EGYPT’S DEFENCE

Hokitika Guardian, 16 September 1940, Page 7

EGYPT’S DEFENCE

WESTERN FORTIFICATIONS

(Richard Mower in the Daily Telegraph, London).

Should the Italians attack Egypt they will have to come to this place —and take it. For this is the key to Egypt’s defences in the western desert.

In peace-time Mersa Matruh is a small seaside village with two hotels. Now it is a forbidden zone with fortifications for a radius of 60 miles, manned by British and Egyptian forces. And here there is water, the only drinking water for hundreds of miles around .

If the Italians come, they will want to capture this place partly because it is the railhead of the coastline railroad to Alexandria, but above all because of the water to drink. From what the military authorities have courteously permitted me to see I have a distinct .feeling that it would be a bad thing to be an Italian attacking MersaMatruli.

It is an all-day ride from Cairo to here. General headquarters generously provided me with a special military pass, an army car, camouflaged, desert style, and a former Liverpool ’bus driver to drive it. The car had the extra large balloon tyres that do not sink in the sand too much. But to Mersa-Matruh we took the coastal road.

On the right lay the Mediterranean occasionally blocked from view by great sand dunes and crusty ridges; On either side of the road tar drums were scattered around. The desert for the first hour is a flat hard surface.

Beyond the simmering ridges to the south the great soft “sand sea” begins where only camels can tread. Somewhere in that vast expanse, in 525 8.C.. the Persian conqueror, Cambyses, 'and his army of 50,000 men disappeared and no trace of them lias ever been found.

The Western Desert within the confines of Egyptian territory extends over a 200.000 square mile area—formidable natural barrier to invasion. If the Italians attack they will have to start from where there is water, and that is miles west of Libya’s eastern frontier.

Two hundred miles from the sea coast and only 50 miles from the Libyan border there is Siwa O n sis, in Egypt; hut from the Libyan border nearest Siwa Oasis to the nearest Italian oasis it is 250 miles. Farther south the oases in Egvnt are fewer and farther apart, there is water and there is the .great “sand sea.” On the coast the distances between drinkable water are not so groat comparatively—about P 0 miles from Italian Tobruk to Egyptian Solium. But at Solium the quantities of available

water are insufficient to satisfy the wants of an expeditionary force.

The importance of Mersa-Matrua 150 miles from the Libyan border, is its water. For this reason it is fortified. Military experts estimate that to

attack Mersa-Miatrua. with some chance of success the Italians would have to use 15,000 men and be prepared to sustain lieXvy casualties. But before they could attack they ■would have to transport, for at least 200 miles, enough water for 15,000 men and the radiators of their mechanised units. Once they had done that they would have to tackle a series of tough fortifications. Mersa-Matrua is famous as the summertime week-end resort of Cleopatra arid Antony. It is also famous for its sand storms. As we approached it swirls of sand swept across the road ahead of us—tall, funnel-shaped swirls sucked up by the hot south wind and carried out to sea. By the time we had entered the shabby village a gale was blowing ;and the air was like steamy yellow fog. The fine sand filtered through the cracks in the car. It got into our eyes, ears and noses and stuck to our damp skins. When we closed the ventilator to keep out the sand, we stifled. When we opened it a crack, the sand swished in. Here in this place British and Egyptian troops eat and breathe sand and prepare for the Italians. At first glance Mersa-Matrua looks vulnerable from the sea. Perhaps it is. But perihanont' lookouts are posted on the points outside the bay and coastal batteries cover the approaches to the lagoon.

Submerged coral reefs complicate navigation here. Enemy ships could shell Mersa-Matrua to smithereens, perhaps, but the destruction of the town would not effect the defences. The men would be out of barracks and at their posts, variously distributed in -that 60-mile radius of fortifications.

The Mersa-Matrua defences are a perfect example of war-time exterior decorating. Pillboxes, trenches, dugouts, depots blend with the desert and are bard to make out. Pillboxes are so placed as to make crossfire effective. They are like chessmen—each piece covers another. There are barbed wire entanglements. There are tank traps and trenches. And at various places the white concrete anti-tank “little pyramids” stand up in rows.

The army men have thought out a lot of nasty situations for an attacking enemy. Supposing enemy infantry succeeded in reaching s an anti-tank trench and flopped down >'nto it foe shelter. Well, the men in there would find themselves under fire from both extremities of that long, strait, broad ditch with no bonds in it.

Supposing the enemy attacked at night and visibility were bad. Well.

the machine-gunners in the casements would only have to sight their weapons on any of the small wooden or metal pegs sticking out from the ground just a few teet outside the loopholes, and open fire. For the pegs indicate the line of fire necessary to cover various stretches of open terrain several hundred yards away and invisible- in the dark. Normally loopholes would be invisible to the enemy. The black slits would stand out against the lightcoloured soil and sand. But here, at Mersa-Matrua, ribbons of gunnysack cloth hang like curtains over the loopholes so that they cannot he seen. In the sand by the sea you flounder it is so fine and thick. Here the dulnes shift continually, complicating the establishment of fortified outposts. A part-time job of any soldier in this sector is to shovel the sand away from the loopholes of the various casements. In the process of digging, the men have discovered old tombs, some of them dating baelse veral centuries. In the desert avater is always a problem—even at Mersa-Matrua. When the war started water had to be rationed at the rate of one gallon per man per day for all purposes Certain regiments connected with water-absorbing units got more. In November the ration was increased to two gallons, later to three and a-half gallons per man. Gradually, the water situation has been improved, so that there is now no rationing here, although the water consumption is always subject to regulation .The proximity of the sea at times complicates the water, system. Water must not be pumped from the wells without interruption, otherwise it reaches salt level and is undrinkable. Mersa-Matrua can be a lovely place, they tell me. But, this time of year, the sand stings your face and hands and gets in behind your goggles. In the Officers mess the violent hot wind grabs the door handle and rattles it frantically. At the hospital an acute case of appendicitis is being kept waiting irf the hones that by nightfall the storm will' stop. and the sand settle down, so that they can operate. To return to the vital question of the defences of- Egypt against an attack from Libya, it is pleasing to record that any doubts iegauding the whole-hearted co-operatioD of the Egyptian Forces with the British have not been dispelled.. Competent observers state that the relationship between, the two Governments is closer to-day than at any time since the out break of war.

The hesitation which seemed to mark Egyptian policy during the weeks immediately succeeding the entry of Italy, has disappeared. The Egyptian Minister of Defence stated the other day . that Egyptian mobile troops had taken up positions beside their British Allies and that the Egyptian forces in the Sudan would resist Italian attack. The Chamber of Duputies passed, a unanimous resolution at its secret session recently to the effect that: Egypt would defend herself with all the, means at her command if her territories were attacked, - and the resolution was not qualified as All Maher Pasha’s declaration of June 12th had been—by any quibble as to. whether an Italian attack might not be “provoked” by British action. The new Prime Minister, Hassan Sabry Pasha ,made it clear that luS country will fulfil its engagements under he Anglo-Egyptian Treaty in spirit and letter and entirely satisfied the British High Command in the Middle East that Egypt will co-operate actively in the defence of the Nile Valley.