With the Irish against Rommel: A Diary of 1943

George F. McElroy was a freelance reviewer living in Oakville, Ontario.

Colonel Strome Galloway’s military record and well-developed talent for writing are well known to most military men. His books include: A Regimental War; The General Who Never Was; The White Cross in Canada; and Beddoe’s Canadian Heraldry. He is also honorary editor and production manager of the illustrated quarterly, Heraldry in Canada, and his popular column, “Brave Yesterdays,” appears regularly in the Legion Magazine.

In 1943, while a captain with the Royal Canadian Regiment in the United Kingdom, he was selected, together with a representative group of other Canadian servicemen, to gain battle experience with the British First Army in North Africa. He arrived at Algiers on February 1, 1943, and soon afterwards was on his way to a sector of the front line held by the Irish Brigade, which included the 1st Royal Irish Fusiliers, the 6th Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, and the 2nd London Irish Rifles. He was posted to the latter unit as second-in-command of “F” Company and remained until he returned to the United Kingdom in time to rejoin the Royal Canadian Regiment for the invasion of Sicily. During this period, he learned at first hand what life was like at the “sharp end” in the Western Desert, pitted against Rommel’s famed Afrika Korps. A few weeks earlier, the London Irish had lost 21 officers and 250 other ranks in a one-day battle with Panzers and Hermann Goering Jaeger troops. In “F” Company, only two lance corporals and fifteen privates survived, so it was necessary to rebuild the company almost entirely from reinforcements. These had a wide variety of regimental affiliations. Only two of “F” Company’s officers were original London Irish. The author was, of course, Royal Canadian Regiment, one platoon commander was from the Lancashire Fusiliers, and another was from the Beds & Herts Regiment. All ranks had to be organized and trained under dangerous and difficult front line conditions to work and fight as a team.

This book is based upon a diary kept by the author during his Tunisian service. In it, he recorded not only his day-to-day experiences and activities but also his impressions, comments, and an abundance of entertaining anecdotes. The book also includes chapters commenting upon the Tunisian campaign in general, leadership at all levels, the fighting abilities of troops of all nationalities involved, and lessons learned. Many of the lessons noted would be just as applicable today in the Middle East and other areas of conflict as they were in Tunisia in 1943.

With the Irish against Rommel willbe of particular interest to soldiers, ex-soldiers, students of military affairs, and historians but many general readers should also find it entertaining and enlightening.