Wars and ConflictsΒ permalink
Ice cold in Alex
This discussion has been closed.
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Message 1.Β
Posted by Grumpyfred (U2228930) on Wednesday, 25th February 2009
Thanks to my free D V D from the Mail, I've just watched this film again, and am now wondering, what happened to the real people on which this story was based, and how many of the five were real, or works of fiction?
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Message 2
Posted by LongWeekend (U3023428) on Wednesday, 25th February 2009
GF
I paid Β£3 for my copy from Tesco! But at least I didn't have the shame of being seen buying the Daily Mail.
The author, Christopher Landon served in the RASC with 51st Field Ambulance and attached to 1st SA Infantry Division. He later transferred to the Indian ASC and finished as a major. I think he may have started in the ranks (it is interesting that in the book it is the MSM who gets the nurse, not the officer. In the film, of course, John Mills turns Sylvia Sims down; Mrs Mills must have been sitting on set!)
The book is clearly based on the author's own knowledge of the Desert campaign, particularly in 1942, but I think the characters are "types" rather than particular individuals. I have heard it suggested, though, that the senior officer who takes the staff car and gets killed was based on a real staff officer in Tobruk.
A number of parties of differing sizes did get awy from the wrack of Tobruk, and some did come back across the Depression. The largest was a party of several hundred Scots Guards and others from 201 Guards Brigade. I don't know of any nursing sisters in these parties - I think they all got out by sea.
The German spy masquerading as an Afrikaaner probably draws on several rumours. Cairo and Alex were rife with spies, and the British regarded many of the Afrikaaners in the Union forces with suspicion; their loyalty to the Imperial cause wasn't seen as wholehearted.
Sylvia Sims relates that the studio made them reshoot the night scene on the sand dune with John Mills, the second time with her blouse buttoned up. Wish they'd kept the first version.
Trivia. The journey in the book is, of course, West to East, from Libya to Egypt. But they made the film in Libya after we had withdrawn from the canal zone, so Benghazi, somewhat west of Tobruk, stood in for Alex.
Cheer
LW -
Message 3
Posted by Grumpyfred (U2228930) on Wednesday, 25th February 2009
LW.I have a ski mask for when buying the Mail LOL. They do give away some good films though. This series included the Dam Busters and Dunkirk, as well as Angels One Five. Well worth putting the mask on for. Thanks for the info, and I did spot the Landrover in the last scene.
GF -
Message 4
Posted by LongWeekend (U3023428) on Wednesday, 25th February 2009
GF
I got my parents to buy me the one with Angels One Five. The timing of the Mail offer was a bit annoying, because I ahve been disposing of my videos, and replaced a lot of the classic Brit War ones during the sales for about a fiver each, then they started appearing in Tesco for Β£3 and then the Mail for free! Got the Dambusters that way, and still haven't got Dunkirk.
Libya was still being used for training armoured battle groups at the time - the Army didn't move that to Canada until Gaddafi kicked us out of Libya in the '60s. I believe most of the extras were serving soldiers.
I was reading a biography of Kierans (of the Yangste Incident) which said that apparently HMS Amethyst was in reasonable nick in reserve until they used her for the film, when Kierans insisted on taking the helm and ran her aground, and she was written off after filming finished. Ironic her saviour should also be her nemesis.
Cheers
LW -
Message 5
Posted by Grumpyfred (U2228930) on Wednesday, 25th February 2009
A touch of the Lesie Philips. Her sister is still on the For Sale list. I've picked up a number of good D V Ds from the papers. Oh, my daughter sent me two sets of D V Ds from the U S. One was 57 episodes of T V westerns including The Lone Ranger, Cisco Kid Range Rider Rifle Man Roy Rogers and many more. The other was a series of westerns with the likes of Bronson Wayne etc.
Bliss. -
Message 6
Posted by LongWeekend (U3023428) on Wednesday, 25th February 2009
GF
Really? I thought the only one of that vintage was the one the Egyptians have. Anything else out there?
The last lot of freebie dvds passed on to me (my mother really does read the Daily Mail AND believes every word)were Hector's House, Chorlton and the Wheelies and the Wombles.
My children liked Chorlton (I was amazed how left-wing the episodes were, and how casually racist - Welsh witch, Irish evil telescope and German book of spells ), but thought the Clangers and Wombles too slow.
Oh well, autre temps, autres mores.
LW -
Message 7
Posted by Grumpyfred (U2228930) on Wednesday, 25th February 2009
Just before the very end as the camera is in the truck driving away, there is a Landrover in the shot.. I collect a lot of the free ones and send them down to our friend, for her Grandchildren. Ours live in the U S so it would be a waste sending them there, but the Mirror did a series of Spoken word C Ds which we collected and sent.
G F -
Message 8
Posted by Grumpyfred (U2228930) on Wednesday, 25th February 2009
L W Meant say (Sorry about this) Bye bye little old lady. I used to watch Chorltan with my children.
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Message 9
Posted by LongWeekend (U3023428) on Wednesday, 25th February 2009
GF
If we'd had Land Rovers in 1942, no-one would ever have heard of Jeeps
My favourite accidental shot is in the execrable "Ashanti". Toward the end, Omar Sharif on his yacht says to the heroine "What do you think the British are going to do, send a gun boat?". Almost immediately afterwards, the camera tracks over a Leander-class frigate in the background.
I used to watch Chorlton with my little sister (well, that was my excuse). Loved the concept of an invincibly stupid dragon. -
Message 10
Posted by Grumpyfred (U2228930) on Wednesday, 25th February 2009
ou know the story of the Landrover of course. Rover was facing a cut back in their steel allocation, and needed a project to allow them to avoid the cutback. They took a Jeep to pieces, and came up with the Landrover. Quota kept, and the rest as they say is history.
G F -
Message 11
Posted by LongWeekend (U3023428) on Wednesday, 25th February 2009
GF
And if the Austin Champ had worked, Land Rovers would be just be something in the Austerity Years exhibition at the V&A.
Meanwhile, over at Handley Page, they are designing the Hastings as the answer to an airborne maiden's prayers, with its stunning ability to para-drop a ....Jeep, not a Champ.
Thankfully, there was a battalion's worth of Jeeps still around in the summer of 1956.
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Message 12
Posted by Grumpyfred (U2228930) on Wednesday, 25th February 2009
Saw the Hastings once or twice, and they used to have Champs at our local T A barracks. I did my gliding course at Hawden (Now Chester) They used to get strang aircraft in there. I used to have a pic of a Provest in Japanese markings that was in a hanger, and remember seeing them do the test flight on the D H 125.
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Message 13
Posted by MB (U177470) on Wednesday, 25th February 2009
The Austin Champ was much more expensive and complex than the Land Rover. Might have been used by the military but would never have become so widely used as the Land Rover.
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Message 14
Posted by Grumpyfred (U2228930) on Thursday, 26th February 2009
Some had R R engines, that could only be worked on by R R engineers. A bit silly if they are in action.
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Message 15
Posted by petaluma (U10056951) on Thursday, 26th February 2009
Lost Weekend,
quote, 'If we had Land Rovers in 1942 no one would ever have heard of Jeep',
Will you explain? -
Message 16
Posted by Grumpyfred (U2228930) on Thursday, 26th February 2009
Muchbetter all rounder than the Jeep. The Jeep came in a One size fits all, were as the Landi could be adapted. (Did you know that if you broke your drive shaft on the long wheeled Landi, you could disconnect it, and drive on your front wheel drive) The fact that the Land Rover is still being upgraded and built some 50 years after the first one was produced is testement to the design.
G F -
Message 17
Posted by MB (U177470) on Thursday, 26th February 2009
You can drive on front wheels if you lose a half-shaft. The big problem that you have is if you have to park the vehicle on a hill because you have no hand-brake.
It happened to a forward-control Land Rover used at work. They lost a half-shaft half way up a steep track, I think it was in snow so they could not get any further up the hill. There was not enough room to turn around and they could not leave the vehicle there because they could not use the hand-brake. The driver had to sit there with his foot on the foot-brake until someone was able to get there and pull it to where they could turn around. -
Message 18
Posted by LongWeekend (U3023428) on Thursday, 26th February 2009
petaluma
I see my countrymen have already sung the praises of the trusty LR.
My comment was slightly tongue in cheek, as clearly the Jeep got there first, and influenced all later light utility 4x4s, including the Land Rover (indeed, the original Land Rover prototype used a Jeep chassis).
However, the Landrover, particularly in its 3/4 ton Long Wheel Base version, was a considerable improvement on the Jeep in terms of capacity, while being as agile and flexible as its smaller precursor. So, had the Land Rover come first, it would probably have usurped the Jeep's place in history. I'm sure, in that event, Ford or Dodge would have taken the LR concept and made it even better.
As it was, the Jeep has an iconic place in British military history. One of the downsides of its attractiveness was that very senior officers insisted on driving themselves, because it was so much fun, to the horror of their staff and at huge risk to their troops. I suspect Montgomery is the only British field commander in the second half of the war who was NOT photographed at the wheel of a Jeep - Alexander, Slim, Dempsey, Horrocks and Mountbatten all certainly were, as well as ant RAf types who could get their hands on one.
(what do you think, chaps, have I got away with it?) -
Message 19
Posted by Grumpyfred (U2228930) on Thursday, 26th February 2009
Thats how my fathers war ended, when his new (Very young) officer insisted on driving the Jeep, rolled it over and almost killed all four of them.
G F -
Message 20
Posted by LongWeekend (U3023428) on Thursday, 26th February 2009
If the officer had had a map and a compass, your dad would have been in real trouble...
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Message 21
Posted by Grumpyfred (U2228930) on Thursday, 26th February 2009
The two most dangerous things in the world. Officers who insist they know what they are doing, and sailors with guns.
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Message 22
Posted by LongWeekend (U3023428) on Thursday, 26th February 2009
I never insisted I knew what I was doing. I just did.
However, once I did almost make my driver roll the Landrover because I was so busy looking at the map that I nearly missed our exit from a motorway. -
Message 23
Posted by petaluma (U10056951) on Saturday, 28th February 2009
I remember a friend who was a Paratrooper in the RA told me of evaluation of the Jeep and LR. It was after the War date unknown, he said they dropped a LR by parachute on landing it was wrecked, fell to pieces, on dropping the Jeep was undamaged, jumped in and drove it around everything worked. That obviously was an early date. Even today British vehicles in the USA leave much to be desired the main gripe is poor reliability, BMW, and Mercedes reliability inferior to Honda and Toyota. Conditions in USA much different to Europe, 120F driving hours on end, 40F below zero, driving from below sea level (Death Valley) to over 12,000 feet in Colorado, very few cars or trucks have to endure that but those that do work fine, all built to the same standard. In some States temperature can vary over 100F in 24 hours
During WW2 arguing re. Bren Gun Carrier, Vs Jeep, officer said in tests Jeep proved superior to the Carrier all round, hours in service, readily available parts, could be man handled.
I have seen a 10 man Jeep reminded me of the big brother to the MG, even in Britain not very common and seems few know of the big MG. I've asked American servicemen that served in Europe, the Far East and Pacific if they had seen the larger edition of the Jeep none had. The few I saw must have been when in India, on a visit to Australia learned that General Motors brand was Holden, perhaps the Australians made them there, unable to confirm from anyone, but knew full well I saw some, may have been destined for India, all the Indian Army S.C. Trucks I saw were Dodge 3 toners with steel beds, probably all wheel drive.
My Paratrooper friend said he enjoyed jumping from a Dakota far more pleasant than British Aircraft, he had a lot of admiration for them -
Message 24
Posted by LongWeekend (U3023428) on Saturday, 28th February 2009
petaluma
Famous test, but it was designed to see if the parachute rig for a Jeep could manage the heavier LR - if it could, the Army would be saved a lot of money not having to develope and buy a new set of parachutes for 16 Abn Bde. It didn't work, so the new rig had to developed.
What also happened was the development of the wonderful "stripped down" air-portable version of the LR, which could be palate dropped or carried in Argosys and Andovers. After 16 Abn Bde was disbanded, they were dished out to ordinary units as part of the Army's overall LR fleet, but were much sort-after by boy racers, because they were zippier than the usual issue, if requiring a bit more maintenance.
The DC3/C47 was a classic aircraft. It was the one aircraft supplied under Mutual Aid (Lease-Lend to some) that the RAF actually paid to keep after the war. But in fairness to the British aircraft industry, the Air Ministry had taken conscious decision to concentrate on bomber production and source any transport aircraft needs from the USA. This was a problem immediately post-war, with British passenger aircraft all being conversions of wartime bombers Valetta (Wellington/Warwick), York (Lancaster) and Hastings (Hampden). -
Message 25
Posted by Grumpyfred (U2228930) on Sunday, 1st March 2009
Some Yorks were built during the war as well.
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Message 26
Posted by petaluma (U10056951) on Sunday, 1st March 2009
LostWeekend, my friend did not explain the full evaluation of the test, gave one the impression that the LR were fragile so obviously at fault. Did watch a documentary of the Jeep on TV but saw very little of the development, in Britain it was said that it was patterned after one of the small Austins which were bullet proof in Africa operating under primitive conditions. No mention of that though in the documentary, perhaps someone comparing it to the simple Austin and continued with a life of its own, many fables are started that way.
I used a Jeep on a farm in the USA in 1955 used it to disk the fields, coming off that to a farm tractor was like driving a car without springs, Jeep felt like a Cadillac to a farm tractor. -
Message 27
Posted by LongWeekend (U3023428) on Sunday, 1st March 2009
GF
Indeed. The post-war (just) development was the Lancastrian, which looked more like a passenger aircraft. But the York was numerically more important in service.
My m-i-l has some cine film taken at Khartoum on her way to the then Northern Rhodesia in 1954, with some DC-3s and Yorks in the background. I don't think she appreciated my greater interest in the aircraft than the people in the foreground!
Cheers
LW -
Message 28
Posted by Grumpyfred (U2228930) on Sunday, 1st March 2009
If I remember rightly, they use a York in the film I was Montys double.
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Message 29
Posted by LongWeekend (U3023428) on Sunday, 1st March 2009
And it was a York that crashed with Leigh-Mallory on board, en route to India.
I'd forgotten Avro's hybrid, the Tudor, which used a Lincoln wing and engines to lift a new pressurised fuselage.
WE seem to be a long way from Tobruk, now. -
Message 30
Posted by LongWeekend (U3023428) on Sunday, 1st March 2009
petaluma
I think the idea for the Jeep came from the success of ordinary commercial vehicles in rough conditions, particularly during the Great War. The Ford Model T (which the British Imperial armies used in large number post-war as well as the US Army)was a prime example, but also Morris and Austins.
I suspect your bullet-proof in some circumstances Austin is a confusion with the Daimler Scout Car, known as the Dingo, which was a small 4x4 vehicle, as nippy as a Jeep and protected against small arms fire and shrapnel, but could only carry two people in any degree of comfort and was expensive. There were never enough of these to go round. Humber also made a similar vehicle. Jeeps did replace the Dingo in several roles from 1942 onward.
A comparison of the carrier with a Jeep is not really sensible. The carrier was also armoured against small arms, but had a very different role. For instance, a Canadian officer made two round trips to Arnhem bridge with ammunition in the first 48 hours after the drop. Jeeps trying the same thing didn't succeed. -
Message 31
Posted by petaluma (U10056951) on Sunday, 1st March 2009
Believe the Austins mentioned were the early 6 or 7s post WW1 saw many photos from Africa in prewar British publications of the seemingly indestructible Austin, as the Ford T a very simple car.
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Message 32
Posted by LongWeekend (U3023428) on Sunday, 1st March 2009
petaluma
Thanks for that - suspect that they, like the Model T, were only bullet-proof if hit in the engine block!
Simplicity would seem to be the key. That was the problem with the Austin Champ, developed as our answer to the Jeep, which could actually do everything it was supposed to, but was over-engineered, too expensive and to high-maintenance. A Jeep designed by a committee of technical experts.
LW -
Message 33
Posted by Grumpyfred (U2228930) on Sunday, 1st March 2009
Rather like our first attempt of civilian airliner after the war, the Bristol Bramison.
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Message 34
Posted by petaluma (U10056951) on Sunday, 1st March 2009
Mack name of a heavy duty truck built in the USA has a Bulldog ornament on the hood, its claimed that the British troops in WW! were pleased with its ruggedness that it was compared to a Bulldog in strength and determination, in later years the builders adopted the Bulldog ornament. A typical saying in the US, 'Built like a Mack', or, 'Built like a Mack Truck'.
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Message 35
Posted by LongWeekend (U3023428) on Sunday, 1st March 2009
petaluma
There' another old British film, made at the end of WWII, "The Way To the Stars". Don't know if you've seen it.
It was made to celebrate the combined efforts of RAF Bomber Command and the US 8th Air Forc. It is set around a fictional RAF base - RAF Halfpenny (Ha'penny) Field, which has Blenheims at the start and is then handed over to 8AF to use for Fortresses. A lot of the humour is about how the UK and USA are divided by a common language.
LW -
Message 36
Posted by Grumpyfred (U2228930) on Monday, 2nd March 2009
L W again one of the films given away a few weeks back with the D M.
G F -
Message 37
Posted by petaluma (U10056951) on Monday, 2nd March 2009
LostWeekend, no I never saw the film would be good to see it and the outcome, the culture is quite different, some similarities but also glaring differences. In Britain its strange to relate but outside of the home I was an alien in a foreign country, I had friends as in general often you are friends because of like personalities. I find British culture so negative and American positive, I have lived in the USA for 54 years and loved every day, never any regrets on leaving Britain, was at home the first day on arrival never felt any differences or a stranger at any time. During the War I worked installing a boiler in a new American Air Force base in Warrington. There was a Flying Fortress parked, we were told by one of the builders that it was the first Flying Fortress to be ferried to Britain and the base was afraid to use it on raids as if it was shot down as it would be taken as a bad omen. Years later in a Bar in California meet an ex USAAF who was stationed there, I asked him of the plane but he had no knowledge of the plane or if it ever flew on operations, so perhaps the knowledge was not universally known or it may have just been talk. It was said that women also were bomber trans- Atlantic ferry pilots during the War but heard nothing official of it, but were in Britain delivering fighters.
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Message 38
Posted by Grumpyfred (U2228930) on Monday, 2nd March 2009
Pet. It sounds like you where at Burtonwood. At one time, the biggest U S base in the U K,(I have an R A F Burtonwood badge) Sadly though the main runway is now part of the M62 motorway, and the whole base has gone with the exception of a few hangers on the north side of the motorway that are used for storage by a transport company, and even those are doomed, as H M G want to build a prison there. My late father used to play baseball there against the Americans, and the R A F had a gliding school there for some time.
G F -
Message 39
Posted by petaluma (U10056951) on Monday, 2nd March 2009
GrumpyFred, at the time I believe the Plane was near the entrance to an older permanent building without any appearance of being an air field, also the huts were in an area with no flat ground, curvy roads, I believe we done the job in one day, took boiler off truck, boiler much the same in looks as a steam crane boiler but bigger, had to go inside a building, as usual doorway too low to keep boiler upright to enter building, one can be surprised if one takes the time to think out a difficult job nothing is impossible if tackled in the right manner. I was quick to learn, made a good rigger, could see the whole operation in my mind before starting job. Strange I don't remember any ground resembling an airfield, the building was the cook house for the camp, so probably we were in the administrating area. We were only in one spot so were only aware of immediate surroundings.
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Message 40
Posted by Grumpyfred (U2228930) on Monday, 2nd March 2009
Burtonwood was the biggest repair base in Europe, they also received new A/C, and brought them up to flying standard. My sister attended a lot of dances there, and the Yanks used to flock into Liverpool. Many a Liverpool girl ended up a G I bride because of Burtonwood.
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Message 41
Posted by petaluma (U10056951) on Monday, 2nd March 2009
GrumpyFred, I done my Primary training at Formby on entering the Army, sometimes the barrack room would be detailed to attend a dance I believe at Wrens camp I missed those Fire Picquet or something. During the week we'd go to Southport and Liverpool on the week-end. Being Black-out pitch black, on arriving at Southport we'd go in a certain direction to a place we thought a dance hall but being weekday no dances held but could buy tea and cakes. Just before being posted our group about five of us decided to go to Southport in the day light. On getting there we were lost couldn't get our bearings or find the place. We were looking at the surrounding buildings to find our bearings but realized we had never seen them. On after thought we should have just closed our eyes and gave that a try. We all gave up anyway and headed for Liverpool. Years later a lot had passed so in 1951 got married believe sometime that year visited Blackpool on a motorcycle. On entering Southport decided to go on the pier a must on any beach. On entering the pier was standing in the place we couldn't find in the dark. It was a roller skating rink and there was the area where we used to have our tea and cakes. The real Kicker was we did not realize we were on a Pier, I bet today none of the group unless taking a visit to Southport and finding the place would ever guess it was on a Pier. Had we seen the pier when visiting there in daylight none of us would even looking for it on a pier.
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Message 42
Posted by Grumpyfred (U2228930) on Monday, 2nd March 2009
Chances are you trained at Altcar. (Still there) There was a WREN camp up at Ainsdale in the Lido. Southport pier was rebuilt a few years ago, Southport itself is still a nice town. We've lived there since 1969, and I worked for the council (Sefton) for 21 years. We still have a small R A F station just to the south of us, (R A F Woodvale) it was built as part of the defences for Liverpool.
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Message 43
Posted by Caro (U1691443) on Monday, 2nd March 2009
I don't come to this board very often so am a little late at this thread (and sorry to interrupt the conversation, Fred and petuluma). Ice Cold in Alex is one of the best movies I have seen, though a long time ago, so I have forgotten it and wouldn't have really followed where in the war we were at anyway. But I was looking it up the other day in my Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide, and he/they directed me to Desert Attack.
Off to Desert Attack and it is a 1960 79 minutes-long movie with three stars. "Well-handled psychological drama of British ambulance officer, two nurses and a German soldier brought together in African desert. Original British verstion Ice Cold In Alex runs 132 mins."
I am a bit muddled by all this - that is a big difference in time. And I don't remember all these women in Ice Cold - my memory of it is as a more or less all-male movie.
So perhaps you could remind me of the action more, please.
Cheers, Caro. -
Message 44
Posted by LongWeekend (U3023428) on Monday, 2nd March 2009
Caro
Desert Attack was the US release name, but how they managed to cut nearly an hour out, I have no idea.
There were originally two nurses, left behind by the last hospital ship. Anson (John Mills), an alcoholic officer on the brink of collapse because of the cumulative strain of war, is ordered to get them out overland. One is mortally wounded by a German patrol when Anson panics and tries to out-run them.
The surviving three (Mills, Sims and Harry Andrews as the sergeant-major) then encounter a South African officer (Anthony Quayle) who they take along. Unfortunately, he has gin with him, which has a bad effect on Anson. The MSM manages to make him lose it in quicksand. Both the British soldiers eventually realise that the South African is really a German spy.
After various adventures of a desert and mechanical nature, they get to Alex - Alexandria - and the bar where Anson has been promising himself a lager; the "Ice Cold In Alex" of the title. The military police turn up, Anson having told them the German had surrendered to him, and not revealing his original impersonation of an Afrikaaner, which would have earned him a firing squad.
Will that do?
LW -
Message 45
Posted by Grumpyfred (U2228930) on Monday, 2nd March 2009
You forgot the sex scene. That kiss with both the top button fastened and unfastened. LOL
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Message 46
Posted by Caro (U1691443) on Monday, 2nd March 2009
Thanks, LW. (And Fred, though I am not sure that added a lot!)
The only scene I think I remember seemed to involve them clambering down rocks, which sounds like the sea more than overland to me. I'm sure it was that film. And I visualised four men, but I suppose one of them must have been a woman. I always thought there wasn't any romance in it, but there must have been. (Which would make more sense of me enjoying it.)
Cheers, Caro. -
Message 47
Posted by LongWeekend (U3023428) on Monday, 2nd March 2009
GF
You describe it so much better than I could
LW -
Message 48
Posted by LongWeekend (U3023428) on Monday, 2nd March 2009
Caro
Toward the end, they descend a steep escarpment into the infamous Quattara Depression, which is a salt marsh with a treacherous crust, some which can just about take the weight of a light vehicle. That's the bit you remember, I think.
There wasn't much romance, just the scene GF alludes to, where a doe-eyed Sylvia Sims realises the tragic nobility of John Mills' traumatised officer, and follows him out into the desert to offer her, um, adoration. The appalling thing is, the idiot TURNS HER DOWN. Obviously, the strain of the Desert War had been far too much. He's more interested in the lager in Alex.
LW
The book, incidentally, has more romance, but involves a different character. -
Message 49
Posted by Palaisglide (U3102587) on Tuesday, 3rd March 2009
"Oops" I get the mail though only on a Saturday and only because it has the best free TV Mag.
I wear a blond wig and the wife's hat and fight the newsagent off when he tries to kiss me.
I get a sweat on each time I watch them digging the truck out and winding up the hill, did it many a time.
We often went out with national Service officer newbies who said they could read a sun compass and the stars, I think they saw too many films in training that is if they got any training.
As the poor ignored driver sitting next to said Officer I heard some weird conversations. "Sergeant why have we passed that white painted oil drum five times"? Sir or Cur it often sounded like, it is not the same oil drum, they are every few miles to mark the tracks when the wind has covered them with sand, "Oh I see".
"Driver why are you steering off the bearing" well Sir, there is a Wadi ahead if you look for the signs and I am not taking a nose dive head down bum up for you or anyone else. "Oh I see".
Then it was out with the sand trays and get digging because even the best ran into sand sea soft sand.
Sergeant hands Officer a shovel, "we all dig Sir, we do not carry passengers" rest of us grinning put our backs into it.
You sweat dig move a few feet then do it all again and hope you are not too far off the rock that made up most of the area.
We never had any lovely nurses with us or ever saw any even in Base. I saw some lovely female Camels, those long lashes and droopy lids, pity about the bad breath though.
For me that part of the film was quite real and like them, back at base the first call was an Ice Cold Stella in the Naafi, or three or four. Meanwhile young Officer reports to CO how we had ill treated him not done as we were told and made him dig.
CO sends money for Stella to Naafi with message saying well done lads?
Great Film when you take out the spy the nurse and the love on the sand, never saw any of that.
Frank. -
Message 50
Posted by LongWeekend (U3023428) on Wednesday, 4th March 2009
Poor old subaltern. Just imagine the young lad, his keeness and desire to serve his monarch crushed by the rude and brutal soldiery. He wanders disconsolately back to the Officers Mess.
Where the nurses, being officers themselves, also live.
Just a thought.
Actually, more seriously, I had always assumed that the Libya garrison had a Base Hospital. Perhaps the Malta hospitals looked after Libya, given its proximity? Anyone know?
remefrankmee, I asked about people's recollections of public opinion at the time of Suez on another thread. Have any views?
Cheers
LW
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