BRITAIN AT WAR
A DEAD MAN WALKING
such heavy casualties that the enemy, determined to put his guns out of action, brought up a pack battery to within seven hundred yards, and scored two direct hits through the loopholes of his defences, which, bursting within the post, wounded Captain Wilson severely in the right shoulder and in the left eye, several of his team being also wounded. His guns were blown off their stands but he repaired and replaced them and, regardless of his wounds, carried on,
whilst his Somali sergeant was killed beside him.”
The Italian assault was beaten off but the following day, 12 August 1940, the Italians mounted a full-scale attack supported by artillery. According to General Wavell’s report on the battle in the London Gazette of 5 June 1946, the Italians advanced with great determination and, thanks to
Wilson’s machine-guns, suffered very heavy casualties. Finally, Mill Hill, the weakest of the positions, was taken towards the end of the day’s fighting.
The Italians also managed to work their way round the left flank of the Tug Argan position and reached another hill (Donkey Hill) which overlooked both Observation Hill and Castle Hill. Small detachments also penetrated to the Berbera road behind Castle Hill.
On the 14th, the enemy renewed their attack with heavy shelling directed upon Castle and Observation Hills. Over 500 enemy shells fell on Castle Hill alone during the day. At 16.00 hours a powerful infantry attack on Wilson’s position on Observation Hill was repulsed. Wilson reported that many parts of the hill’s defences had been destroyed by gun fire, and that it would be impossible to hold the post much longer.
The report in the London Gazette continued: “On 12th and 14th August the enemy again concentrated field artillery fire on Captain Wilson’s guns, but he continued, with his wounds untended, to man them. On August 15th two of his machine-gun posts were blown to pieces, yet Captain Wilson, now suffering from malaria in addition to wounds, still kept his own post in action. The enemy finally over-ran the post at 5 p.m. on the 15th August when Captain Wilson, fighting to the last, was killed.”
ABOVE:
A map showing the Italian invasion of British Somaliland in August 1940. The approximate position of the Battle of Tug Argan, during which Captain Eric Wilson won the Victoria Cross, is indicated.
FAR LEFT:
The British forces in Somaliland in 1940 were commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel (later Brigadier) Arthur Reginald Chater – seen here. An officer in the Royal Marines, Chater had fought at Gallipoli and participated in the Zeebrugge raid during the First World War. He retired in 1948. (HMP)
BELOW LEFT:
Another picture of a unit of the Somaliland Camel Corps on patrol in 1940. Soon after British forces returned to the Protectorate in 1941, the Somaliland Camel Corps was reformed and spent the following months rounding up stray Italians and dealing with groups of local bandits. By 18 April 1941, the unit was at about 80% of its former strength and in 1942 it became a mechanised regiment. (HMP)
BELOW:
The commander in French Somaliland, General Legentilhomme. Wavell himself said: “I decided in the event of war with Italy with place General Legentilhomme in command of both British and French Somaliland ... The recommendations were approved in principle by the War Office.” Having been replaced in French Somaliland by a pro-Vichy French officer, Legentilhomme made his way to London to join up with the Free French Forces of General de Gaulle. (HMP)
AUGUST 2010
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