Friday 31st January 1941

7:30a.m. We lay, seven of us, in the lee of the lorry. I lazily lit a fag and looked eastwards. Quarter of an hour before breakfast, time to have a “spit and a draw” before I got up.

The sun crept, suddenly, above the flat rim of the desert land – flat as a sheet of water. Rosy red, up it came, second by second, till it was clear of the land. Dawn!

Whilst we covered the un-assaulted flank, far to the south, Derna fell, yesterday. Soon we'll be moving from here. Then, perhaps, on towards Benghazi, Libya's second largest town, 200 miles on!