Canal Zoners - Suez Crisis

November 1956 - Operation Musketeer

2nd November - In Field Service Marcing Order. Other troops carried automatic weappons and ammunition as they went up the gangway	2nd November - 4 British soldiers carrying Bren guns and rifles going aboard the troopship Empire Fowey
2nd November - The scene at Southampton yesterday when lines of troops went aboard the Empire Fowey. Special trains arrived with troops all day	2nd November - A soldier armed with an anti-tank weapon and his bugle
5th November - The scene as officers carry out a last minute inspection of British Paratroopers before they went aboard their aircraft in Cyprus for the invasion of Egypt this morning	5th November - Brig. M. Butler, Commander of the 16th Independent Parachute Brigade, giving the 'thumbs-up' sign as he left Cyprus to lead the first airborne contingent which landed on Egyptian soil at dawn
5th November - Royal Marine Commandos arrive ashore	5th November - Royal Marine Commandos & Paratroopers arrive ashore under the cover of air strikes
5th November - Egyptians Loot Foodstuffs Inhabitants of Port Said hurriedly making away with flour and biscuits looted from a damaged warehouse	5th November - A boy stops to pick up biscuits which had been dropped in the road
5th November - Seen from aboard a British warship yesterday were Allied ships off a port somewhere in Cyprus	5th November - Hands on heads, a column of Egyptian troops marched along a desert road under the orders of Israeli soldiers. About 15,000 Egyptians have been captured in the Peninsula
6th November - Troops boarding a Bristol Britannia turbojet airliner which left London yesterday	6th November - Reinforcements arrive at Port Said. Troops waiting to go ashore
6th November - The Big Drop is Over Gamal Airfield, Port Said has been captured by British Paratroopers. Now the digging in starts. The skymen landed to a barrage of anti-aircraft guns, machine guns and tanks ....... But the paratroopers went calmly and resolutely about their taks	7th November - Ships of the Allied Command including a hospital ship, in the outer harbour of Port Said after landing troops. Smoke is from the burning oil storage tanks
8th November - Armed troops keep guard behind a barbed wire barrier across a street in Port Said	9th November - British tend Egyptian wounded. Stretcher bearers carry a wounded man to a Royal Navy helicopter for transport to a British ship to receive treatment
12th November - A British soldier, Private William Murray of Liverpool, keeps guard on a forward position on the Suez Canal Road (Port Said to Ismailia at El Cap Station). Port Said, the milestone records, is 35 kilometres away.	12th November - British Paratroopers dug in on the Canal Road, Port Said
12th November - A large quantity of rifles retrieved in raids in Port Said	12th November - Israeli soldier with the captured equipment seized in the fighting in the Sinai
13th November - 7 Russian built anti-aircraft guns captured from the Egyptians by the Israeli's	13th November - Sgt. N Smith of Blackburn, Lancs looking at a Russian rocket wich was captured in the Port Said area. Egypt has received at least £150m worth of military equipment from the Soviet bloc in the past twelve months
13th November - Cpl J. Grimwood digging in on the banks of the Suez Canal at our forward position of El Cap, 20 miles south of Port Said	13th November - Egyptians salvage possessions from their wrecked home at Port Said, evidence of the house-to-house fighting which raged between British Commandos and Egyptian suicide squads
13th November - British troops hand out bales of food to waiting crowds in the Arab quarter	13th November - A tank crunches through a ruined street in Port Said as they await the arrival of the U.N.
13th November - Royal Engineers using mine detectors as they search the beaches	13th November - Evacuees arrive from Egypt to Lamaca in Cyprus
15th November - Some of the tankers and freighters which were caught up in the Canal when the entrances were sealed by sunken ships	15th November - British infantrymen who arrived in Port Said recently to replace the assault troops in a street in Port Said
17th November - Regimental pipers and men of the Royal Scots Guards marching into town to relieve the assault troops	18th November - 'Death wore a galabiya' - Patrolling the streets in force
19th November - 'Arms search in the Suez Canal' - British navy frogmen go below the surface in search of firearms thrown by retreating Egyptians	21st November - Officers and men from Jugoslava at Abu Sueir who where the first U.N. contingent
22nd November - An excited crowd of Egyptians shouted support for Nasser and threatened to obstruct the march through Port Said of the UN Norwegian contingent are controlled by British troops	24th November - Members of an Army Mobile Bakery Unit putting bread into large mobile ovens which have been set up in Port Said. About 13,000 loaves are being baked daily for the troops
26th November - A Naval diver at work on the 'Paul Solente', a dredger, which had been sunk by the Egyptians in Port Said Harbour. Two lifting craft, Hartlepool 10 & 11 can be seen in the background	Lt. David Westwood, 42 Royal Marine Commando. His fast actions saved lives when he kicked a grenade thrown by Egyptians in Port Said out of their transport

December 1956 - Home In Time For Christmas

5th December - The 'Evan Gibb' at the quay in Port Said with the troops going aboard	7th December - Egyptians remove Union Jack - As British troops board ships, Egyptians remove the Union Jack from Port Said Harbour. It was subsequently burnt much to the delight of a cheering mob
7th December - 'Reservists Home' - Some of the troops who arrived at Southampton from the Mediterranean yesterday in the troopship 'Empire Orwell'. Among the men on board were more than 1,000 reservists who are to be released	8th December - 'Home with battle trophy' - Men of No. 42 Royal Marine Commando in cheerful mood when they arrived at Devonport yesterday in the aircraft carrier 'Ocean' from Port Said. They are displaying an Egyptian flag which they captured during operations in the Port Said area.
24th December - Last troops withdraw from Port Said - Men of the Royal Scots going aboard a landing craft as the last British and French troops on Saturday	24th December - Freed Suez Britons Arrive Home - Five of the 469 British technicians who were formerly employed at the Suez Canal Zone base and were interned by the Egyptians for eight weeks, at Stansted Airfield, Essex. after their arrival by air from Cyprus yesterday. Left to Right: H. Dickson, P.G. Cadman, H. Broadhead, D. Case and R. Clements
24th December - Lorries being driven into the last ship to complete the evacuation	27th December - Egyptian using pickaxes and crowbars to try to remove the wreath plaque at de Lesseps statue in a bid to tear it down. Evenutally it was blown up with explosives by a huge mob

4th August - The Life Guards prepare to leaves. Armoured cars & scout cars being checked at Combermere Camp, Windsor yesterday where the Life Guards are under orders for immediate move overseas	6th August - The men board the carrier
6th August - Army transport on carrier flight. Vehicles of the 16th Independent Parachute Brigade loaded on board the aircraft carried Thesues at Portsmouth where the ship sailed for the Mediterranean yesterday
6th August - Troops of the 16th Independent Parachute Brigade marching through the Unicorn Gate into Portsmouth Dockyard to embark on the Theseus yesterday	6th August - Embarking troops of the 16th Independent Parachute Brigade boarding Theseus at Portsmouth. They had travelled in 4 special trains from Carlisle and Aldershot
9th August - Army transport ready for transporation. Lorries lined up on the quayside at Tilbury yesterday	9th August - Other vehicles being taken on board the requisitioned cargo ship 'Hartismere' which began loading at Tilbury yesterday
9th August - Military vehicles assembled near Newport. Scout cars and other transport drawn up on a park on the outskirts of Newport, Wales. They have been freshly painted in a golden sand colour	12th August - The airlift of troops from Britian to the Middle East started this morning aboard Britannia aircraft from Hurn, Hampshire. Each machine holding more than 100 troops
13th August - Baggage & equipment being loaded into an aircraft at Blackbushe when troops of the 1st Btn Duke of Wellington's Regt left in three Hermes aircraft	15th August - Sheikhs learn to shoot. Sheikh Abdel Rahman Tag, Rector of Al Alazher University, Cairo receiving instruction in the use of a rifle. Also under instruction were other skeikhs wearing the uniform of the newly formed Liberation Army
19th August - The troops seat in a Britannia. Extra seats have been fitted in for passengers and each plane has a troop-carrying capacity of 100	25th August - Long lines of armoured cars & other military vehicles assembled in the grounds of the Royal Victoria Hospital, Hants. They will be moved to Southampton Docks this weekend.
25th August - Men of the Life Guards boarding coaches at Combermere Barracks, Windsor as they start their journey to the Middle East	25th August - Recalled Army Nurses Reservists. Officers of Q.A.R.A.N.C. who have been recalled issued with steel helmets. They will serve with units of the RAMC
28th August - Operation Musketeer continues. Vehicles waiting on the quayside at Southampton ready to be loaded on board the Egida and four other requisitioned cargo ships for Operation Musketeer	28th Augustt - Loading equipment & supplies