大象传媒

Replacement springs were not among the priority supplies ordered from England. Spring steel was in short supply in North Africa as the rocky desert took a heavy toll on the springs. It required very special metal forging techniques involving heating and quenching the metal in order to impart to the metal the ability to flex without fracturing.

Wrecked Italian and British vehicles had been stripped of their useable springs but it was not long before this reservoir of spares was exhausted. The harvest of derelict vehicles had produced a quantity of particularly heavy duty spring steel of Italian origin.

The solution was to set up Harry Carr, a blacksmith in Doncaster, with a forge and a 3 ton truck. Four skilled blacksmiths with their muscular hammermen extruded the metal to the desired dimension. At their peak 30 springs were flowing from this improvised production line each day.

The steel was heated using 2 small furnaces and shaped on formers constructed by the blacksmiths. The steel was then quenched at the right moment in the special tanks they constructed for the purposes. The Italian springs were wider than required for British vehicles. Harry had to soften the metal in the forge before he could cut them to width. When that was done the steel had to be o re-tempered to turn them into tough springs.

A blacksmith's striker is the hard working chap who swings the sledgehammer while the blacksmith holds the chisel to cut the spring to width. This was one of the most undesirable jobs in the workshop. In the desert, even in February, Harry's striker had a job that few would envy. To give the full time striker a break, on the rare occasions when field punishment was necessary, a few hours as the blacksmith's striker was salutary!

This story was submitted to the people鈥檚 War site by a volunteer from CSV Oxford on behalf of Alan Jones, the late Bill Harvey and Bob Borthwick. It is a transcript of his own diary and several interviews. He gave written permission for the material to be edited and published.

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