SUEZ EMERGENCY – OCTOBER 1951
On the 9th October 1951, the Egyptian Government announced that it was withdrawing from the Suez Canal Treaty. This was the trigger that set off a guerilla war along the Canal, which the Wafd Party was struggling to control.
Everyone in the Canal Zone was affected by the local labour force leaving their employment with the British – either voluntarily or by pressure by the guerillas. Jobs normally done by the local workforce had to be covered by the Military which lead to a shortage of manpower in the Canal Zone as many were seconded to other units – such as Water Transport for the loading and unloading of the supply ships. 6000 British troops were flown into Egypt with many of the planes taking the service families back to the UK. Many more thousands of troops and equipment arrived by ship during the month of November.
On the 16th October, anti-British demonstrations started outside the Railway Station in Ismailia. A large crowd soon was established and the mob started overturning any British cars and trucks, looting and setting fire them. Britih service families took refuge in their homes but some, out shopping at the time, hid in the back of the NAAFI grocery store in Station Square, luckily with four armed miliary police for protection.
Large crowds were forming in different parts of the town, overturning and setting fire to vehicles, looting, throwing stones and bottles at any Europeans they saw. All in all, they were out of control and the Eyptian police did very little to control the matter.
The Lancaster Fusiliers, who had been put on “Stand By” the evening before moved in and established themselves in French Square and rescued those trapped in the NAAFI building. Help soon arrived from other units and as soon as the mobs saw the troops arriving some started to disperse, but others, drunk from their lootings, became more hostile and were trying to break into even more British properties, especially the married quarters in town. Streets had to be cleared, street by street, to force the mobs back into Arab Town, and road blocks set up to prevent their return. Tar barrels full of stones and barbed wire cordons were set up and manned with Bren guns. Entrance into Ismailia was denied to the Egyptian Army, Police, University Students and the Press, who were definitely inflaming the situation.
During the afternoon it became apparent that the mobs were reforming and reinforements were called for. A curfew was ordered for 7 pm and the night passed peacefully. Apart from one small demonstration on the 17th Oct, all seemed quiet and on the 18th Oct, the Egyptian Police were permitted to take control of the cordons along with the British.
On the 21st Oct the Egyptian Government created a “Battalions Command Council” under former Army Chief of Staff, Aziz al Masri, to co-ordinate all guerilla activity in the Canal Zone. The Wafd Party began recruiting its own battalions, the Mustafa Nahhas and Saad Zaghioul battalions, composed of Fuad 1 University students and those at the American University in Cairo. All the volunteers underwent training, displaying Sten &Thompson sub-machine guns, Lee-Enfield rifles and grenades. They moved through the Canal Zone by a series of “safe houses” By December they were established, ambushing and sniping at British vehicles, assaulting off-duty troops and derailing trains with explosives.
Checkpoiints, curfews and clearing operations were set up. Suez, Ismailia and Port Said were put “Off Limits” to troops and British families were moved into safer military sites.