Soldier 4346057 by Douglas Hudson

Author:Douglas Hudson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Diary, memoirs, soldier, world war two, second world war, military service, Regiment of East Yorkshires, nostalgia, historical account, journal, experiences, Europe, serviceman.
ISBN: 9780722343449
Publisher: Andrews UK
Published: 2014-02-13T00:00:00+00:00

Part Four: The Middle East

27 February 1944 to 28 June 1944

27th February 1944: arrived Port Said at the mouth of the Suez Canal. The AA gunners stripped to the waist even in February were on the breakwater and envied by some for their “billet”. The scene was vivid in colour. Bright green trees, yellow palm trees, pink and white houses and signs of more modern devices than we had seen for some time. A roar went up at the sight of the smalls hanging on the lines from the Wrennery. There were no Wrens in sight. Our escort had by now left us with their usual hooting and we pulled in to a big dock where there was more than enough to keep us occupied in watching for a long time. No orders for disembarking yet.

28th February 1944: disembarked and walked straight to a troop train waiting for us. All cattle trucks. 30 men plus full kit to one truck. Having chased away a number of Arabs and clutching our weapons like gold, we waited etc. It was late afternoon or early evening before we moved off and we made the best of things with intermittent sleep with arms and legs all over the place. I sat at the door for some fresh air and watched the stars appear and in the dim light saw the scrub areas and some fields of crops pass by. There seems to be a semi-black out, neither here nor there. The train jolted the whole time. An awful journey. Managed some sleep and had to stay on train till early morning.

1st March 1944: de-trained and after another long wait a convoy of trucks appeared to take us to Quassassin Nr Tel-el-Kebir. We had travelled West of Cairo. Treat to do 50 mph on a tarmac road and shortly after dawn we saw the camp. It was all made up of ordinary tents on hard earth covered with gravel and interspersed with large areas of sand. YMCA opened specially for us for a brew of tea and then managed some breakfast. So ended a reasonably smooth and efficient move of the remnants of the 46th Div.

[Undated:] For the last 14 days we have spent organizing ourselves, sleeping a lot, P.T. and a few ABCA lectures (Army Bureau of Current Affairs). This camp must stretch for miles. Visits to WOs and Sgts’ mess were frequent. Long walk but worth it. Also open air cinemas.

In the mess we made friends with Osman Soliman who taught us to count to ten in Egyptian. The waiters are all Sudanese and fine chaps. They would do anything for us. The rest room, restaurant and bar were all marvellously furnished and the place was really like a palace. We had to adjust from Italian liras to piastres. Spent a lot, drank a lot and slept as much as we could. Bob Smith and I went to Kebir garrison to see a good performance by an RAF band. There was a mixed audience of Czechs, Poles, our ATS, South Africans and New Zealanders plus British Nurses etc.

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