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Memories
of Libya
1956 to 1959
Contributed
by Trevor STUBBERFIELD 52A
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Libyan
Extras
A Hotchpotch of photos taken from the biscuit
tin stored at the back of a cupboard and almost forgotten. A mixture of
Duty, Domestic and Recreation with a few words to paint an all-round
picture of life in Libya.
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Taff Evans an Old Boy of the Chepstow AAS.
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Myself.
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At ease on the LAD Morris Commercial MRA.
The underwear hooked on the horn of the division Rhino is definitely not
mine although it is clean. To the right, I would rather be anywhere else
than starting a guard duty.
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In relaxed mood outside the billet are
Cpl Harris, a Londoner who was the LAD Welder along with Taff Evans the Chepstow lad, a
Vehicle Mech.
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Included to prove that occasionally we
did do some work. Our Morris Commercial wireless cars, or Gin Palaces as we knew them, were
relics from WW2 and so we received Austin K9s to replace them. Unfortunately
they had a tendency to roll over at quite slow speeds on corners. The
driver of this one was charged with careless driving until, shortly
afterwards, a young subaltern managed to repeat the trick on the same
corner. All charges were subsequently very quietly dropped.
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Another WW2 relic, but it appeared that
were no ready replacements for this old Bedford QL, we had received plenty
of the new Bedford
RL model but not with the required bodywork. The RLs we did receive from
the UK
were all painted in Deep Bronze Green so it became a matter of some urgency
to repaint them in Libyan Sand. Because of the time scale, pre-paint
sanding preparation was skimped with the result that as the vehicles were
hosed down later, the paint came off in great sheets. Back to the drawing
board lads.
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On the left is the Headquarters building
of 10th Arm’d Div,
Royal Signals Regiment in Gialo Barracks. This would be a typical style of
many of the local barracks, Mediterranean Architecture built by the
Italians. To the right is the HQ of the Tripolitania District
administration.
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Date and location unknown. Photographer unknown but
appreciated. Included here purely as
an ‘atmospheric’ illustration of life with 10th Arm’d
Div, Royal Signals.
Morris Commercial CS4 4x2 15cwt. Wireless
Car in action. Affectionately
referred to as ‘Gin Palaces’ they were the mainstay of the unit but in
their dotage. In 1956 we were
destined to take them back to Egypt to join in the Suez shindig. Would they have made it? They were being replaced by the
aforementioned, and illustrated, Austin K9 1 Ton 4x4 Wireless Car which had
a habit of turning on their side in a stiff breeze or gentle
cornering. The question remains
unanswered as at the last minute we were turned back from our mission
allowing us vehicle mechanics to breathe a huge sigh of relief.
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On board the unit
Armoured Command Vehicle (ACV)
‘New kid on the block’, Alvis Saracen 82
BA 65, a modern vehicle to boost our fleet of WW2 mobile scrap heaps. As yet, no formation or unit flashes had
been applied so it was fresh out of the box. Of course it needed an induction inspection
and an extended road test over the local terrain. Perhaps the last bit was down to me being
‘cab happy’ as the saying went.
Normally it would be fitted with a .303 light machine gun but some
weeks later it mysteriously acquired a .50 Browning machine gun which had
been ‘won’ in dubious circumstances.
We were adept at scavenging in BLR parks to keep our charges running
but I would hesitate to guess where this weapon was found. It provided an armed escort to the
convoys carrying families from Tripoli to Idris airport for the mass
emergency evacuation back to the U.K. in 1956.
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Not quite up to four star standard but
comfortable enough in normal circumstances. In November ’56 the bed numbers
were trebled and top to toed as
families and dependents were brought into the camp prior to an emergency
evacuation in the build up to Suez.
This released several rooms for the families to occupy. Some of us did try
camping out around the parade square but in November the temperatures had
started to fall, particularly at night, and without shelters we woke up
soaking wet from heavy dew. We had to move back indoors and rough it.
In the light of things the evacuation was
a panic measure and a waste of time and tragically cost the lives of seven
people when one of the planes, a Britavia Handley Page Hermes G-ALDJ, crashed on
landing at Blackbushe Airport in the UK. To make it worse, this was
the plane that had been reserved for expectant mothers and very young
children because it had a pressurised cabin.
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The two pictures below show freak
"desert" conditions in Gialo Barracks. When it rained inland, in
the mountains, the water made its way across the desert and out to the
coast through the wadis, which were like dried up river beds. Local
instructions were that if you saw any signs of water in a wadi then you
didn't cross it. Within a matter of minutes you could be faced with a
raging wall of water travelling at great speed. Some people didn't heed the
"old wives tale" and on quite a few occasions we searched for
missing vehicles and persons and had to recover what was left of them. The
pictures are of a freak flash flood when the Wadi Al Mjeneen couldn't take
the amount of water coming down from the mountains.
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LAD REME, 10th Armoured
Division Royal Signals Regiment, Gialo Barracks, Tripoli.
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Neighbouring vehicle
park of the Royal Engineers.
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Strangely enough, the lads did get tired
of just lounging around in the billets on their beds, Egyptian PT comes to
mind. Even the beaches lost their appeal after a while, plus the fact that
if you were in camp then you could be in danger of being grabbed as a
volunteer for some extra duty. On a good few weekends we would club
together and hire a car or two and set off to see the sights. The groups
were made up of whoever wanted to join in and was at a loose end. Some
names come to mind, Dave Croton, Mick Reddy, Cpl.
Harris, Taff Evans, Dave Hutchenson, but the mists of time disguise the others.
The Roman ruins at Sabratha
and Leptis Magna
were obvious choices but sometimes we would venture further in land,
crossing some pretty barren territory.
Tarhuna village was a good
destination, it was the site of probably the only true waterfall in the
desert. There was a military barracks there which at the time was occupied
by the Royal Marine Commandos, they used to come over from Malta
for exercises. 45 Commandos were one unit I recall. The barracks were
imaginatively called Waterfall Camp.
In recent times a chemical and biological
warfare factory was established there and it became the proposed target for
a bombing raid by the USA.
Just imagine what would have been let loose if they had carried it out.
Sadly, because of the industrial
development in the area the source of water dried up and the waterfall is
no more.
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