Historian on target with troop tour

THE chairman of the Henley branch of the Royal British Legion has returned from touring serving British soldiers around the El Alamein battlefield.

Richard Pinches, 60, led 27 servicemen and women around the Egyptian site, which saw a landmark victory for the Allies in the Second World War.

Mr Pinches put together a bespoke tour for the Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment, the Tigers, who found out about his work online.

The second Battle of El Alamein took place from October and November 1942 and was a turning point in the North African campaign.

While Mr Pinches is an experienced battle tour guide, this was his first time touring a group of serving British soldiers.

The tour involved following in the footsteps and visiting the graves of the “Desert Rats” who were awarded the Victoria Cross for their bravery.

Many of the officers had chosen a soldier to research and read their medal citation, either by their grave in the cemetery or, in instances where the medal winner survived, the location of their brave act.

The soldiers had limited time to tour the battlefield and Mr Pinches had to condense his normally week-long tour into a day.

Locations included the train halt at Tel el Eisa where the battle began, the military museum and Kaponga Box, where dugouts can still be seen, as well as tins that may have contained “Hardtack” biscuits.

One lesson he was pleased to pass on to the soldiers was the origin of the word “sniper”, standing in a location at Kidney Ridge that was nicknamed Snipe.

Mr Pinches said: “I found it highly amusing that I was able to explain the sniper meaning while standing in the feature called Snipe, with Woodcock not far away. Both are small game birds but especially snipe has a very unusual zigzag flight pattern and hence is very hard to shoot. The old school game shooters who were able to do this were called snipers. This was something none of the group knew.”

Mr Pinches’ interest and connection to the war largely stems from hearing the stories of his father, Peter “Ginger” Pinches, who served with the British 8th Army as a Desert Rat in 1942.

His late father was born in Marlow and moved to Henley in the late Fifties.

Mr Pinches said: “I grew up always listening to his stories of his time in the desert. He always said he had a good war — he was a driver, not a member of the infantry, so he didn’t witness some of the atrocities some of the infantry had. Being a young lad going off to war, who had hardly left his home town, he visited
15 different countries in total during the Second World War and, not being in the infantry, he was able to recall his experiences without the equivalent of PTSD.”

When his father died 10 years ago, Mr Pinches’ interest in the conflict grew. He said: “Post my father dying I felt I wanted to give something back. I started helping with the Poppy Appeal and was then invited to become chairman. I have really enjoyed it.”

Mr Pinches sometimes wears a replica of his father’s uniform to Legion events, in his memory.

A photographer by trade, Mr Pinches has recorded the stories of veterans, including his father’s, to keep their memory alive. He added: “I hope that we continue to preserve these stories for future generations.”