The End of the Beginning - Western Desert, December 1941

Captured PzKw III
(Source)

Hoffmeister's Panzer was part of a long column of vehicles heading west. The 8th Army had relieved the siege of Tobruk, the Italian High Command had informed Panzerarmee Afrika¹ that it was not possible for Rommel's troops to be re-supplied in their current position. Benghazi was a port, but it was too small to bring in the amount of supplies and replacements needed to bring the Axis forces in the desert back to the strength needed to drive the British back to Egypt.

They had, in theory, enough fuel to reach Benghazi, sticking to the coast road, but would need to refuel there hopefully there were stocks of fuel available in Benghazi. From Tobruk to El Agheila was roughly 675 kilometers by road, they could go about 160 kilometers with a full tank of fuel. They had just refueled in Derna and, due to being part of one of the few remaining bodies of operational Panzers available, they were escorting a convoy of vehicles carrying infantry, towing artillery, and, wonder of wonders, some of the few remaining fuel trucks available to Panzerarmee Afrika.

So fuel wasn't an issue, as long as they stayed ahead of the pursuing Tommies, and the Luftwaffe kept the RAF off their backs. There were far too many "ifs" and "provided thats" involved in this retreat for Hoffmeister's tastes. Retreat left a foul taste in his mouth anyway. After the victories in France and the dash to the Egyptian frontier in the early days of 1941, this felt like a defeat. Something the German Army hadn't experienced yet in this war.

Section Leader Janice Worthington-Morley was not yet aware that she was now a widow. Her ship had departed Alexandria hours before her husband, Reginald Morley, had crashed in the Western Desert during an epic battle with one of the Luftwaffe's top aces.

She was already deeply depressed. Wounded, and left with visible scars, during the Battle of Britain, Morley had kept her going during those difficult days and had inspired her to seek transfer to Africa when her husband had been posted there. She had done well until that one fateful day that she had been chosen to carry some important documents to headquarters in Cairo.

During her absence she had left one of "her girls," as she called them, in charge at her office on the sprawling Ma'aten Bagush base not far from the frontier with Libya. A raid by a force of twelve Ju-88s had gotten through the standing fighter patrols and bombed the base. A stray bomb had hit the building where she worked, killing the woman who was doing Janice's job while she was in Cairo.

She had nearly lost it when she'd heard the news. Morley had tried to console her to no avail. The distress she suffered had left her moody and withdrawn, her commander had decided that she must go back to Britain. She almost didn't care that she would be leaving her husband behind. He had tried to convince not to go to Egypt in the first place.

As she stood by the rail, looking out over the heaving sea, she realized that her husband had been right. She would be sure to tell him that in her next letter.

O'Donnell and Frasier sat up front, both men were armed with borrowed submachine guns. In the back sat Sergeant Pilot William Sanderson and Pilot Officer Billy Preston who had flown with Morley on his last mission.

"Corp, how do we know for certain this is the Flight Leftenant's crash site?" Frasier asked.

From the back Preston spoke up, "The Hun pilot put Reg's identity disk in the packet he dropped on the base. Along with the rough coordinates of the crash site. Now that the Jerries are falling back, we can get there, try to recover Reg's body for a proper funeral."

O'Donnell said nothing, he still couldn't believe that the man whose aircraft he'd been servicing for so long was gone. Squadron Leader Marchand hadn't assigned he and Frasier to a new aircraft just yet. He was using them to help out where needed. O'Donnell missed his pilot, he also missed having his own aircraft to take care of.

Sanderson sat forward and pointed, "There it is, just up that slight slope, you can see the skid marks along the line where the Leftenant tried to put her down!"

Sure enough, O'Donnell saw them too, he pulled off the desert track, fortunately it was mostly hard packed gravel in this area, and followed the trail left by the passage of the dying Hurricane.

They topped a slight rise and there she was, flipped onto her back. O'Donnell could see where someone had cut the side of the aircraft open to get Morley's body out of the cockpit. Not far from the wreck was a rectangular cairn of stone, with a rude cross fashioned from ration crates at its head.

O'Donnell sobbed aloud, then got control of himself. But he couldn't stop the tears from streaming down his face. Frasier had his head in his hands quietly crying. Preston reached forward and squeezed O'Donnell's shoulder.

"If you'd like, Will, you and George can wait in the truck, Sandy and I can handle this." Beside him Sanderson nodded and said.

"'At's right lads, keep a watch, we'll do this for Reg."

As the small truck stopped, O'Donnell sat up, rubbing his forearm across his face he said, "Thanks Sir, but I'd ever regret it if I didn't help poor Mr. Morley from the ground. He was a good mate, a good officer, and, dare I say it, a damned fine man."

The four men dismounted and went to the cairn where they began to pull the stones away.

Frasier collapsed when they uncovered the body. There was absolutely no doubt that Reginald Morley had died in the crash, for there was his body.

The uniform was ripped and bloody, but the Germans who had buried him had tried to tidy him up as best they could. Preston noticed something clasped in his squadron commander's hands. He pulled it free.

It was a Bible, in German, but the Good Book nevertheless. At that point he could no longer hold back the tears.

Some time later, the small truck bearing the body of Flight Lieutenant Reginald Morley bounced along the desert track back to Ma'aten Bagush. Not a word was said on the trip back, each man alone with his thoughts.

In the growing darkness of a cold desert night.

¹ Panzerarmee Afrika (Panzer Army Africa) consisted of : the original Afrika Korps, the Italian units X Army Corps, XX Army Corps, and XXI Corps, the German 90th Leichte Afrika Division (Light Division Africa) and the Italian 55th Infantry Division "Savona."