51st (Highland) Division

Tanks burst through the German outer positions.

I am accompanying the units of the 51st Highland Division, which is getting its desert baptism in its first action since it was reformed after the Battle of France.

In two years of covering Western Desert campaigns, I've never seen the British go to battle with such drive, coordination of effort, and meticulous timing.

Twenty minutes after the first crash of battle, troops with fixed bayonets have filed through the corridors in our minefields and have mopped up enemy forward posts.

The poor fellows were having a bad time, especially in the advanced posts.

The old 51st Highland Division were then holding the trenches there.

Very few of these gallant Scotchmen, or Jocks as they are called, are alive today, for after leaving us they went into the Somme Offensive and there lost at least half their number, and the other half fought in later battles with the same percentage of casualties.

But this is only too common.

So he comes up, he's an 18-year-old replacement, doesn't really get much time with them.

They go up to the line, they take over from the 51st Highland Division, and they're straight into action.

Now, one of the reasons I found their story so interesting is this is a first-wave D-Day battalion.

And a lot of people know what they did at D-Day.