Middle East and East Africa 1944

Thursday 11 April 2019

Middle East and East Africa 1944

My mother left a fascinating account of the trip to the Middle East and East Africa she made in November and December 1944 with my father when she was his PA.

There are vivid descriptions of the places they visited. The account of Christmas Day 1944 is a delight.

A good deal of tough work was done much in preparation for a long and gruelling land war against Japan. A substantial Ordance infrastructure had grown to support the North Africa campaign. It now had to be cut back. Huge effort was being put into stripping scrapped vehicles for spares, but without regard to demand. The massive depot at Alexandria, dating back really to WW1, had to be closed leaving only Tel El Kebir and Tura.

This and other material appears in a third volume of my trilogy on Ordnance, Dunkirk to D Day.

The photograph is of a boot factory at Nakuru in Kenya

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About me

Phil Hamlyn Williams's most recent project was the exploration of an assertion that Britain Created the Manufacturing World. The resulting books were published by Pen & Sword in 2022 and APS Books in December 2023.

Dunkirk to D Day - the stories of some of the RAOC men who fought in both world wars and who masterminded Ordnance supply for D Day, was published by Pen & Sword on 30 April.

His previous book, Ordnance, tells the story of the men and women who equipped the British Army for the Great War. It was published by The History Press in June 2018. His first book, War on Wheels, telling the story of the thousands of ordinary men and women who together worked to mechanise the British Army in WW2, was published by The History Press in September 2016. He wrote the story of the MacRobert's Reply collaborating with Story Terrace, published in December 2016. This is the story of an aeroplane, the woman who bought it and the men who flew it. He also wrote Charlotte Bronte's Devotee about William Smith Williams, the man who discovered and mentored Charlotte Bronte and a host of Victorian writers and artists. He writes family histories for Story Terrace and comments regularly on contemporary issues his own blogs. He is chair of trustees at The Lincoln Arts Trust which ran the Lincoln Drill Hall arts venue. He also chairs The Lincoln Book Festival.

He was awarded an MA in Professional Writing at University College Falmouth in 2009. He has been writing for fifteen years, having spent much of his career in professional services, most recently as a partner in Price Waterhouse, and in the not for profit sector.

Philip Hamlyn Williams - Historian

The final book of the trilogy on army supply

Thursday 11 April 2019

Middle East and East Africa 1944

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