Hi all, Long shot i know but thought id post a pic to see if anyone recognises either any faces or where and when it might have been taken. My grandad is Harry House ( 2nd from left ) and served with the 3rd RTR from 1940-45. It obviously looks hot so guessing its 1941-43 sort of time. Keith
I give up, been looking at loads of old postcards & such-like. The architecture looks Venetian* but the tower looks like an Egyptian minaret. Gold star to anyone who can ID it. * Yes I know it can't be Venice in 41-43.
Lol Owen I’ve been doing similar going through war time pics on the web of all the obvious places but can’t find it
It might be worth checking 3 RTR war diaries to see if there are any references to rest camps. It could have been taken after the Tunisian Campaign?
Maybe taken at a rest camp in Egypt-Ismalia ? Not WW2 but found these old/new photos of Suez canal zone here if anyone interested in going through them Old and new photos taken in the suez canal zone of egypt
Here we go!!!! The chap on the left looks like Dirk Smith, of Poperinge fame... ..... and the chap on the right could be John Kitson, ditto.
I do believe you have! From National Library of Australia: Exterior view of a building in Heliopolis, Egypt, approximately 1916 / Noel Minchin. From Flicker: Heliopolis Palace Hotel from the Air, Heliopolis, Cairo, Egypt 1910 This shows the tower from Crocks picture in relation to the Heliopolis Palace Hotel and the stadium. Map from University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Tower marked, so Crock’s picture taken from area of grid marked “53” in red, which appears to be within the army barracks. Edit: Another map from University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Year 1920, showing stadium.
Sorry to interrupt this (wonderful) 3RTR conversation, but I see lots of photos passing by, in this and some other 3RTR threads, from - obviously - some great collections. Given the connection between 3RTR and 11th Armoured Division: are there any 8th Rifle Brigade ones, which you might want to share?
If you are referring to the copious number of images being posted here and on Facebook with a 3RTR driver, the answer to the best of my knowledge is 'no 8RB images'.
This is what I love about this site... I started this thread 7months ago with vein hope of getting any answers.. And boom! The detectives have come up trumps!! Thanks to all!
So a bit of history on the Palace Hotel In Heliopolis. It was originally a grand hotel designed in 1910 (See Wikepedia for more detail). It was taken over by the No.1 Australian General Hospital from Jan 1915 to March 1916. It was repurposed when they moved out, later that year to become No.3 School of Military Aeronautics at least until October 1918. My grandfather's brother Sidney got some of his training here in the early RFC/RAF days. Not sure when it converted back to a hotel, but in the Second World War my grandfather spent time here as well approximately 1940-42. It's not clear if he was a patient, as it was described as being repurposed a hospital again, or whether he had an office here as part of RAF. Still a tossup between here or the Hotel Seramasis in Cairo, which also gets a passing mention.