大象传媒

When in Alex we had a favourite bar which we tended to use where we drank brandy in preference to beer; the beer was not up to the standard of that served in the servicemen鈥檚 clubs and brandy was reasonably priced. One evening when Batty and I were out on our own and going into Alex by tram we began talking to a young girl who we found out to be Greek; we got off at her stop walked along with her to her home leaving her with a promise of a date to take her and her friend to the cinema.
She agreed to the arrangements, the time, the place and to bring a partner to make a foursome; she spoke only little English and we no Greek at all, it was evident that misunderstandings could be expected. Anway, she was true to her word: she was there on time and with a partner but things did not quite turn out as we intended, because the partner she had brought was her mother.
A very nice lady, but our visions were of an eighteen year-old, perhaps we should have been aware that no decent Greek girls would then be permitted to meet strangers alone, it was their custom to be chaperoned. We went to her home twice for tea and at Easter were invited to take part in the celebrations which to us seemed to be a highly regarded ritual. There were many relatives to meet and we were made most welcome in spite of the language difficulty.
I remember that they had a large display of artistically-decorated eggs. After I had moved back into the desert we wrote to each other but I was not capable of deciphering her letters and could not find anyone who could possibly translate. In any case once back up the 鈥榖lue鈥� there wasn鈥檛 time to write with the effect that we lost touch.
We leaguered with our new tanks (A 13s) in the Mersa Matruh area carrying out maintenance on them They were light and speedy but one of their disadvantages was that they were only thinly armour-plated so there was not a lot of protection which was essential when up against the German Mk IIIs or IVs.
Our firepower was then a little greater as they were fitted with a two-pounder turret gun. One addition was that we had a sun compass fitted. Each tank was rigged up with a canvas-covered metal frame which gave them the appearance of lorries; the whole contraption could be easily released when needed for action by pulling on a wire ring. One advantage was that it provided a shaded area which was welcome, for although it was yet still only April the weather was beginning to heat up.
A number of schemes and exercises took place and there were the usual classes for gunnery and wireless, the latter was an addition and new to us. Now that every tank had wireless communication we had to adjust ourselves to this latest innovation. In that respect we had then become equal to the German panzers which had been in wireless control since the war began. There was a halt in the activities on the Egyptian frontier, our own forces being steadily strengthened and re-equipped in the belief that we could hurl the Germans back as we did the Italians.
We learned that when the 鈥楧esert Fox鈥�, as Rommel became known, had advanced and pushed our forces back, among those captured were Lt. General Richard O鈥機onnor, Lt. General Philip Neame, VC and their driver. Rommel too was known to be building up supplies and it was obvious that during the next few months there would be some hard battles to be fought.
Among the letters and newspapers which I received at that time was one letter from Dad which held particular interest for me because it informed me that my ex-girlfriend Jane was expecting a baby. There were no other details, but she had certainly hadn鈥檛 wasted much time, although the mail might have been a couple of months old. I guessed correctly, as it turned out, for the father was the dancing partner. One thing for sure was that should he have been called up and married Jane she would receive a marriage allowance, that I had been reluctant to do. It was no concern of mine though, it was all in the distant past.
I experienced for the first time a real sandstorm. There had been several minor ones but this was full strength. The prelude to it was the electric storm where the sky was rent across with vivid flashes of jagged light against a many-coloured cloud pattern, then almost sudden darkness accompanied by a cold wind that howled and whistled, pushing before it a great wall of sand.
The sand carried by the wind bit into you and it was difficult to stand up against it, being forced to lie down covering your head with your arms to protect the eyes. How long it lasted I couldn鈥檛 tell, but wished for it soon to end. When it was over and all was calm again, ears, eyes, nose, mouth and hair were thick with sand, causing a lot of irritation. It was soul-destroying and lowered morale.
While it raged, visibility had been down to nil, our exposed skin was seared and our throats dry, the one thing which we wished for then more than anything else was water, buckets of it but unfortunately that was not available, so we made content with a trickle remaining in the water bottle.
General Wavell had left us much to our regret and had departed to India. General Auchinleck had taken command of the desert army. We were involved in a short sharp encounter in early May, to test the strength of the Afrika Korps, no doubt. The brief battle soon fizzled out after which I received a stripe and as a Lance-Corporal was sent down to Cairo to attend a wireless instructor鈥檚 course. The promotion carried with it an increase of three pence a day.
The class which I attended was made up of several different nationalities, Aussies, New Zealanders, black Africans but mainly men from other tank regiments. Although based in Cairo there was little time to go there as there was a great deal of studying to do; in any case our pay would only allow for one visit per week. Most evenings we managed a swim in the nearby pool and afterwards to sit with a cool drink and listen to the radio playing some of the latest hit numbers, mostly South American, one of which was Tangerine.
Sometimes after study we would wander down to Scot鈥檚 Corner鈥� where we had a tea and a cake or an ice cream. One Sunday a party of us visited the Pyramids and the Bazaars, the latter I found very fascinating, the noise and bustle, the bartering and haggling for trinkets, watches, silks and perfumes, of which there were an especially large variety. We drank a tiny cup of tea flavoured with one of those scents, it was very nice and unusual but I preferred our 鈥榙esert brew鈥� any time.
On the occasions when we went to 鈥楽cot鈥檚 Corner鈥� in the evening, before strolling out someone would call 鈥淎nyone for Scotties?鈥� so that there would often be seven or eight of us, a real mixed bunch including the black Africans. The fact that those Africans came out with us didn鈥檛 at all suit one white South African officer: he addressed us after morning parade when the black Africans had gone to lessons. He explained to us why we should not become too friendly with them, he said that if we treated them as equals, after the war they would expect the same attitudes to apply at home which would cause immense problems.
Needless to say we were disgusted and felt that we had been insulted, these men were expected to fight at our side to take the same risks and to be killed if necessary; they were our class-mates and above all our comrades-in-arms which in our opinion made them equals. We were of course unable to make any sort of reply and remained mute. Not so the Aussies, or the Kiwis though; they voiced their thoughts loud and clear. We carried on our studies and the relationship with the blacks remained as it had been, they realised what had been said in their absence but made no comment. It was a sorry episode and one which I have never forgotten.
The class was not confined only to the classroom but often we would take a 15-cwt truck equipped with wireless sets and practice communication with another station. We picked a shady spot, usually in the area of the 鈥楽weetwater Canal鈥�; how it came to be known as that is hard to guess because in fact it was a filthy, muddy, smelly brown colour where cattle drank and the villagers washed their clothes and their bodies.
From there we could see the natives tending their crops on soil that was stony and of very poor fertility, both they and their cattle appeared to be under-nourished. The irrigation system necessary in order that some sort of crop could be produced was powered by the bullock constantly circling the well, treading its weary way round, lifting the water buckets which fed into the channels.
When in class the Morse Code and the Phonetic Alphabet were repetitively drummed into us hour after hour so that even today I can remember a lot of it. There were other forms of signalling besides wireless, there was Semaphore with the use of flags, Heliograph with mirrors and Signal Lamps; the mirrors were effective in the desert; I thought as the course drew towards its end that I might just about scrape through with a pass as I didn鈥檛 think that I did too well in the tests, however I passed and became a wireless instructor. As it later turned out I became a reasonable operator but not a good instructor.

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