank building in which all

the navy blokes sleep - & where we had

lunch.  One bomb lobbed 10 yds outside

Geoff's bedroom & threw him out of

bed & covered the whole show

with sand, rubble & general mess.

We drove around the city & docks

& saw a great many interesting

things - the Tremendous Catholic Cathedral 

which had received a direct bomb

hit right on top of one of its

high twin domes. The bomb had made

only a small hole in the roof but

had exploded on the marble floor

& mad one big mess.  This still is

a fine but rather garish building &

is still open for worship - as were

all the quaint little country churches we

visited out in the back country.  In

each case the fine old priest had

stayed on & not forsaken his alter.

Coming into the city we passed acres

of German & Italian ammunition

dumps which must have contained

some thousands of tons of the stuff.

Sth of the city we inspected the only

Fock Wulf  190 captured in the whole

campaign & thought it a beautiful

fighting machine. We believe that it

did not prove successful in this

country - Of fear that was during the 

summer months & now that it has

grown much cooler we will meet them.

The glass house broke a back axle

in Bengashi & the 6 pilots have

come on with the opps truck.  We

are sleeping about 20 mls sth of

Bengashi this night & are now

out on flat dull bare uninteresting

sand & scrub once more. Still

the burnt out trucks & tanks

litter the roads - we must have

past thousands & thousands since

the advance began from El Alimien.

We should reach our new drome

tomorrow & are all keen to see

the air position there & find out what

the boys have been doing.

[*10th Dec.*] We all had fun cooking our tea last night

& breakfast this morning. Fried eggs were

on this morning - but we were short.

After a lot of fun I tossed Mackensie

for the last one & to his great joy

he won it - to his great sorrow

he dropped it in the sand when

trying to mumble it off a piece of 

toast. The last 15 miles was

very bad road & dusty & we

were glad to reach camp. The

boys have only done a few escorting 

jobs over the front line & this

afternoon dropped some bombs on M.T.

They have only seen 4 109's but the

Yanks yesterday jumped a squadron

taking off from Marble Arch & destroyed

7 together with 4 probables & 2 damaged.

Sgt Churchill is reported to be P.O.W.

There have been two bombing raids here

at night time so we have been

doing a spot of digging.

[*11 Dec. 1942.*] The W/C led us out on a show

of bombing a drome. West of Marble

Arch called Nafalia. We refueled

at a drome just behind the front

line & there I met Sgt. - sorry P/O

Brickhill. He was flying with 92 sq

& 7 of their spitfires came along

with us. We found & bombed the

drome despite heavy ACK/ACK. No

body was hit & the trip was

more or less uneventful. Nothing

else happened this day. The other

squadrons have been bombing the

front line & I received two

heart rending letters from Billy.

[*12 Dec. 1942.*] The boys did a bombing job

during the morning & did a bit

of damage to M.T. Late in 

the afternoon the W/C called

me on the phone & said the

enemy was retiring & wanted

me to do a recco of the

Southern Section with 4 others.

I had not seen the front

line & was hazy although I

did not "let on". Fortunately F/L Kildy

came along & led the show. After

a lot of flying about in low cloud

we found the Jerry positions & they

threw all they had at us when

we were only at 200'. I left

the formation in cloud & went

back - against my better judgement

to bomb them. I dived out

of cloud & bombed a battery

of ACK/ACK guns & collected

such a burst of tracer I

pulled back into the cloud

too quickly. I figure I did

a loop in the cloud for

I came out again right over

where I had bombed & they

were still firing at me.

Was very lucky not to get

hit.

I forgot to mention that a

JW88 was shot down by

our ACK/ACK right over our

heads at 200' yesterday & all

four of the crew were killed.

He burst into flame in the air

& crashed a short distance

away, & the whole A/C disintegrated.

I hate to see these things &

always think of them when

I spin at any level.

[*13th Dec.*] This day the push against the

Aghalia positions began. The

N.Z's. have gone around the

Sth. & the boys have been

dive bombing the Jerries all

day. I missed out because

Huck had not flown for

3 days. They met 6 109's

& one Macchi on their last

job over Marble Arch &

Bill Cashmore was hit badly

in the left hand. He belly

landed close to the drome

& has gone to hospital. It

will be a long time before

he can fly again - he

did a good job to get

back - as he did.

[*14th Dec.*] We were on ½ hr. from dawn but did

not get a job until noon. Other fifty

squadrons have been dive bombing the

retreating enemy all the morning. Aghelia

is in our hands & the strong line

of enemy forts has been penetrated.

We went off to dive bomb the

coast road & 400 M.T. & guns.

Heavy cloud was over the target

& we dived through 8000' of it

& came out over a big concentration 

at 2000' - 1500' & let the egg go.

I went into cloud again &

flew south looking for the New

Zealanders but did not find

them. The rest of the formation

climbed up & met 2 109's on

top of the cloud. A few good

bursts were exchanged but

no results observed. 3 bombs

were jettisoned & Mackenzie

- my NO 2 did not get home

until about 2 hrs after we had

all landed. I came home by

myself & took 1.35 hrs.

F/L Boardman saw one A/C

burning on the ground in the

target area. We started two

fires with the bombs which were

500 lb'ers. The enemy will have

to retreat a good 150 mls now

before he finds another defensive

position & our A party has

moved out this afternoon for

Marble Arch Aerodrome. This is

a big day for us all for

it marks the farthest advance

in the country for the Allies

this war starting Sept 3 1939.

We have never before sent a

party farther than West than

this spot.

[*15th. Dec.*] Due to heavy cloud over coastline

the boys had difficulty in getting

through to their target which was

concentrations retreating along the

coast road. They dive bombed

successfully & came home well

to the South looking for the 

New Zealanders.

[*16th Dec.*] This day the 18 imperturbables came

back on the job. We escorted one

batch well West of Marble Arch &

they bombed scattered M.T. & tanks.

We also carried bombs but

did not see any good results

except one exceptionally larg explosion

just South of the road. These

light bombers carried out many

sorties this day & even though

they may not have hit much

they must have had a very

weakening effect on the enemy's

moral. We waited anxiously 

for another job (escort) for 3 P.M.

after having had difficulty with

our refueling tanker. Eventually

our bombers did not show up

even though we waited in

our A/c for over an hour.

We figure that they went off in

a twelve instead of 2 sixes

as was intended.

[*17th Dec.*] The big move did not take place

so we took off at 10 AM. & went

to Nafelia to see how the New

Zealanders were going. Over 1000 M.T. & guns &

tanks were moving up on German forces

west of the town & shelling was

being exchanged between the tanks.

I had a good look around & then

came home with Brian Harris because

I had no radio & was throwing oil.

We received a little ACK/ACK & saw a

deal of our stuff around Mable Arch.

[*18th.*] This day the greatest move by air was

carried out in the wholesale transporting

of 239 Wing from Ralandra to Marble

Arch. The was the biggest move for the

Middle East front & perhaps for the

Allies to date, & it received mention

on the B.B.C. which we all thought

rather foolish. In 1½ hrs 144 fighter

A/C all ground crews bedding & food

water bombs & gas xxx moved

over 120 miles. All ground staff & 

stores were carried in DC3's &

Lockheed Hudsons & all was

carried out with out any loss. I

came up later in the afternoon

with Gordon Jones. We flew low

along the beach all the way & saw

hundreds of Army fellows in swimming.

I found Nicky Ross's A/C CVE. crash

landed about 100 yds from the

water's edge. He had been shot

down & escaped during the push

this time last year.

Soon after landing at Marble Arch one

of the ground staff stepped on a jumping

mine & it killed three & five

more were taken away by air

& are very dangerously injured.

They have to date removed over

400 mines from this drome &

they have been equally as thick

all the way up the road from

Aghelia. We are now walking in

tire tracks. They boys bombed the

Jerries at Sirte & it was very

accurate bombing.  One 109 made

a foolish attack & got no where.

We cannot disperse here because

of the mines & wire entanglements &

have to sleep near the A/C on

the side of the drome. It is