No. 5 (ME) MOTOR TRANSPORT UNIT 1946-48

Our Journey From Tel-Litwinsky, Palestine to Shallufa, Egypt

As Remembered By AC1 Don Studman

The procedure for leaving was published on Station Standing Orders. We were to select a number of suitable vehicles to carry personnel, equipment, rations, water, petrol, diesel and engine oil. Being in the crane overhaul section there was the Leyland Retriever Coles Crane that we had in constant use, all the rest were in various stages of rebuilding – I considered it would be useful should a vehicle get stuck in the sand. Our Warrant Officer was to travel with me and he requested the carpenters make two large wooden boxes to be bolted, one on each running board. The journey was to take three days; on the first day we would travel through Lydda, Ramileh, Masmiya, Gaza, Beersheba and Asluj. Day two; Klauja. Abu-aweila and Ismailia. Day three; Nefisha, Fayid, Kasfareet and our intended destination Shallufa. Alan Freer from the motor cycle section was to act as convoy marshal at the cross roads and checking for stragglers etc.

On the day of departure the convoy was formed up outside HQ. The Leyland was second in line, the first was an SEC 2500 gallon fuel tanker – so we should be alright for fuel! (On the station orders it stated that we would be taking 100 gallons of petrol). There was a mixture of vehicles formed up: Crossley, AEC. 10 ton Macks with trailers, Bedford QLs. Ford 3 ton, and a wireless truck.

So we set off traveling down through the listed towns and villages, but on the first morning, some miles along the road, the Leyland decided it was not accustomed to being on a long journey and came to a halt. We found that the auto-vac had failed and was not lifting the petrol to the engine. After some thought a device was rigged to get the petrol manually into the auto vac and to do this I had to stand up behind the cab pouring petrol into it so that we could return to camp. Arriving back at camp the Arab fitters were still there and the faulty unit was changed with an auto vac from one of the vehicles left behind. We were on our way again hoping to catch up with the others. (Many of the vehicles that came in for overhaul had been given a name, on the cab of this one was “Inertia”).

We traveled on over the same route, then on through more of the designated places; which then gave way to desert. We were now out in the Sinai and the only road signs were large oil drums each side that we had to keep between otherwise we could be in soft sand. All these drums were painted in the same colour as that shown on the map, so that was good to see. As we drove along my watch strap broke and fell down on to the road and being not practical to get down to go back looking for it, I drove on, consoling myself that, although I had had it for some time, it only cost twelve shillings and six pence, made by the Service Watch Company, and there would be plenty of watches on sale in Egypt – possibly it would be found by a Bedouin!

Later that day we came upon the wireless truck with two of our colleagues under the bonnet. Once the fault was rectified we traveled on together and met up with the convoy where they had pulled in for the night

Meals and washing was primitive and at night we slept in tarpaulins slung between the vehicles. Sleeping on the ground risked the chance of a scorpion up the trousers leg! In the evening some of the lads amused themselves by sitting up on the lorry cab with their rifles shooting at tin cans. My thoughts were that with all that shooting it will keep the ‘Piards’ away tonight. (Piards – a name used in the forces out here for the wild dogs that howl as they roam the desert in their packs at night).

On the third day we came to a small wooden hut by the side of the road, this was the checkpoint before crossing the Suez Canal into Egypt. WO Andrews got down taking our papers to be shown at the hut and while sitting waiting, a rather large man came to the cab and indicated that he wanted the two boxes opened. With gesture and my basic Arabic I tried to tell him that I did not have the keys; but this resulted in him twitching his heavily waxed moustache and pulling open his white coat to show he had a revolver. I was relieved to see the WO at that moment and to my astonishment the man stepped back and we continued down on to the floating pontoons that form the bridge over the Suez Canal.

We then traveled on past Ismailia and down the canal road to Shallufa near Port of Suez. I had the suspicion the two padlocked boxes that W/O Andrews had on the running boards were full of tins of fruit and meat etc from the officer’s mess – perhaps our white coated man thought we were carry Hashish. When we were leaving Palestine I was approached by an Arab on the camp to take £300 worth for which I would receive £400 when handed over in Egypt. He must have had the idea that members of the British forces would not be searched. The movement of drugs between the two countries was common place; they had even sewn packages into the bellies of their camels.

No commissioned officers had traveled with us, W/O Andrews was the highest rank and would be senior in charge if the question came up. In fact all our party was made up of trades men; the clerical staff, cooks, fire fighters, Service Police etc were posted elsewhere.

Arriving at Shallufa we were allocated our billets which were of a wooden construction, more like those on stations back home and in a little group away from the rest; Shallufa was a large camp with an airfield, although not active when we arrived.

Squadron Leader (S/L) Pidler must have taken command of No. 5 just as we were leaving Palestine. At the time, all Station Standing Orders were being signed by the Adjutant, Flight Lieutenant (F/L) Turner, but on the list of vehicles in the convoy the fourteenth and last vehicle was a Utility driven by F.L Turner with S/L Pidler as passenger. They were not seen on the journey so must have gone ahead to Egypt and that was where we first met up with them.

We, as a little self contained group in transit, were called “Pidler’s Pool’, this CO seemed quite a cheery chap, as far as I could see! I had not seen W/O Andrews, the Leyland, or his boxes – but I now know for certain that they contained tins of fruit and meat from the NCOs’ mess at No. 5, but I found that our Thorneycroft was already at Shallufa, but no Ken, he may have gone home!

Here we had the services of a billet boy. This young Arab boy said he would keep the billet clean and do all our washing and ironing for just a few Ackers from each of us. We had started doing our own dhobi when he approached us so we gave him a job.

Our first few days were spent sorting the contents of the large wooden packing cases of spares we had brought from our stores at No. 5. They had been carefully packed with the usual procedure, triple paperwork, list of contents, one copy inside, one on the outside and one loose copy. Although these were all spares that had been considered useful to bring with us, we were now ordered to smash most of them up for disposal and write off as unidentifiable.

Now, not operating as a Motor Vehicle Repair Unit and waiting to go up to merge with No. 10 MTRU at El-Firdan, we were classed as being in transit and on hand to be given other tasks and it was inevitable that it would be mostly guard duties.

One of the guard positions was away from the camp, near to the canal, at a concrete block type building which contained the water pump for our supply. I was not sure whether the water came from a deep well or from the canal via a desalination plant, I hoped it was not drawn from the Sweet Water Canal. If this were so I wondered how much filtering had to be done considering we were warned of the consequences if we were to fall in and the number of injections we would be given if we had. Alone at night sitting on the roof of the pump house I would watch the ships going down the Suez Canal, on route to far eastern destinations; a blaze of lights, people in evening dress leaning over the rails and others dancing to the bands. Watching and listening to the music they seemed so near that I could wade out and climb aboard.

The daily routine at Shallufa went on very much the same. One highlight was an instruction to report to the Armaments Officer to fire a Mk.IV Rifle on the 25 yard range and for this I was given a certificate, which also stated I was to do the same again in six month’s time.

I was thinking Christmas would be the next thing to look forward to; then everything changed. There on the airfield stood a squadron of heavy bombers. It was the time of the conversion from Lancasters to the new Lincolns that were to replace the Lancasters. A squadron of the new Linclons had flown out from the UK for bombing and air to ground gunnery practice. With them were Lancasters which had brought out the ground crews and their equipment.

Our guard duties now extended to patrols round the aircraft and airfield perimeter at night. We were not alone on the airfield; walking among the parked planes were the RAF Police patrols with their dogs but we gave them a ‘wide berth’.

Guarding these planes would be my only association with them, or so I thought, until one morning our workshop Flight Sergeant told me that the F/S in charge of the bomber’s ground crew was a friend of his and if I wished he could arrange for me to go on one of the bombing runs.

Once all the tasks were complete we climbed aboard; Lincolns had a radar operator’s position but as the equipment was not yet installed and no operator; I was given his position. Pre-flight checks were being carried out when it was discovered that the bomb sight was not working – Disaster! There was no time to fuel up and load bombs on to another plane and this was to be the last of these flights before the return to the UK. Then one of the crew had an idea; to take the bomb sight unit from another plane that had finished the runs.

Very soon we were bouncing along the uneven desert runway, then smoothness; we were airborne. I received a call over the intercom from the pilot to ask if I was OK. The engineer then came down with a screwdriver to take out one of the floor panels to enable me to see into the bomb bay and to the ground to watch the bombs go down. On the way to the targets I took photographs with my ‘Brownie’ camera of what looked to be the Gulf of Suez, and then we were over the targets at a place called El-Shatt. El-shatt was a remote place in the desert and I was surprised to learn that two airman lived out there to maintain the target area – I could not think of a lonelier place.

With the bombs gone it was not the turn of the air gunners but the front turret mechanism refused to respond. Winding it with the handle would be too slow and laborious for aiming, so the turret was wound to a straight ahead position and the pilot took instructions from the gunners so that the plane could do the aiming – Left-left-right – (using a four engine heavy bomber like a fighter plane!)

A few runs lining up the plane over gunnery targets with both front and rear gunner banging away until all the ammunition had gone and everyone satisfied, we set course for Shallufa; I was then invited to go forward to take up the bomb aimer’s position in the front turret for a better view and a ‘better view’ it was.

As we approached the airfield I heard a mention about the tradition of ‘shooting up the airfield’ on the last run – and we certainly did! The bomber was now in wheels down and I thought they would be left on the roof of the hangers. This was strictly a contravention of regulations and the minute we touched down there was a messenger on a bike peddling across the airfield to tell the crew to report to the CO immediately. One of my colleagues was out there waiting to see if I was going to the mess for Tiffin with him, but I told him I would give lunch a miss. My stomach was still trying to get those guns line up. I noticed he was biting his nails – perhaps that was our Lincoln so low over his head that had made him nervous.

Sadly there was no chance to thank the crew for taking me with them, as the following morning the airfield was empty. Being on a Motor Transport Repair Unit there had been no contact with aircraft, even the journey from the U.K. was by boats and trains on the Medloc Route so this had been a very enjoyable experience and my first in the air.

Christmas arrived, the huts were decorated. In one a bar was built and two of the lads dressed up as bar tenders. Behind the bar was mounted a large wooden board on which was painted a picture of a building with a wrecked vehicle entering at one end and one in pristine condition leaving the other. Painted above this scene was the No. 5 MTRU motto – "You Bend EM, we MEND EM".

The officers served the Christmas dinner as is the tradition; we exchanged our signatures on our menus, then in the afternoon there was a comic football match with German POWs and a group of them were going round the field as a film crew with a ‘film camera’ they had made.

Donkey Ride	POW's Film Crew with their home-made camera

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