Sidi Barrani
General Wavell had the 7th Armoured Division in position by now, holding the line. The Italians were pushing forward; there was much fighting. Wavell had wooden 25lb field guns made in workshops in Cairo - they looked like real guns in the distance. We moved forward along the coast, bringing up the supplies - this was known as 'The Wavell Push' - the 8th Army on the move. The fighting at the front was advance and retire, circle round, get behind; the 'Eyeties' surrendered at the drop of a hat. January '41.
We got to Sidi Barrani, and were told we'd be there for some time. We started to dig ourselves in. Three of us dug a trench, six feet square. This was our home. We went into Sidi Barrani and got wood. Jim Barbour, Ted Woodley and myself set up house. We made a roof of corrugated tin and made a ladder to get down in. We even had a table and chairs made. We were very busy. It was cold, especially the nights. We stayed there a month, and just as we were all set to push on, the sand storms started. They were to last almost a month.
Jimmy (left) with Ted Woodley
The severity of the storms waxed and waned. It got into everything - the sand. Sometimes when forced out into the storm, we even put on our gas masks. Sometime the sand came at you horizontally, and other times little tornadoes, or whirlies. Everything closed down.
At the end of two months wait in Barrani, our Division and the Aussies were to leave the coast, and move down to the oases, Jaghbub and Siwa, before they were taken by the Italians coming north from Eritrea. We set off in convoy, taking all the supplies necessary. The Bedford lorries were all canvas roofed, the canvas stretched on metal frames. Even the petrol and water carriers had the same canvas camouflage.
As we moved, so did the Eytie prisoners coming west. We passed by places that had been held by them. They left everything - no attempt to destroy their stores. Thousands of them were coming down the line.
The Italian trucks were diesels. Ours were old Bedfords. We took the diesels with us. We used them to pull ours out of the sand! They were marvellous. We got all their ammo from their dumps and their food stores were terrific. They were far better equipped than we were. I remember the super tinned milk they had, lovely stews, corned beef, and great huge tins of tuna.
Even their bikes were marvellous. Push bikes - they had front and rear suspension, like a good motor bike, and you could ride them over the stony bumpy ground nae bother - even standing on the pedals.