Dinosaur
AH veteran
My father had similar flashbacks which he would come up with, but didn't remember when bringing the same conversation up with my friends, especially when involving his time chasing Mau Mau up in the Aberdares. He just didn't like talking about it. He would talk about the good times with all his colleagues during training in the Kenya Regiment, but keep totally silent about being on the field, and now that I am older and wiser, I totally understand.
My father and his mates loved to go to Nairobi Station to buy palm wine from the Africans, which was the local sly grog, and when back at base, and listen to their great singing, and whistling colleague, 'Roger Whittaker', who later became famous. A few of his other regiment colleagues were my mum's brother, Allan Root, Anton Allen, Ian Parker, and a few others, including a couple that were mentioned in Brian Hernes 'White hunter' book. I didn't get their names, as my dad didn't want to talk about it at the time, but apparently they were shot by modern poachers, and he was pretty upset over it, so I didn't ask again.
Anyhow, back to his days in the regiment, he mentioned that he always ended up with the .303 Bren Light Machine gun, it's always the little guy who gets the heaviest firearm, and it would have been hell lugging it up in, and through, the thick jungle of the Aberdares. He said that always had a problem of ejecting the hot empty cartridges down your sleeve, and that the Sten guns were terrible when you dropped them, as they would always fire off when hitting the ground. He loved the 9mm Patchets/ Stirling Sub machine guns, and also the British Lee Enfield .303 Mk V Jungle Carbines.
As they were in thick jungle, it was only short distance firing, so it didn't matter if the rifle didn't group within an inch at 100yards. He also got to use both British & Canadian Lee Enfield .303 Mk IVs, of which he preferred the British version which had more Lands in the Rifling twist.
My father was an excellent mathematics and was excellent at calculating distances, wind etcetera, with the mortar, but he was always jealous at how good my mother's brother was, as he kicked butt during training, he was a dead eye dick.
Dad said that he didn't shoot any Mau Mau,, as the Mau Mau were extremely good at evading them in the jungle. During training one of his colleagues got splashed on his boots from an exploding phosphorous grenade. All the troops had to line up to urinate on the boots to attempt to put the phosphorous out, which give the soldier time to get his foot out of his burning boot.
My dad recalled one mission in the Aberdares which he thanks god that he was unable to attend, as his colleagues had cornered some armed Mau Mau in a hot. The hot was fired upon by the regiment, and a couple of soldiers thinking that nothing would be left alive went charging into the hut to finish the Mau Mau off, and sadly the soldiers were shot dead, as the Mau Mau had climbed up into the ceiling and fired on the soldiers from above.
On the same mission another soldier had to clear another hut containing Mau Mau, plucked the pin from the grenade which he lobbed into the hut, and threw himself to the ground for safety. The grenade went off killing the Mau Mau, but the bolt that retains the Pin on the top of the grenade blew back hitting the soldier in the head , and that was that.
A lot of the farmers used hunting rifles to fight against the Mau Mau, and the Mau Mau didn't have much of a chance against these rifles. But civilians had to use what they had, as they were defending themselves, it was not for sport
Honestly, I had never heard of a 9.3mm Mauser until my dad mentioned the calibre, as his friends farm was being raided, and his friend hit a Mau Mau with the 9.3. As you may guess, it was over kill,
I was fascinated and looked up all my hunting books and magazines trying to find what a 9.3 mm Mauser round looked like.
Dad loved the Africans, as he grew up and worked with them, and was glad when the emergency was over.
After the Emergency everyone went their own way, my Dad's sister husband apparently was flying guns down via the Caprivi strip, as that was a safe haven for pilots, lodged between various countries at war during the times. Planes had a chance to sneak in and land/refill before heading to an unknown destination,, this was during the 1960's to the 1970's. I don't know if he is still alive.
Meanwhile another two of my father's regimental friends flew guns to Uganda for Idi Amin.
Idi Amin was renowned for his sinister and devilish sense of humour, and during their last trip of many, Idi Amin had the plane unloaded, and gave the gun runners a generous gift for services, a fully mounted stuffed lion which they loaded into the plane.
Half way back during their flight to Kenya, the pilots discovered that the gift was a Trojan horse. Their plane blew up, with compliments of the Time bomb inside Idi Amin's stuffed lion.
Regards
Rob
My father and his mates loved to go to Nairobi Station to buy palm wine from the Africans, which was the local sly grog, and when back at base, and listen to their great singing, and whistling colleague, 'Roger Whittaker', who later became famous. A few of his other regiment colleagues were my mum's brother, Allan Root, Anton Allen, Ian Parker, and a few others, including a couple that were mentioned in Brian Hernes 'White hunter' book. I didn't get their names, as my dad didn't want to talk about it at the time, but apparently they were shot by modern poachers, and he was pretty upset over it, so I didn't ask again.
Anyhow, back to his days in the regiment, he mentioned that he always ended up with the .303 Bren Light Machine gun, it's always the little guy who gets the heaviest firearm, and it would have been hell lugging it up in, and through, the thick jungle of the Aberdares. He said that always had a problem of ejecting the hot empty cartridges down your sleeve, and that the Sten guns were terrible when you dropped them, as they would always fire off when hitting the ground. He loved the 9mm Patchets/ Stirling Sub machine guns, and also the British Lee Enfield .303 Mk V Jungle Carbines.
As they were in thick jungle, it was only short distance firing, so it didn't matter if the rifle didn't group within an inch at 100yards. He also got to use both British & Canadian Lee Enfield .303 Mk IVs, of which he preferred the British version which had more Lands in the Rifling twist.
My father was an excellent mathematics and was excellent at calculating distances, wind etcetera, with the mortar, but he was always jealous at how good my mother's brother was, as he kicked butt during training, he was a dead eye dick.
Dad said that he didn't shoot any Mau Mau,, as the Mau Mau were extremely good at evading them in the jungle. During training one of his colleagues got splashed on his boots from an exploding phosphorous grenade. All the troops had to line up to urinate on the boots to attempt to put the phosphorous out, which give the soldier time to get his foot out of his burning boot.
My dad recalled one mission in the Aberdares which he thanks god that he was unable to attend, as his colleagues had cornered some armed Mau Mau in a hot. The hot was fired upon by the regiment, and a couple of soldiers thinking that nothing would be left alive went charging into the hut to finish the Mau Mau off, and sadly the soldiers were shot dead, as the Mau Mau had climbed up into the ceiling and fired on the soldiers from above.
On the same mission another soldier had to clear another hut containing Mau Mau, plucked the pin from the grenade which he lobbed into the hut, and threw himself to the ground for safety. The grenade went off killing the Mau Mau, but the bolt that retains the Pin on the top of the grenade blew back hitting the soldier in the head , and that was that.
A lot of the farmers used hunting rifles to fight against the Mau Mau, and the Mau Mau didn't have much of a chance against these rifles. But civilians had to use what they had, as they were defending themselves, it was not for sport
Honestly, I had never heard of a 9.3mm Mauser until my dad mentioned the calibre, as his friends farm was being raided, and his friend hit a Mau Mau with the 9.3. As you may guess, it was over kill,
I was fascinated and looked up all my hunting books and magazines trying to find what a 9.3 mm Mauser round looked like.
Dad loved the Africans, as he grew up and worked with them, and was glad when the emergency was over.
After the Emergency everyone went their own way, my Dad's sister husband apparently was flying guns down via the Caprivi strip, as that was a safe haven for pilots, lodged between various countries at war during the times. Planes had a chance to sneak in and land/refill before heading to an unknown destination,, this was during the 1960's to the 1970's. I don't know if he is still alive.
Meanwhile another two of my father's regimental friends flew guns to Uganda for Idi Amin.
Idi Amin was renowned for his sinister and devilish sense of humour, and during their last trip of many, Idi Amin had the plane unloaded, and gave the gun runners a generous gift for services, a fully mounted stuffed lion which they loaded into the plane.
Half way back during their flight to Kenya, the pilots discovered that the gift was a Trojan horse. Their plane blew up, with compliments of the Time bomb inside Idi Amin's stuffed lion.
Regards
Rob
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