大象传媒

At the end of May 1943 my battalion was in camp just off the coast road from Tripoli to Benghazi. The war in North Africa was over, The Afrika Korps and its supporting Italian forces had been smashed and, apart from the very few who had managed to escape across the Mediteranean, the dispirited remained had been captured and were being distributed into P.O.W camps back in eastern Libya and Egypt.
The 56th (London) Division , to which we belonged, had the chance to relax. Makeshift holiday camps were set up where the troops were required to do nothing but bathe, sleep, drink beer and enjoy themselves. In groups of twos and threes the officers were given a few days leave in Tripoli where there was a delightful 'plage' and nightlife of a sort.
So it was that Peter and I found ourselves walking through the doors of the hotel Miramare in Tripoli, said to be the best hotel in town. It may well have been the most expensive but the British Army were picking up the tab, so we werent bothered. A suave concierge respectfully welcomed us and gave us the keys to our rooms on teh second floor. Peter and I decided to have lunch and then a snooze in our rooms, we would go down to the beach and see if there was any 'totty' around, in the shape of nurses or Wrens.
After lunch I went up to my room. It was comfortable enough and was at the back of the hotel, looking out over a building about the size of a football field. On this area the military, in the shape of a unit of the Indian Poineer Corps, had set up camp. Three rows of tents formed a neat living area over to my left; a dining marquee and cookhouse were situated just below me close to the hotel's yard and away on my left was the units latrine. Being Pioneers they had made a thouroghly professional job of the latrine; built of wood, it had the roof of ply and doors at each end. Since the site had no water the privy itself would have been a simple trench in the ground with a three hole wooden seat above it. A five gallon jerrican of petrol parked outside it showed that the officer in charge had not been to the Indian Army School of hygeine at Quetta Earth privies should be left to themselves to allow the bacteria to o their work. Emptying a slurp of petrol into the pit at intervals really achieves nothing except create a fire hazard.
As I surveyed the scene a sepoy disappeared into this building. A couple of moments later an explosion sent a cloud of dust and smoke out of the door which was followed a second later by a scared sepoy clutching his dhoti in one hand and a cigarette in the other. Within a couple of minutes the whole edifice was ablaze; someone was beating hell out of a length of iron pipe which had been hung up as a fire alarm and an admiring crowd of onlookers had assembled. Somehow someone had managed to summon the local fire brigade and in commendably short time the Italian fire engine arrived.
The fire engine was an anciet Italian lorry with a knifeboard seat on the back where a dozen firemen sat, back to back. On the left front seat was the driver and on the right sat the imposing figure of the fire Captiano. His uniform was blue with gleaming brass buttons and on his head was a magnificent helmet surrounded by a crown of black feathers copied from the Bersiglieri. He alighted from the vehicle, ordering his crew to dismount and form a line in front to await instructions.
For a moment he surveyed the scene and then gave an order. Two of his men went to the back of the lorry and, from underneath the seat, drew forth a long pole. It was in two peces that slotted together and at the end of one of them an object was attatched which appeared to be a gigantic wasps nest, the shape of an outsize rugby ball. Grasping the assembled apparatus the Capitano advanced towards the fire, assited over the flames, he pulled a trigger. There was a loud bang- and instantly the flames were out; all of them. Not a flicker!
A burst of applause broke out from the crowd and the Capitano, resisting the temptation to bow, waved in acknowledgement, ordered his crew back onto the fire engine and climbed aboard. Just as he signalled to the driver to start, the was a sudden ' WHOOF' and the whole place was a mass of flame once more. The wind had fanned the glowing wood so that it had re-ignited.
Blushing with embarrasment the Capitano once more alighted and ordered his crew down. But what now? They had only had the one 'bomb and now that it had been expended all they could use was water. But there was no water. He couldnt very well return with his crew to the fire station with the fire still raging. Miserably they stood in ring and watched the latrine burn to the ground
It took about half an hour.

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