RAF REGIMENT - 27 LAA
As Remembered By W.S. Green
One of the worst places to be was on a searchlight site along the Suez Canal. The sites on the western bank had a railway track and road where it was possible to see signs of life. There was also the canal where ships would pass several times a day and a ration lorry that could take you into the local town or village for an afternoons break. On the eastern side however all the sites were a long way from the canal and there was nothing there but desert.
On these Eastern sites in the Sinai desert, empty petrol tins were filled with sand and placed as markers to guide us to and from the canal. Each day, two men left the site to walk to the canal, following the marker tins, to collect our rations, water and mail. If a wind blew during the night the marked tins were covered by a new sand dune and the route had to be guessed. At the canal a rowing boat was moored in which we rowed over to meet the ration lorry and rowed back with our food and water. Fortunately they didn’t leave us out there too long. With the compass we often went for long walks across the desert but only in two'’ or more. Many strange sights were claimed to have been seen such as a road built by the British in the 1st World War, or a crashed fighter complete with dead pilot. I didn’t see any of this, and I put it down to ‘desert madness’.
I have often said how we covered the canal with camouflage nets at night.
After all it is supposed to be 90 kilometres long and 90 metres wide, but we
did. It wasn’t to try to hide the canal but to locate a spot where any
delayed action mines might have been dropped by aircraft during the night. There
were posts every few yards on both sides and each evening during stand-to we
rowed a cable across the canal and pulled a long length of net across to cover
it. When mines were dropped a hole was made in the net and the Navy divers went
down the following morning and made the mines safe. Thus was 27th Regiment between
skirmishes in the Western desert were employed keeping the Suez Canal open during
WW2