Heroine of a siege escape
QUESTION Who was the woman fighting with the Free French forces at Bir Hakeim in 1942? This was susan Travers, born in London in september 1909, the daughter of Admiral Francis Eaton Travers. in 1921, her family moved to Cannes and at the outset of World War ii she joined the Croix Rouge (French Red Cross).
Finding nursing ‘too messy’, she became an ambulance driver in Finland during the 1939 Winter War against the Russians.
Back in England after the fall of France in 1940, she joined De Gaulle’s Free French and was attached to the Foreign Legion’s 13th Demi-Brigade, which eventually found its way to North Africa.
Travers became chauffeur for the brigade’s senior officers. Known as ‘ La Miss’, she displayed tremendous courage under enemy attack and driving through minefields.
While in Libya, she had a romance with exiled Georgian Prince Dimitri Zedguinidze-Amilakhvari (he was killed in action at El Alamein in October 1942). in June 1941, Travers was assigned driver to General Pierre-Marie Koenig and the pair became lovers while posted to Beirut.
This idyll was ended when their Free French unit was attached to the Eighth Army and in spring 1942 sent to hold the fort of Bir hakeim at the southern tip of the Allies’ defensive line in the Western Desert.
For 16 days, from May 26 to June 11, Koenig’s 1st Free French Brigade resisted repeated attacks by Rommel’s Afrika Korps. By preventing the italo-German forces from reaching El Alamein, Koenig and his men bought the Allies vital time to reinforce.
On June 9, Koenig resolved to break out of his besieged position. ‘We have to get in front,’ he told Travers, ‘if we go, the rest will follow.’ so, under heavy fire, Travers drove Koenig’s staff car out of Bir hakeim.
Contact was made with British forces on June 11. After the escape, the car driven by Travers was found to have 11 bullet holes and shrapnel damage. Part of the suspension was destroyed and the brakes were inoperative.
Of the 3,700 Allied troops at Bir hakeim, more than 2,400 escaped with them, including 650 Legionnaires, and Koenig became the hero of Occupied France.
Travers, the only woman at the siege, was awarded the Croix de Guerre and the Ordre du Corps d’Arme. she went on to serve in italy, France and Germany, where she drove ambulances, lorries and a selfpropelled anti-tank gun.
After the war, she was enrolled in the French Foreign Legion and served in Vietnam during the First indochina War. she married Adjutant- Chef Nicolas schlegelmilch, who had fought at Bir hakeim with the 13th Demi-Brigade, and they had two sons. in retirement, they lived on the outskirts of Paris. she died in 2003 aged 94.
Leigh Jameson, Wombwell, South Yorks.
QUESTION Does anyone know the words to a monologue called The Wreck Of The Dover Express? This monologue, originally called The Railway Porter’s story, was written by harry Pleon (1864- c1917) and published in 1882 in his collection Drolleries And Dramas Up To Date, which also featured The Great Metrollops, The Dumb Man Of Manchester and Black Eyed susan.
Another collection was Recitations, Rhymes And Ridiculosities. he wrote several comic plays including A Vision Of Venus or A Midsummer Night’s Nightmare.
Leon was part of a long tradition of British nonsense/surrealism, running from Lewis Carroll and Edward Lear through to The Goon show, The Beatles (i Am The Walrus) and Monty Python.
The monologue was recorded by music hall star Billy Merson in 1911 as The Wreck Of The Dover Express. My father kept us amused by reading snatches of it and it still makes me chuckle after all these years: Let me tell you an old pauper’s story, sir, It’s brim full of truth — more or less, How me and the other twelve hundred Caused the wreck of the Dover express.
it goes on to describe how ‘one night as the morning was breaking’, he is simultaneously in a signal box, on a boat and under a balloon.
The next three verses continue: There was only myself and another, Sat in the balloon all alone, When up jumped 12 men at that moment, I found that their senses had flown. I was lost what to do for a second Their ravings seemed on the increase We were miles in the air mad with hunger, So I thought I would call the police. The Zulus were gaining upon us, Bernard Shaw had a terrible fright, But he stopped the mad horse in The Strand, And thank heaven a ship came in sight.
it ends: The last dying words of the Captain, Were: ‘Up Guards and at ’em again.’ But choking the dog with a sausage, I kissed him and fell down the drain. Now, sir, you’ve heard the true story, How Turpin and Bonny Black Bess, Along with the half-famished Russians, Caused the wreck of the Dover Express.
G. G. Sullivan, Hertford.
QUESTION Were the Pyramids built by paid workers rather than slaves? TWO points from the earlier answer are worth reinforcing. Cecil B. DeMille’s film The Ten Commandments was wrong in depicting Jewish slaves building the pyramid.
King Khufu (Cheops), founder of the fourth dynasty, reigned from 2585 to 2560 BC, with some giving much earlier dates. Abraham, father of isaac, was around in 2000 BC, during the 11th dynasty. There is no evidence that anyone other than Egyptians built the pyramids.
And the workers weren’t slaves. it took 20 years to build the Great Pyramid with most of the work done during the annual three-month flood, when farmers were out of work. A smaller force worked all year round.
The Pharaoh had the farmers building his pyramid and thus providing them with shelter and food. it was an ingenious way to deal with unemployment.
Further evidence that the pyramid workers weren’t slaves comes in a petition they forwarded to the Pharaoh complaining of a lack of provisions. slaves wouldn’t have dared write such a complaint.
Dr Ahmes L. Pahor, Birmingham.
IS THERE a question to which you have always wanted to know the answer? Or do you know the answer to a question raised here? Send your questions and answers to: Charles Legge, Answers To Correspondents, Daily Mail, 2 Derry Street, London, W8 5TT. You can also fax them to 01952 780111 or you can email them to charles. legge@dailymail.co.uk. A selection will be published but we are not able to enter into individual correspondence.