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Clifford Simkin
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The rest of the war
The rest of the war
Artificer Clifford Simkin was to spend most of his time in the Mediterranean and North Africa. Over 30 000 men of the British 8th Army were based at Tobruk, the best natural harbour in North Africa.
The Germans captured Tobruk on 20 June 1942 despite stiff resistance. The Navy had to evacuate all operational ships from Alexandria. Simkin described the scene as he left -
'Alexandria remained a dead city with swastika flags replacing the Union Jacks hanging from the windows of empty buildings.'
The successful defence of Alexandria and the battle of El Alamein in October 1942 however marked the start of the clearing of Axis forces from North Africa.
After a brief period of leave in England, Simkin was back in the Mediterranean and was present during the invasions of Casablanca and Sicily. After the Italians surrendered in September 1943, Simkin received his next draft.
'I received a draft which was to end up in the UK, via a transit camp, a Polish liner, French Barracks and the liner Otranto. This time I had been away for 15 months and received 14 days leave.'
After running the gauntlet of night convoys, invasions and evacuations Simkin was to receive his biggest injuries whilst off duty.
'Then back to Portsmouth and I got in the way during some bombing and I ended up in hospital for nineteen weeks.'
The artificer was thus unavailable for the Normandy invasion of June 1944. He was then posted to the Royal Yacht for the rest of the war and was replaced a year after hostilities in 1946. For Artificer Clifford Simkin this should have been the end of his service but:
'I joined the Reserve and I was 64 years ten months before I took off a naval uniform for the last time.'
