[2002] SID’S WAR

0024 - Sidney Lane War Diary 16

[this is an extract of the war diary, 'An Ordinary War', by my uncle (Sid Lane, my mother's brother) travelling to Egypt]

28/5/42

Left Wakefield and arrived in Liverpool where we boarded the "Andes", now a troopship.

31/5/42

Sailed from Liverpool about mid-day, picked up rest of convoy and escort (which included H.M.S. Nelson) and headed West into the Atlantic.

16/6/42

Reached Freetown, Sierra Leone, and took aboard more water. We remained five days. On leaving, H.M.S. Rodney joined the escort, so we have both those famous ships.

4/7/42

Reached Durban and disembarked. we were taken by train to Clairwood camp, which lies about 10 miles outside the town.

14/7/42

Clairwood is a very large camp and can accommodate about 20,000 men. We have been here almost two weeks now. We have been free each afternoon and have certainly made the most of it. Every afternoon found us in Durban or visiting the local beauty spots.

The city itself is very modern indeed, but despite the tall skyscrapers there are always broad expanses of sky visible, due to the width of the main thoroughfares. It is indeed a credit to the people of south Africa - and they are a credit to the Empire, regardless of what may be said later about the fall of Tobruk.

The hospitality they show the British troops is a thing I have rarely met, even in England. Their social organisations have gone to amazing lengths for our comfort and well being. It is a damn good show.

17/7/42

We embarked in the "Ile de France" on the next move towards the Middle East theatre of war. It is certain now that that is where we are going. It is well, for Rommel is again making progress in Egypt, having defeated our army in Cyrenacia and forced us back into Egypt. Tobruk surrendered and Mersa Matru was evacuated, but now the enemy have been held 70 miles West of Alexandria. The latest push of the Nazis I do not view with as much concern as I might hitherto have done. I have come to realise that the fluidity of modern war methods means that desert territory will always be changing hands, and that it is the total destruction of Rommel's force that we must achieve. But the Nile valley and the Suez canal must and will be held.

17/7/42 

The "Ile de France" is just another troopship, and I guess that's enough about it.

29/7/42

Disembarked at Tewfik - Egypt.

30/7/42

Arrived at "El la Hag", Tel-el Kebir and erected tents in the desert waste.

6/8/42

Today I visited Cairo. Denis, Jack and myself left camp immediately after breakfast (07.00) and hitch-hiked. This is the recognised thing here and any W.D. vehicle will give you a lift during daylight. After dark they will not stop to pick up travellers and it pays to remember this fact. Cairo is approximately 50 miles from Tel-el-Kebir and we covered the distance at a breath taking pace.

Our way lay alongside the "sweet water canal" and I was given to wonder how such a name came to be applied. The water was dirty brown and it stank. Of course, that is nothing - everything in Egypt stinks - and how. The canal flows between high banks and on each side there is a little vegetation. Sufficient apparently to account for the presence of the villages. I hesitate to use the word village, but I can think of no other more suited to describe the filthy collection of hovels such as they were. I am not going to describe them. I am not likely to forget them easily - or their inhabitants. I doubt that anything has changed since the days of the Pharaohs.

The Gypo's themselves are a nasty, dirty, greasy-smelling lot of bastards [Sid was probably a closet socialist, so these words sound strange in these days, but the reader must remember that the 'diary' was written in the days when such people were still seen as 'the white man's burden'!). Well, that's the word we used, and it's probably true. I personally felt I wanted a good whip in order to keep them from coming near my person. I remember making the remark that given 10,000 Gypo's and a bloody great whip I would shift the pyramids. That's the attitude I felt towards the friendly (?) people of Egypt to whom we have benevolently given our protection.

But I digress - Cairo - City of mystery, where East meets West. Oh, ye gods. When I think of the twaddle I've read. True, it has some very fine buildings and in general resembles any other town. You only need to step up a side street, however, and you find yourself in the foulest slum area imaginable. As you walk along you are beset by beggars, hawkers and boot-blacks. The hawkers in particular are very persistent and cheeky. And as for boot-blacks the best treatment is to kick the whole box of tricks into the road.

It was too hot to walk around and I indulged my whim of riding about in trams.

These are more like trains, having three coaches and the whole affair rattles along the street to the accompaniment of whistles and shouts and clanking of bells. Hordes of people hang on the sides and the jabber and confusion was quite amusing. We viewed the Nile (a dirty muddy river) and debated as to whether we should visit the pyramids at Gaza. They were given the go-by [again a fairly typical attitude for soldiers at the time].

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