Chapter 6

It took only five days to get back to base. Once clear of the wadi they were on limestone rock with a thin covering of sand, able to average over two hundred miles a day before slowing when they hit the dunes.

They had been gone fourteen days.

After a shower and a shave Shaun reported to Ted. He showed him the notebook regarding the airbase and the wadi on Ted’s map.

Ted listened to what Shaun had to say before adding, “So you will need to position your cache in the cave?”

Shaun nodded, “Basically it will consist of petrol, ammo, and food. When we attack ammo will be the prime load. We can load up with petrol and grub for the return after keeping our heads down for seven days or so to be on the safe side. Do you know when the convoy is due?”

“Latest estimates is three weeks. It’s forming up in Gibraltar at the moment. It’s bringing tanks and aircraft for the proposed counterattack on the Axis positions so it’s critical that it gets through.”

“So we need to start building up the cache right away. It’s a ten-day trip to the wadi and back,” Shaun murmured.

“We’ll get Tim, Bill, and Bobby in and brief them. Your navigator can brief their blokes on the route to take. The Sergeants can start organising weapons for it.”

Two days later Tim set out loaded with petrol. Two days later Bill left also loaded down followed by Bobby in Anne two days after that.

In the interim Jack had visited Ali’s shack and returned with two more M2HB 50 calibres.

“The problem is there’s no ammo for them Boss,” he said mournfully.

Ted solved the problem by getting 3000 rounds of .50 API (armour piercing incendiaries) from the RAF which used them on their Kittyhawks.

Sue made an uneventful trip loaded with ammunition and grenades. Shaun had looked with satisfaction at the heaped jerry cans of petrol, boxes of ammunition and cases of food. A camouflage net now hid the entrance to the cave.

Tim and Bill did one further trip out to the cave, after which Shaun said they had enough.

Work began on the trucks with the 50cals mounted on Tim’s and Bobby’s trucks. Bill had a Vickers Medium machine gun .303 mounted in the central mount. Twin Vickers Ks where to be mounted either on the nearside or offside of the truck near the front. It had been decided that at the end of the runway the Vickers Ks could be changed to the other mount for the return trip up the runway if need be. They practiced changing the guns on the mounts to establish the best way of doing it.

Shaun inspected each truck. They all carried two twin Vickers Ks, one in front of the passenger seat and the other on a mount behind them, with either a 50cal in the central mount in the middle of the truck or a Vickers Medium machine gun. The magazine feeds for the Vickers Ks and Vickers Medium guns had armour piercing and incendiaries every five rounds.

In a briefing with the other officers and sergeants and Ted in attendance, Shaun outlined his plan of attack using a large-scale sketch of the airbase.

Sue would crash the guard post barrier, making its way to the runway. On the way they would grenade the flack positions on the right. Tim, following, would grenade the flack positions on their left. Shaun and Tim would proceed down the left of the runway destroying the aircraft lined up there. Bill would go down the right-hand side. At the end of the runway Bill would turn coming back up the side Shaun and Tim had come down, whilst Shaun and Tim would go up his side destroying any he had missed.

Bobby would take up a position just inside of the guard gate and cover the barracks. Someone in his crew will have to place a plastic explosive, which we will make, in the fuel depot. It will have a twenty-five-minute fuse pencil. He will also keep the barracks under fire and any other troops that may engage him. When Tim, Bill and I return, he will then follow us up the coast road over the escarpment and then on to the cave.