GROUPS AND SINGLE DECORATIONS FOR GALLANTRY
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 Sidi 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.’
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