Gateway To Egypt

Taranaki Daily News, 14 September 1940, Page 10

Gateway To Egypt

Mersa Matruh The Key QJHOULD the Italians attack Egypt they will have to come to MersaMatruh — and take it. For it is the key to Egypt's defences in the western desert, writes the Daily Telegraph's correspondent. 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 fortress 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 Mersa-Matruh. 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 etyle, 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 coast road. On the right lay the Mediterranean. occasionally blocked from view by great sand dunes and crusty ridges. On eithei 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 B.C., the Persian conqueror, Cambyses, and his army of 50,000 men disappeared and no trace of them has 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 Oasis. in Egypt; but from the Libyan border nearest Siwa Oasis to the nearest Italian oasis it is 250 miles. Father south the oases in Egypt are fewer and farther apart, there is less water and there is the great "sand sea." On the coast the distances between drinkable water are not so great, comparatively — about 80 miles from Italian Tobruk to Egyptian Sollum. But at Sollum the quantities of available water are insufficient to satisfy the wants of an expeditionary force. The importance of Mersa-Matruh, 150 miles from the Libyan border, is its water. For this reason, it is fortified. Military experts estimate that to attack Mersa-Matruh with some chance of success the Italians would have to use 15.000 men and be prepared to sustain heavy casualties. But before they could attack they would have to get • their force here, and to do that 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-Matruh is famous as the sum-mer-time week-end resort of Cleopatra and 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 fellow 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-Matruh looks vulnerable from the sea. Perhaps it is. But permanent look-outs are posted on the points outside the" bay and coastal batteries cover the approach to the lagoon.

Submerged coral reefs complicate navigation here. Enemy ships could shell Mersa-Matruh to smithereens, perhaps, but the destruction of the town would not affect the defences. The men would be out of barracks and at their posts, variously distributed in that 60mile radius of fortifications. The Mersa-Matruh defences are a perfect example of war-time exterior decorating. Pillboxes, trenches, dugouts, depots blend with the desert and are hard to make out. Pillboxes are so placed 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 here have thought out a lot of nasty situations for an attacking enemy. Supposing enemy infantry succeeded in reaching an anti-tank trench and flopped down into it for shelter. Well, the men in there would find themselves under fire from both extremities of that long, straight, broad ditch with no bends in it. Supposing the enemy attacked at night and visibility were bad. Well, the mach-ine-gunners in the casemates would only have to sight their weapons on any of the small wooden or metal pegs sticking out from the ground just a few feet 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 visible to the enemy. The black slits would stand out against the light-coloured soil and sand. But here, at Mersa-Matruh, ribbons of gunnysack cloth hang like curtains over the loopholes so they cannot be seen. In the sand by the sea you flounder; it is so fine and thick. Here the dunes shift continually, complicating the establishment of fortified outposts. A parttime job for any soldier in this sector is to shovel the sand away from the loopholes of various casemates. In the process of digging, the men have discovered old tombs, some of them dating back several centuries. In the desert water is always a problem— even at Mersa-Matruh. 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 mechanised water-ab-sorbing 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 now there is 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-Matruh 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-bandle and rattles it frantically. At Ihe bospital an -vmi'-- ease of appendicitis is being kcpt waiting in the hopes 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 defence of Egypt against an attack from Libya, it is pleasing to record that any doubts regarding the whole-hearted cooperation of the Egyptian forces with the British have now been dispelled. Competent observers state that the relationship between the two Governments is closer to-dav than at any time since the outbreak of war. The. hesitation which seemed to mark Egyptian policy during the weeks immediatelv succeeding the entry of Ital.y. 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 Egjmtian forces in the Sudan would resist Italian attack. The Chamber of Deputies passed a unanimous resolution at its secret session recentlv 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 Ali Maher Pasha's declaration of June 12 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 his country will fulfil its engagements under the Anglo-Egvptian Treaty in spirit and letter and eritirely =atisfied the British Hiz'n Command in the Middle East that Egypt will co-nrrrsito actively in the defence of the Nile Valley.