Mark Price Viccars
Mark Price Viccars
Mark Price Viccars enlisted for the Territorial Army under the National Service (Armed Forces) Act of 1939 and joined the Suffolk Regiment as No.5833667 on 27/06/1940. A chronological summary of his service from that date based on his service sheets and war diaries is as follows:-
27/06/1940 – Mark joins the Infantry Training Centre of the Suffolk Regiment at Bury St. Edmonds for his 3 months of basic military training.
09/11/1940 – Mark is posted from the Infantry Training Centre to the 8th Battalion of the Suffolk Regiment at Walton-on-the-Naze, one of 110 men who arrived on that date. The diaries for the 8th Battalion are in WO 166/4711 (1940-41) and WO 166/8996 (1942). The Battalion is in a ‘coastal defence role’ which involved building coastal defences and guarding pill-boxes on the shore.
10/12/1940 – One of the Battalion’s billets suffers bombing from a German ‘plane. This was to be a frequent occurrence in the unit’s time at Walton-on-the-Naze.
04-12/01/1941 – Mark is attached to the HQ of 223rd Infantry Brigade which would have been for the period of a training course.
12/05/1941 – Battalion moves to Meeanee Barracks, Colchester for 4 weeks of intensive training. Two days later they move to Wivenhoe Park in the town.
07/06/1941 – 8th Battalion of the Suffolk Regiment return to Walton-on-the-Naze to resume original role.
22/07/1941 – Battalion moves to Theydon Mount, Epping where they were tasked with counter-attack protection of North Weald and Stapleford Tawney aerodromes.
08/10/1941 – Battalion moves to Hill Hall camp, Epping.
The 8th Battalion of the Suffolk Regiment are still at Hill Hall camp in Epping at the end of April 1942. There is no diary for May 1942 when Mark is attached to No.5 Infantry Training Centre at Richmond, Yorkshire which trained men of the Manchesters, Green Howards & East Yorkshire Regiment.
08/05/1942 – Mark is posted to reinforcement draft RAYWK for overseas service. He is transferred to the Green Howards for administrative purposes as of the date he left the UK. As of that date he is no longer on the strength of a Battalion but is on the X(iv) Reinforcement list.
The reinforcement draft would have left either Liverpool or Glasgow in a trooping convoy, passing around the west of Ireland, down the west coast of Africa (stopping at Freetown to re-supply) and put in at Durban. It is likely that the award of 7 days Field Punishment that Mark was awarded on 29/06/1942 may have been awarded in South Africa as the troops were ashore normally for a week or more – or shortly after arrival in Egypt. The ships from Durban entered the Suez canal from the south and normally landed the troops at Tewfik, the men going into transit camps at El-Genifa and its surrounds.
02/08/1942 – Mark reports to the 5th Battalion of the East Yorkshire Regiment at ‘Mariopolis’ which was a tented camp next to the airfields of the Desert Air Force within easy drive of Alexandria. He is one of 3 officers and 63 men to arrive that day and is transferred to that Regiment. The diary for the 5th Battalion of the East Yorkshire Regiment is in WO 169/5076 for 1942.
25/08/1942 – Unit moves to the coastal area of Ad Dakhilah to the south west of Alexandria where they continue to train and patrol the beaches. The Battalion is re-building at this time having been heavily impacted at Gazala in June 1942.
06/10/1942 – Unit moves from Alexandria to the Egyptian border to join the defensive line stretching south from El Alamein. Initially they are in the rear areas in training.
13/10/1942 – Unit moves to Deir el Munaṣṣib in the desert to the south of El Alamein where they begin patrols to harass the Germans in the desert to the west of them.
26/10/1942 – Attack on ‘The Cape’ at Deir el Munaṣṣib, the attack is a failure.
02/11/1942 – Battalion moves to the Ruweisat Ridge facing point 62.
04/11/1942 – Mark is one of 5 men killed on this day, the unit diary not stating any detail, but it is likely to have been due to enemy shelling or on patrol where the vehicle was destroyed. All 5 men are initially buried at a makeshift area (which is where I have mapped the point below in a red dot). See the main map for context. The men were re-interred at the El Alamein cemetery further to the west and north in June 1943.