From: Tim Merry (timmerry@SHOAL.NET.AU)
Date: Mon Apr 12 1999 - 13:48:14 PDT
Ron,
On10 Apr 1999 you wrote:
(Tim)
>> The 'Carrier' I inherited in Normandy had the name LILI MARLENE
>> painted across the near side (left side).
(Ron)
>I assume the 'Carriers' you mentioned were indeed
>'Bren Gun Carriers'?
Yes. I omitted 'Bren-gun' in case it should confuse. Actually,
while carriers relied principally on the Bren-gun, our carriers
were also fitted with the .5in Browning machine-gun (a belt-fed
job with three sorts of bullets in series - ordinary,
armour-piercing, and incendiary). My carrier also carried a
2in mortar (never actually used!), and a chore-horse (which we
called the 'Scharnhorst', after the German pocket-battle-ship of
that name), a petrol-driven battery-charger for the Section's
wireless.
Re you other posting, Ron
>I remember the Brits singing a rather bawdy song
>about King Farouk and Queen Ferida to the tune
>of the Egyptian National Anthem.
I remember that one too -
"We're all ..... b......s and we all love the King,
Dah-di-dah dah-di-dah dah-di-dah bardin ...."
It's amazing how many arabic words were in common use in units like
mine which had seen service in North Africa: bardin (above) meant
'later on'. One had to pick up all these words and expressions if
one had any hope of understanding what the men were saying.
Regards,
Tim