Rats! Beseiged in Tobruk

Today is the 82nd anniversary of the beginning of the siege of Tobruk in 1941. My grandfather Richard Geoffrey Champion de Crespigny (1907 – 1966), known as Geoff de Crespigny, who served in the Second Australian Imperial Force as a doctor, was in Tobruk for nine months through the siege. His long enforced stay there earned him the nickname of `The old man of Tobruk’. He was mentioned in dispatches. Below is an extract from his diary.

5 Apr

The threat of attack by German and Iti forces has been growing the last few days, and today we felt the effects, as people started to return from forward area with various stories. Hundreds of sick are to be sent to 4 AGH. Luckily a hospital ship is expected soon.

6 Apr

The “flap” is on. The hospital took in about 400 patients in the last 24 hrs, and units and base personnel are streaming in. The air is full of rumours, and German patrols have been playing old Harry with our L of C [lines of communication], people leaving all at news of them and making for Tobruk.

2/3 CCS turned up again, less some equipment, and the rear party of the hospital likewise. An enemy patrol was captured just SW [southwest] of Tobruk. At one stage it was feared that an armoured column (Hun [i.e. German]) was on its way here direct across the desert. Since we had nothing to stop tanks, things looked sticky and it appeared to be more than likely that we would all become POW. Felt a bit disturbed, naturally, but there was nothing to be done about it. Talk of sending the nurses away on an awful little cargo boat, but the patrol turned out to be only a patrol, and it was decided, very wisely, to send them by Hosp[ital] Ship next day. I went about a bit on Alice [his motorcycle] on sundry commissions.

7 Apr

DDMS and DADMS Cyrcom [Colonels Walker and Furnell] turned up – very fed up at the nature of the rout which seems to have been quite complete, and we have lost much valuable equipment and personnel as POW. The 9 Div[ision: infantry] have done very well but were hopelessly under-equipped to withstand AFVs [armoured fighting vehicles: i.e. tanks, armoured cars etc] and the 2 Arm[oured] Div[ision], much of it in Iti tanks, had a hiding alas.

A hospital ship arrived and I went to 4 AGH to tee things up. Then to the wharf where no sign could be seen from the ship. She turned out to be the Vita – a hospital carrier, with accommodation for only 240 pts [patients], and we had over 400 and the nurses to go! Prepared to get all possible aboard, but matters held up as the ship’s launches broke down. Eventually got a large number aboard using various craft – the nurses went in a schooner! 18 Bde [Brigade] arrived, and I saw Gregory Bruer on the docks.

8 Apr

Arose early and got the remainder of the sick and the baggage aboard. We put 324 and the nurses onto the poor little chap.

Had a confab with McQuillan of 2/4 Field Hygiene Section as to functions. All POW labour has gone and we have to use Libyans, which makes things rather difficult. There are still many tales of the flap. The opposition is closing in, and all our troops that got away are now in Tobruk area. Heard, to my distress, that Roy Binns and his co[ompan]y of 2/8 Field Ambulance were captured. Also it appears that we have lost two generals, and poor old Colonel Godding, who stayed with us at HQ, was also captured. At the same time there have been remarkable escapes.

9 Apr

An air raid early in the morning. Nothing much happened. Rode out to POW cage to see about cleaning it. Frieberg [Fryberg] is to superintend. Did some more beetling about in the afternoon, and in the evening went to the hospital. When nearly home found a shoe heel missing, so returned and found it where I had started the bicycle. Nearly back again when the fireworks started and I spent a perfectly horrid ¾ hour lying in a shallow depression and hoping no AA stuff would land on me. Some bombs fell moderately close. Made one dash for it but was forced to ground again. Eventually got in, and went to the docks to inspect damage. There was an enormous hole on the dock – a 500 lb bomb it was thought.

10 Apr

A horrid dusty day, and spent most of the time indoors. Hoped to get out to the POW cage but dust prevented it. There was a lot of artillery fire all day. Ours we think! At 1800 hrs there was a fierce air raid, the objectives being apparently the two hospitals at town and beach – no other places attacked and it seemed quite deliberate. Chambers and Schwartz were killed and Row from 2/2 CCS severely wounded, and there were a number of casualties among patients and staff. Eric Cooper had an amazing escape, as a bomb fell within feet, and didn’t go off. We all felt very sick about it. Another raid in the evening, but no damage although bombs fell.

The effect of a thousand pound bomb on a small ship lying at wharf in Tobruk harbour.
Australian War Memorial Accession Number 007578 Maker Hurley, James Francis (Frank); Place made North Africa: Libya, Cyrenaica, Tobruk Area, Tobruk; Date made 7 May 1941

Tobruk. The town seen from the harbour beach.
Australian War Memorial Accession Number 007510 Maker Anderson, Alan Frederick; Place made North Africa: Libya, Cyrenaica, Tobruk Area, Tobruk; Date made c April 1941

Tobruk. Unloading stores from a transport ship at Tobruk Harbour. Thanks to the navy Tobruk’s sea communications have been kept open.
Australian War Memorial: Accession Number 007501; Maker Hurley, James Francis (Frank); Place made North Africa: Libya, Cyrenaica, Tobruk Area, Tobruk; Date made c April 1941

Related posts:

• Remembering my grandfather at Tobruk
• T is for Tobruk
• Remembering my paternal grandfather on his birthday

Vierville de Crespigny 1882 – 1927

Claude Vierville Champion de Crespigny, one of my 5th cousins twice removed, was born at Heybridge, Maldon, Essex, on 25 January 1882. He was the seventh of nine children and fourth of five sons of Sir Claude Champion de Crespigny the fourth baronet and Georgiana Lady Champion de Crespigny née McKerrell. The five sons of the fourth baronet were all given the first name Claude. The younger four sons each had a middle name: Raul, Philip, Vierville, Norman.

On 25 January 1900, just a few weeks after it was established, Vierville joined the Imperial Yeomanry, a volunteer light cavalry force, to serve in the war in South Africa. On the record he claimed to be 20 years old; he was actually 18. Two of his older brothers were already serving in the army, the other was in the navy.

Vierville was initially a trooper with the 21st Lancers but in February 1901 was appointed 2nd Lieutenant with the Duke of Edinburgh’s (Wiltshire Regiment). He was made Lieutenant in 1903 and in 1904 became aide-de-camp to Sir D. W. Stewart, Commissioner, East Africa Protectorate.

From January 1906 to September 1909 he was employed with the King’s African Rifles. He was said to have spoken Swahili fluently. In 1908 he was tried and acquitted of the charge of causing the death of his native servant by a rash and negligent act.

Image from Europeans in East Africa database entry for CHAMPION DE CRESPIGNY, Claude Vierville (Major)

In 1910 he was promoted to captain. From 1912 he served in the Special Reserve, a force established on 1 April 1908, responsible for maintaining a reservoir of manpower for the British Army and training replacement drafts in times of war.

On 19 July 1911 Vierville married Mary Nora Catherine McSloy on 19 July 1911 at the Brompton Oratory in Kensington, London. They had one daughter together, Mary Charmian Sara Champion de Crespigny (1914 – 1967).

British (English) School; Captain Vierville Champion de Crespigny (1882-1927); Kelmarsh Hall; http://www.artuk.org/artworks/captain-vierville-champion-de-crespigny-18821927-49105

In December 1916 he was appointed Assistant Provost Marshal, with rank equivalent to staff captain. He was promoted to major in 1917. In December 1918 he incurred the Army Council’s displeasure when he turned a water hose on men who were attempting to rush the doors of the Albert Hall during a boxing tournament. He was demobilised in July 1919.

In June 1919 he sailed for Canada with his wife and daughter intending to settle there. They lived on a ranch near the remote settlement of Wilmer, British Columbia. However, Vierville left in December 1920 and returned to England.

In February 1921 he joined the Auxiliary Division of the Royal Irish Constabulary (ADRIC). With the RIC, the Auxiliary Division was disbanded in 1922.

In February 1924 Vierville was appointed game ranger, at a salary of £300, in the Game Preservation department of the Tanganyika Territory Government.

In March 1924 his wife divorced him.

Daily Mirror 18 March 1924 page 11

On 6 December 1924 at Mombassa in present day Kenya, Vierville married for a second time to Elspie Madge Salmon, daughter of the Rev. Frank and Mrs Salmon of Langton rectory, Blandford.

On 17 July 1927, well-mauled by a leopard, Vierville died in Singida, Tanganyika. His usual residence was recorded as Arusha, 325 kilometres to the north-west, near the border with Kenya.

Essex Newsman 30 July 1927 page 3

Probate was granted to his widow in March 1928. His effects were less than £350. Elsie later lived with his brother Raul at Champion Lodge, Essex, acting as his housekeeper.

Memorial in St Peter’s Church, Great Totham, Essex.
Photographed by Simon Knott and reproduced with permission.

RELATED POSTS

• Extinction of the de Crespigny baronetcy

Vierville’s four brothers:

• Claude de Crespigny 1873 – 1910
• Claude Raul: Raul de Crespigny the 5th baronet
• Claude Philip: The sailor and the princess
• Claude Norman: C is for Compiègne on 1 September 1914

Wikitree: Claude Vierville Champion de Crespigny (1882 – 1927)

140 years since the Battle of Isandlwana

Today is the 140th anniversary of one of the battles of the Anglo-Zulu
War. Several years ago I wrote a short piece about a cousin, a soldier who fought there. I thought I would republish it.

When my son asked me to write about the Zulu wars for the letter Z of the 2014 A to Z blogging challenge, I found a second cousin four times removed, Henry Germain Mainwaring (1853-1922), who served in the Zulu war of 1879.

Henry Germain Mainwaring was a Lieutenant in the 2nd Battalion 24th (2nd Warwickshire) Regiment of Foot. He sailed for South Africa on 2 February 1878 and was there until 20 December 1879.

H. G. Mainwaring of the 2/24 Regiment. Photograph from the “Ron Sheeley Collection”

From 20 January 1879 the 24th Regiment was camped at Isandhlwana, an isolated hill in the Zulu kingdom in the east of Southern Africa. B Company of the Second Battalion had been left to guard the stores and hospital at Rorke’s Drift ten miles away. Rorke’s Drift was a mission station and the former trading post of James Rorke, an Irish merchant. It was near a ford, known as a drift, across the Buffalo River, which formed the border between the British colony of Natal and the Zulu kingdom.

On 22 January, Lord Chelmsford, British Commander-in-Chief,  took the second battalion of the 24th, with the artillery and some of the Natal Native Contingent away from the camp to seek battle with the Zulus, who had been reported to be south-east of the camp. 1,800 British and Colonial troops were left in the camp including 585 men of the 24th Regiment, the only British regular infantry regiment among them. While Chelmsford was absent, the camp was attacked from the north-east by a force of Zulu warriors, said to number 20,000. Of the 1,800 British forces, about 300 survived. These had fled south-west across the Buffalo River; of the 585 men of the 24th only ten survived.

The Battle of Isandlwana, 22 January 1879.  Charles Edwin Fripp (1854-1906), 1885 (c). A small band of the 24th gathered in a square around their Regimental Colour. In the aftermath of the battle there were several groups of bodies found which indicated that men had gathered themselves together to fight to the last. In the background rises Isandhlwana Kop which, significantly, is shaped like a Sphinx, the badge of the 24th.

Chelmsford and his troops arrived back at camp that night. John Price, of the 2nd Battalion, 24th Regiment, wrote to his parents:

We arrived in camp about nine o’clock at night, and all the tents were burned to the ground, and where we had to sleep was a very uncomfortable place among the dead bodies all night…  from http://www.1879zuluwar.com/t2449-various-eye-witness-accounts

Henry Germain Mainwaring, a Lieutenant in F company of the 2nd Battalion of the 24th Regiment was among those with Chelmsford.

The mission station at Rorke’s Drift was attacked by several thousand Zulu warriors on the afternoon of 22 January and the battle continued overnight. 140 British and colonial troops, including 36 men in the hospital, defended the garrison. Chelmsford’s troops arrived at 8am on the morning of the 23rd. Seventeen British soldiers had been killed, ten wounded, and 450 Zulus had been killed.

The defence of Rorke’s Drift 1879 Alphonse-Marie-Adolphe de Neuville  via Wikimedia Commons

The battle was reported around the world. In New Zealand, in the Otago Witness of 22 February 1879, Mainwaring’s name was listed as one of the officers of the 24th Regiment which had been in the battle and “almost completely annihilated” in the “massacre”.

The remainder of the 24th cleaned up after the battle and buried the dead. Mainwaring made a map of the battlefield showing the graves of those who were killed and were buried.

Mainwaring received a medal and clasp for the South African Campaign of 1877, 1878, and 1879. He was promoted to Captain in 1880. In the First World War he served as a Brigadier General.

Location of the Zulu Kingdom, Southern Africa, ca. 1890 by Seb az86556 [CC-BY-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

1879 map of Zululand with Rorke’s Drift and Isandhlwana highlighted by red arrows

References:

• UK National Archives WO76/233 South Wales Borderers (2nd Batn). Descriptions relating to individuals have been created using information from a nominal card index relating to Army Officers’ service compiled in the 1980s.
• David, Saul. “Zulu: The True Story.” British History. BBC, 17 Feb. 2011. Web. 27 Apr. 2014. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/victorians/zulu_01.shtml>.
• “24th – Anglo-Zulu War 1879.” 24th, 2nd Warwickshire, Regiment – Fact Sheets. The Royal Welsh Regimental Museum Trust, 16 July 2012. Web. 29 Apr. 2014. <http://royalwelsh.org.uk/downloads/B05-01-24th-Anglo-Zuluwar1879.pdf>.
• Luscombe, Stephen, and Charles Griffin. “The 24th Regiment of Foot.” British Empire: Armed Forces: Units: British Infantry. Britishempire.co.uk, 7 Nov. 2013. Web. 29 Apr. 2014. <http://www.britishempire.co.uk/forces/armyunits/britishinfantry/24thfoot.htm>.
• “The Battle of Islandlwana.” Zulu War. Britishbattles.com, 10 Apr. 2014. Web. 29 Apr. 2014. <http://www.britishbattles.com/zulu-war/isandlwana.htm>.
• Austin, Ronald J. (Ronald James) (1999). The Australian illustrated encyclopedia of the Zulu and Boer wars. Slouch Hat Publications, McCrae, Vic

Z is for Zulu War

When my son asked me to write about the Zulu wars for the letter Z of this blogging challenge, I found a second cousin four times removed, Henry Germain Mainwaring (1853-1922), who served in the Zulu war of 1879.

Henry Germain Mainwaring was a Lieutenant in the 2nd Battalion 24th (2nd Warwickshire) Regiment of Foot. He sailed for South Africa on 2 February 1878 and was there until 20 December 1879.

H. G. Mainwaring of the 2/24 Regiment. Photograph from the “Ron Sheeley Collection”

From 20 January 1879 the 24th Regiment was camped at Isandhlwana, an isolated hill in the Zulu kingdom in the east of Southern Africa. B Company of the Second Battalion had been left to guard the stores and hospital at Rorke’s Drift ten miles away. Rorke’s Drift was a mission station and the former trading post of James Rorke, an Irish merchant. It was near a ford, known as a drift, across the Buffalo River which formed the border between the British colony of Natal and the Zulu kingdom.

On 22 January, Lord Chelmsford, British Commander-in-Chief,  took the second battalion of the 24th, with the artillery and some of the Natal Native Contingent away from the camp to seek battle with the Zulus, who had been reported to be south-east of the camp. 1,800 British and Colonial troops were left in the camp including 585 men of the 24th Regiment, the only British regular infantry regiment among them. While Chelmsford was absent, the camp was attacked from the north-east by a force of Zulu warriors, said to number 20,000. Of the 1,800 British forces, about 300 survived. These had fled south-west across the Buffalo River; of the 585 men of the 24th only ten survived.

The Battle of Isandlwana, 22 January 1879.  Charles Edwin Fripp (1854-1906), 1885 (c). A small band of the 24th gathered in a square around their Regimental Colour. In the aftermath of the battle there were several groups of bodies found which indicated that men had gathered themselves together to fight to the last. In the background rises Isandhlwana Kop which, significantly, is shaped like a Sphinx, the badge of the 24th.

Chelmsford and his troops arrived back at camp that night. John Price, of the 2nd Battalion, 24th Regiment, wrote to his parents:

We arrived in camp about nine o’clock at night, and all the tents were burned to the ground, and where we had to sleep was a very uncomfortable place among the dead bodies all night…  from http://www.1879zuluwar.com/t2449-various-eye-witness-accounts

Henry Germain Mainwaring was among those with Chelmsford. He was a Lieutenant in F company of the 2nd Battalion of the 24th Regiment.

The mission station at Rorke’s Drift was attacked by several thousand Zulu warriors on the afternoon of 22 January and the battle continued overnight. 140 British and colonial troops, including 36 men in the hospital, defended the garrison. Chelmsford’s troops arrived at 8am on the morning of the 23rd. Seventeen British soldiers had been killed, ten wounded, and 450 Zulus had been killed.

 

The defence of Rorke’s Drift 1879 Alphonse-Marie-Adolphe de Neuville  via Wikimedia Commons

The battle was reported around the world. For example it was reported in New Zealand in the Otago Witness of 22 February 1879 where Mainwaring’s name was listed as one of the officers of the 24th Regiment which had been in the battle and “almost completely annihilated” in the “massacre”.

The remainder of the 24th cleaned up after the battle and buried the dead. Mainwaring made a map of the battlefield showing the graves of those who were killed and were buried.

Mainwaring received a medal and clasp for the South African Campaign of 1877, 1878, and 1879. He was promoted to Captain in 1880. In the First World War he served as a Brigadier General.

Location of the Zulu Kingdom, Southern Africa, ca. 1890 by Seb az86556 [CC-BY-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

1879 map of Zululand with Rorke’s Drift and Isandhlwana highlighted by red arrows

References:

• UK National Archives WO76/233 South Wales Borderers (2nd Batn). Descriptions relating to individuals have been created using information from a nominal card index relating to Army Officers’ service compiled in the 1980s.
• David, Saul. “Zulu: The True Story.” British History. BBC, 17 Feb. 2011. Web. 27 Apr. 2014. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/victorians/zulu_01.shtml>.
• “24th – Anglo-Zulu War 1879.” 24th, 2nd Warwickshire, Regiment – Fact Sheets. The Royal Welsh Regimental Museum Trust, 16 July 2012. Web. 29 Apr. 2014. <http://royalwelsh.org.uk/downloads/B05-01-24th-Anglo-Zuluwar1879.pdf>.
• Luscombe, Stephen, and Charles Griffin. “The 24th Regiment of Foot.” British Empire: Armed Forces: Units: British Infantry. Britishempire.co.uk, 7 Nov. 2013. Web. 29 Apr. 2014. <http://www.britishempire.co.uk/forces/armyunits/britishinfantry/24thfoot.htm>.
• “The Battle of Islandlwana.” Zulu War. Britishbattles.com, 10 Apr. 2014. Web. 29 Apr. 2014. <http://www.britishbattles.com/zulu-war/isandlwana.htm>.
• Austin, Ronald J. (Ronald James) (1999). The Australian illustrated encyclopedia of the Zulu and Boer wars. Slouch Hat Publications, McCrae, Vic