大象传媒

The first morning, in the transit camp at Yaba, we attended lectures to "put us in the picture". A sergeant in the Royal Army Medical Corps told us, among other things, that we would all get malaria but not to worry, most of us would get over it as long as we had our tablespoon of quinine every evening. Anyone caught without sleeves rolled down, long trousers and mosquito boots on after dusk would be "for the high jump". Black water fever was more dangerous and we were told to avoid it at all costs; unfortunately no-one knew exactly how. Everyone folled the advice to the letter, no-one wanted to take risks with their health in such a climate and in any case it was no fun being bitten by mosquitos repeatedly!
We had been seconded to the Royal West African Frontier Force, members of the West African Ordanance Corps and were soon put to work. The wireless sets that came in for repair were mostly Army issued welfare sets form the messes of different units around the country. The sets were great as they were easy to repair and designed to recieve the 大象传媒 Overseas Service so we could keep up with the news.
We were moved to the Railway Compound at Ebutta Metta, just north of Lagos; into large houses built to accomodate European personel working the Nigerian Railway. At that time it was owned by a branch of Unilever and many of the engine drivers were European.
One interesting side to our work at the base was the repair of telephones on merchant cargo ships. There were no naval or marine ships Lagos, so if there was a problem with telephones on board , we were called upon to assist. It always seemed to be the telephone in the "crow's nest" high on the foremast which had failed (the salt spray was not good for them). I got used to climbing up the mast with iron wrungs; but I was suprised by how much the top could sway, even on a calm day tied up in port.
At about this time a new anti-malaria tablet, Mepacrin, was introduced; it was bright yellow in colour and turned your skin, nails and the whites of your eyes yellow as well!
Our easy-going life at Base Workshops, with no enemy in sight, was too good to last and in September 1942 the day came to get involved in more serious matters. The 3rd Infantry Brigade Workshops was formed and headed off north in a road convoy of 25 trucks. The tarmac road ended after about 100 miles and from then on it was all laterite roads, most of which had become corrugated as they do in Africa.
On the second day my African driver fell asleep at the wheel and we were off the road and down a small embankment with the truck lying on its side in no time. I could see what was happening, was able to cling on and was unhurt; one of our African soldiers in the rear of the truck was not so fortunate and broke his leg. I went with him on the two day journey to a small town with a hospital where he could be treated. He was in much pain but bore it well.

The best way to travel in Nigeria in those days was by rail but when it came to crosssing the River Niger at Jebba there was only one way; drive across the railway bridge to the other side. I do not know how wide the river is, but it was the widest river I had ever seen, the Thames was a small brook by comparison. After crossing more rivers by ferry and overcoming the difficulties of getting our lorries up steep river banks we arrived in Kaduna.

We had left the thick forest belt far behind and were now in open bush country where the climate was less humid but just as hot during the day. At night the temperature dropped rapidly, like the climate in the desert.
We did not stay many weeks in Kaduma before travelling north-west again, towards Sokoto and close to the border with the French territory of Niger. The French territories in West Africa were under the control of the Vichy government, except the French Cameroon, which had declared itself to be Free French and our allies.
It was there that we heard the news of the Battle of El Alamein, our first real victory on land. We were told that we might be required to go into French Niger and take over the main towns which were centres of communication unless the French authorities there were willing to co-operate. What we were not told was that there were about to be combined landings in Algeria and Morocco by British and American forces. The French admiral, I forget his name, who was in command of French forces in that part of Africa felt he still owed some alligence to the government in France but the odds were well stacked against him and he gave in. With all the Free-French territories co-operating, the need for us to go into French Niger no longer existed and we returned to Kaduna in time for Christmas 1942.

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