Aubrey Garrett – North Africa, 1941
Letter from the Desert
On 29 March 1941, nineteen year old Trooper Thomas Aubrey Garrett, known as Aubrey, wrote a letter to relatives living back home in Coalville, Leicestershire.
He politely asked after their health, then tells them his big news, which is that he has finally managed to get into the Royal Tank Regiment, something he has wanted to do for some time.
The regiment is fighting in the North African desert at the time, and he describes how all the men are living in tents, surrounded by sand. The sand, he says, not only gets into your food and clothing but “when you go to sleep it gets between your blankets”.
During the day, it gets very hot and there are flies everywhere.
Happily, the NAFFI food is good, he tells them, and you can get eggs and chips, bread and butter and a large cup of tea for 5 piastres, which is the local Egyptian currency, the equivalent of one shilling or 5p in modern British coins.
He also tells them that he has had a trip to Cairo and has seen the pyramids.
Tanks and the Royal Tank Regiment
A tank is an armoured vehicle with a large-calibre gun mounted on a gun turret, and often other auxiliary weapons. It is intended for frontline battlefield use, and employs a continuous track, instead of wheels, to give it improved manoeuvrability in difficult terrain.
Tanks were first introduced during World War One and, according to an account widely repeated, in order to disguise their initial development for security reasons, they were deliberately misdescribed as “watercarriers for Mesopotamia”, or “tanks”.
Initially, tanks were deployed by companies of the Machine Gun Corps. These companies were then reconstituted as companies of the newly created Tank Corps. In 1918 they became Battalions, and in 1923, the Tank Corps became the Royal Tank Corps.
Following various reorganisations, in 1939 the 6th Battalion of the Royal Tank Corps became the 6th Royal Tank Regiment.
At the start of World War Two, the 6th Royal Tank Regiment was stationed in Egypt and went on to play a significant role in the Desert War against Rommel’s Afrika Korps.
Censored Correspondence
Each letter sent by a military serviceman was required to be read by a censor for security purposes, to ensure that it did not include information likely to be of use to an enemy.
The designated censor stamped Aubrey’s letter and signed over the rubber stamp.
The return address makes no mention of his geographical location, and the letter will have been posted through the official military postal service, using British stamps. However, it is possible to make out the word EGYPT where the postage stamps have been franked.
Click the stamp image to see the word EGYPT highlighted in green.
Aubrey's Letter
You can read it, enlarged, in a separate window by clicking one of the images below, or as a transcript further down this page.
Transcript:
8/4/17
T. A. Garrett Trp
No. 7942000
A. Squadron
6th R. T. R.
M. E. F.
29.3.41
Dear Doris and Tom,
I hope that this letter will find you in the very best of health as it leaves me feeling fine. You will see by my address that I am at last in the Royal Tank Regiment, ever since I joined the army, I have been waiting for the time when I should be sent to one of them, the 6th R. T. R. has one of the finest records out here and I consider myself extremely fortunate to be a member of it.
We are living in tents in the desert and all one can see when awakening in the morning is tents surrounded by sand, out here one eats and drinks sand, it get in your clothing, in your hair, in your boots in fact when you go to sleep it gets between your blankets, however considering everything it is not too bad. We rise at about 6.15 p.m breakfast is about 7 p.m and then during the day we carry out various duties until 12.3 a.m when we finish for the day.
Since being here I have been on a visit to Cairo and have also seen the pyramids, the food is quite good and in the evenings when I visit the N. A. A. F. I. my favourite meal is eggs and chips bread and butter a large cup of tea for 5 piastres which is equal to about 1/- in England. It is very hot during the days and towards noon one begins to feel very tired, the most troublesome things are flies, the blighters are bussing around all day long, they crawl over your hands and fase and make a proper nuisance of themselves. As I am writing this letter I can hear the yawns and snorings of my companions who are lying on their beds fast asleep. How is Marion I hope she is keeping free of the winter ailments give her my love and tell her that I still have the beads which she gave me. I expect that Tom is working overtime still, tell him that he had better join the Army if he gets fed up. Please give my regards to Aunt Beatrice and uncle Fred, tell them that I shall write to them later. It is Palm Sunday today and this morning I went to church. The service was in a tent and the congregation on binches. We had no musical accompaniment, but for all that the singing was quite good. I have not as yet had any letter from home so be a sport and write back soon, I sent mother a cable on Friday so I am expecting that she will be sending one back. You might mention to mother when you go up to see her, that I have not had the Billet or the Coalille times yet, but that I am looking forward to receiving them.
Well so much about me how about answering me a few questions, first have you seen anything of Marion as she asked about me, will you give my regards to Mr Rice and Miss Carns and tell Mr Rice that I will drop him a line later, send me a list of your own, Marions, and Toms birthdays. Has Les been on leave since I went away, tell Tim to remember me to all my friends also if he happens to see Helen tell her that I am writting later. Well it is nearly teatime I shall just have time to finish off and nip down for a wash. I have a fellow sleeping beside me who is from Leicester so he and I have quite a lot in common.
Your loving brother
Aubrey
