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Three tanks were hit and the road was
blocked just at the passage through a
minefield. No. 1 gun remained in action in
spite of mortar and machine gun fire.(the
enemy had planned an infantry attack,
assisted with tanks in one of three
positions over a 60 mile front, from the
North Coast down South. They subsequently
decided to strike through Sidi N'Sir,where
they first struck at the 5th Hants, who had
but 2-pounder guns and machine guns to deal
with them. Apart from that the 5th Hants
were repeatedly attacked by mortars and
Messerschmidts.)

At 09.40 hours Pt. 609 O.P. was heavily
attacked by infantry: communications were
broken i.e, W/T smashed by mortars and line
cut.From this moment on the Battery had but
secondary eyes overlooking the Mateur road,
which must have been packed with enemy tanks
and vehicles. At 10.15 hours Lieut.-Colonel
Graham visited Major Raworth on the gun
position. "F" Troop was under observation at
a range of about eight hundred yards. The
track leading down to the Command Post was
under very heavy and very accurate mortar
fire, rounds falling every three seconds or
so. He visited all eight guns in turn and
was full of admiration for the cheerful and
determined courage of all ranks.He noted
particularly Lieut. Taylor and Sgt.Henderson
(both of "F" Troop), whose offensive spirit
was completely undaunted and whose example
was an inspiration to all ranks. Sgt.
Henderson was the No. 1 of No. 1 gun
specially placed on the top of the slope to
deal with the enemy tanks trying to use the
road Mateur-Sidi N'sir. Lieut. Taylor was
the only officer on "F" Troop position. He
noted also particularly the grand spirit of
the Nos. 1 at each gun. Whilst on the
position, LIEUT.-Colonel Graham experienced
one of the several cannon fighter attacks by
eight Messerschmidts. They attacked from a
height of about two hundred feet and raked
the gun positions with machine gun and
cannon fire. A number of men were hit and
ammunition vehicles, bivouac shelters and
dumps were set on fire. A number of vehicles
were burning along the road Sidi Nsir-Hunts
Gap-some of these were filled with
ammunition and amonal, and were on fire, but
the risks were ignored by all ranks who
cheerfully salvaged and carried the
ammunition throughout the action. The
wounded acted stoically, none grumbled or
complained. They were attacked again and
again by Me.s.again

ADDENDUM:-

The Sidi N'Sir action was also reported in the Illustrated London News, dated Wednesday, 23rd June,1943, under the heading 'THE VC BATTERY' and accompanied by a vivid drawing by war artist Bryan de Grineau , depicting 155 Battery's last stand.

There were those at the time who felt that the importance of the success in this battle was very much under-rated by High Command, but not by the Germans. A German Afrika Corps Commander talking to Brigadier Graham many years after the war admitted that their failure at Sidi N'Sir and Hunt's Gap 'marked the end of their hopes of victory in North Africa'

Indeed within two months of the battle for Beja, Tunis had been taken and the Germans had surrendered at Cap Bon. At this point it is very interesting to note that having heard of the landings ia Algeria at about 08.00 hours on 8th November 1942, Rommel had stated to the Commander of the Afrika Korps, General Fritz Bayerlein, "this spells the end of the Army in Africa" Indeed, it eventually proved to have been the killer blow!

It is also fitting to add that, in order to commemmorate the action in which the 155 Battery had been involved, Captain Marcus Phillips, R.A., was commissioned by the Royal Artillery Institution in 1964 to paint a reproduction in oils.The finished product, a large canvas 7ftx5ft., was later hung in the Royal Artillery Museum, Woolwich and was later on display in the Royal Artillery Mess, Pembroke Dock, South Wales.

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