Africa Target Dossiers/Egypt/El Quassasin Materiallager 2 Al Qassasin [30°33'53"N 31°55'55"E] Map | Egypt Google Satellite Maps close to the Luftwaffe photo recce co-ordinates. have another look tomorrow - clear the mind!
Fascinates me too-I have been all over the place tonight! I am surprised Ron and Tom haven't been along to tell us EXACTLY where they were/or where Qassasin is . Lesley
Thanks for those Wills. At least the original poster has a lot of information on Qassasin/El Kasasin etc !!
I tried to GE it too, put the LW Long/Lat 30 33' 50"N, 31 57' 30"W in and ended up somewhere off the West coast of Africa! I ended up in the right place though, see attached. Still can't quite tie your LW photo in Wills Does the Ismailia Canal run to Lake Timsah or am I seeing something wrong?
Sorry Footymum, when we get interested in something like this we can get a bit carried away and end up chatting to each other on YOUR thread!
Lesley Simple reason for my non intervention - I was never near Egypt -Ron was though during July - August '44 Cheers
Lesley Simple reason for my non intervention - I was never near Egypt -Ron was though during July - August '44 Cheers Ok thanks Tom Lesley
Lesley Fascinates me too-I have been all over the place tonight! I am surprised Ron and Tom haven't been along to tell us EXACTLY where they were/or where Qassasin is Just spotted your assertion which sent me scurrying to my diary for a mention of the place. Saturday 22nd. July 1944 Last to disembark at Alexandria. Trucks took us to transit (camp) near Mersa Matru. First sight & taste of desert. Pretty whacked. Sunday 23rd. July 1944 Quassasin Camp. Left camp at 5.30 am & travelled across desert to 30 miles North of Ishmalia. Advance party have been here two weeks. Big NAAFI cinema to each camp. On 24 hour stag. Arabs carrying out mass thefts here! Monday 24th. July 1944 Off stag at 10 am. Put marquees up till lunch time! Went for Dodge 15 cwt. for 280 Battery, had to be towed. At 10 p.m. was still working putting jeeps around the camp & floodlighting area. Ron
Hi Ron, we were hoping you might pop in to add your experience here! I am slightly confused by a few things: Wills LW photo appears to show a base on the north shore of the Lake. Allowing for 70 odd years of change I think I can find the location on Google Earth. Present day Kasasin is a few KM west of Ismailia and the lake. Can you remember anything about the establishment or was is so large it could cover both the above locations? Mike
Mike Sorry.......that's all I have on the place, that it was a dump in the desert. As soon as I have time I will go the the BBC People's War archives and see what others have said about the same place There is plenty there..... You could use this search, for example: UK Web Archive entering Quassasin into the TEXT SEARCH box Ron
I've scoured my RAOC and REME histories and can find no mention of Quassasin, or variations of,although as its in the middle of an area full of depots (Ismalia, port said, suez, tel-el-kebbir, Abu Sultan etc) I imagine it's as Ron said - just a dump in the desert of no great importance in the great scheme of things. I have seen Quassasin mentioned lots of times, but can't remember where just now.
Doh! of course: " We ended up at a large, tented camp about a mile west of the Suez Canal, which was the main British military base in Egypt, Qassasin Camp, and it was indeed just that, there were very few brick-built buildings. Qassasin was described as ‘that bugbear of all British troops newly arrived in the Middle East.’ It was alleged, if you hadn’t already got ‘jippy tummy’, this was the place you could expect it. There were swarms of thousands of flies and when we were eating or drinking they would settle on our lips and we had to constantly wave them off our food." - Bill Cheall From a book by one of the members on this forum, Paul Cheall Click here and scroll down.
Still on Quassasin w.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/82/a1077482.shtml Later we opened them and sang and joked our way to our next destination, Quassasin which was a holding camp. Staying there for a few days was not without incident. Our C.O. Major Macaubrey, was robbed whilst sleeping in the officers section, his wallet was taken from under his pillow whilst he slept, no doubt by the Arabs. He then decided to move in with us. At night we could hear the chilling howling of the desert dogs. Whipping the COs wallet while he slept !!!!!! At the risk of offending, no wonder in those days we used to speak about the "wily wogs" Ron
Africa Target Dossiers/Egypt/El Qassasin Landeplatz 1 Luftwaffe Air Recce Photos Had it's own airfield! The photo is from 318 Sqn RAF who apparently had Hurricanes there at some point.
Stopping to think about the perils of being robbed by the local inhabitants reminded me, once again, about a similar problem my unit faced in Tunis. I first arrived in North Africa on April 13th 1943 but didn't join my unit (The 49th LAA) until the 22nd of May. On the 17th June, the King, George VI, flew to Tunisia to inspect the 78 Div and my unit proudly marched in front of him through the streets of Tunis. As a comparative newcomer it was deemed appropriate that I, and the other re-inforcements, should guard the vehicle park to ensure that the local citizens didn't make off with sundry parts, including all the tyres. When we were being given our instructions as to the exact perimiters of the sentry beat it was also pointed out to us that we should be keeping a close eye on the latrines. When I queried this last point it was explained to me that it was common practice for the local gentry to steal the by-product of bodily functions which were in great demand for spreading on the nearby fields. To this day I can proudly claim, that whilst my comrades-in-arms marched in triumph through the streets of Tunis I guarded a pile of sxxxt ! Ron
Thanks for your input Ron!! Looking at the maps it looks like it was just one massive camp in the desert. Lesley
The term " WOGS" originates in the "Wily Oriental Gentlemen" - term of endearment really - amongst others...! Which gave rise to many tales such as building sites with men from Ireland - Micks and Paddy's - Glasgow for Jocks and Macs- Liverpool for Wacks et al One wily complained to the super that he was being harassed and at the mention of the "R" word- the super leaned out the window and yelled - "hey - Mick - Mac - Paddy -Wack - leave the Wog alone Cheers
