Richard Doherty

Clive notes that 1st Prince of Wales's Own crossed the Foyle from Ebrington Bks and entered the Bogside. They didn't. They stopped short of the so-called Bogside (which was really only a single street until the media got at it) which then became a no-go area until October. Military aid had been promised much earlier, which led to the deployment of troops to Ebrington, which was then in RN hands, housing the Joint Anti-Aubmarine School as HMS Sea Eagle. I noticed considerable coverage of the 40th anniversary, in both printed and electronic media.

Ninth Army was formed at the same time as Eighth and Tenth Armies and was intended, as noted in an earlier reply, to meet a German thrust through the Caucasus. This seemed possible in mid-1942 after the fall of Tobruk and Ninth Army was reinforced at the expense of Eighth with units in M E Forces deploying to Palestine/Syria. As for the photo of the soldiers in BD with the ambulances in 1945, BD was worn in the Middle East and its presence shouldn't be taken as an indication that the photo may have been taken elsewhere. I have many photos of soldiers, including my father and Monty (not in the same pic), in North Africa wearing BD. Of course, we hadn't pulled out of North Africa by 1945. It was a huge logistical support base as well as a training area with formations being withdrawn from Italy to rest, re-form and train in Egypt and Palestine. Then, of course, there was the small matter of our involvement in Palestine after May 1945 when, among others, an airborne division deployed there. And we were in the Canal Zone until the 50s.