Page 5 - Haldenby

component (55th Brigade) was the 1/5th Sherwood Foresters, commanded by Lt. Col H H. Lilly. This Territorial unit had evolved from the old Rifle Volunteers and was based at the Drill Hall in Derby, and – as in the First World War – many of its part- time officers were former Derby School OTC cadets. The links between the school and the 1/5th went back decades, and one suspects that Alan may have had many colleagues in this unit, but with the passage of time and the lack of surviving records, it is now impossible to know.
However, the campaign in the Western Desert against the Axis forces was hotting up and the 18th was duly earmarked to be sent out as reinforcements, for the forthcoming operation Crusader (relief of Tobruk) in November. The 18th Division sailed from the UK on 31st October 1941 as part of Convoy CT5, bound initially for Halifax Nova Scotia. The 135th were crammed aboard the Polish transport ship Sobieski and consisted of over 1000 soldiers, comprising three batteries, numbered 344, 336 and 499, but it is not known to which of the three Alan was attached. Their guns and equipment were painted in sand colour, and more desert kit had to be loaded on board when they arrived at Halifax on 9th November, after which they were transferred to an American vessel – the USS Mount Vernon – (formerly the SS Washington) and sailed on the 11th via Trinidad, Cape Town, Mombassa, and The Maldives. Besides the 135th there were also on board were some 3000 men of the Division’s 53rd Brigade, so overcrowding was certainly a problem
Convoy CT5 1941 (Mount Vernon left)
By chance a photo exists showing the convoy en route to Africa with Alan’s ship, the Mount Vernon on the extreme left. The presence of an American (Douglas Dauntless) aircraft indicates that the convoy cannot have been far off the US coast when the picture was taken and therefore shortly after departure. Approaching Cape Town, Alan wrote to his sister Kay on 2nd December and seemed to be enjoying the trip, with plenty of good food, decent weather and the usual shenanigans when crossing the Line. However, news of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour and Malaya occasioned a sudden and unexpected change of plan and after only two days ashore, The Mount Vernon was detached from the convoy and ordered on the 16th of December to proceed to Malaya to strengthen the garrison.
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