World War II victory in North Africa

Witness History

BBC

History, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 12 May 2023

⏱️ 12 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Peter Royle, 103, endured a month of solid fighting in the hills outside of Tunis in 1943. Eventually the Allies prevailed and took more than 250,000 German and Italian prisoners of war. They declared victory in Tunisia on 13 May. Peter came close to dying many times. He recalls how he once hummed God Save the King to prevent himself being shot by friendly fire. He was under the command of Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, fresh from victory in the North African desert, and recalls him being inspirational to the troops. This episode is presented by Josephine McDermott. Ahead of the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II in 2025, the BBC is trying to gather as many first-hand accounts from surviving veterans as possible, to preserve for future generations. Working with a number of partners, including the Normandy Memorial Trust and the Royal British Legion, the BBC has spoken to many men and women who served during the war. We are calling the collection World War Two: We were there. (Photo: Peter Royle in battle kit in 1941. Credit: Peter Royle's family)

Transcript

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0:00.0	15 years ago, 23-year-old Norwegian student Martina Vick Magnussen was killed in an apartment near Mayfair.
0:07.0	23-year-old Martina Vick Magnussen was found partially buried in the basement.
0:12.0	Before being questioned, the only suspect in the case had fled the UK to Yemen.
0:17.0	I made a promise to Martina's family to find out what happened.
0:21.0	Murder in Mayfair, part of the documentary, find it wherever you get your BBC podcast.
0:30.0	Hello, welcome to the Witness History podcast from the BBC World Service with me, Josephine McDermott.
0:39.0	It's 80 years since the Allies in World War II declared victory in North Africa.
0:45.0	It paved the way for the Nazis to be defeated in Europe.
0:49.0	103-year-old Peter Royal, who was a British Army captain in the Royal Artillery, shares his memories with the BBC.
0:56.0	It's 1943, and Peter is in a rocky battlefield on a Tunisian hillside.
1:05.0	He's in a range of hills which are the focus of fighting between the Allies trying to get to the capital Tunis
1:11.0	and the access powers of Germany and Italy who control it.
1:15.0	A German machine gunner opens fire.
1:20.0	I was sitting on my hill, Italian by myself, and there was another hill about 600-700 yards away.
1:27.0	And I said to the Colonel, did anyone on that hill? He said, no, no, it's empty.
1:32.0	I sat there looking through my field glasses, couldn't see anything.
1:36.0	And then a machine gunner opened up on me from 600 yards and he fired 120 shots.
1:44.0	Where I had two options, I could either get up and run back 100 yards to where I could be safe.
1:50.0	I think he'd have probably hit me then.
1:52.0	Or I could just lie still in the pretend to be dead, which is what I did.
1:57.0	But I had to wait until he was dark before I could move.
2:00.0	So I had to wait there about one hour.
	...

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