FORSYTH, ATHOL HENRY Rank: Corporal Service No: 32266 Date of Death: 24/12/1940 Age: 32 Regiment/Service: New Zealand Engineers Grave Reference 9. D. 2. Cemetery HALFAYA SOLLUM WAR CEMETERY Additional Information: Son of Henry Forsyth and of Eva Helen Forsyth (nee Noble), of Otakou, Otago, New Zealand; husband of Mabel Addison Forsyth, of Cromwell, Otago. CWGC - Cemetery Details
19 Army Troops Company | NZETC 19 Army Troops Company While detachments of 19 Army Troops Company were scouring the late battlefield by day and housing themselves comfortably in deserted Italian ambulances by night, after first partaking from unlimited stores of wines, brandies, liquors and just plain ‘plonk’, Sappers A. B. Robinson and Tom Hick with two crews of seagoing sappers, were operating a naval wing. They had left Matruh on 22 December as captains in a fleet of two water barges and arrived at Sollum the following morning, where they were met by an Italian reception committee which, from a very great height, although antiaircraft protection was non-existent, tore large holes in the water of Sollum harbour with bombs but without doing any material damage. The job was to ferry water from the supply ships Eocene and Myriel and do other ship to shore work. The first assignment was to make a rendezvous east of Sollum and take on stores. The barges put to sea after last light, loaded up and, navigating by the stars, were returning slowly when the coast was lit up by gunfire. It was only a routine softening up of Bardia, but it was a fine sight from the sea and permitted a quicker landfall. Two more barges had arrived during the night. They had seen service at Gallipoli in 1915, were manned by Cypriots under British seamen, and were loaded with oranges and Christmas stores for the troops investing Bardia. The newcomers were moored at the shore end of the wharf, so the Kiwi fleet tied up at the deepwater end and the first Christmas Eve away from home was spent in loading stores on trucks of 4 RMT Company, which had turned up just before midday. It was a busy scene; creaking winches on the Gallipoli barges were delivering nets full of golden oranges to the trucks, the sappers were filling 44-gallon water drums and there was cheery banter between the bargees and the drivers. Nobody noticed seventeen specks in the sky. An explosion on the deck of a Gallipoli barge killed a number of Cypriots and the British seaman in charge; five of the RMT drivers were killed and five wounded; a splinter fatally wounded Corporal Forsyth and killed outright Sapper Bill Burrel, an Australian attached to one of the water barges. A bomb fell on Sergeant Tom Hick's barge, tore through the decking, pierced a water tank but failed to explode. The skipper of the Gallipoli barge managed to beach his craft; the dead and wounded were removed and the blood washed off the oranges, later to be thankfully received by the troops in the field who knew nothing of the tragedy behind the delivery of the festive season's delicacies. In all there were fifty-two casualties. ‘Fluge’ Forsyth had known that he would not last long, for, before the barges had left Matruh, he had cut out and inscribed a sandstone tombstone for himself. It was taken up by his cobbers and placed on his grave at the foot of the Sollum escarpment. The crews were badly shaken by the blast and by the sight of casualties being attended by an MO, who came from somewhere almost as soon as the bombs fell, but the pressure of work permitted no let-up; the dud bomb was fished out of the water tank and the water delivery resumed.
Sapper BURRELL, Erwin James WX4747 of 2/2 Fd. Pk. Coy Royal Australian Engineers A.I.F. Son of John and Alice Burrell; husband of Doreen Elibby Clarice Burrell, of Rivervale, Western Australia (The AWM ROH shows - 2/2nd Field Park Company RAE att Royal Navy)
An explosion on the deck of a Gallipoli barge killed a number of Cypriots and the British seaman in charge; five of the RMT drivers were killed ALI Private Cyprus Regiment Egypt '2301' HALFAYA SOLLUM WAR CEMETERY Joint grave 3. G. 2. CHARALAMBOUS Private Cyprus Regiment Egypt '2197' HALFAYA SOLLUM WAR CEMETERY Joint grave 3. G. 3. CHRISTOFOROU Private Cyprus Regiment Egypt '2420' HALFAYA SOLLUM WAR CEMETERY 1. H. 1. NICOLAOU Private Cyprus Regiment Egypt '2355' HALFAYA SOLLUM WAR CEMETERY 3. E. 3. RIFAT Lance Corporal Cyprus Regiment Egypt '2568' HALFAYA SOLLUM WAR CEMETERY 31. G. 1. VASSILIOU Private Cyprus Regiment Egypt '2520' HALFAYA SOLLUM WAR CEMETERY Joint Grave 3. G. 2. XIDONTIS Private Cyprus Regiment Egypt '2642' HALFAYA SOLLUM WAR CEMETERY Joint grave 3. G. 3. MUNNINGS ERNEST EDWARD Signalman Royal Navy H.M.S. Medway. Egypt 'C/SSX 19602' HALFAYA SOLLUM WAR CEMETERY 3. A. 9. SON OF ERNEST CHARLES AND EVA JOSEPHINE MUNNINGS, OF IPSWICH, SUFFOLK HURST ALFRED BERTRAM Driver New Zealand Army Service Corps Egypt '4465' HALFAYA SOLLUM WAR CEMETERY 16. G. 5. SON OF MR. AND MRS. GEORGE HURST, OF CLONELLY, CO. FERMANAGH, NORTHERN IRELAND NORRISH VERNON LINDSAY Lance Corporal New Zealand Army Service Corps Egypt '7529' HALFAYA SOLLUM WAR CEMETERY 16. G. 4. SON OF VERNON AUGUSTUS AND EILEEN RAY NORRISH, OF CHRISTCHURCH, CANTERBURY, NEW ZEALAND PUSSELL OSBERT THORNDON Corporal New Zealand Army Service Corps Egypt '4492' HALFAYA SOLLUM WAR CEMETERY 16. G. 6. SON OF OTTO AND GERTRUDE PUSSELL, OF KIMBOLTON, WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND REYNOLDS EDWARD WILLIAM Driver New Zealand Army Service Corps Egypt '4497' HALFAYA SOLLUM WAR CEMETERY 9. D. 3. SON OF WILLIAM AND IDA MAY REYNOLDS, OF WELLINGTON CITY, NEW ZEALAND WALLACE JOHN THOMAS Second Lieutenant New Zealand Army Service Corps Egypt '4513' HALFAYA SOLLUM WAR CEMETERY 9. D. 1. SON OF JOHN NAPIER WALLACE AND OF CARRIE PIERPOINT WALLACE (NEE CURRENS), OF LA CROSSE, WISCONSIN, U.S.A. ELKS ERNEST EDWARD Company Quartermaster Sergeant Australian Infantry A.I.F. 2/2 Bn. Egypt 'NX1806' HALFAYA SOLLUM WAR CEMETERY 17. H. 5. SON OF EDWARD HENRY AND CATHERINE AGNES ELKS, OF URALLA, NEW SOUTH WALES AUSTRALIA (The death of CQMS SGT Elks appears to be linked to this incident - see attached extract from the unit's war diary)
