As soon as they showed themselves above the crest they were met with a hail of machine-gun fire.īird went from gun to gun under relentless shelling, lurching in and out of the dunes in his jeep, re-distributing what remained of the ammunition, directing fire, rallying his men and, at critical moments, taking the place of wounded men in his gun crews. Three carriers, loaded with the most badly wounded men, were able to make a dash for the high ground and reach safety but ambulances and supply lorries were pinned down. An additional hazard was that they were between the enemy lines and there were costly incidents of “blue on blue” losses. His small force was running short of ammunition, casualties were mounting fast and there was little more than field dressings to tend to wounds. In the intense heat of noon, the first onslaught of five tank attacks that day was launched at them. This was repulsed and, at first light, Bird’s gunners were presented with two columns of enemy tanks, broadside on, moving westwards. His orders were to coordinate the fire of the 15 guns of the battalion and the six guns of 239 Battery, 76th Anti-Tank Regiment RA.īy 0345 hours the guns were offloaded and ready for action, but no sooner had 2 RB organised its defences than the outpost was attacked. Bird was in command of 2 RB’s Support Company, an anti-tank unit equipped with six-pounder guns. They encountered scattered enemy fire and some strafing from aircraft before reaching the outpost and digging in. That afternoon, 2nd Bn The Rifle Brigade (2 RB), part of 7th Motor Brigade, 1st Armoured Division, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Victor Turner, received hurried orders to capture Snipe, an outpost in a small, oval depression of scrubby desert about a mile and a half south-west of the ridge.Īt about 2300 hours, Turner moved off with a mixed force behind a creeping barrage. After several days of bitter positional fighting, on October 26 Allied forces captured a sector close to Kidney Ridge, an important strategic feature. The Second Battle of El Alamein began on October 23 1942. Major Tom Bird, who has died two days short of his 99th birthday, was awarded a DSO and two MCs in the North Africa campaign and subsequently had a successful career as an architect.
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