大象传媒

GOODBYE KIRKUK

On March 28th we were given orders to move. We were all ready by 1100 hours but in fact did not leave until four hours later and went into Laager about 1830 hours, somewhere south of Kirkuk. I think everyone was pleased to be on their way even if only for a change of scenery. We all bedded down in the backs of our trucks in some discomfort but not enough to prevent our sleeping soundly until 0500 hours the following morning. We continued our journey in warm sunny weather and stopped at midday for a meal of 鈥渉aversack rations鈥�. The meal ended, the tins and tea leaves were duly buried, but even as we moved off, we saw the locals unburying the tins avid for the odd baked bead. Poverty: some of it is relative, but some is absolute.

We arrived at our place of rest for the next two days at 1800 hours. It was just outside Baghdad and we occupied some marquees that were already erected, finally getting to bed quite early. The next day was devoted to maintenance and in the evening we sat out in the warm air listening to Vera Lynn singing. The programme being picked up on one of our signaller鈥檚 radios. In the background there was the noise of thousands of crickets and the atmosphere was warm and sultry brining to us a faintly mysterious eastern perfume, presumably and surprisingly from the nearby city. It was all very reminiscent of the stories from the 鈥滱rabian Nights鈥�.

After a good night鈥檚 sleep we were up early, left our camping area and Baghdad and were soon out into the desert proper. We drove at a constant speed of twenty five miles per hour during which I was able to obtain an hour or more of driving practice as a relief while the regular man behind the wheel fell out for a snooze in the back of the truck. We passed to the south of Habanya where the RAF had an airstrip and where we could see, in the distance a large and most inviting lake. That evening we laagered at Wadi Munda, had our cooked meal of the day and were soon asleep.

The next day, April 1st followed the same pattern, our convoy driving almost due west until about an hour before nightfall when we made camp at Rutbar which is on the oil pipeline into which was pumped oil at Kirkuk and which was destined for export on to tankers at Haifa. Up again early the following morning, which was no hardship in the warm and brilliantly sunny desert and on into Transjordan which at that time was under British mandate. We followed the oil pipeline the whole day finally settling down at 1800 hours right by H4 Pumping Station and about twenty five miles from the boundary with Syria. It was quite strange driving in the very hot weather for the road tended to disappear into a haze a hundred yards or so ahead and at the same time a column of trucks could be seen going along in front and at right angles to the direction being taken by the convoy. It was of course a warped view caused by the heat, a mirage in fact.

On April 3rd we left camp early and were soon in the middle of the Demarara desert which is one vast stretch of mile upon mile of lava boulders of various sizes up to as big as a football. The weather was now very hot indeed but it cooled as we neared Mafraq which was fairly high up and quite pleasant with a stubble of short grass and the type of cactus on which grows the prickly pear which is quite tasty. Leaving Mafraq at the usual early hour we drove over the Albanon Hills, down the Jordan Valley across the River Jordan and into Palestine. After a winter spent on the mud plains of Iraq I doubt whether any of us will ever forget the impression made by the endless carpet of wild flowers that covered the eastern slopes of the Jordan Valley: how grateful this must have appeared to anyone who had sojourned in the wilderness for forty years! We had in fact been preceded by the usual advance party and I discovered later that one member filled a little bottle with water from the River Jordan. This he managed to get home ultimately and it was used to christen his baby son.

During the early part of this particular leg of our journey we passed a group of what was then the well known Transjordan Frontier Force in their white Arabian style uniforms with red cloaks. They looked very smart, were very good troops at that time and were under the command of the Englishman Glubb Pasha. But to continue we passed the Sea of Galilee and Nazareth way over to our right, drove through the groves of grapefruit and oranges and finally halted at Tel Kann West which was but a few miles from Tel Aviv. We indulged ourselves at a nearby caf茅 in a large supper of which the main ingredient consisted of six eggs apiece and then turned in for the night.

In the morning we set off early, missing Jerusalem on our left and on to the outskirts of Gaza and through Beersheba where we noticed some graves of Australian soldiers killed in the First World War. The Mediterranean was sighted for the first time and we laagered on the edge of the Sinai desert. It was all very flat here except for a monumental toilet which was circular, about fifteen to twenty feet high and we all sat with our backs to the centre facing out over the landscape, fully exposed. Not that it mattered with only soldiers in sight. On April 6th we spent all day motoring through the Sinai and we made camp somewhere near the middle of it, going to bed before it was dark. There had been a strong wind blowing and sand was everywhere. On mounting the guard our sergeant major solemnly warned the sentries to keep a watch out for deserters but his rather dry humour was lost on the soldiers concerned who were probably more interested in protecting themselves from the elements. After a breakfast somewhat contaminated with sand we confirmed our journey and soon crossed the Suez Canal which was guarded by a single sentry in a mixture of Arab and British Army dress and who looked rather bored with our arrival and who could blame him for the movement of troops in both directions was a more or less continuous process and there were no enemies within hundreds of miles in every direction. Arriving on the other side of the canal we turned left and eventually went into camp in Egypt at El Tel El Kabir 鈥� the well of Kabir.

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.