CHAPTER 3 - AN ITCHY PROBLEM
“What’s the matter you dissentious rogues,
There is no doubt that Italy’s entrance into the war on the side of the Germans was serious. In the desert it posed a very real threat to our flanks and meant that we had to be deployed in more areas than was good for us numerically. The Italians firmly entrenched themselves in Eritrea and Abyssinia and our priority was to dislodge them. The decision was made to strike at them through the Sudan. Sudan is a strange place. It is mostly desert and the climate leaves a lot to be desired. There are times though when the few rivers there are suddenly become raging torrents and other times when they dry up completely. When they became dried up they leave sort of rock strewn paths across country. We sent an expeditionary force to Port Sudan with the intention of keeping the Italians occupied and harassing them on their flanks. Our biggest threat was that scourge of the Middle East, disease, which took its toll on both sides. |
Pte. Joseph Hutt |
The Italians must have been apprehensive as we moved toward Eritrea. So were we as it happened because we were pitifully weak and our arms hopelessly outdated. We were forced to rely on subterfuge and strategy. We used the rivers beds much to our advantage since it was the dry season and were able to move across the flat country quite well.
On one occasion we found ourselves entrenched on one side of a river with the Italians on the other side. We were vastly outnumbered and if the Italians had attacked we would surely have been routed. So we had to use all means at our disposal. We sent some troops forward in trucks wearing Australian bush hats. Miles further on they cut into the river bank and then keeping under cover made their way back to the starting point. The bush hats were swapped for topees, as favoured by the British Army, and the performance was repeated. We would change the appearance of the trucks also by adding ladders and camouflage and wearing the turbans of the Indian army and again the same journey was repeated. It was vital that we were not seen making the return journey. The Italians must have got the impression after a while that we had far more troops than we actually had. In the event we were not attacked and when we did eventually cross the river we found the Italian position deserted.
If the affair at the river was a success the affair with the bushes certainly was not. Once again we found ourselves face to face with the Italians. Over to the left was a small spinney with bushes about three feet high that I suppose is all the nature of the soil would permit. We decided to keep an eye on this area because it could provide excellent cover for a surprise attack. However, when no such attack came we began harbour thoughts of an attack of our own, although we still thought it strange that the “Ities” had not tried it. Our Sudanese interpreter became very agitated when he got wind of our plans. Although struggling with his English he was clearly advising against it for some reason. We passed the information on to our Captain who took not the slightest bit of notice except to pass on the usual, “Yours is not to reason why” rubbish. It should be stressed that we were wearing tropical kit, shorts, short sleeved shirts etc.. So we went ahead, our CO deciding on a night manoeuvre. On the appointed night the exercise began. We moved down to the spinney, dropped to the ground and inched our way forward on our elbows and legs as we had been trained. We made very little noise and found the bushes soft and yielding. There were a lot of insects but we managed to make good process and reached a point halfway through the spinney without being detected. We had done enough to establish that an attack was possible so quietly withdrew.
That night I did not sleep at all. My arms and legs began itching and I noticed that everyone else was scratching too. Next morning we discovered that we all had tiny blisters on our arms and legs. Where the scratching had removed the top of the blisters the flies began gathering and proved extremely troublesome. Before very long the blisters began to suppurate and became extremely painful. They were like small boils but instead of swelling started to grow inwards into the flesh. That morning it seemed that almost everyone was on sick parade which did not go down well at all with our CO who began ranting about malingerers. True to form he eventually succumbed himself and suddenly it was a different story. The “treatment” consisted of scraping the pus from the flesh until the blood flowed and applying iodine. You can well imagine the pain and discomfort. The MO reckoned that the blisters had been caused by tiny thorn like hairs on the bushes in the spinney, hardly helped by the insects.. Suffice it to say that the advance was delayed and the spinney given a wide birth from thereon in.
Our Sudanese interpreter was soon walking around with that smug “I told you so” expression on his face. This was a formidable and neutral army we had faced and I could not help but wonder if the Italians had found out the hard way as we did.
Obviously it is not always the biggest guns that cause the most casualties.