Friday 28th November 1941
We have a steady rum issue now and my God! we need it!
There was no counter attack last night but there was plenty of rain. My rough shelter (built in the belief that Tobruch would speedily be relieved) was proof against anything but a downpour – but last night was a downpour and I had a miserable awakening about 3a.m. this morning, when rain water began to ooze through my roof of blankets. (Drip! Drip!) I slept uneasily until 7a.m. by which time all my blankets were damp or soaked.
It rained all day. Despite our efforts, water percolated through the earth and appeared from the floor of the exchange, making puddles. At night fall my blankets were still damp and two were too wet to use at all. I migrated to a suspicious burrow near “A” Troop which extended about 8 feet into the rock and was about 3 foot 6 inches wide and 2 foot high at it's most spacious point. At the far end it tapered away to a sort of rabbit hole. Claustrophobia I thought, when I crawled in at first!
However it was dry, so I put one wet blanket underneath my ground sheet and had the three damp ones above me. I slept in my overalls and kept my scarf on (in case the rats should tear my throat!) and found it was warm in there, even with damp blankets.
The moonlight shone on the opposite side of the wadi; the whitened rocks were framed by the mouth of my cave. I slept fine.
There was no counter attack last night but there was plenty of rain. My rough shelter (built in the belief that Tobruch would speedily be relieved) was proof against anything but a downpour – but last night was a downpour and I had a miserable awakening about 3a.m. this morning, when rain water began to ooze through my roof of blankets. (Drip! Drip!) I slept uneasily until 7a.m. by which time all my blankets were damp or soaked.
It rained all day. Despite our efforts, water percolated through the earth and appeared from the floor of the exchange, making puddles. At night fall my blankets were still damp and two were too wet to use at all. I migrated to a suspicious burrow near “A” Troop which extended about 8 feet into the rock and was about 3 foot 6 inches wide and 2 foot high at it's most spacious point. At the far end it tapered away to a sort of rabbit hole. Claustrophobia I thought, when I crawled in at first!
However it was dry, so I put one wet blanket underneath my ground sheet and had the three damp ones above me. I slept in my overalls and kept my scarf on (in case the rats should tear my throat!) and found it was warm in there, even with damp blankets.
The moonlight shone on the opposite side of the wadi; the whitened rocks were framed by the mouth of my cave. I slept fine.
posted by Paul Wilson at 7:48 pm
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