Tuesday 22 November 2016

1st/5th Bedfords in the Sinai Desert



Wednesday 22nd November 1916 From our Correspondent in the Field

I have received a communication from 1st/5th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment. Readers will remember hat this battalion isn part of 54th (East Anglian) Division, which took part in the fighting in Gallipoli in the latter part of 1915 and has been, since January this year, in Egypt.

Whilst the storm on the Somme had thundered and raged the situation in Egypt has been calm by comparison. The main problem for the men stationed there has been the heat, the flies and the scorpions which, we understand, make a hobby of hiding in men’s boots when they have been removed and lie in wait to deliver their venomous sting to the unthinking man putting his boots on without checking.

Given the harsh desert conditions around the Suez Canal and in Sinai the Medical Officer plans examinations for all ranks. This will weed out those unfit for active service which, in the cooler winter months, is more likely than in the heat of the Egyptian summer.


Source: X550/6/8

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