249398 L/Cpl. Bernard Charles Cooper British Army 4th Battalion Green Howards from:West Drayton My Dad, Bernard Cooper was in the 4th Battalion of the Green Howards and must have signed up after Dunkirk. The Green Howards were lifted off the Dunkirk beaches after that unsuccessful mission and then the next time they appear, after being brought back up to strength (when Dad must have signed up or been conscripted) is in the desert in 1942 which is where Dad’s story begins. I remember what little he did say about his time in the desert was that they were forever digging trenches and then moving somewhere else! This is borne out by the facts that I now know. The whole story of the desert war from Jan to June 1942 is about moving and relocating around the desert to the west of Tobruk.
By 1942 Rommel was in charge of the Afrika Korps and moving slowly eastward towards Cairo and the Suez Canal. There wasn’t much action until the middle of May and then it was all over in a matter of 4 days. The 4th and 5th Battalions of the Green Howards, plus a battalion of South Africans and Indians made up 150 company that fought at the Battle of Gazzala from 28th of May 28th to 1st of June. They were surrounded and squeezed into an ever smaller area as the Germans advanced and they stayed put! Sounds as if they were buying time so that a larger force around Tobruk could dig in (Desert Rats) and hoping for reinforcements that never came. Eventually they ran out of ammunition and were forced to surrender and taken POW. Some of the fighting was brutal and there mentions of bayonet charges etc.
I always had the impression that dad was never involved in any action and never shot a rifle, which I guess was a pretty stupid thing to think and the British army never just surrenders without putting up a fight! But he never spoke about what happened. So now I know and am content that I do know what he did! After being captured, large number of PoWs including my Dad were transported through Italy to Mascerate on the east coast of Italy before eventually ending up in Germany where we can pick up his story again. After the war the 4th battalion of the Green Howards was never revived.
So it clear that Dad did see violent action and was lucky to have been captured unharmed as many of the battalion were killed and badly injured. Not quite the story that I think he told us!
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