George Forty - Jake Wardrops Diary: A Tank Regiment Sergeants Story

In this diary the term wog has been used by the author to describe Arab tribesmen. While we recognise that the term itself is offensive to many today, its use in the diary is very much of its time and for this reason we have decided to retain the authors usage.

This electronic edition published 2013

Amberley Publishing
The Hill, Stroud, Gloucestershire
GL5 4EP

www.amberley-books.com

Copyright George Forty 2009, 2013

ISBN 9781848685802 (PRINT)
ISBN 9781445623566 (e-BOOK)

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without the permission in writing from the Publishers.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

I would like to thank the following for their invaluable assistance in providing me with information and photographs for this book. Individuals: S. Beard, Esq; Andrew Biwandi, Esq; Maj Dennis Cockbaine; Maj and Mrs Arthur Crickmay; Maj David Daniels; Maj Gen Roy Dixon; Col Paddy Doyle; Maj K. Dudley; Mrs Clutha Garnett; A.E. Hall, Esq; Maj Gen Jim Hutton; Col Deryck Macdonald; Mrs Enid Meehan; Brig E.C. Mitford; Maj Dai Mitchell; Mrs H. Simpson; Eric Smith, Esq; George Stimpson, Esq; Eric Thompson, Esq; Gen Sir Richard Ward; Maj W.C. Wood; Maj Arthur Wellesley and the many members of B Squadron (5 RTR) Old Comrades Association whom I met at their 33rd Annual Reunion Dinner.

Establishments: British and Commonwealth Shipping Company Ltd, Photograph Department, Imperial War Museum, BBC Hulton Picture Library, RHQ Royal Tank Regiment, Tank Museum, Tank Magazine, BBC Radio Sheffield, Granada Publishing Ltd.

In the misty morning darkness, squat and ugly monsters rest
Heavy armoured, grim and deadly, with their guns all pointing west
Out behind them on the skyline, yet another morning breaks
For the past long shivering hour, every crew has been awake,
Awake and watching every movement ready for the show to start
Its the dreaded Fifth Battalion, once again theyre taking part.
Swift and deadly this Battalion, pick of Englands fighting chaps,
Hardy veterans of the desert, rightly named the desert rats.

As they sit there tensely waiting, silence changes into hell
And the earth is split and blasted by a hail of shot and shell,
Thick and heavy grows the barrage, till its like a solid wall,
Flying steel, and orange flashes, shells a-shrieking as they fall.
See the cruisers gliding forward, slow at first then speeding fast,
Straight into that mad inferno, rocked and swayed by heavy blast;
On they go towards the Germans, probing, searching as they go,
Stopping now and then to batter with 6-pounder at the foe.

In and out they keep on creeping, keeping in a staggered line,
Then the air is split asunder as a cruiser hits a mine,
In the twinkling of a second all the crew are baling out,
Theyve been spotted by their comrades, watch that hornet wheel about
Back he goes just like an arrow, stops while all his pals climb on,
Such a lightning piece of action, Jerry doesnt know theyve gone.
One observant German gunner tries to strafe the helpless crew
But to hit that swerving cargo is as much as he can do.

Look now, are the lads retreating? No! Its just a bit of bluff,
Theyre trying now to draw the Germans, so the Grants can do their stuff,
True enough theyve fallen for it, on they come into deaths jaws,
See them lurching slowly forward, twenty of them, all Mk.IVs.
Much too late they see their blunder, madly try to turn around,
But Grants and Shermans wait there ready, 75s begin to pound.
Deafening grows the noise of battle, fifteen Jerry tanks on fire,
See the others fleeing westward, smashing through their own barbed wire.

So once again were moving forward, to establish our new lines,
Now weve got the job to hold it, while the engineers lay mines.
We know the Jerry panzer Div. men will not take it lying down,
And we expect at any moment an attempt to take the ground.
But the Fighting Fifth is ready, morning, noon or dead of night,
And if Jerry wants his ground hack, by the gods hell have to fight.
So off now well go to leaguer for a short but hard-earned rest,
And the Hun will still remember that our guns are pointing west.

This poem, written by a member of the Fifth, was presented to Gen Jim Hutton when he handed over as Commanding Officer at Homs in 1943. It was accompanied by the signatures of every NCO and soldier in the regiment 420 in all, and is a cherished memento.

MAJ GEN W.M. HUTTON, CB, CBE, DSO, MC, MA

In May 1962 I wrote the foreword to Sergeant Jake Wardrops unique diary of his experience as a member of the Fifth Tanks in the Second World War. Nineteen years later I have again been honoured by a similar request. This time, thanks to Col George Forty, the diary is being published in the sort of setting it so richly deserves, with comments on Jakes early life and service and the background to the many operations in which he took part. They are clearly explained in an interesting manner, with just the right amount of technical detail to aid understanding of the events covered.

Included also are many excellent photographs, which should be of great appeal to those who fought in that war and of interest to many who did not. I congratulate George Forty on his achievement, which will I hope help to enshrine the memory of Jake and the magnificent men like him.

After re-reading his diary I can do no better than repeat what I wrote as a foreword to the first privately published version, namely that as before it has left me with a feeling of deep humility.

I was always aware when commanding the Fifth in the war that the spirit of the battalion was second to none in the British Army as I knew it. Now, thirty-seven years later, I can still say this with complete certainty. This spirit stemmed from within the Fifth itself and was I sincerely believe to a very large extent due to men like Jake Wardrop and his comrades.

I felt when serving with them that it was the superb quality of the Senior NCOs which gave a very special strength. Jake, in his diary, pays a most generous tribute to the officers; in my turn I should like to pay this tribute to the NCOs and in particular to sergeants such as Jake himself, who crewed and commanded tanks for so long and with such outstanding success throughout the last war.

No words of mine can adequately express the debt which is owed to such men.

Jim Hutton
Javea (Alicante), Spain
3 May 1981

Monty, wearing a slouch hat, talks to Lt Col Jim Hutton near Medinine, not far from the Mareth Line (Maj Gen Jim Hutton)

Preface

While this book is first and foremost a tribute to the actual writer of the diary, the late Sergeant Jake Wardrop, it must also be a tribute to another member of the same fine regiment, without whom the diary might never have seen the light of day. The late Maj Jack Garnett MC was a corporal in 5 RTR at the beginning of the Second World War, and a squadron commander with a Military Cross by the end of it. It is true to say that he, like Jake, epitomised the splendid fighting soldiers which the Royal Tank Regiment has long numbered within its ranks. And it was Jack who, knowing of the existence of the diary and the fact that it had been sent home to Jakes mother by another of his old friends, Sgt George Stimpson (see The Last Battle), made a rough copy of it when he visited Mrs Wardrop in 1958. For some time this copy lay in a tin trunk in Jack Garnetts attic, then in 1962 he decided to put it into a more presentable form. It was very much a labour of love for Jack; indeed he likened it to the self-imposed task of Old Mortality in Sir Walter Scotts novel of the same name, who dedicated the latter years of his life to travelling the Scottish Lowlands, removing moss and lichen and recutting the inscriptions on the old gravestones of the Covenanter Warriors, so that the memory of their deeds should remain fresh for future generations to read. The diary, edited by Jack Garnett, was subsequently published by RAC Publications at Bovington Camp and distributed privately among the officers and soldiers of the Royal Tank Regiment. It was also serialised in the Regimental Magazine during 1976-7.