A rare Second World War North Abyssinia 1941 operations D.S.O. group of ten awarded to Major-General B. F. Armstrong, late South African Mounted Rifles and Artillery, who was taken P.O.W. at Sidi Rezegh in November 1941 while serving as C.O. of the 5th S.A. Infantry Brigade - such was the slaughter inflicted on 5th Brigade that the Germans called it Totensonntag or ‘Death Sunday’: notwithstanding a game leg, the Brigadier - ‘a jolly soul’ - made a successful bid for freedom from the Castello Vincigliata in September 1943 and rose to be acting Quarter-Master General and Chief of General Staff, South African Army

Distinguished Service Order, G.VI.R., the reverse of the suspension bar officially dated ‘1941’; 1914-15 Star (Rfm. B. F. Armstrong, 3rd S.A.M.R.); British War and Victory Medals (Captain B. F. Armstrong); 1939-45 Star; Africa Star; War Medal 1939-45, with M.I.D. oak leaf; Africa Service Medal 1939-45, these four officially inscribed, ‘P172826 B. F. Armstrong’; Jubilee 1935, privately inscribed, ‘Lt. Col. B. F. Armstrong, S.A. Arty.’; Coronation 1937, privately inscribed, ‘Lt. Col. B. F. Armstrong, S.A. Staff C.’, very fine and better (10) £4000-5000

D.S.O. London Gazette 30 December 1941. 

The original recommendation states:

‘During the period 1 February to 9 March 1941, covering the operations involving the invasion of Abyssinia, Brigadier Armstrong displayed initiative of a high order. He displayed exceptional ability in crashing his way with his Brigade Group through dense bush after crossing the Abyssinian border north of Dukana and drive the enemy out of El Gumu. The following morning he advanced against Hobok which he attacked with determination and drove the enemy out. Subsequently he displayed outstanding leadership in the attack on Mega, when throughout three days of the attack, during which heavy rains fell and the countryside was sodden and the temperature almost at freezing point, he acted with great determination in carrying out the attack against the enemy in strongly entrenched and heavily wired positions. He co-ordinated the attack of two Brigades and his calm and determined leadership contributed largely to the surrender of the garrison, which was the first big reverse suffered by the enemy in Abyssinia.’

Bertram Frank Armstrong was born in Cape Town in January 1893 and enlisted in the Natal Police as a Trooper in March 1910. The latter unit having been incorporated into the South African Mounted Regiment, he saw action in German South-West Africa in September-October 1914, and again in July-August 1915, and was advanced to Sergeant in December of the latter year.

Commissioned as a Lieutenant in February 1916, he was granted leave to join the Imperial Forces, and served in the Royal Horse and Royal Field Artillery on attachment to the Egyptian Expeditionary Force from May 1917 until October 1918.

Returning to duty with the Union Defence Force in April 1919, and having relinquished his commission and been appointed Sergeant in March 1920, he was given a permanent commission as a Lieutenant in November 1922, when he joined the strength of the Cape Garrison Artillery.

And it was in this capacity that he gained steady advancement in the period leading up to the renewal of hostilities, serving as C.O. of the S.A. Permanent Garrison Artillery and 1st S.A. Divisional Garrison Artillery in the period February 1933 to April 1937, and as O.C. Cape Command from the latter month until July 1939. He was also awarded the Jubilee and Coronation Medals (G.O. 8412 of 25 May 1935 and G.O. 1344 of 14 June 1937 refer).

Shortly afterwards he was advanced to substantive Colonel and served as Adjutant-General of G.H.Q. Pretoria and, as a war substantive Brigadier, O.C. Natal Command in April-June 1940.

C.O. 5th S.A. Brigade - Sidi Rezegh

The summer of 1940 witnessed Armstrong’s appointment to the command of 5th S.A. Brigade, in which capacity, as cited above, he served with distinction in Abyssinia before the Brigade’s deployment to the Western Desert for the “Crusader” offensive.

By way of summary in terms of Armstrong’s 5th S.A. Brigade’s part in the coming battle, the following extracts have been taken from The Sid Rezeg Battles 1941, by Agar-Hamilton and Turner.

Coming under attack by enemy aircraft on 19 November - in somewhat unusual circumstances:

‘5th Brigade received the attentions of two enemy aircraft but suffered no casualties, though the Brigade Commander [Armstrong] and his staff, toasting the success of the campaign in three bottles of South African produce supplied by colleagues of 1st Brigade, were the victims of a low-level flying attack by the enemy fighter escort. No harm was done, though a junior officer running for shelter with a bottle in either hand complained that he had been singled out for vicious personal attack.’

Shortly after this incident, Armstrong received orders for his brigade to move on Sidi Rezegh, in the early part of which journey enemy aircraft returned to the scene, inflicting a number of casualties. Then on the 21st, General Gott, the G.O.C., arrived in the 5th Brigade area, where Armstrong later recalled:

‘Major-General Gott in his tank contacted me as my Brigade was travelling north in the direction of my advance. He drew up beside my vehicle and informed me that he was General Gott; I replied that I knew him. He then asked me what my orders were. I informed him that I was now under his command. He stated to me that the position was very obscure and that he was out of touch with his armoured units and instructed me to form a laager on the spot. He said he would remain there until the position clarified.’

Static the remainder of the day may have been, but elements of 5th Brigade’s infantry were in close touch with the enemy throughout. Agar Hamilton and Turner continue:

‘The South Africans found the night 21-22 November bitterly cold: the sky was overcast and there were spells of light drizzling rain. The night sky was lit by incessant flashes, bursts of tracer, and signal lights, while the rumbling of tanks and vehicles was heard at intervals away to the north. Brigadier Armstrong was told that a German tank force had leaguered on his eastern flank and says in his report, ‘I decided to investigate and if correct to attack at dawn'. General Gott (who spent the night within the South African perimeter) was concerned in case they proved to be British tanks - which they may well have been. In any case, when daylight came, ‘this formation had disappeared’.

A day and a half had passed since it set out from Bir Duedar and 5th Brigade was still only halfway on its 20-mile journey, and the Army Commander was not alone in thinking that it was high time to link up with Tobruk. General Gott warned Brigadier Armstrong to be ready to move at 0930, ‘by which time he expected to have a clear picture of what had happened in the tank battles fought on 21 November’. But the situation during the early hours proved confusing, and the two British armoured brigades spent a good deal of time bickering with the German rearguards.’

So:

‘By this time General Gott had put aside any idea of linking up with the Tobruk sortie that day, and his intention seems to have been to clear the enemy off the third escarpment west of Point 178. From this commanding height they outflanked the positions of 7th Armoured Brigade and 7th Support Group on the landing-ground, which were exposed to their fire.

‘I was instructed’, says Brigadier Armstrong, to put in an attack on the left flank of the Support Group 7th Armoured Division, to occupy and hold the high ground overlooking the aerodrome. I was also told that Support Group, which had been heavily engaged on the previous day, would pull out and move into the desert South of the position’.

In the event, 5th Brigade’s attack on Point 178 on 22 November ended with heavy loss of life, Armstrong later stating:

‘The attack was launched at about 1500 hours, but owing to heavy opposition little progress was made and heavy casualties resulted. I decided to withdraw 1000 yards after dark and to dig in, which I did. That evening I saw General Gott in his armoured vehicle and informed him of the position, and said that unless I was supported by tanks I could make no progress. At no time did I see or was I assisted by British tanks.’

By dawn on the 23rd:

‘In the centre of the divisional position lay 5th S.A. Brigade, from which only one battalion had been engaged, and which was well prepared to play its part in operations during the coming day. The Brigade had leaguered as it halted for the attack on Point 178, in the order of its march through the desert. 3rd Transvaal Scottish still faced north on the position to which they had retired after sunset; 2nd Regiment Botha were on the right, looking east, and 1st S.A. Irish on the left, looking west. The B Echelon, a mass of thin-skinned vehicles dispersed a nominal hundred yards apart, trailed out into the desert behind. The evidence shows that the Brigade itself occupied a square of nearly two miles width, but it is difficult to say how far the transport spread southwards across the desert. All witnesses agree that the area covered by its vehicles seemed enormous.’

Moreover:

‘General Gott was trying to re-form his armour south-east of 5th S.A. Brigade and at the same time to implement his undertaking to Brigadier Armstrong. According to the latter, the General promised to support 5th S.A. Brigade with the whole of 7th Armoured Division, and told him that ‘he would put the 22nd Armoured Brigade on my left flank, the 7th Armoured Brigade on my right flank, and the 4th Armoured Brigade which, he said, had been badly knocked about and was very weak, in rear’. Apart from an understandable confusion on Brigadier Armstrong's part or the roles proposed for 4th and 7th Armoured Brigades, this represents very fairly the dispositions taken up by 7th Armoured Division, and though General Gott was undoubtedly right in deciding that the armour was no longer capable of an offensive operation, it retained a great deal of potential strength. There were still over a hundred tanks available, and 1st S.A. Brigade was due on the third escarpment at dawn. 6th New Zealand Brigade with a squadron of infantry tanks was expected to arrive in the neighbourhood of Point 175 not long after, and within a day or two the British preponderance at Sidi Rezeg should be fully restored. All that was needed in the meantime was that the considerable forces available should be directed and handled as a single whole.’

However:

‘The German advance struck deep into the soft ‘under-belly’ of 7th Armoured Division, which was as unprepared for the attack as incapable of resistance. In 5th S.A. Infantry Brigade a single troop of 18-pounder anti-tank guns mounted guard over the vast mass of vehicles which stretched southwards across the desert. The rumour of the approach of the panzers caused ‘tremendous confusion’ in the B Echelon before ever they arrived, and transport scattered in all directions. Many vehicles fled into the desert, others crowded for protection round Brigade Headquarters away to the north.’

And:

‘The course of the battle brought the panzers into the area occupied by Brigade Headquarters. News of the German assault had been reported to Brigade, and Brigadier Armstrong had sent Lieutenant Nellmapius of the South African Engineers to ask 26th New Zealand Battalion for anti-tank support but, as the Brigade Intelligence Officer, Captain Tasker, wrote a few weeks later:

‘The first intimation that Brigade Headquarters had of the nearness of the German tanks was when one officer, peering round the wheel of the control vehicle where he was crouched with the telephone, saw the tanks about 300 yards away. Slowly, like monstrous black beetles, they advanced, spouting fire and smoke. The knowledge came as a thunderbolt from the blue. Inconceivable. But there they were, collecting prisoners as they lumbered on ... The tanks moved straight through Brigade Headquarters before splitting in two ... The Brigade Headquarters staff was captured at about 1615 hours.’

Brigadier Armstrong left his armoured car as the tanks approached, and in his scarlet hat and gorget patches was picked up by a German tank, which then plunged on into the battle. The Brigade Major and the Brigade Intelligence Officer and the Signals Officer concealed themselves beneath the command vehicle, but were driven out when it caught alight above them from a stray tracer bullet and blazed merrily. They too were taken ... meanwhile the German tanks pushed through and made contact with the infantry of 21st Panzer Division, on what some of them recorded as Point 175 and some as the Sidi Rezeg escarpment, but which was, pretty certainly, the ‘third escarpment’ of Point 178. The early winter's night descended rapidly, and all that was left of 5th S.A. Brigade on the field of battles consisted of little groups of bewildered and disconsolate prisoners who huddled together neglected, while German staff officers wrestled to discover what had happened, and dispatch riders bounced backwards and forwards among the wreckage, guided by frequent flares and the light of trucks of burning ammunition.’

5th Brigade had gone into battle 5,700 strong, but when the survivors were assembled at Mersa Matruh they numbered 2,306 - 224 had been killed and 379 wounded, the reminder being taken P.O.W.

Escape from the Castello Vincigliata

Armstrong somehow survived his sojourn as a passenger in an enemy tank and was eventually incarcerated in a P.O.W. camp in Italy. No ordinary camp either, in fact the medieval castle of Vincigliata, designated P.G. 12 and formerly the property of an Englishman, John Temple-Leader (1810-1903). The latter restored the castle to its former glory, much to the chagrin of the senior British and Commonwealth officers who were to be held there in the War, for he blocked off all of the ancient tunnels that once served as a means of escape.

Armstrong’s fellow ‘guests’ were V.I.Ps in every sense, their ranks numbering the likes of Lieutenant-Generals Richard O’Connor and Philip Neame and that irrepressible old warrior, Major-General Adrian Carton de Wiart, V.C. In his highly entertaining autobiography, Happy Odyssey, the latter wrote, ‘We learned that Vincigliata had belonged to an Englishman, a man called Temple-Leader. We considered he had restored the castello in the most thoughtless fashion, giving all his attention to what went on above ground, and regardless of many underground passages that he had sealed up. He made things very difficult for us.’

As it transpired, Sir Adrian finally found a way out of the castle in March 1943, disguised as an Italian peasant, no mean feat for the one-eyed, one-armed veteran, and he enjoyed several weeks on the run before being recaptured.

Armstrong, who fellow internee Flight Lieutenant John Leeming later described as ‘a jolly soul, who seemed quite undisturbed by prison life in Vincigliata’, also made a bid for freedom, at the time of the Italian Armistice in September 1943. His bid proved to be successful, he and his companions walking over the Apennines and down into Romagna, guided by a Benedictine monk, Don Leone. One of his fellow escapers - 2nd Lieutenant the Earl of Ranfurly, - noted however that ‘it was a terrible climb for Brigadier Armstrong who had a game leg. There was not enough food in the village, so we dispersed in small parties over a district of ten miles.’ Notwithstanding his game leg, the Brigadier duly reached Allied lines.

Back in South Africa by August 1944, he was appointed O.C. Witwatersrand Command.

His final wartime appointment was as C.O. Cape Fortress from July 1945, and, in the rank of Major-General, he subsequently acted as Head of the South African Military Mission to Germany 1946-48. He was finally placed on the Reserve of Officers in January 1950, having in the interim been Acting Chief of General Staff in the summer of 1949. Armstrong died in 1972; sold with extensive copied research.