ROBBERS IN A MINEFIELD
Taken from an article written by G. Baker
found in a magazine many years ago and
sent in by Arthur Bach ex: R.S.M.’s Clerk 5 Btn 5 BOD TEK
In 1956, the British Army left Egypt and handed over the huge base at Tel el Kebir to a private British contracting company. The Army said, in effect, “Everything is in perfect order. We have been very careful with the books. Your company has secured a wonderful bargain. Good luck and farewell.” And they were gone from Egypt forever – they hoped! It took some time to check the stores, with the help of a few officers remaining to assist. Everything was satisfactory, except the stock of timber, of which there was an enormous deficiency. The Greek timber storekeeper, a new company employee, was very efficient, but to make sure that there was no error, the huge stacks were sorted and counted three times. The quantity missing was just about a trainload. Obviously it had been stolen; but how?
Stealing from the British was, for many years, a national industry in Egypt. Whole villages outside “the wire” lived on the proceeds. So much British goods had been recovered from one village, that it was known as “No. 6 BOD” (the British had only 5 Base Ordnance Depots) The amount recovered, however, was only a fraction of the quantity lost. “The wire” was 2 thick belts of barbed wire, 16ft high with a 20ft minefield in between. 17 miles of it surrounded the whole base. It had been erected at great cost for the sole purpose of keeping out thieves. The two entrances were heavily guarded day and night. Maltese police, with British officers, and in groups of four, patrolled the area nightly with dogs, in Land Rovers. Yet thefts continued. The reason was that outside “the wire” there was desert, in which nothing could be grown or produced. For those outside, it was a case of steal from the British or starve, there was nothing else.
The Company employed over 2000 men and boys, but there were 4000 outside living in mud huts or old packing cases at starvation level. The casualties among the thieves were heavy. 17 died in one year while trying to cross the minefield. Others were captured by the police, many ingenious thefts were carried out, but how they had stolen such a vast quantity of long timber remained a mystery. The matter was discussed with the police and in our clubroom but without any clues being unearthed. We considered that it had been stolen in whole long lengths as timber cut into short lengths loses much of its value.
This is how it was done – The police patrols were watched from outside the wire. It was noticed that they did not search the flat, corrugated-iron workshop roof. 3 or 4 employees concealed themselves in large packing cases just before closing time and were locked in the premises. Among more than 100 in the workshop these were not missed. When we were gone, they climbed up on to the roof to escape the attention of the police dogs. The police patrol came, searched, and went on to the next workshop half a mile away. From there they went on further and did not return to the timber for two hours or more.
Leaving one man or boy on the roof to keep watch, the others carried the long timber to the wire. From here it was pushed into a low tunnel cut through the wire. After pushing in one length, they followed it up with another and then another, and so on. It is quite easy for two men to push as many as four long lengths along in this way, on flat ground, if the ends are square. Those outside assisted by pulling the lengths through. The mines gave no trouble as they were below the surface and the weight on any one spot was not sufficient to explode them. This went on all night for several weeks. When the police came near the thieves would get up on the roof by means of a rope ladder concealed in a dark corner and then pull up the ladder after them.
On one occasion a 10 ton lorry was parked for a night, half a mile inside the boundary. The next morning it was gone. Thieves - there must have been at least 8 of them - had pushed it silently close to the fence. They then started up the engine and drove it at the fence. This powerful vehicle tore right through both walls of wire, yet, by some freak of chance, without exploding any mines. Possibly the mines had been removed first.
The vehicle was driven 4 miles into the desert, where it ran out of fuel. It
was known to be short of fuel and armed search parties went out repeatedly but
failed to find it. Eventually, it was seen by an aircraft observer and finally
recovered. The thieves had built a mud wall all around it and from ground level
it looked exactly the same as a mud hut; but they had neglected to put anything
on top and the airman had spotted it. However, some lost vehicles were never
recovered.