Lt Colonel Cyril Bencraft Joly MC (9 September 1918 – 2000) was a

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

officer who served with 7th Armoured Division (

Desert Rats The 7th Armoured Division (Desert Rats) was an armoured division of the British Army. It was formed as the Mobile Division (Egypt) on 27 September 1938, after increased tensions between Britain and the Axis powers. This was part of an effort ...

) throughout the campaign in

North Africa North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of t ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. He described his experiences as a squadron commander in the

Royal Tank Regiment The Royal Tank Regiment (RTR) is the oldest tank unit in the world, being formed by the British Army in 1916 during the World War I, First World War. Today, it is an Armoured warfare, armoured regiment equipped with Challenger 2 main battle tanks ...

(RTR) in ''Take These Men'' (1955), a (lightly fictionalised) personal narrative of the

Western Desert campaign The Western Desert campaign (Desert War) took place in the Sahara Desert, deserts of Egypt and Libya and was the main Theater (warfare), theatre in the North African campaign of the Second World War. Military operations began in June 1940 with ...

that is regarded as a classic of its kind. During

Operation Crusader Operation Crusader (18 November – 30 December 1941) was a military operation of the Western Desert campaign during World War II by the British Eighth Army (with Commonwealth, Indian and Allied contingents) against the Axis forces (German and ...

he served in the

3rd Royal Tank Regiment The 3rd Royal Tank Regiment (3 RTR) was an armoured regiment of the British Army in existence from 1917 until 1992. It was part of the Royal Tank Regiment, itself part of the Royal Armoured Corps. It originally saw action as C Battalion, Tank Cor ...

(3 RTR).

Life

He was born in Mengtes,

Yunnan Yunnan; is an inland Provinces of China, province in Southwestern China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 47.2 million (as of 2020). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the Chinese provinces ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

and died at

Winchester Winchester (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs N ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

. Later in life he invented and patented an apparatus for providing a desired atmosphere in a sleeping space. It consisted of a frame for a bed with electrical fans to control the temperature. In his later days he lived at Tregatillian near

St Columb Major St Columb Major is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. Often referred to locally as ''St Columb'', it is approximately southwest of Wadebridge and east of Newquay Ordnance Survey: Landran ...

in Cornwall

Family

Henry Bencraft Joly (1857-1898; his grandfather) was British Vice-Consul in

Macao Macau or Macao is a special administrative region of the People's Republic of China (PRC). With a population of about people and a land area of , it is the most densely populated region in the world. Formerly a Portuguese colony, the ter ...

and translator of Ts'ao Chan's '' Hung Lou Meng: The Dream of the Red Chamber, a Chinese Novel in Two Books''. He had three brothers. His only daughter, Vivien, married Hugh David Beddington, son of Keith Lionel Beddington CBE.The Times, Wednesday, 24 June 1964; p. 14; Issue 56046; col C

Works

*1955 ''Take These Men'' (London, Constable and Company Ltd; reprinted Harmondsworth, Penguin Books, 1956; London, Buchan & Enright, 1985) *1980 ''Silent Night: the defeat of NATO'' . London: Cassell ** ''Operation Stille Nacht''

References

1918 births 2000 deaths Recipients of the Military Cross British Army personnel of World War II Royal Tank Regiment officers 20th-century British inventors {{UK-army-bio-stub