Grandad

Alan Douglas Melton, my grandad, was born at 59 Saxon Road, Ilford on 19^th April 1919. Unfortunately, I know little about the early years of his life as the census information for 1921 and 1931 are not available at the time of writing. Also, he passed away when I was only six years old and although I remember him I was too young to ask him detailed questions about his life. Alan produced a scrapbook* of his experiences in World War 2 and it makes for fascinating reading. What I have been able to uncover is based on this, along with conversations with Dad and Grandma plus my own research. 

Family tree showing Alan's parents, siblings and children

Early Years

Alan probably lived at the Saxon Road address throughout his childhood and during his time at school. In those days, most people left school at the age of fourteen and then went to work. Working on this basis, Alan probably left school in the summer of 1933. Britain was recovering from the Depression and there were still almost three million people registered as unemployed. Was he able find employment straight away? It is impossible to tell, however what is certain is that at some point he secured a job at Plessey, the telecommunications manufacturers, based at Vicarage Road, Ilford. In the years that followed he became a progress checker clerk.

1933 was an important year for another reason. Hitler became the chancellor of Germany on the 30^th January. This event and the rise of National Socialism in Germany was to have a profound effect on the future of Alan and others of his generation.

In 1934/35, Alan moved to 136 Stratton Drive on the newly-built Leftley Estate in Barking with his parents and his siblings Bernard, Arthur, Ken and Kath. His elder siblings had all grown up and left home by this stage. Other members of the family made the move to the new estate: Alan’s uncle Albert, auntie Henrietta and cousins Joan, Iris and Pam lived at 10 Halsham Crescent and after he was married in 1936, Alan’s older brother, Arthur, and his wife, Win, lived at 14 Dereham Road. They were a close-knit family and they all lived within a ten minute walk of each other.

Whilst working at Plesseys Alan met a young woman named Daisy who worked in the wages office. In September 1939 Britain declared war on Germany and needed men to fill the ranks of the armed forces. In October 1939, the British government announced that all men aged between 18 and 41 who were not working in ‘reserved occupations’ could be called to join the armed services if required. Conscription was by age and in October 1939 men aged between 20 and 23 were required to register with one of the armed forces. They were allowed to choose between the army, the navy and the air force. Even though Alan was 20 years old, Plesseys was engaged in the war effort and as such he was considered to be working in a reserved occupation.

By 1941 the British government started conscripting single women aged between 20 and 30 to take up work in reserved occupations. This policy enabled those men who previously occupied those jobs to be drafted into the services.

Alan and Daisy on their wedding day

Once Alan learnt that he was going to be called up for service he decided to marry Daisy and they tied the knot at St Margaret’s Church in Barking on 26^th April 1941. After the wedding, they moved into his mother-in-law’s house in Twyford Road, Ilford; but just four days later on 30th April, Alan reported for duty with the army. Alan was assigned to the 2nd Armoured Brigade Company, Royal Army Service Corps (RASC) which was part of the 1st Armoured (White Rhino) Division. Alan commenced his basic training but was allowed a 12 hour pass to visit his wife and family on 7th May. On his return from leave, Alan initially received training as a driver but later passed exams to become an army clerk.

The North African Campaign

Alan left England with the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force on 25th September 1941. The ship he travelled on would have sailed south with a protective convoy across the Atlantic Ocean, around the Cape of Good Hope and then up the coast of East Africa before arriving in Suez, Egypt on 25th November. The division formed part of the newly-named Eighth Army under the stewardship of General Auchinleck. Alan served with a unit that supplied the division and would have been responsible for providing fuel and supplies for tanks and other armoured vehicles. Though he would have probably followed behind the front line, his unit still would have been at risk from air attack and artillery. Like all other soldiers in North Africa he would have experienced the difficulties of life in the desert: searing heat by day and sometimes very cold nights, the dust and sand that clung to sweaty bodies and plagues of flies that became more numerous as the casualties mounted.

Alan’s first serious taste of battle probably occurred on 21^st January 1942 when the German’s under Rommel launched a surprise attack in Cyrenaica (north-eastern Libya), catching the British off-guard and causing damage to the 1^st Armoured Division in the process.  The British retreated and the Eighth Army established a line running south from Gazala, just west of Tobruk. Alan spent the next four months here as the Axis and the Eighth Army faced each other and made their plans for the future.

Rommel struck again on 26^th May and over the course of the next 25 days the Gazala Line collapsed and on 20^th June Tobruk fell. This was regarded as a catastrophe by the Allied forces and only Egypt stood between the Axis and the Middle East and its oil fields. What the Allies didn’t realise is that Rommel had been weakened to such an extent that only the capture of British supplies would enable him to press forward into Egypt. The Eighth Army pulled back to Mersa Matruh on 25^th June where they prepared for the defence of Egypt.

The Germans attacked between the 26^th and 28^th June and managed to encircle the Eighth Army positions. Only a combination of luck and desperate fighting enabled them to break out and retreat to the east. The 1^st Armoured Division encountered German Panzers of the Afrika Korps late in the afternoon of 30^th June close to Tell al Aqqaqir and during a raging sandstorm managed to inflict serious damage on them. Unfortunately, the sandstorm led to the constituent 4^th and 22^nd Brigades losing contact with each other. In a bid to avoid the enemy and minefields the 4^th Brigade had become trapped in soft sand.  

On 1^st July 1942 Rommel attacked the combined British, Commonwealth and Empire forces of the Eighth Army at El Alamein. Only 18 tanks belonging to the 22^nd Brigade of the 1^st Armoured Division where available on the first day of the battle. The tanks of the 4^th Brigade, who had been travelling since 4am, had become trapped in soft sand and were unable to take part in the battle. They spent the remainder of the day struggling in the sand. It wasn’t until nightfall that they wearily pulled themselves out and were able to move south to firmer ground.

Rommel’s plan was to try and encircle the Eighth Army, but instead the Axis ran into stiff resistance. Unfortunately, the Eighth Army failed to capitalise and over the next few days almost managed to grasp defeat from the jaws of victory.

On 2^nd July Rommel tried to attack again. The tanks of the first armoured division engaged the Afrika Korps on the Ruweisat Ridge and once again the Axis were unable to break through. That night the tank crews attended to maintenance and repairs. The axis tried again on 3rd July but once again the attack failed.

Allied attempts to regain ground over the following days began with stalemate and ended in disaster. Poor leadership and a lack of communication between the armoured divisions and the infantry lead to tanks blundering into enemy anti-tank fire and to the infantry receiving no armoured support. There were unnecessary losses during attempts to retake the Ruweisat ridge between 14^th -16^th July and this lead to recriminations and great mistrust between the New Zealand infantry brigades and 1^st Armoured Division. It would have been difficult for Alan to avoid this. Alan would have probably heard about the 23^rd Armoured Division’s near suicidal assault on 22^nd July which led to their annihilation. Fortunately, the Eighth Army had superior numbers and was better equipped to cope with the losses than the Axis forces, yet the Eighth Army still came under enormous political pressure as a result of these perceived failures. Fortunately, as July drew to a close the Eighth Army regained the initiative and managed to end Rommel’s chances of advancing into Egypt, although was once again criticised for failing to destroy Rommel’s army. As a result, Auchinleck was sacked by Winston Churchill and replaced by Montgomery.

Taken in Cairo 1942

After the 1^st Battle of El Alamein, the Eighth Army built up its supplies and received reinforcements. The 1^st Armoured Division received new American Sherman tanks. On 20th August Alan was transferred to the 925 company 2nd Armoured Brigade which was still part of the1st Armoured Division. Several days later the Axis attacked but the attack ended in failure as they were held at Alam el Halfa Ridge on 30^th August. At around this time Montgomery planned an offensive that would push the Axis back into Libya. Alan was granted 4 days’ battle leave and spent 16th September in Cairo where he attended the cinema and visited Al Azbakiya Gardens.

On Friday 23^rd October 1942, the second battle of El Alamein began. The 1^st Armoured Division didn’t take part until dusk on 24^th October when they were engaged by tanks from the 15^th Panzer Division and the Italian Littorio Division. This was the first major tank battle of El Alamein with over 100 tanks involved. By nightfall over half were destroyed and no ground was yielded by either side. This situation continued for several days. Each time the tanks advanced they were repelled by anti-tank guns. However, by the end of Thursday 29^th October the British still had 800 tanks in operation, while the Axis had just 148 German and 187 Italian tanks.

To break the deadlock, Montgomery ordered a new phase of attack codenamed Operation Supercharge. On Monday 2^nd November, the tanks of the 1^st Armoured Division followed the 9^th Armoured Brigade through a path that had been cleared through an enemy minefield. 9^th Armoured Brigade bore the brunt of the enemy anti-tank guns and was largely destroyed. The surviving units came under the command of the 1^st Armoured Division and were eventually able to break through.

On 4^th November, the 1^st Armoured Division came into contact with the remnants of the 21^st Panzer and spent the day slowly pushing them back 8 miles. In order to deepen the armoured thrusts, 1^st Armoured were directed at El Daba, some 15 miles down the coast. In a bid to penetrate even further Montgomery ordered them to take a wide detour through the desert to Bir Khalda, 80 miles with a view to swinging up to cut the road at Mersa Matruh. The move proved unsuccessful and 1^st Armoured attempted to make up time with a night march, but in the darkness, the armour became separated from their support vehicles and as a consequence ran out of fuel on 6^th November 16 miles short of Bir Khalda.

By 11am on 6^th November the “B” Echelon support vehicles were starting to re-connect with the armour, but only enough to partly refuel two of the armoured regiments. They set off again hoping to cut off the enemy but ran out of fuel again 30 miles south west of Mersa Matruh. A fuel convoy set off from El Alamein but became bogged down once rain started to fall and was unable to re-supply the support vehicles.

1^st Armoured played no further part between 7^th and 11^th November as the ground conditions had deteriorated following heavy rain. However, during this period Rommel retreated and the battle was over. Evidently, Alan's hard work supplying the front line during this challenging time had impressed his superiors, since on 19th December he was transferred to 656 General Transport Company and promoted to the rank of corporal. 656GT was a temporary transport company hastily assembled to ensure supply was maintained to supply the rapidly advancing front line as the axis forces retreated westwards. The unit’s nickname was “The Tobruk-Bengahazi Haulage Contractors Limited” and they moved supplies and replacement vehicles that were landed at Tobruk, up to the forward supply depots some 600 miles away, starting on 9 January.  Whilst this activity was ongoing, the remainder of the 1st Armoured Division moved forward to be located closer to the port city of Benghazi. On 23rd January, the 8th Army moved forward and captured Tripoli, which was a major port and the capital of Italian Libya.  The remaining German and Italian Forces retired into Tunisia, where other forces were fighting a combined British, American and French force pushing into Tunisia from Algeria which had been invaded in November 1942.

Libyan  Desert 1943

Over the course of the next six months the Eighth Army pushed the Axis back through Libya and into Tunisia where they made a stand at the Mareth Line. Tunis was taken by the Allies on 13^th May 1943 and the enemy surrendered in large numbers. The North African campaign was over.

On 1st September 1943 as preparations for the invasion of Sicily were being made, Alan and his unit were transferred to the British North Africa Force (BNAF). While the 1st Armoured Division had been chasing the Germans and Italians across the Libyan Desert, the BNAF had parachuted into the French colonies of Algeria and Morocco which were now under Axis control. After some initial resistance, the Vichy French garrisons had surrendered and the territory fell under Allied control. Alan and other Allied troops were billeted to farms in Algeria and Morocco. Alan spent Christmas Day 1943 at Oued El Alleug, Algeria.

The Italian Campaign

As the Allies invaded Sicily and then Italy, the 1^st Armoured Division remained in North Africa. It was not until May 1944 that the division was posted to Italy to bolster an offensive that would push up the “boot” of Italy towards Rome. Alan landed in Naples on or around 27th May 1944, but in the event 1^st Armoured was held in reserve and Rome was taken by the US 5^th Army.

The Eighth Army was then switched to the Adriatic coast of Italy. The 1^st Armoured Division did not see any action until Operation Olive whose objective was to break through the Gothic Line and conquer Rimini. Between 3^rd and 4^th September 1944 the first battle of Coriano began. The 1^st Armoured Division, exhausted after a 50-hour march to arrive at the front, was ordered to attack the Coriano ridge. Rain fell incessantly and the tanks were soon bogged down. When the tanks appeared in the sight of the defending Germans they were sitting ducks for their 88mm guns. At the end of the first day just 79 out of the original 156 Sherman tanks were still fit for battle. The fighting continued for two days with terrible losses on both sides, but the Germans held their position.

Between the 12^th and 13^th September the Allies made another attempt to take the Coriano ridge and were successful on this occasion. The 1^st Armoured Division took the nearby village of San Clemente. The Eighth Army then pursued the Germans but the 1^st Armoured Division was held up at the Fornacci stream which had become swollen from 10 days of heavy rain and could not be crossed by the tanks.

Taken in Florence 1944

After Operation Olive, 1^st Armoured ceased to be viable division and was converted to infantry. However, Alan's unit survived and he was promoted to the rank of sergeant on 23rd November.

During the winter 1944/45 the Germans prevented the Eighth Army from advancing north across the Lombardy plain, but during the spring months the Germans were driven north towards the Alps and the war was over. Alan was given leave to return home on 30th May 1945. He remained at home until 24th July before returning to Italy with the Central Mediterranean Force, which at the time was presumably engaged in post war reconstruction work. Alan returned home again on 26th August but stayed on with the army until 9th August 1946.

After the war

On 14^th June 1946 Alan and Daisy’s first son, Keith, was born at Ilford Maternity Hospital. Eleven months later, on 8^th July 1947, their second son, Barry, was born in Bath. Alan returned to work with Plesseys as an accountant after being demobbed from the army.

The next sequence of events is not entirely clear, however at some point (probably in the early 1950s) the family moved to 11 Reynolds Court in Chadwell Heath. The flat was on the third floor of a brand-new council development about half a mile north of the Eastern Avenue. Why did they move? Well, the reason is that Alan’s mother-in-law (whom they were living with at Twyford Road) sold the house and moved in with her son Bert. As Alan and Daisy had two young children they were treated as a priority by the council’s housing department.

Seven Kings FC circa 1957

By all accounts the flats were noisy and many of the neighbours were people who had been bombed out of the East End during the war. It was a rough place. Alan and his family endured it until around 1959 by which time they had saved enough for a deposit to buy a new bungalow at 166 Lodge Lane, Collier Row. The bungalow was christened ’Sherwood Lodge’ in honour of Alan’s mother.

Alan enjoyed playing and watching football. He used to play for Seven Kings FC and would occasionally take Keith and Barry to watch West Ham United on a Saturday afternoon.

Plesseys business increased dramatically in the post-war years and they were at the forefront of developing digital telephone systems. The success of the company meant that Alan and his family were comfortable and he was able save money for his retirement.

The serious business of cribbage

Shortly after Alan and Daisy’s silver wedding anniversary in 1966 the family moved to a newly-built three-bedroomed semi-detached house at 32 Norton Road in Ingatestone. Ingatestone was, and still is, considered to be a desirable village and the move suggests how financially comfortable Alan had become. From the late 1960s onwards Alan and Daisy enjoyed holidays abroad to the Mediterranean and then later as far afield as Australia to visit his sister Kath who had previously emigrated down under.

The arrival of grandchildren in the 1970s provided Alan and Daisy with further joy and although we were very young we used to look forward to seeing granddad and grandma for Sunday lunch. He used to clown around with all of us: Natalie, Janine, Clare and me. We were always taken to the sweet shop after lunch and it’s amazing we don’t have many fillings!

Life can be cruel sometimes. As Alan was approaching retirement and was looking forward to the prospect, his health started to deteriorate. At first he attributed his increasing breathlessness to just old age. He was a smoker after all. Unfortunately, the underlying cause of the problem was much worse and more sinister.

As a boy, Alan had grown up just half a mile from the Cape Asbestos factory in Barking and had inadvertently breathed in some of the lethal fibres. The combination of the asbestos and his smoking resulted in Mesothelioma, a cancer of the lungs. Towards the end I distinctly remember seeing my granddad sitting in his favourite chair which had a large oxygen tank next to it. Alan died at home on 5^th December 1980 and was laid to rest at Chelmsford crematorium.

Alan lived through a period of enormous change: from the economic turmoil of the Thirties through the Second World War and into the post war period with its relative prosperity. Major technological advances greatly improved the quality of life and enable travel on a scale which his forebears could have only dreamed was possible.