THE DESERT RATS

3RD ROYAL TANK REGIMENT

Trooper William Arthur Jones 7932511

Ministry of Defence Service Record

Above is a copy of my dad's release book issued to him by the Royal Tank Regiment. The testimonial reads as follows: "MILITARY CONDUCT: Exemplary. A first class man who undertakes any task cheerfully and carries it out well. Above average intelligence. Honest & reliable." The document is dated 30th July 1946 Flensburg, Germany.

From information provided by Fred Simmons, a fellow Rat who joined the 3 RTR following the D-Day landings, I can provide the following rough outline of my father's military career.

Having been called up in 1941 my dad was posted to the 57th Training Regiment which, according to Fred, was stationed at Tidworth. On completion of training, dad was drafted to the Middle East where he was posted to the 3 RTR 'A' Squadron. Dad finally saw action in the desert in June 1942 at the first Battle of El Alamein ( Rommel's impatient and ill-prepared attempt to crash through the Allied El Alamein defences ) followed by the Battle of Alam el Halfa in August of the same year when Rommel attempted yet another breaking of the El Alamein defences in a final thrust at his goal, Alexandria. Following this, the Eight Army spent the next few months holding back the Germans. Following one of the greatest Allied artillery barrages of the Second World War on the evening of the 23rd October 1942, dad took part in the main Battle of El Alamein. The 3 RTR broke through the German lines at the Battle of Aqaqir Ridge on the 3rd November 1942 and ending up at Fuka.

After El Alamein the 3 RTR and other units began pushing the German forces back westward towards Tunisia. Allied forces arrived in Tripoli on the 23rd January 1943. It was here that the 3 RTR underwent a short refit before once more pushing the Germans west. They finally reached their goal, Tunis, on the 7th May. The 3rd RTR and the other regiments had covered the 1400 miles from Alamein to Tunis in ninety days, averaging sixteen miles a day despite the desert terrain, the weather and the delaying tactics of the Africa Korp. Following the surrender of the Africa Korp the 3 RTR returned to the Egyptian Delta region where they received the joyous news that they were heading home to Britain.

The crews of the 3 RTR were home for Christmas 1943 and after a period of leave they moved to Bridlington to help form the 11th Armoured Division. After Bridlington they were moved to Aldershot in readiness for the Allied invasion of Europe.

The 3 RTR landed in Normandy D+5, i.e. five days after the main landings. Dad and his comrades were then ordered east towards Caen. It was in the narrow roads near Villers-Bocage, hemmed in by high hedges and banks, that the 3 RTR saw some of its fiercest fighting. Accustomed to swift open warfare in the desert, the crews of the tank regiments were now being shot at close range. Having survived the ferocity of the claustrophobic fighting of the Bocage, the 3 RTR now prepared for Operation Epsom, the first attempt to attack the German stronghold of Caen which threatened to hold back the Allied movement out into France and the countries beyond. Epsom was a failure. Despite suffering heavy casualties, Caen was not seized. The town was eventually taken from the Germans between the 7th and 9th July 1944 and the Allied tanks were at last free to cross the Orne river and start fighting eastward.

The 3 RTR took part in the next part of the breakout from Normandy, Operation Goodwood. Between the 18th and 21st July 1944, the Allied forces attempted to thrust out of Caen. Despite initial successes in clearing the German forces out of the surrounding villages, Goodwood finally ground to a halt. The operation had gained seven miles at most at a cost of some 6,000 casualties and nearly 400 tanks.

The main breakthrough happened soon after when the German forces, increasingly stretched, headed south allowing the Allied forces to circle round them and trap them at Falaise. Some 50,000 German soldiers were captured when the Allies finally slammed shut the Falaise Gap, another 10,000 dead.

The 3 RTR then headed at high speed through France and towards the Belgian border. Encountering resistance virtually all the way, the regiment fought its way into Belgium and continued as far as Antwerp, an important port heavily protected by the Germans. Its importance for supplying equipment to the Allies made its capture a key priority in this phase of the invasion. British forces, including the 3 RTR finally liberated Antwerp on the 4th September 1944.

With winter approaching, the 11th Armoured Division was sent back behind the lines for rest and a refit of vehicles. It was now that my dad and the 3 RTR arrived in the small town of Aarschot near Leuven. The crews were billeted in local houses where families treated them to the comforts of home life which they had missed for so long. Dad was billeted with Anna and Eligius Geyzels and their five children, Francine, Yvonne, Marie-Louise, Louis and Jos. When the 3 RTR finally resumed their journey of liberation into Germany in March 1945, my dad remained in contact with the Geyzels family and returned to visit them when he was on leave. He eventually married Francine Geyzels in 1950.

At the end of 1944 the 3 RTR were rushed to the Ardennes region of south-east Belgium following the German breakthrough of the Allied defences there - the Von Runstedt offensive. The heavy fighting that broke out here came to be known as the Battle of the Bulge. The wintry weather and the difficult hilly terrain made tank warfare in this area especially dangerous. Dad and his comrades together with elements of the American 82nd Reconnaissance Battalion were engaged in attacking the leading battlegroup of the German 2nd Panzer Division near the town of Dinant. After protracted fighting the German forces were overwhelmed and 147 German soldiers and their commanding officer were captured.

The 3 RTR fought into Germany and had reached Flensburg near the German-Danish border when the Germans finally surrendered.

mailto:eric@geysels.freeserve.co.uk