大象传媒

IRAQ

On October 30th at 0600 hours we anchored to await the tide that would take us into Basra. We had fish for breakfast, not my favourite dish, after having a good nights rest. The clocks went back an hour, the weather was a little cooler and we were all very keen to go ashore.

The next day we moved up to Basra, past river banks lush with green vegetation, which stretched inland for only a few hundred yards and I remembered that an uncle was drowned somewhere in the Tigris/Euphrates rivers in 1919 while serving with the British Army. The ship docked at 1125 hours and we finally left at 1530 hours. Everybody heaved a sign of relief and many added unprintable comments about troopships, convoys and the war in general.

We boarded lorries and were driven to a transit camp avoiding the town, but those of us in my particular vehicle experienced not a little excitement and frustration on the way. The driver, an Indian Army private, could not see very well in the failing light, lost sight of the truck in front, lost his way and then the lorry caught fire. We all had to dismount and help put it out by throwing sand over the burning rear end.

Eventually we arrived at the camp, long after the other had settled down, and were issued with mosquito nets, had a meal and slept like logs. We were under canvas on the southern edge of the Mesopotamian desert on hard flinty sand which abounded with thousands of sand lizards.

Sunday 1st November 1942 and our first full day in Iraq was spent inspecting small arms, having marching drill and bathing. Breakfast was excellent and we found the air much to our liking. It became very warm by midday but the nights were delightfully cool. From midday to 1630 hours we had a siesta when it was 鈥渋n bed or our of barracks鈥� and this was followed by dinner at 1700 hours or thereabouts.

The following day was payday. Each man received two Dinars (1 Dinar equalled 拢1), however, there was no small change available until the canteen opened in the evening when all ranks did a great deal of stocking up, had a few drinks and then went to bed early for it had been a tiring day with everybody on some fatigue or other.

On Tuesday, felling much happier, with ample supplies of cigarettes and tobacco, we all went off for a jolly good shower and probably one of the oddest. It took place right out in the desert in an 鈥溾�滱rabian Nights鈥� setting. Sand as far as the eye could see, a beautiful blue sky and all very quiet. There was a tubular framework in the midst of all this emptiness from which came this cold and crystal clear water. The sun shone all day and every day during this short stay near Basra and never a cloud to be seen. On this particular day evening came with an allocation of beer of quite good quality.

The next three days passed by with our usual programme of training during the morning periods and with a shower later in the afternoons and before the evening meals. I was on guard duty for a twenty four period and everybody had another pay day which almost certainly put all ranks into debit with the Paymaster. One evening I played football for Battery HQ against C and D troops and we won 2-1. Looking back that seem a surprising result, but of course we were only an 鈥渁dvance guard鈥�, a large part of C and D troop being absent with that part of the regiment which left us at Cape Town to go on to Egypt, pick up the guns and vehicles and travel overland to our destination in Iraq, with the troops were some of their better footballers.

We also heard on the radio of 8th Army鈥檚 victory at EL Alamain and in addition I spent some time preparing to move off with a small advance party to north of Baghdad to set up a camp for the whole regiment.

On November 7th, we left the Transit Cmap, some twenty or thirty of us, to prepare the area where we would be in residence for the next four of five months. Myself, somewhat reluctantly, as the weather here was so nice, almost idea, just at this time of the year. We travelled in ancient railway carriages all day and night in roughly a north westerly direction. The conditions were hardly first class, being very hot and cramped for space but at least we were well fed and that is probably the most important thing in a soldier鈥檚 life. We stoppd at Ur of the Chaldees the supposed birthplace of Abraham, for a cup of tea and to stretch our legs and later on the train took us past the diggings of ancient Babylon.

BAGHDAD

We finally came to a halt in this ancient city and on leaving the train marched through its centre as a show of strength, although in our tired condition, and lumbered with a lot of kit, I doubt whether the inhabitants were impressed.

The city was a shocking sight with many houses having walls missing and the whole atmosphere one of decay and dilapidation. It was a busy place, but the smells and litter were beyond description. We spent a day here at a Polish camp and were able to use their canteen. The Poles were soldiers who had fought against the Russians when their country was invaded by them and had been captured and held in prison camps in Russia. They had since been released and with their families were forming a separate Polish Corps as part of the British Army. An very brave soldiers they turned out to be! They appeared to have an embarrassing habit of sharing the same toilets between men and women. Nevertheless, we overcame our inhibitions 鈥� there was no alternative 鈥� and then enjoyed a very good meal in their canteen. Afterwards we marched to the railway station for trains going north and were on our way again by midnight. The principal reason for having to change trains was the different gauges used by the railways going north and south of Baghdad and on this part of the journey we travelled in cattle trucks 鈥� 8 cheval 40 hommes style. Two items noted in my diary were that I was not impressed with the River Tigris on this part of the journey and I was getting tired of carrying around my equipment.
KIRKUK

After a fairly good nights sleep, for a train journey, we arrived at Kirkuk just at 1330 hours on November 9th. The town is about one hundred and eighty miles north of Baghdad and was much bigger than I expected and no doubt owes some of its prosperity to its proximity to the oil wells. Our regiment was to set up camp on a stretch of open desert devoid of habitation as far as the eye could see and at a distance of about ten miles from the town.

We had to erect our own tents of course and not even water was laid on. The very next morning I awoke feeling really ill and with a touch of dysentery and so I rested in bed all the morning and most of the afternoon, but was up by the evening. It could have been caused by something I ate in Baghdad. I was able to eat a substantial supper, based on some cheese rescued from the train journey and the following day I felt a lot better but did not work too hard. In fact, the morning was spent searching for some hurricane lamps and trying to find the canteen which was a few miles away. That evening I was in charge of the guard and during a very cold night was called out on two alerts which turned out to be false alarms.

On November 12th, the remainder of the battery arrived. They all looked fit and well, but rather tired, having travelled over land from Suez. In addition we discovered that there were snakes in the area. In the evening several of us walked over to the NAAFI, which was about three miles away and nearly got lost on the return journey having miscalculated the movement of the constellation Orion at fifteen degrees per hour in one direction whereas it was moving on the opposite course. I was quite tired by the time I got to bed.

The next day was the first with everybody present and a real old mess it turned out to be, but no doubt it would soon sort itself out. All day was spent checking those stores for which I was responsible and inevitably some items were found to be missing. I managed to scrounge a fifth blanket which proved invaluable as the nights became rapidly colder with the advance of winter.

November 14th was pay day and I drew out a further two Dinars and for the next few days the time was divided between sorting out the specialist鈥檚 stores of which all items were eventually accounted and general fatigues. This was the beginning of the rainy season and so far as the weather was concerned, there were definite problems. In this part of Iraq we were on the eastern edge of a very large and flat stretch of desert and about two or three miles from the foothills of the Zagros Mountains, some 100 to 200 miles to the east in Iran. To the west was on large undulating plain with the Little Zab river 25 miles or so to the north and the Tigris River 55 miles to the west.

Shortly after the rain started, the soil, which appeared to be earthy rather than sandy and was good for growing maize, turned into a sticky muddy mess into which we could sink almost up to our ankles. After the first day or so of rain we awoke to find that a river had formed which ran through the camp and, oddly enough, separated and ran round both sides of our Sergeant Major鈥檚 tent and then joined up again leaving him isolated for the time being. This temporary river had cut a channel about six feet deep or more overnight and the Sergeant of the Guard in trying to cross it had fallen flat on his face and then on his back, getting wet through in the process.

During this period we were forced to move our tents and stores several times until a satisfactory camp area was formed. Out tents were dug in, so that we slept about two feet six inches below ground level. This sides of the tents dropped into the excavated area, the earth was piled all around the edge of the dug-out and the tents flysheet went over the piled earth and in doing so took any rain that fell clear of it. The result was that sleeping below ground level meant that we were comparatively warm and dry even in very wet and cold weather. This method of living was even extended to the battery dining hall with equal success.

On November 20th, which incidentally was my 25th birthday, a good part of the time was spent shifting earth from out of the tent in which I slept and by the end of the day we had dug down to about one third of the required depth. It was a satisfactory beginning and the weather for the time being was fine and dry enough for the task. In the evening a few of us visited the cinema in Kirkuk and saw a film called 鈥淭he Affairs of Cellini鈥�. The building must have contained some very old equipment because it suffered frequent breakdowns much to the amusement of us soldiers, who occupied every available seat. In the rear of the auditorium there was an alcove from which the film was watched by some local families. The womenfolk being covered from head to foot in black, being totally invisible apart from their eyes.

The following day we concentrated on clearing out the remaining earth and to this end we laboured until 2000 hours, giving us just enough time for supper. We were very tired and slept like logs. Of course, all this digging activity was going on throughout the battery and indeed the regiment, causing some confusion and a great deal of earth wherever one went, but order was restored relatively quickly, everyone being keen to make his sleeping quarters as cosy as possible.

Sunday November 22nd saw me posted as Battery Orderly Sergeant again and I was kept busy all day by a continuous stream of small jobs that cropped up until guard mounting. After that had been successfully dealt with I was able to relax except at 2000 hours and at midnight when I had to take out a small patrol. The reason for this was mainly to deter Arabs who might attempt to steal various pieces of equipment and in particular small arms. On arrival in Iraq we were warned that they were so good at the game a soldier could have his blankets stolen whilst he slept. I tend to doubt the truth of such a skill, but nevertheless we were ordered to secure rifles to the person by chains, Bren guns were buried under one鈥檚 bed and revolvers secured by lanyard and kept under the body, while asleep. In addition, the night patrol would occasionally throw a few grenades around to deter any would-be villain. The native population was very poor indeed outside the towns and just about every bit of our equipment would be worth a small fortune to anyone who could beg, borrow or steal it. I must say, however, that I cannot remember anyone losing any item as a result of theft by civilians.

To continue with my story, I awoke the following morning feeling rather tired and most reluctant to get up. The day was spent moving our stores once again into more suitable accommodation and making further improvements to the tent, straightening out the inside earth walls, levelling the floor and ensuring adequate drainage on the outside. As a result of these labours we were now all very much more comfortable.

On November 24th I went into the town of Kirkuk for the first time and made some purchases. I found the place to be very dirty and by Western standards and with an awful smell and the old part of the town was out of bounds to all troops. That evening we had a good supper in the tent consisting of sausages, tomatoes and onions and incidentally while in Kirkuk, I bought some food for consumption by the three of us who shared the tent. There was much native 鈥渉ooch鈥� for sale but it could only be described as 鈥渇ire water鈥� and was certainly not to be recommended. We soon discovered that all the eggs tasted of rubber.

The remaining days in November were spent on various fatigues and in between times I managed to get permission to go for a long motorcycle ride into the hills and found them most interesting. The idea was to look over the nearby villages, both large and small to see whether there was a possibility of picking up a few titbits in the way of food and at the same time get a good idea of the layout of the surrounding countryside. A knowledge of the topography of the area could also be of use as we would soon be going out on manoeuvres and the more we knew of the ground the less chance there was of getting lost or misreading our maps. One of the odd things about Iraq was that when out on exercises and suchlike, whenever we stopped an Iraqi would appear with a small tray of macaroons which were offered for sale. These cakes were really delicious and in my opinion far more tasty than anything I had sampled in England. The one snag to taking out a vehicle during this rainy period was that it came back filthy dirty and it took a long time to clean with only a bucket of water and a piece of rag.

On the night of the 29th the radio reported 250,000 Germans surrounded at Stalingrad.

December arrived and having fully settled in we began training again at all levels. Not that it was all that necessary for after three years everybody knew their job almost to perfection. We had reached a fairly high degree of skill and really it was mainly a case of keeping everybody on their toes and, in addition, blending with the infantry because it was so very essential that they knew they could rely completely upon us to support them wherever and whenever required. We were very conscious of our responsibility and it was a matter of some pride that we backed up our infantry both in attack and defence by giving them the necessary protection of our shell fire accurately directed.

I was Sergeant of the Guard on December 4th and found it hard to keep warm even during the day and the Orderly Officer was particularly late turning us out that night. During a twenty-four hour guard it was usual for the Orderly Officer to make his rounds once during the period of darkness to see that all was well and this procedure kept the guard on its鈥� toes and the NCO in charge alert at least until after he had visited him. Afterwards the sentries off duty could sleep, but the NCO鈥檚 had to remain awake.

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