Questions raised by the diaries

When I read the diaries of the veterans it was obvious that the writers were not told, and had not discovered, the wider drama in which they were players. I have tried my best to verify the many stories that were hinted at in the diaries.

The historical issues opened by these diaries were substantial:

• Could they really have been the first unit to go to France in 1939?
• Were some still in France after the Armistice in June 1940?
• Could this small unit have played a significant role in the battle of El Alamein even though they were struggling to survive as POWs by the time the battle took place?
• Were they present at the birth of the legend that has become the Special Air Service?
  

The answer to all these questions is,I believe, ‘Yes’.

• Did Allied POWs take over and try to look after the inmates of a death camp when the war ended as they waited for liberation?

Certainly as Alan Jones returned with photos to prove it.

The modest rail workers and miners who formed this Territorial Army Unit made none of these claims. They just did the jobs that were asked of them. Afterwards, they went back to their families and their work. They left for France a week after war was declared and some did not return until a month after the end of the war.