OLDHAM, Lieutenant Graham Francis.

Military Cross.

Officer Commanding 18th Indian Infantry Brigade Signal Section. WWII. Western Desert Campaign. Published citation: In recognition of gallant and distinguished services in the field. No recommendation—For his conduct at Deir el Shein on 1 July 1942 in the First Battle of El Alamein during theWestern Desert Campaign prior to being captured when the brigade was overrun. LG 11 April 1946; 37528, p. 1835.
From a footnote: Captured in the Western Desert on 1 July 1942 and held in Italy at Campo 49 (Fontanellato) and at Oflag 79 at Brunswick, in Lower Saxony, Germany.

My extraordinary friends on WW2Talk keep coming up with mouth watering snippets of information, but it was only when I picked up on the last sentence of this entry that I started wondering….

“Was this when my Dad was captured in the Desert too?”

So, what was Oldham doing and where exactly was he when he was captured? The Citation above tells us that he was

• Officer Commanding 18th Indian Infantry Brigade Signal Section
• It was WWII
• Taking part in the Western Desert Campaign
• And he was awarded the Military Cross in recognition of gallant and distinguished services in the field….
• Prior to being captured when the brigade was overrun.

One of my few recollections of my Dad talking about his wartime experiences was a very brief reference to suddenly being surrounded by German forces somewhere in the middle of the desert, ultimately leading to becoming a Prisoner of War in Italy. But that was it and how I wish I had pushed for more information then rather than looking now for lots of little needles in this vast haystack.

My contact at WW2Talk had identified that Graham Francis Oldham (151450) was a Cadet from an Officer Cadet Training Unit and had been Commissioned on 15.10.1940. But how are the Officers from the Royal Corps of Signals distributed around the various Allied forces? For now I’m pleased to know that on 1st July 1942 he was part of the 18th Indian Infantry Brigade. And the very first post written by Tom O’Brien on Deir el Shein sources – July 1942 had identified the following list of British Officers present with the Battalion on the midnight of 30/6/42. Sourced from WO169/7773 – The Battalion Diary of 4/11 Sikh Regiment. Commanding Officer – Lieut. Col. R. Bampfield.

It’s very clear that 4/11 SIKH REGT is at the North West corner of this “Box” at Deir El Shein, 16 miles south of El Alamein, and I’m getting the distinct impression that my Dad is at the sharp end of an inevitable thrust by the Desert Fox, Erwin Rommel, himself and I’m going to have to leave Oldham here for now, although it appears he ends up at Fontanellato with Dad at some point, and try and pursue this thread of information under the Tribute to my Dad’s page.

Another Google search brought up something called the Feldgrau Forum providing information about:-

2/11th Sikh Regiment and 4/11th Sikh Regiment

“As for the 18th Brigade at Deir el Shein, the 4/11th Sikhs were on the NW of the box, the 2/5 Essex on the NE, the 2/3 Gurkhas on the E in a semi circle, and the 66th Field Company of Sappers & Miners on the SW. They were supported by 7 Matildas of the 42nd Royal Tank Regiment, 4 medium machine guns of the Cheshire Regiment, 2-pounders and 6 pounders manned by South African and Welsh units. Oh, and the 32nd Field Ambulance had an Advanced Dressing Station too. Sorry, I don’t really remember all the other units outside of the main battalions of the 18th Brigade since there was a huge mess in setting up the box, the 18th Brigade had no signal equipment, very little ammunition, and the supporting artillery came in too late and because the area of Deir el Shein was bedrock, there was not enough time to dig the guns in. As for the result of the battle, the Sikhs were overrun at 1730 hours, the Gurkhas at 1900 hours and Essex by 1930 hours. The Sikhs lost 3 officers and 370 other ranks with 7 officers and 500 other ranks missing. The Gurkhas lost 12 officers and 580 men, not sure of how many missing, but their commanding officer was captured.” – by DocAmerica Sun Aug 28, 2011: Moderator John W. Howard