DURING this tour of duty in the line, patrols were going out nightly to discover all they could about the German positions and minefields and once again we learned our lessons.
It was nervy work. The usual dress was pullover, shorts and desert boots or sandshoes. Faces were blackened and no equipment was worn; a few rounds in a shirt pocket were sufficient.
Hearing, on a dark night, was the sense upon which a patrol most relied. When the men were close to the enemy they crept forward 20 or 30 yards at a time and then lay still in a circle facing outwards for as long as half an hour before moving on again.
Sound travelled far in the desert and this method always gave them warning of the enemy; a cough, a clink of equipment, a few words spoken quietly in German could be picked up a long way off. Sometimes it was the enemy we were looking for, sometimes their mines.
The patrols would be in the minefields, tracing the boundaries and scraping away the sand to discover which type had been laid. The big tellers, the anti-tank mines were not dangerous; but there was always the chance of meeting S-mines, anti-personnel mines which jumped into the air and exploded. We were lucky. We only lost one man and that in circumstances which might seem odd to anyone who has not been on patrol.
Prolonged nervous strain induces sleep. This natural desire for escape grows until all sense of fear is completely overcome. The victim will then fall asleep anywhere, no matter how great the danger. This happened to the escape man at the end of one patrol. He just disappeared and was never seen again. We could only assume he had dozed over during one of the listening halts, failed to wake until after the others had gone and then wandered into the German lines.
? From "Sans Peur" by Alastair Borthwick, 1946.
Reproduced with the help and permission of the Highlanders Museum, Fort George.
The museum is currently raising funds for is planned 3 million upgrade which will get under way later this year.
Donations can be made online at www.thehighlandersmuseum.com or by telephone on 01667 460466. Cheques can also be sent to Highland Heritage Appeal, Development Office, Highlanders Museum, Fort George, IV2 7TD.
