2,000 Miles of Trouble
Page 25
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The Story of Two Italian S.P.A. Ambulances on a Trip in North Africa
TllEY first made their appearance at Wadi Akarit. It was the morning that th6 Germans and the "Ities" again began their retreat. At our M.D.S. quite a lot of Italian prisoners were having wounds dressed, and many more were ambling by towards Sfax and the prison cage.
Three of our ambulances came in and chugging along behind them was an " Itie " S.P.A. ambulance. After parking in front of the reception tent, a smiling Italian jumped down from the driver's seat and, after making it clear that he bad some patients in the .back of his vehicle, he produced a mess. tin and calmly inquired " Done monjeray? " An hour later another S.P.A. arrived in much the same Manner. This explains why we had two S.P.A.s on the strength.
Painted in the usual dirty grey, and with high cabs and square bonnets, these machines appeared horribly ancient alongside our M.T. vehicles.
The S.P.A.s were powered by four. cylindered.side-valve engines, complete with priming cups -and taps on the cylinder heads. Starting was accomplished loy cranking, towing or pushing. Starter motors vere not fitted.
' S.P.A. "Number Ten" The driver put on the first one had, at one time', worked for a transport concern, so he christened his S.P.A. " Number Tea," apart, of course, from many unprintable names. Consequently, the driver of the second S.P.A. named his vehicle !' Number Eleven."
Moving up to Enfidaville '' Ten" and " Eleven " did quite well, apart from trouble with the • petrol. feed On " Number Ten." When the workshop truck caught up to "Ten," it was found parked at the side of the road. A radio set, which was being carried, was tuned into " Forces Favourites" and two fellows were " brewing up " with the aid of a petrol fire. The driver was found tracing out the course of the petrol line and trying the petrol tap., Smilingly indulgently, the fitter said : " 0.H., I'll soon get this thing going for you." Ten minutes later is furious argument was in progress.
"How the — can it be? It goes to Riserva."
"You that's aqua, not petrola."
" I know it says aqua. I'm not blind, but the bipe goes to the' petrol pimps"
• Finally, "Number Ten" made the way to camp with only the reserve tank working. A few days later we pulled out of Tunisia, for Alexandria, the best part of 2,000 miles to the east. , Chugging, rattling and vibrating. " Ten ",and " Eleven " strove to keep pace with the convoy. Some time later the driver of "Eleven " reported that his engine wouldn't start. That he had made every attempt to get it to do so was evident by the sweat on his brow, the blisters on his hands and a dangerous gleam in his eyes as he gazed on the lifeless engine.
Questioning brought to light the fact . that, on the previous day, "Number Eleven" had been backfiring and had been emitting huge tongues of flame from the exhaust. As the result of a loose clamp on the magneto, the timing had slipped. At one time, apparently, there had been a locking device in the form of a steel pin ; this had sheared. At the same time that attention was • given to this feature, a fan belt was fitted to take the place of a piece of cable which had been turning the fan about twice every mile. And so we continued east. Apart from punctures and rather heavy oil consumption— equal to the petrol consumption-" Ten " and "Eleven " did quite well.
Trouble again beset us at Mishrata, when the petrol pump, apparently following the line of thought that, so Icing as it pumped, it didn't matter blow or when, broke down. Examination showed that a new pump was necessary and as we didn't carry " Itie " spares, the transport officer decided that "Number Ten" would have to continue as best it could until such time as the convoy came up with it wrecked S.P.A. with al good .pump.
With quite a fair prospect of petrol flowing on to the hot engine, the T.O. ordered the driver's mate to carry a fire extinguisher and two petrol tins full of sand.
" Ten " and " Eleven" provided trouble alternately, the latter beig the next to perform with a brokeit halfshaft, at El Agheila. The driver was Mole amazed than annoyed.
. " I put it in gear, and naught
'appens.' ' Even when shown he• broken shaft he still gazed at 'the gear lever,, muttering that, in his opinion,
there was something wrong with the gear. He finally added, philosophically, " Still, it's an ' Itie A five-minute run down the road and we salvaged another half-shaft and, by sundown, " Number Eleven" was doing its 35 k.p.h. towards the east.
Day after day we averaged 100 miles and " Ten " and " Eleven " had perforce to do the same. One night, just after sundown, the workshop truck had still 30 kilos. to make Benghazi. On the horizon we could see spurts of flame and . occasional showers of sparks. Instead of being a raid on Benghag as ,We had expected, it proved to be "Number Eleven," again with timing trouble.
When we caught up, " Number Eleven " stopped. The driver switched off and wearily climbed down from the cab. Immediately there was a violent explosion followed by a wicked tongue of flame from the exhaust.
Mystery Backfires
,• We sighed with relief because bangs like that had previously necessitated a dive into a slit tunnel. Before we began work, " Number Eleven" was still defiant and backfired again. "The — thing ain't natural," shuddered the driver.
By midnight we were in camp. The driver of " Ten " drained the sump, which filled two tins with dirty petrol.
Derna Pass proved the better of " Ten " and "Eleven," and, ingloriously, they were -towed up. At Sollum, the latter broke another half-shaft. Misfortune 'overtook the driver's mate of "Number Ten" for, at Mersa Matruh, when trying to salvage a dipstick from a wreck, he kicked an " Itie " flash bomb and blew his toes around a bit. He blamed it on "Number Ten " !
For the rest of the journey, " Ten " and " Eleven " showed what they really could do and, on one occasion, " Number Ten " actually touched 50 k.p.h. At Alexandria, their days with us ended as they were taken to a scrap yard. Later, when the two drivers were given brand-new American trucks, with most " labour-saving " devices fitted, they still Said, "'Now, if I had my S.P,A. .