A Memory of Snipe and Alamein

Tom Bird, 96 this year, is a much decorated hero of the Desert War in World War II, whose most famous exploit was commanding the anti-tank company of 2nd Battalion, The Rifle Brigade, which stopped Rommel’s determined panzer counter-attack during the Second Battle of El Alamein (Oct. 23 – Nov. 24, 1942) at Snipe, a small oval-shaped depression 2000 yards in front of the British forward position, on Kidney Ridge. The battle was described by newspapers at home as ‘the finest action of the war’. It earned the commanding officer (Col. Victor Turner) a VC, and Bird added the DSO to his MC and Bar. Bird was already something of a desert legend for his aggressive night patrols, and for capturing an astounding number of Axis prisoners. One of his Battalion’s riflemen, Victor Gregg, called him ‘a man of exceptional courage. When all seemed to be lost, there would be Dicky boy, calm and seemingly aloof from the dangers around us…’ [Rifleman, 2011]. He also served as ADC to Field Marshals Wavell and Auchinleck in India before returning to his regiment. Tom Bird, October 28, 1942, the day after Snipe

E-Zine 2014 Volume 6 Issue 1 | 18 He was blown up by a mortar during 30 Corps’ drive to Arnhem in September 1944, and dragged to safety by the present Lord Saye and Sele. His fighting war ended, but he served with distinction in Washington as ADC to another Rifleman, FM ‘Jumbo’ Wilson. He met most of the great names of the war including the Big Three, spent a day with Ike in Potsdam mending a fountain, a night in the desert alone with ‘Stafer’ Gott and played charades with the Wavells. Continued on next page

On October 13, 2011, Tom Bird was invited by Major James Gayner (a family friend) of the 4th Battalion, The Rifles, to attend their annual Snipe dinner, held in the Officers’ Mess at Bulford. Below is the short talk Bird gave to their Colonel and officers.

THANK YOU, James, for inviting me to this excellent and enjoyable dinner. I’m especially grateful for the opportunity to have another look at Cuneo’s admirable picture [‘The Kidney Ridge action’]. I am so glad that it has come to rest in such suitable surroundings…..

I was involved with Cuneo’s picture from early days. Cuneo was always anxious to get details as right as possible. However, I can tell you that the background of the picture is not actually the Western Desert. It’s Wimbledon Common. Vic Turner, Jack Toms, Corporal Francis and I drove down there with a 6-pounder, a Jeep and some ammunition boxes, in the autumn of 1946. I had a disagreement with Cuneo. He wanted to put a dead man in the foreground. I said ‘you can’t do that. It’s probably going to be a Christmas card.’ Cuneo said ‘Well, I must have something for the composition.’ And we settled for those ammunition boxes.

My son, Nicky, told me that during the time when he was working at the Victoria and Albert Museum the Museum shop was selling Cuneo’s picture of ‘Snipe’ as a jigsaw puzzle. Nicky once asked me whether at any time during the battle called ‘Snipe’ it had occurred to me that the scene in front of me would make a good jigsaw puzzle. I had to say ‘No, it hadn’t.’

As commander of the anti-tank company at Snipe and at the end of the battle it did not seem to me like a victory. I had lost all my guns. Hugo Salmon, my great friend and Second-in-Command, had been killed soon after dawn. All 4 of my platoon commanders and I had been wounded. Many of the N.C.O.s and Riflemen, alongside whom I had been fighting since 1940, had been killed or wounded. My own wound was a bang on the back of my head. I remained with my company for a day or two, during which I was very wobbly, and our M.O. sent me down to the hospital in Cairo which dealt with head wounds. I was there about 3 weeks.

However, in due course it did dawn on us that we had actually won a battle: we had destroyed a good deal of Rommel’s precious, irreplaceable armour: we had discovered that the 6-pounder was indeed a terrific weapon and compared very favourably with the pop-gun that was the 2-pounder, which couldn’t knock out an enemy tank at acceptable range. The 6-pounder could – it made Snipe possible. Morale was sky high.

Our Colonel, Vic Turner, received the VC. He always used to say that it was the Battalion’s award. Maybe, but Vic certainly earned it over and over again that day. Wherever the fighting was thickest he was there in the middle of it. There were many deeds of valour. Calistan should have had a VC. He personally knocked out 9 tanks, the last 3 with 3 shots. And after dark, before withdrawing, he saw to it that all guns in his area had been rendered useless to the enemy. He then started to carry a wounded man the 2 miles back to the ‘rendezvous’ but on the way the wounded man was killed by a stray bullet. Calistan immediately returned to the battlefield to fetch another wounded man. Calistan was recommended by his Brigade, Division and Corps commanders for a VC but it was downgraded by Monty to a DCM. Sadly Calistan was killed later in Italy.

For many complicated reasons I don’t think Monty liked the Rifle Brigade. One of them might have been that when he asked for a Rifle Brigade badge to add to the array already on his beret, Colonel Vic refused, saying he wasn’t entitled to it.

My housemaster at Winchester wrote to me towards the end of 1942, saying: ‘we now have Monty’s boy in the school. A nice, quiet unassuming boy – takes after his mother I presume.’

You might like to know that when Vic Turner retired from the army he went to live with his two brothers and his sister in their house in Norfolk. None of them ever married. Vic got the VC as you know, so did his brother who was in the navy. His other brother, a brigadier in the gunners, ‘only’ got a DSO. He was always known in Norfolk as ‘The Coward’.