I remember my father telling me when I was a youngster that the battle
of Tel-el-Kebir was one of the last battles in which the British fought
in red coats. I suppose that it stayed in his mind because it would
have been still in the news when he was a child, the battle having taken
place in 1882. No.2 Base Workshops was in that general vicinity but as
usual it was in the wide open spaces; it was similar to Shaiba in size
and content and served the same purpose. On one of my trips to Cairo I
passed through the town -- or was it too small to be so called -- and I
paused at the cemetery where the British dead of that battle were buried
and my thoughts went back to my father's tales.
The European war had finished and the American claim to have a super
bomb was no longer bragging, it was a reality. The debate over the use
of the atomic bomb rages on but my opinion then and still today is that
it was justified in that it shortened the war and saved many 1000's of
lives, Japanese as well as Allied, maybe even mine. It depends on whose
ox is being gored. We were going in the right direction and demob was
in sight.
British forces in No.2 BW included quite a number of Jews who had every
reason to want Germany defeated; initially they were integrated with us,
they said they didn't want to be isolated in ghettos but as time went on
and as they absorbed more and more of military training and organisation
they felt large enough and competent enough to warrant separate status.
When I arrived at Tel-el Kebirs' camp, the Jewish camp, was an
accomplished fact. I imagine that Haganah was born or nurtured there;
maybe Irgun also.
The DO staff was larger than that at Shaiba and included several Jews
one of whom became my friend; his parents had sent him to Palestine
before the war when things looked threatening in Austria and by the time
I met him all his family had perished in Dachau. He was alone in the
world and he joined the British forces I sensed hostility on the part of
two other Jews, one male, one female; I don't know why, I hadn't done
anything to them, perhaps they thought the British were standing between
them and the creation of the Israeli state.
The office work was much the same as before, nothing very exciting; one
of the lads, Craftsman Edlin wishing to upgrade his draughtsman's rating
applied to be trade tested and was told to design a lawn mower for the
officers' quarters. Since the lawn at the officers' quarters boasted
about 50 blades of grass per square foot this was a little silly.
DO STAFF No.2 BASE WORKSHOPS TEL-EL-KEBIR Back row (l to r) George. Sgt
Madders. Cfn Grey. Cfn Pulgram . Sgt Wassel. Cfn Brewster. Cfn
Edlin. Cpl Johnsoon. Faris Seated Sgt Simon. S/Sgt Tudor. Herta
Weiskopfova. Lt Hackman. S/Sgt Rollason Squatting Tony
To control traffic in and out of the compound barriers were placed
across the roads at suitable places; these followed standard army
design, probably unchanged for a couple of centuries, a pole spanning
the width of the road, pivoted at one end and counterweighted.
Alongside the installation an Arab sat on a cushion on an upturned
petrol can, waiting for customers. I don't believe he had any means of
identifying friend or foe but when he was satisfied he raised the pole
to allow a lorry through. There was one drawback to this system
however, come quitting time he would pick up his cushion and off he
would go, back to the wife and kids, often leaving the pole neither
vertical nor horizontal but at about 45°. An unsuspecting lorry
driver coming in after dark and seeing no horizontal barrier would
charge straight ahead and that would mean vehicle repairs and a
replacement pole. To overcome this shortcoming design ideas were
solicited and I got busy with a matchbox, a penholder (the wooden rod
type, then current), paper clips and a light spring that I wound out of
some fine wire. The principle I used was not original. Simply put, the
operating lever in this case the bent paper clip due to spring action
would only stay in one of two extreme positions and the pole, in this
case the penholder would also only stay on one of two extreme positions.
I gave the model to the sergeant who seemed impressed and it was passed
up through the ranks, everyone trying to beat it. Eventually it
finished up in the hands of Brigadier Butters; he seemed satisfied and
gave the go-ahead to modify one of the existing barriers. The most
suitable one was close to the DO and this we decided to modify. At this
stage it should be pointed out that design ideas are transformed into
finished products by means of engineering drawings, these really have
the status of legal documents to be followed precisely. This is at
variance with the beliefs of some people who think that a drawing is
only a pretty picture of something that has already been made; more than
once I've been asked, "Where do you get the model you've copied?"
The barrier was duly examined and drawings prepared showing exactly what
had to be done to modify it to the new design and the drawings were
issued to the machine shop.
In charge of the machine shop were two Polish officers whose names to me
were both unpronounceable and unspellable and they oversaw the
modifications. I believe their hearts were not in the job, they
resented being told what to do even via drawings by a lowly craftsman
but since the brigadier had ordained it they had to comply. "Vy
don't ve do like in ze old country?" they asked, meaning that they
wanted to make a barrier operated by a pinion and quadrant, like in ze
old country that could be similarly be left up in the 45° position.
They took matters into their own hands and decided not to work on the
existing barrier but to start from scratch; they didn't even build it
across a road but selected a spot near the machine shop. A steel tube
was used for the pole and metal strips dangled from it to simulate a
solid barrier when the pole was horizontal. To balance the extra weight
of the strips the counterweight had to be increased and then the tube
began to bend so they rammed a solid bar inside the tube. Two channel
sections were concreted into the ground to support the tube and the
pivot rod was beautifully mounted on ball bearings; the only thing was
the thing didn't work. Ignored were all my design instructions
particularly regarding the relationship of the centre of gravity to the
pivot point that were detailed on my drawings and that had been approved
by the major in charge of the DO. The springs and shock absorbers that
had been salvaged from scrapped vehicles were also not mounted where
they should have been. In short the Poles had created something of a
dog's breakfast and they awaited the brigadier's inspection with some
concern. He was not pleased. The project was abandoned and when I left
to be demobbed some five months later it still stood in isolation in the
desert, a stark monument to false pride and stupidity.
With the end of the European war conditions had eased a little and I
took advantage of this to spend a couple of days in Cairo; I did the
usual tourist things, viewing the Sphinx and climbing a little way up
the Great Pyramid at Giza. Coming down to earth again I found some
Arabs with their camels gathered at the base of the pyramid waiting for
people like me and of course I couldn't resist being photographed aboard
a static camel. Another half day was spent in the Cairo Museum where
Tutankhaman's historical artefacts were the main attraction. We could
also go occasionally to a spot on the Suez Canal, Lake Timsah, for a
weekend where the army had established Ferry Point Leave Camp, where
tent tops were situated amongst pine trees and where discipline was
relaxed. The trip by army lorry took us by Zagazig and the Sweet Water
Canal where to fall in meant a series of unpleasant injections by the
MO. We lazed and swam and ate and sun bathed and for the first time saw
little sea horses I found that I could float in the canal whereas I
never could in fresh water but I also found that there were leeches in
the water and a couple attached themselves to me.