ماذا نشره جنود ألغزو ألأنجلوفرنسي عن فترة وجودهم في بورسعيد 1956

[د. يحي الشاعر]

الصحف المصرية والعربية

Don't Cry, The Shooting is Over for Now"

"
By Angus Jones
Ex 42 Command

اقتباس

اقتباس Part I By Angus Jones Ex 42 Commando R.M I was only a National Serviceman in my teens, but I think the training I received was of a very high standard. It may interest you to know that in my recruit's handbook, it said that we should treat older people with respect, and also not whistle at strange girls... At one time, in Port Said, an old lady, wearing black clothes from head to toe, became tangled up in the barbed wire while taking what she thought was a short cut. With some difficulty I at last managed to untangle her, and then helped her across the rubble. Later, my Mother sent me a picture from the English magazine "Picture Post", which I am sure was of this incident. However, they had put a caption on saying, "Don't cry, the shooting is over for now", which of course I never said . Part 1 The Suez Crisis Breaks Towards the end of 1956 I was at Stonehouse Barracks, which had probably been built about the time of the Napoleonic Wars in Plymouth. It certainly gave that impression. The stone floors had large hollows worn in them from generations of boots, and the wind whistled through the gap between this and the bottom of the doors. Bugle calls seemed to give orders continuously throughout the day, making it sound like an old time cavalry fort. I had just successfully completed five weeks of a six week JNCOs course. I was then asked to consider some form of specialization . Stonehouse Barracks 2/56 J.N.C.O.s Course My first choice was to become a swimmer-canoeist. This would involve training as a frogman, and also a parachute course. I passed the preliminary selection test to go on the course and the future was looking good. At this point the Suez crisis broke out and my orders were changed. I was told to report to 42 Commando at Bickleigh and here we worked up a sweat on the Devonshire Moors. Finally the unit received orders to proceed to Malta to join up with 40 and 45 Cdos. Sleeping on Deck, under the Big Guns ...................... ........... ..............

Dr. Yahia Al Shaer

 

 

[د. يحي الشاعر]

Don't Cry, The Shooting is Over for Now"

"
By Angus Jones
Ex 42 Command

اقتباس

اقتباس Part I By Angus Jones Ex 42 Commando R.M

اقتباس .

اقتباس Part 1 The Suez Crisis Breaks ................ ................. ...................... At last 42 Cdo boarded HMS Cumberland, a heavy cruiser, for Malta. Now a cruiser is designed as a fighting ship, not a troop transport. Our vehicles were secured on the decks, and with approximately 600 extra men on board, the ship seemed quite crowded. My accommodation was in an engineering workshop, and I slung my hammock next to a lathe. This was quite a bonus, as I could use the light attached to the lathe as a bedside reading lamp. On the first day at sea, a CPO took a group of us below decks to allocate jobs for the brief voyage. As we descended into the ship, Marines were detailed off for various jobs. By the time it was almost time for me to be detailed off a job, we were deep in the bowels of the ship. Here it seemed very hot and stuffy, the air smelled oily, and the throb of the engines seemed very loud. I began to feel sick, and managed to call out, "Chief". Then I made a dash for the iron ladder, and after several more ladders, I soon found myself at the ship's rail. After this I found my sea legs, but never did find the Chief, to get allocated a job. Then we began to feel better and the journey became easier as the weather got warmer, and we slept on deck, under the big guns. I made a sketch of one of the TCVs secured to the deck, to include in a letter home. Sadly the original sketch has been lost, and only a very poor photocopy survives. Most of the detail of the ship's superstructure, as well as the caption has been lost. It is still possible to make out the deck planks, and to the left of the TCV, part of the ship's rail, and also part of a davit for a lifeboat. After a few days we arrived at Valletta Harbour . Click to enlarge At Last in Malta At last in Malta we moved into our accommodation at Mtarfa barracks. The heat made the training more difficult. The ground seemed dusty, rocky and hard. The sweat left dark marks on our shirts, where the cross straps had been. Our faces were drenched with sweat, but our mouths and lips seemed very dry. This made whistling almost impossible, as we moved backward and forward across the island. There was one consolation, however, the sea was never far away and the crystal clear water soon washed away the dust and cooled us down. Another bonus was that when you washed your clothes, they seemed to dry in a few minutes. The M'Tarfa Barracks in Recent TimesStraight Street Valetta Straight Street in Valletta was a notorious street. As a result it was known as the 'Gut'. It was very narrow and mostly at that time it contained bars, eating places and souvenir shops. Shortly after our arrival we went into one of the bars to see if the stories we had heard were true. The stories had not been exaggerated. The girls in the bar were very crude. A description of our visit would be unsuitable for the public domain. After that Lofty and I gave the bars in the Gut a miss. However the eating places there had good food, a favourite being steak egg and chips. I never saw any cattle on the island, only horses pulling garries (a sort of horse drawn carriage used as a taxi). I wondered where the steak came from. I did have a ride in a garrie, but the driver did not seem to take a direct route. Finally on arrival at my destination I only paid the driver what I thought that the fare should be. I told him that I had not asked for a tour of Malta. The Royal Navy did have Shore Patrols (RN Police) in the Gut. These patrols were normally just a couple of men. As far as I could make out They mainly rescued sailors who were a bit drunk and returned them to their ships. By rescued I mean saved them from the Maltese Police who had a reputation for rough handling. At one time I did see a French shore patrol in the Gut. It was composed of about 8 men. Once I had to do a shore patrol in Valletta. It was the day before pay day so things were pretty quiet. We just drove around sipping orange juice. I did visit a bar outside Valletta one time on my own. Inside was a sailor a bit under the weather. He told me that one of the girls working there had taken his silver crucifix. I told the manager that he had better get the crucifix back for the sailor in a hurry or he would have problems. Although I was alone he complied rapidly. The green beret I was wearing was like a magic charm. .He would not relish the possibility of a group of commandos coming to 'sort' his bar out . Grapes gunshots and water melons We had noticed a vineyard on our travels. Later we decided to sample the grapes. Arriving at the vineyard and just about to try the grapes, we came under fire from a shotgun. Needless to say we beat a quick retreat. The fact that we did get a chance to eat any of the grapes, was probably for the best. Eating unwashed fruit in Malta could result in catching a bout of 'Malta Dog'. This is a form of diarrhea and although the effects do not last long, it strikes very rapidly. Maybe the experience of coming under fire, would be of use later. Concerning the countryside, there were many low dry stone walls. Care had to be taken during training, not to damage any of these walls. It was said that if damage was done, the owner would pull down a bit more, to increase his claim for compensation. During the season we were there, there did not seem to be much in the way of grass. There were lots of water melons growing and we became fed up with getting water melon for dessert . Old Memories Malta was an interesting place full of history. There were traces there of Romans, Crusaders, Arabs, and French colonial style buildings, as each wave of invaders had left their mark. One of my favourite pastimes was to go swimming under water with a friend. On one occasion we came across some locals collecting sea eggs. They had wooden boxes with glass bottoms, and were using long wooden poles with an iron end (shaped like a pig's curly tail), to collect the sea eggs. Using our facemasks and fins, we soon filled all their boxes. The locals, however, although impressed with our speed, did not seem interested in adopting our new fangled ideas of collection. They were appreciative, however, and offered us some of the catch. The sea eggs were almost black on the outside and covered in very sharp spines and when broken open they were bright yellow inside. However, being very English, we declined to eat anything that was not familiar to us. During our time in Malta, we also had a cruise North for training . Malta Oct 1956 Valleta Harbour A Cruise to Sicily About the end of September we learnt that one or more LSTs were going to load vehicles and go on a training run to Sicily. They also had room for some passengers, so Lofty and I volunteered to go .We had thought that a cruise in the Mediteranean, might be a bit of a holiday, compared to foot slogging round Malta. The LST HMS Anzio had a flat bottom and rolled like a pig. The food and accommodation left much to be desired. I woke up in the middle of the night, and found myself lying on a stretcher in between some vehicles. For a moment I could not work out where I was. Just prior to our arrival in Syracuse orders were given that we were not allowed to wear our green berets to go ashore. The locals were not supposed to know that we were commandos. So we wore our KD shirts and longs and our best white topped caps with the red band around. White blancoed belts completed our ensemble. To all intents and purposes, we now appeared to be sea service marines. We changed our money into Lira, the rate of exchange was 1000 Lira = 11 shillings and four pence. Then we made our way to the gangplank eager to get ashore. There was some delay here as a Naval SBA (Sick Berth Attendant) had a suitcase full of medical supplies, and was handing out handfuls. We gave this a miss and soon were on dry land. As usual Lofty and I were together ............ ............ .......

Dr. Yahia Al Shaer

 

 

[د. يحي الشاعر]

Don't Cry, The Shooting is Over for Now"

"
By Angus Jones
Ex 42 Command

اقتباس

اقتباس . Grapes postcards and wine The first thing we found out was that The Italian language was quite incomprehensible to anyone that had not learned Latin. Now we were poor as we were only National Service men, but the locals seemed even poorer. Some grapes in a shop caught our attention. The problem was that we did not really understand their money or the metric system of weights. A decision was made to buy nine pence worth of grapes, so we worked out what ninepence was in Lira and handed over the money. We were surprised to receive in return a giant brown paper bag full of grapes. More like a small sack really. Then it was off to find a Post Office, to buy postcards and stamps. There was a long queue and we seemed to be making little progress. Striding to the front of the queue I held up my open Naval Pay and Identity book, and called out "Politsi Militari". The people moved back and we were promptly served. Then it was off to find a drink as we were getting parched. The beer was a ridiculous price, so we were compelled to make do with wine, which was very cheap . The girl in the red dress Suitably *******ed we started off again. Suddenly we found we were surrounded by children. They were all shouting in Italian and 'almost English'. "Una sigaretta per papa", and "You want to meet my sister" ? Well our supply of cigarettes was limited, and we did not want to meet their 'sister'. So how do you get rid of a load of kids. Sudden inspiration, pick the biggest kid to get rid of the other kids for you then you only have one kid to get rid of. So we set off again, this time with one kid, and decided that a cinema might be a good thing. Spotting what appeared to be a movie poster, with an illustration of a girl, we pointed it out to the kid. He immediately seemed to understand, and signalled us to follow. His route seemed to be taking us out of town, which seemed odd. Arriving at some cottages near the sea, he presented us to a young lady in a bright red dress. Some how she managed to get across that her husband was out fishing. The offer was a packet of 20 English cigarettes for services to be rendered. The kid had obviously misunderstood about the poster. We were not inclined to accept her offer, but she had obviously tried hard to make herself presentable in her gawdy dress. I felt sorry for her, so I gave her a packet of smokes anyway. The next problem was how to get rid of the last kid. I managed to get him to understand that we wanted to go swimming at a place where we could dive into the sea. He took us to a place with a low cliff and sufficient depth of water beneath for diving from the top. I then indicated to him that he should dive into the sea first, which he did. By the time has had swum back and climbed up the low cliff, we had disappeared . An Italian army barracks As Lofty and I were strolling along a street, we came upon an Italian Army Barracks. There were sentries on either side of the entrance, armed with semi-automatic rifles. I went up to one of the sentries and started eyeing him up and down. Suddenly to my surprise the sentries snapped to attention and presented arms to us. In the British forces the present arms is only used as a salute for Majors and higher ranks. Now the trick is to quickly evaluate a situation, and take advantage of it. I turned to Lofty and said, "Don't laugh, just keep a straight face and follow me". Then I gave the sentries my best impersonation of a sloppy army officers' salute, and strolled in through the main entrance as though I owned the place. Next I found the guardroom and mostly with sign language indicated that they must turn out with their weapons for my inspection. This they did, and still managing to keep a straight face, I started to move down the line of soldiers, inspecting their semi-automatic rifles . Word must have got around that the barracks was being inspected, as a senior Italian officer turned up. He must have wondered what the hell was going on. I just ignored him and continued with my inspection trying to tell them that their rifles would be no good in the sand, and that our bolt action .303 rifles would be better. The officer jibbered away and suddenly all hell broke loose. He thought that I was telling them that the Ities were no good in WW2, and that the British had kicked their butts. We managed to get out in one piece and laughed all the way down the street. This episode did not cause a diplomatic incident. Maybe the Commandant was too embarrassed to complain. A barracks full of Ities did not worry us. As you must know a marine 1st class outranks an Italian Major, and I hope that he remembered that, after we had left . Cigarettes and knives At one point while ashore Lofty and I were surrounded by a group of men that appeared to be armed with knives. They were trying to get us to sell them cigarettes. I can't remember how we got out of that one. Maybe it was our size that saved us. Later at the end of our stay, somehow one of them got aboard HMS Anzio with a knife that he was bringing to Lofty. Lofty told me that he had to hide, so that the man would not see him. Lofty did not go ashore again after that. Anyway our time in Syracuse was just about up. By October 2nd we were back in Malta.

Dr. Yahia Al Shaer

 

 

[د. يحي الشاعر]

Don't Cry, The Shooting is Over for Now"

"
By Angus Jones
Ex 42 Command

اقتباس

اقتباس Part I By Angus Jones Ex 42 Commando R.M . . LST Training LST stands for landing ship tank. The LST is larger than the LCT (landing craft tank), and has a number of LCAs hung around the outside rather like lifeboats on a liner. The LCAs (landing craft assault), each hold about 30 men. At the time from memory, I recall the following LSTs in Malta:- HMS Reggio, HMS Stalker, HMS Striker and HMS Anzio. We boarded an LST. I am not sure which one and eventually dropped anchor, close to the shore. Next we climbed aboard one of the LCAs and were then lowered into the sea. The LCA had its full complement of 30 men. We drove round to the bow of the ship and found that the bow doors had been opened and the ramp lowered . HMS Striker L 3616 Landing Ship Tank (LST) Pulling alongside the ramp, more men on the ramp climbed aboard our LCA. I might mention here that all the men now aboard the LCA were in full combat gear, complete with weapons. The LCA was then driven back to it position below its davits, coupled to the lifting gear and hauled back up. Now instead of receiving instructions to climb out, we found that the LCA was being lowered back into the sea. It was back to the bow again and more men climbing into our LCA from the ramp. A drive back to our lifting gear and couple on again, then once again haul up. At this point I was beginning to have visions of the lifting gear breaking and all the men ending up in the sea. Equipped as we were, we would sink like stones. If you ended up in the sea, you would have to struggle to get your fighting order off as you sank. You would do your best to hang on to your weapon. Not really a pleasant scenario. The addition of more men to our LCA was repeated a few more times, until no more men could be squeezed in. Each time it was repeated the lifting gear seemed to creak and groan a bit more. So the question remains. Were they trying to test the lifting gear to destruction point, or were they trying to test our nerves? This brings to mind another time when I went swimming with Lofty. Anchored out in the bay was an LST. The bow doors were open and the ramp down. Men were diving off the ramp and swimming around close to the ramp. We decided to swim out to the ship. About three-quarters of the way there, the men swimming in the sea climbed back on to the ramp and disappeared inside the ship .As the ramp was still down we continued swimming towards the ship. On arriving at the ramp, someone was shouting that we had delayed the ship.We called back that we were not from the ship, but had swum out from the beach. They were not happy about this, but there was nothing they could do. They were unable to tell which service we were from. Lofty does not recall this incident, but it must have been Lofty with me, as no one else would have swum out that far . Operation Hamilcar and Musketeer The original name for the assault to reoccupy the Suez Canal was Operation Hamilcar, The vehicles were all resprayed desert color and marked with a large white 'H'. Later the operation was renamed 'Operation Musketeer', but vehicles continued to be marked with the 'H'. The photo shows Marine (D) Raymond Thurston of 42 Commando RM standing by his Bedford truck at M'Tarfa in Malta. The (D) indicates specialist qualification driver. The 'H' marking on the truck can be clearly seen. On the nearside of the truck front can be seen the number 56, which is the unit marking of 42 Commando. On the far side would be the red dagger on a black background. Similar markings would be on the truck's rear. The white lanyard worn by Raymond indicates 42 Cdo RM. The other two commando units, 40 and 45 Cdos each had their own colours for their lanyards. The three commando units formed The 3rd Commando Brigade. Members of Brigade HQ wore green lanyards. Garter tabs when worn, matched the colours of the lanyards . RM 42 Commando Vehicle Signs RM Thurston M'Tarfa © 2009 R.Thurston Death of a pilot This concerns a place in Malta which sounds like 'Ine toe fia', could it possibly be Ghajn Tuffieha. In my time it was just open ground covered in small rocks. It was near cliffs. We used this place to fire live ammunition. Sometimes it was difficult as children appeared from nowhere. I think that they may have been collecting brass cartridge cases to sell as scrap. The children should not have been there as it was a very dangerous place. We were shooting towards the sea. We had a look out on top of the cliff. His job was to warn us if any ships or boats came into our line of fire. We would then have to stop shooting for safety reasons. I had an LMG (light machine gun). I could not fire lying down, as there were too many small rocks in the way. Dave Howard was my No 2 on the gun and I got him down on all fours, and rested the gun on his back. I started firing and some of the hot cartridge cases went down the back of his shirt. This caused him to start wriggling, and I told him that I could not shoot straight if he didn't keep still . With My Bren Light Machine Gun. Later some jet fighter aircraft from one of the Royal Navy aircraft carriers flew low over our heads. They were practicing low level support for us. Then one flew so low over us that it almost knocked our berets off. He was heading for our lookout on the top of the cliff. It disappeared out of site over the top of the cliff. Next thing there was a big orange flash and lots of black smoke. We guessed it had crashed and ran towards the cliff, then climbed down to the beach below. The face of our lookout man at the top of the cliff was as white as a sheet. He was too close to see what had really happened, and thought that the plane had fired rockets at him. The beach below was covered in pieces of electrical wire. The biggest piece of the plane that I saw, looked like a radio set. In the sand I saw a shiny white thing covered in black. I poked it with a stick but it was not part of the pilot. In the sea we saw a dark roundish thing. Could it be the pilot's helmet. We swam out to check. No it was just the tyre showing from one of the aircraft's wheels. Later we found out that there was no pilot in the aircraft when it flew above our heads. It was said that a warning light had come on in the cockpit. The pilot had called the aircraft carrier on his radio and was going to eject. The canopy came off the cockpit as it should have done, the ejector seat .was fired into the air, again as should have happened. The seat should then have fallen away from the pilot and his parachute should have opened. Unfortunately these last two things did not happen as they should have done. We did hear later that men from one of the other commando units had found him in or near a cemetery, still sitting in his ejector seat. There is an entry in the Fleet Air Arm Roll of Honour which appears to match the above eye witness account. Acting Sub Lieutenant G.J. Meredith was piloting a Sea Hawk off of HMS Bulwark (810 Squadron). Date of death is given as 04/10/1956. Cause of death reads "Killed after ejecting following fire warning light. Aircraft crashed vicinity of Malta. Possible premature manual separation " Urban warfare training One day we were broken into two groups, attackers and defenders. I was selected as a defender. The defenders took up a position in what appeared to be caves. The attackers threw in thunders flashes. The flash made it hard to see for a few seconds, and the bangs in the confined space, made our ears ring. However we would show them that we were tough, and that their little fireworks would not move us. Next they resorted to dirty tactics. They threw in green smoke grenades. We ran out coughing and spluttering, tears streaming down our faces. Around our mouths and nostrils, we were stained green. I vowed next time that we played that game, I would be an attacker not a defender. However the next time we were all attackers, but this you will find out later. Another day the troop of 50 men was assembled for a lecture, the topic was Booby Traps. It was given by a Captain, who gave a good presentation. At one stage he passed round an object. The instructions were quite clear, "Examine it carefully, then pass it to the next man". When it reached me I had a good look at it. It was a ****llic object. There was a short thin cord attached to one end, and at the other, some detonating cord with a few knots tied in it. I assumed that it was some type of spring-operated detonator. It had been passed about 3/4 of the way around, when there was a big bang. I looked across and saw Lance Corporal Gurney, a former soldier, with a surprised look on his face. Smoke was coming from his lap. If I had been able to lay a bet that day, on who would fiddle with it, I would have won a fortune. Who else would try and blow their fly buttons off ? Training with the tanks At first sight the Centurion tanks of the 6th Royal Tank Regiment were an impressive sight. The Centurion was the main British battle tank after WW2. I did not like standing near these 50 ton monsters, as they could spin round very quickly and squash you flat. I thought that the driver may not see you if you were standing close to the tank. However I suppose that the tankies knew what they were doing. The only thing that I can recall about this training, was sitting on top of the hull getting rides. It would be wrong to say that I enjoyed this. Just sit on top and hope that they did not traverse the gun turret during the ride. From memory there was a hot exhaust that could give you a nasty burn if you came into contact with it. Lofty's recollection of the training was that we had to hop on them when they were mobile, avoiding the hot exhausts of course. The purpose of this being to drop a grenade of some kind in the hatch on top, then sit on it. I assume that you closed the lid first. He recalls trying to touch the silencer with his boot. His boot immediately started to slide as the rubber sole of his SV boot started to melt. When the time came to put this into practice the Egyptian Soviet made tanks were not mobile. They had dug them in and used them as fixed gun positions. Anyway, if I had managed to drop a grenade through an open tank hatch, there is no way that I would have remained on top of the tank. We Boarded our LST At the end of October, we boarded our LST in Valletta Harbour for the purpose of another exercise. There were a large number of other ships also getting ready for sea. For reasons of security it was not mentioned that this was anything other than an exercise but it is interesting to note that UK newspapers were already publishing the current events. The 'Daily Sketch', of October 31st, stated that British Commandos had boarded assault craft in Valetta Harbour the previous night and it also made mention of convoy after convoy of armour prepared to sail. It stated that a routine exercise had developed into an emergency move eastwards and that ships had been told to shun the canal. The liner Straithaird had been diverted to Aden, and the Straithmore to Malta to await developments, instead of passing through the canal . On board the LST, the sun continued to set over the stern (more times than we had expected), and some of the old hands had already expressed an opinion about where we were going. At that point we were shown aerial photos of a beach, and given lectures on first aid. We were also told that if anyone got hit in the water, to grab them by their webbing and drag them ashore, dropping them off on dry land. Shortly, someone must have obtained the authority, to explain what we were up to. At this point I wrote a letter home. Somewhere I still have the letter, complete with the Naval Censorship stamp on the envelope. On the final night on board everyone checked their equipment carefully . My Story and the Landings On Sunday 4th November some of the Marines attended Communion. On the night of the 5th we were cleaning our equipment and fitting it just right, also loaded our gear into our small packs, and our weapons were cleaned, and lightly oiled. In addition to the amount of ammunition in our pouches, we were issued two thin, cloth bandoliers, each holding 50 rounds. All this ammunition had to be checked in clips of 5, to ensure that the rims of the cartridges were in the correct relationship to one another. That night I slept well and almost resented being woken up at some ungodly hour the next morning . Cloth Bandolier to Hold 50 Rounds of .303 Ammunition Members of 42 Commando in Casual Dress on the Deck of HMS Anzio on the Day Before the Assault on Port Said. Lofty is on the extreme right. © 2009 H. Leader. REVEILLE WAS PIPED BEFORE 0400 hrs On Tuesday 6th November 1956 reveille was piped before 0400hrs. The men of my section had a good breakfast, for you never knew how long it was going to be before you got the opportunity to prepare some more food. As our gear had been prepared the night before, it did not take us long to assemble on the deck correctly rigged. At Dawn on the LST At this point I became aware of the most beautiful sky I had ever seen. It was dawn, not sunset, yet the whole sky looked a reddish orange.This gave a pink reflection from the grey hulls of some of the ships, but many of the ships were like black silhouettes against the reddish background. It really was a beautiful sight. Looking towards Port Said, the buildings in the distance did not appear as tall as I had expected. Towards the R.H. side of the city was a column of smoke about 1000ft. high and jet fighters were screaming overhead, to hit selected targets with rocket and cannon fire. Quite a few of the ships' guns were also joining in. Out here it seemed very noisy and it seemed to stink of gunpowder. The ships were not permitted to fire ****ls over a certain calibre - 4.5 inch - on orders from London, and each ship was limited to the number of rounds they were allowed to fire. We were soon boarding our LCA. The LCAs were suspended from the davits, like lifeboats on a liner, which were then lowered into the water and unhooked. In almost no time at all, the LCAs from both sides of our ship had formed a line, parallel to the beach, and now began to head in that direction. My position in the LCA was at the rear of the centre row. This meant I would be 10th out of this craft. As the men jumped into the sea, they would be jumping alternately left and right, to avoid a concentration of men in front of the ramp The Landing The landing craft each held 30 men, and on the way in each one of the rows of 10 men got a chance to stand up and look at the beach ahead. When the order to drop the ramp came, there was some complaining, as we were much further out than what we had been told we would be. The water was therefore much deeper than we expected. I had put my cigarettes in the very top of my small pack (level with my shoulders), but later in the day found that they were just a soggy mess. The water was too deep at first to run towards the beach, even though bullets were splashing in the sea around us. At this time nobody seemed to get hit . L.C.A. - A3. Note ramp rollers not needed on 6/11/ L.S.T. Guns. Goes with LCA Pic. Both Valletta Harbour .

Dr. Yahia Al Shaer

 

 

[د. يحي الشاعر]

Don't Cry, The Shooting is Over for Now"

"
By Angus Jones
Ex 42 Command

اقتباس

اقتباس Part I By Angus Jones Ex 42 Commando R.M . Part 1 The Suez Crisis Breaks LCA Pic. Both Valletta Harbour Combined Operations badge on the funnel Exposed Position & Not Enough Men Ashore At last we were on dry land and moved forward towards the beach huts, where we stopped just before the road under the last of the huts and there we took up firing positions, lying in the sand under the last of them. In front, on the other side of the road, were the first buildings of the city. The floor of the hut was about 5ft. above me, and my only cover was one of the hut's legs, a vertical piece of wood about 4 inches square. We were in a rather exposed position, and needed to cross the road and start clearing the buildings on the other side of it. However, at this point we did not have enough men ashore, and had to wait for more men to come ashore from the landing craf t . The man lying next to me, on my right, was so close that I had trouble operating the bolt of my rifle and I asked him to move a bit. At this point a machine gun started firing from our right front. The bullets hit him in the right shoulder, came out below his left waist, and must have just missed my feet . The Fez and a Pair of Dark Glasses On the first day of the landing we had paused at a school that had a balcony running the length of the building, on the opposite side to the beach. A low wall at the bottom closed in the balcony, and glass divided into small panes above that. Square concrete columns were evenly spaced along the wall and I was sitting on a chair obtained from the classroom behind me and I was partially behind one of the columns, looking out over the city. It was a good view. By this time I was the proud possessor of a maroon fez with a black tassel. I started to daydream, hoping I would get home for Christmas. Then I was home with my dark suntan, wearing the fez, complete with a pair of dark glasses. Suddenly, a bullet shattered one of the small panes of glass near my head but luckily none of the glass hit me. However, I had learned a lesson. Even when you are taking a break, you have to concentrate on what is going on around you . Now as you know even soldiers have to eat, sleep and go to the toilet and this was the first time I had seen this type of toilet, which consisted of a hole in a tiled floor. On either side of the hole, the tile patterns indicated where you should place your feet, while squatting over the hole. This arrangement may have been satisfactory if you were wearing a galibya, but was totally unsuitable for the way we were dressed. Some inspired genius with foresight must surely have designed this, with the express purpose of slowing down people like us. Then another pearl of wisdom came to mind. There was something worse than getting shot in the head, getting shot in the head while trying to use one of these toilets . My Mouth went Dry The section, of about 11 men, was taking cover behind a low wall, from memory, just over two feet high. Behind us, somewhere, was the beach and the other side of the wall was a large open grass area. On both side of the grass area were roads leading from the beach into the city and we would eventually advance up the left hand one. In front of us, on the far side of the grass square, was the blank (no windows) end wall of the building that ran between the two roads. As I crouched behind the wall, I anticipated the next order. It would be, "When I give the order, jump over the wall, and run like mad for the cover of the blank wall of the building in front of us." The firing was coming from the roads but to my horror the order was not what I had anticipated. The actual order was, "When I give the order, climb over the wall and advance in extended line", which meant walk not run. My mouth went dry, as we were going to advance slowly across the square ahead . Over the Wall with Fixed Bayonets However, an order is an order. When the order was given we climbed over the wall, and with fixed bayonets walked towards the safety of the end wall of the building ahead. By some miracle we were not fired at during this time, and we eventually had the cover of the end wall. We then moved along the wall to its left hand side ready to continue the advance up the street on that side. Firing was coming down the street in our direction, but the end wall still gave complete cover. The next move was to rush round the corner and into the first available doorway or cover there might be. You couldn't peep round the corner first, as you would most likely get a hole in the head. Click for larger image and description Fortunately, this time we could run not walk. The first two men dived round the corner. Immediately the firing intensified, but we had no idea if they had been quick enough or not. The next two men dived round the corner and disappeared from view, and again more shots were fired towards our corner. The next two dived round the corner with more shots in our direction . My Turn with Jock Now it was my turn with Jock and I thought by now they must have got their aim. I also wondered if any of our section was lying in the road round the corner, or had they all made it. Now you always have to look on the bright side and the good part was this. Jock and I decided when we would start our run, not the people up the road who were doing the shooting and this was the advantage we had. We looked at each other, and knew it was time. We dived round the corner, bullets whistled past us, but in no time we found ourselves in some flats just round the corner. We were quite pleased to find that we were still in one piece. So on with the job, street-by-street, building-by-building, and room-by-room. I was surprised to find that opposition and organization was not as strong as I had expected. Also the accuracy of the shots fired at us left much to be desired. Sometimes the air was full of bullets, and still we did not get hit, although I know in fact that there were casualties. I often think that if I had been in a building looking towards the beach and the sea, that the butt of my rifle would have had so many notches that it would have fallen to pieces . CDOs knocking a window in at a girls school I also think that the objective was to secure the city, inflicting as few casualties as possible (civilian & military) and I also don't think that the Egyptians were enemies as such. Some of the Marines were of the opinion that instead we would have been better employed assisting the untrained, under equipped, Hungarians in their uprising against the Russians . The First Night in Port Said It had now been dark for a while. We were creeping as quietly as ghosts through some back yards. Suddenly, the quiet was shattered by a burst of Sten fire. Either somebody's weapon had gone off by mistake or, perhaps, they had incorrectly identified a stray cat as a legitimate target. Who knows? Now everybody in the surrounding area would be alerted to our presence . Later that night we found an empty house. The object now was to stop the advance, and there was a rumour of a ceasefire. I was selected to unlock the door. Now it is always easier to explain what to do. The instructions were clear; you place the muzzle of your rifle against the keyhole of the Yale lock and then press the trigger. It is harder to do it yourself. There was a loud bang and a neat, round hole had appeared about a 1/4" away from the keyhole. Amid comments of, "Can't you even hit it at point blank range?" I gave the door a push, the door swung open, and I later found the complete back of the lock down at the far end of the corridor. After ensuring that we were indeed the only occupants, some minor modifications were necessary to adapt it for our use. The large front window provided a reasonable view, and you could just about see anything moving in the dark. The curtains were taken down and a large table was laid on its side, close to the window. A double mattress was obtained from another room and laid in front of the top of the table. This firing position was the best that could be done but it probably would not stop a bullet. Even though we were pretty tired that night, we did not get much sleep. We heard what sounded like multiple rocket launchers. Could it be some form of counter attack? This would not be to our liking as our section was only armed with small arms. However, the night passed without incident, as the ceasefire appeared to be in place. The Rifle, the Water Bottles and the Bodies Egyptian Military Police Armband The next morning I was again selected for a job. This time I had to collect all the water bottles from my section, and go for a stroll to find water and replacement ammunition. I stepped cautiously out of the front door, my rifle at the ready, and the water bottles must have been on cross straps or I would have been unable to carry them all. A body lay in front of our window, and more bodies lay further down the street. In the distance I could make out a red Coca Cola lorry collecting bodies. On the way back it was harder going, with the water bottles full, and laden down with the replacement bandoliers of ammunition for the section. Fortunately for me the ceasefire seemed to be effective where we were. Part II Life in Port Said...After the Ceasefire The above-mentioned article has been compiled from extracts and photos from personal E-mails to Yahia Al Shaer,my former opponent, and now my friend. If you find anything in this article of interest, then credit is due to Yahia who overcame my reluctance to publish with his pressure, perseverance, persuasiveness, and insistence that it should be published.

Dr. Yahia Al Shaer