Yesterday we had a visitor who came to talk about the 2nd world war. His name was Mr. Pond. He was a tank commander in the 2nd world war but unfortunately he couldn’t hear very well because sitting next to the engine of the tank made his hearing quite bad .Captain Pond was a soldier in the desert of North Africa and fought at El Alamien. His men were known as the desert rats and each of the soldiers had a nick name, Mr Pond’s nick name was Pondy. There was three men in a tank (Matilda) and a terrible smell in the tanks. They were only allowed to have a bath every nine months because there wasn’t enough water. It was over 100 degrees every day in the desert and very dusty.
by Hannah and Aneesha
The British 8th Army were known as the Desert Rats - see their badge below.
The wood carving below was made during the war by a prisoner of war. It is a beautiful hand made item showing the Lords Prayer. Below that is a cushion (of the Norfolk Regiment) made by another POW.
Captain Pond is now 87 years old but talked very clearly about how horrible the war was. He hoped that nobody else would go through his experiences. He saw some terrible things including the Auchswitz concentration camp where millions of Jews were killed. The pictures below show scenes from the war in the desert including the comammander of the British forces: Montgomery. The German forces were led by the famous General: Rommel - known as the Desert Fox.
