'First Light', the advance to cut off Benghazi, 1941

Watercolour en grisaille with pen and ink over pencil, by Eric 'Jack' Dawson, 2nd Battalion The Rifle Brigade, 1942 (c).

Various British Army vehicles including a Ford Fordor C11ADF utility vehicle, travelling through a desert landscape at night. A motorcyclist is visible to the left and a man wearing headphones with a wireless in the back of a truck to the right hand side.

During World War Two (1939-1945) Eric Dawson served in North Africa, Syria, Palestine and the Lebanon, with the 2nd Battalion, The Rifle Brigade, the Royal Engineers and the Army Educational Corps. Dawson participated in a spectacular dash across the desert to cut off retreating Italian units at Benghaz. This took the Italian forces by surprise and 25,000 prisoners were taken.