1970s, the United States leaves Vietnam 29 March 1973. But the Vietnam War was to continue until Saigon
fell 30 april 1975.
Even so, there was an optimism about a decade of world peace sign, but it would evidently be changed quickly. On October 6, 1973 Egypt and Syria attacked Israel simultaneously on two fronts.
In late October 1973, the Uniteded Nations Emergency Forces, the UNEF II began and lasted until 1979/80 when the peace treaty between the two old enemies; Egypt and Israel began.
In an area where war has been going on every 5 years since 1948, there is now peace for 40 years.
The year is 1973 and I had completed my military service as a cannon gunner in the air defense and I did not know what I would do in life. I applied and was admitted to the UN duty in Cyprus. But I declined. The Yom Kippur War broke out in October 1973 and now I felt it was time to go. So I applied and was accepted to the Swedish battalion 54M to serve from June to December 1974, there was a armistice and ceasefire agreement by that time.
We would relive the first Swedish 52M Battalion who served in December 1973 to June 1974. There was Swedish troops from Cyprus who served late October to December 1973, Battalion 50M.
So why did I go?
First I want to contribute to peace as a precondition for a future of development in the area.
2nd I wanted excitement and in a strange, extreme environment.
I hade told my girlfiend at the time, what I was going to do, and it is clear that 3 weeks before I was to leave was not such a brilliant idea. Perhaps that was why no one said goodbye at the train station when I left my hometown.
The only thing I remember saying something was a friend's mother who said, "Do not do anything stupid and came home in one piece".
We went to the Swedish tank regiment P10 in Strangnes few weeks of training. During the training I had to choose between 9mm submachine gun or automatic carbine 4, the cal 308, I chose the latter because of the longer shooting distance. I was later to voluntarily take on the task as heavy machine gunner, the ksp58, cal 308 which meant greater firepower.
Then with direct flights from Arlanda to Cairo International Airport in the suburb of Heliopolis.
What thoughts did you have and what did we do on and off duty?
Well, when I sat in the aircraft south bound I just felt a great eagerness to get down and get started. No fear, no anxiety.
We flew into the west of the Nile, and I also remember that I saw the pharaoh Djoser pyramid in Sakkara.
We landed in Cairo and found ourselves actually in Africa.
When I left the plane and walked out on the stairs, the compact heat that almost took your breath away, I remember my first words on African soil - How the hell will you survive this !!
We boarded the trucks that would take us the 120km to the east through the Eastern desert to the canal city of Ismailia and further south down, to the south southwest corner of Lake Timsah (Crocodile Lake) and our main camp Tre Kronor (Three Crowns).
During the transit between Cairo and Ismailia , we passed, what was said to be the last line of defense from the war. The tanks remained since the armistice and the cease-fire from the end of October 1973.
But one thing occurred during transiteringen..one of the Swedes had suffered from inflammated Apendix and he became the cause why I came to visit Cairo for the first time after only a week.
The road between Cairo and Ismailia in 1974 was a two lane paved road. When I returned to Egypt two days after Nine Eleven 2001, the road was a 4 lane highway.
First I want to contribute to peace as a precondition for a future of development in the area.
2nd I wanted excitement and in a strange, extreme environment.
I hade told my girlfiend at the time, what I was going to do, and it is clear that 3 weeks before I was to leave was not such a brilliant idea. Perhaps that was why no one said goodbye at the train station when I left my hometown.
The only thing I remember saying something was a friend's mother who said, "Do not do anything stupid and came home in one piece".
We went to the Swedish tank regiment P10 in Strangnes few weeks of training. During the training I had to choose between 9mm submachine gun or automatic carbine 4, the cal 308, I chose the latter because of the longer shooting distance. I was later to voluntarily take on the task as heavy machine gunner, the ksp58, cal 308 which meant greater firepower.
Then with direct flights from Arlanda to Cairo International Airport in the suburb of Heliopolis.
 | |||||||
| The man from the woodlands in the north, south bound for the life in the dessert or to quote John Denver song " I´m leav´in on a jetplane, don´t know when I be back again". |
Well, when I sat in the aircraft south bound I just felt a great eagerness to get down and get started. No fear, no anxiety.
We flew into the west of the Nile, and I also remember that I saw the pharaoh Djoser pyramid in Sakkara.
We landed in Cairo and found ourselves actually in Africa.
When I left the plane and walked out on the stairs, the compact heat that almost took your breath away, I remember my first words on African soil - How the hell will you survive this !!
 | |||
| The picture comes from our staffpaper "The Sandpaper" I´m 5th from right and this is after I said my first words on African soil. We were dessed in the swedish field uniform M58, totaly wrong in this climate. |
We boarded the trucks that would take us the 120km to the east through the Eastern desert to the canal city of Ismailia and further south down, to the south southwest corner of Lake Timsah (Crocodile Lake) and our main camp Tre Kronor (Three Crowns).
During the transit between Cairo and Ismailia , we passed, what was said to be the last line of defense from the war. The tanks remained since the armistice and the cease-fire from the end of October 1973.
But one thing occurred during transiteringen..one of the Swedes had suffered from inflammated Apendix and he became the cause why I came to visit Cairo for the first time after only a week.
 |
| The last egyptian defence line the ADF/ARE line still operating in june 1974 |
Main camp Tre Kronor.
The 52nd Battalion built the camp in late March / early April in 1974 and moved there after living relatively comfortably in the canal company's offices in Ismailia.
The camp stretched about 800 meters north-south and had a width of about 100 meters. To the west the camp had a perimeter of a sand dune and to the east the heavily mined beach to Lake Timsah or Crocodile lake in English.
The camp stretched about 800 meters north-south and had a width of about 100 meters. To the west the camp had a perimeter of a sand dune and to the east the heavily mined beach to Lake Timsah or Crocodile lake in English.
 | ||||||||
| Picture taken from the guard tower on the dune (guard spot during the day) and head north towards the city of Ismailia. On the cape, Egyptian army camp. Structures with sandbags are toilets. |
We were assigned a tent, 8-10 soldiers in each tent. A camp bed, air mattress, a mosquito net, a pillow, a blanket and sheets, and a kerosene lamp. Camping bed's legs had a height of about 10 inches so we had to start filling sandbags to raise the bed off the ground. This is to avoid scorpions, snakes and lizards in bed.
The floor of the tent consisted of the old lake bed, and when the heat intensified and the sun rose in the sky, it became damp and smelled musty.
We lacked many things, both in our new "home" but also other equipment such as the Indian cotton uniforms, the blue field cap, the blue beret. We had the Swedish field uniform, and it was not suitable during the summer months.
We started looking for all sorts of junk that could be used to make our home nice, a piece of wire, a piece of board, etc.
We were divided into two gunner COY´s and I ended up in 1st COY. We became Main Camp COY and 2: nd became desert COY. 1st COY would acclimate and then we would rotate every 14 day between the main camp and the desert. And yes, it was disappointing, it was in the desert you wanted to be.
Every day came to be about routines, salt tablets, malaria prophylaxis, drinking water but also the control of body functions and especially fluid balance through the urine. Anything to avoid dehydration. Water quantity varijerade between 5-15 liters per day depending on the physical activity. But to feel thirst was not always easy, so instead you had to schedule the intake. So life was characterized by strict routines in order to survive.We had a system of body control when it comes to liquid. One way to detect signs of dehydration, a condition that could quickly become dangerous. A system that I even today.
So what did we do, talk about besides camp guard duty?
One must remember that 40 years ago, it was a different time with different values.
For example, the view of the Polish UN battalion which then belonged to the Warsaw Pact. The Polish battalion was at the side of Canadians to the number of people the largest in UNEF II.
We sat in the tent one day and played poker when I suddenly felt itching on my bare upper torso. The famous Egyptian flies? No it was sweat running down my body. Time to drink water or go take a shower?
The Polish battalion would provide transportation of supplies and medic services , based in Ismailia and with a detachment at the racetrack in Heliopolis (Cairo)We sat there and talked about the Polish. A rumor said that, at their first morning call one of the officers said "Anyone who wants a driver's license, take a step forward," so the rumor said.
Each truck was a driver and co-driver. Word said co-driver was in fact a security official from the Soviet Union, true or false ?
We got to have more contact with the Canadians invited to their camp in Ismailia (they also had a detachment on the racetrack in Heliopolis), and they were invited to celebrate midsummer at our camp. What exactly did they did was at thar time unknown, but they had airplanes, the "flying box" Caribu.
But our main topic of conversation came to deal with the inevitable, the Yallah stomage (fast stomage), the Cairo Quickstep or Pharaoh's Revenge. We knew that we would get sick but when and where.
Severe gastroenteritis combined with severe sweating and lack of fluid could result in a dangerous condition, sunstroke.
I came to experience how a couple of mates got into serious difficulties with severe confusion and fever and sent to the Polish in Ismailia for emergency medical care.
I think I´ll stop here and maybe get back with some more stories and pictures from " The main camp life".
The next part will be when we leave Africa and takes us across the Suez Canal to Asia and daily life in the desert.
The floor of the tent consisted of the old lake bed, and when the heat intensified and the sun rose in the sky, it became damp and smelled musty.
We lacked many things, both in our new "home" but also other equipment such as the Indian cotton uniforms, the blue field cap, the blue beret. We had the Swedish field uniform, and it was not suitable during the summer months.
We started looking for all sorts of junk that could be used to make our home nice, a piece of wire, a piece of board, etc.
We were divided into two gunner COY´s and I ended up in 1st COY. We became Main Camp COY and 2: nd became desert COY. 1st COY would acclimate and then we would rotate every 14 day between the main camp and the desert. And yes, it was disappointing, it was in the desert you wanted to be.
Every day came to be about routines, salt tablets, malaria prophylaxis, drinking water but also the control of body functions and especially fluid balance through the urine. Anything to avoid dehydration. Water quantity varijerade between 5-15 liters per day depending on the physical activity. But to feel thirst was not always easy, so instead you had to schedule the intake. So life was characterized by strict routines in order to survive.We had a system of body control when it comes to liquid. One way to detect signs of dehydration, a condition that could quickly become dangerous. A system that I even today.
So what did we do, talk about besides camp guard duty?
One must remember that 40 years ago, it was a different time with different values.
For example, the view of the Polish UN battalion which then belonged to the Warsaw Pact. The Polish battalion was at the side of Canadians to the number of people the largest in UNEF II.
We sat in the tent one day and played poker when I suddenly felt itching on my bare upper torso. The famous Egyptian flies? No it was sweat running down my body. Time to drink water or go take a shower?
 | |||
| One of the showers in the otherwise heavily mined beach of Crokodile lake. One of the men in the picture was a newcomer, called "Pinky" by the pink color of the skin. If you look closely at the ground, you can see bands that marked de-mined area and not cleared area. |
The Polish battalion would provide transportation of supplies and medic services , based in Ismailia and with a detachment at the racetrack in Heliopolis (Cairo)We sat there and talked about the Polish. A rumor said that, at their first morning call one of the officers said "Anyone who wants a driver's license, take a step forward," so the rumor said.
Each truck was a driver and co-driver. Word said co-driver was in fact a security official from the Soviet Union, true or false ?
We got to have more contact with the Canadians invited to their camp in Ismailia (they also had a detachment on the racetrack in Heliopolis), and they were invited to celebrate midsummer at our camp. What exactly did they did was at thar time unknown, but they had airplanes, the "flying box" Caribu.
But our main topic of conversation came to deal with the inevitable, the Yallah stomage (fast stomage), the Cairo Quickstep or Pharaoh's Revenge. We knew that we would get sick but when and where.
Severe gastroenteritis combined with severe sweating and lack of fluid could result in a dangerous condition, sunstroke.
I came to experience how a couple of mates got into serious difficulties with severe confusion and fever and sent to the Polish in Ismailia for emergency medical care.
 |
| Yallah stomage? |
 |
| " Down The shit alley" |
I think I´ll stop here and maybe get back with some more stories and pictures from " The main camp life".
The next part will be when we leave Africa and takes us across the Suez Canal to Asia and daily life in the desert.
Inga kommentarer:
Skicka en kommentar