About 3 weeks later, we were put on a boat, and sailed up the Suez Canal to join up with the troops with whom we had been attached. This was the Long Range Desert Group, (now the S.A.S.) which had been operating behind German lines in the desert, and they claimed to have blown up more planes on the ground than the R.A.F. had managed to destroy. (See cutting, Death in the Desert, The Independent, 15/4/88.) (Colonel Paddy Mayne i/c)
We joined them at a camp near Alexandria, and were issued with their uniform, and weapons, comprising a Smith and Wesson revolver with ammunition, 2 hand grenades, and a dagger.
I still had the type 18 wireless set to carry around, and with a gas cape, blanket, toilet articles and emergency rations, and bandages, “field dressings”, I felt like a pack horse when fully kitted up.
We went out on marches with the troop, and I was asked if I was the pipe major as he apparently is the only man allowed to grow a beard in the British Army. As I wore a naval cap with an army uniform, I was also asked if I was drunk. We were eventually issued with berets similar to the rest of the troops. As water supplies had now improved, I decided to shave off the beard, as I still had my safety razor in my pack. The bottom part of my face looked quite pale after shaving, but it soon got tanned all over. There was a lot of speculation about where we were going, and we knew it was going to be across the Mediterranean, as Winston Churchill said that the “soft underbelly” of Europe would be next for attack on completion of the North African campaign which was finished in August 1942. The idea was to try and draw troops away from the French channel coastline fortifications to reduce casualties when the second front started up, across the channel.
We were attached to the headquarters company of the troop, so that we could be informed if any section met very strong opposition after landing on the beachhead. They only carried light weapons for greater mobility, and with us for contact, could call up the fire power of a warship for support.
Our unit was part of the Combined Operations Bombardment Unit, and comprised a Royal Artillery captain, a bombadier (corporal), and two naval telegraphists.
The R.A. captain was thought to be the best for working out map references for shore targets, and naval telegraphists were required to communicate with the warships. Our captain was a tall thin young man who had not long been in a legal practice when he had been called up. He did not seem very sure of himself, and reached most of his decisions with the aid of the bombadier. We got on well with the soldiers, and the sergeants treated us like visitors from another force, which we were, and left us to our own devices most of the time.
After a few weeks we were marched onto a destroyer berthed in Alexandria harbour, and as usual, it was packed tight with troops, and their equipment. We spent one night in harbour before sailing, and I must have had a nightmare, as I woke up, on a deck above the one I had been sleeping on, standing on a lavatory seat convinced that there was a snake on the floor waiting to bite me. It took a long time to get down off the seat, and get back down to the deck below. Everything was very quiet and no one was disturbed.
We had been told to write our letters before sailing, as it was it known when we would get another chance, but it cramps your style when you are told that all the letters will be censored by an officer, to make sure that you are not disclosing any state secrets.
I wrote to my parents, and Helen, sending them my love, and hoping that it would be the last from Africa, but that there would be many more from Europe.
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