Description
Object description
British NCO served with Royal Corps of Signals in Egypt, 1930-1934
Content description
REEL 1 Recollections of period as NCO with Royal Corps of Signals in Egypt, 1930-1934: background to enlistment as apprentice with Royal Corps of Signals, 1924; attachment to 12th (Prince of Wales's) Royal Lancers in Egypt, 11/1930; preparations and lectures for posting; character of voyage from GB to Egypt on board troopship; journey to Helmieh Camp; accommodation; food and ration system; use of canteen; pay; drinking habits and visits to Cairo; troops' use of brothels and early treatment facilities for venereal disease; restrictions on troops' marrying; description of tropical kit; work of barrack servants; relations with Egyptians.
REEL 2 Continues: riotous incidents with Egyptians; use of 'blob stick' for self defence; escorting European women in Cairo; out of bounds areas; opinion of Egyptian and Sudanese troops; attitude towards Egyptians; use of limited Arabic; story of reconnaissance of Nile Valley with 12th (Prince of Wales's) Royal Lancers; work as wireless detachment commander during attachment to 12th (Prince of Wales's) Royal Lancers; encounter with officer over water rationing; description of water containers; wireless procedures and conditions in Egypt; test work for British Broacasting Corporation.
REEL 3 Continues: further details of reconnaissance of Nile Valley; wireless exercises and reconnaissance in desert; attachment to Egypt Signals, 1932; description of pack wireless sets; wireless station network; unofficial shortwave network; standby link with Khartoum, Sudan; health and medical treatment; return to GB, 1934; attitude towards posting to Palestine, 1947 including being caught in Arab ambush; attitude to service in Egypt; problems with insects and need for strict hygiene precautions; opinion of British role in Egypt.
REEL 4 Continues: duties as Assistant Superintendent at Cairo Signal Office; duties with B Cable Section; organisation of Egypt Signals; communications between camps on exercises; how camps were set up on exercise; armoured car accidents; story of soldier's murder of sergeant and his later execution; story of abortive suicide; demonstration of pack wireless sets to Lord Louis Mountbatten.