When the troop ship docked, the sounds and smells of this foreign land was like an assault on their senses. The dockside was alive with swarms of people, mostly men, jostling and calling to each other in a mix of languages that Tilly struggled to identify. The few women they saw out and about were covered from head to toe in long, mostly black, garments. Their faces barely visible beneath a head covering. There were soldiers gathering up their equipment as it was unloaded, fighting for a place on the dockside. In among them were traders unloading their goods and groups of men bartering, jostling and shouting. There was an atmosphere of desperation and aggression in the air, and she didn’t much relish the idea of getting off the ship and in among the melee of people, animals, detritus, carts and lorries. She cast a glance at Fliss who was waving her hand in front of her face, complaining about the smell and the heat.
‘Well, we’d better get used to it,’ Tilly said. ‘We might be here for a long time.’
They were hurried along by the captain of the battalion who told them to carry their own gear and follow him. They were escorted with the other nurses through the crowds by several soldiers who poked the locals with the butt of their guns if they got too close to the women. They caused quite a stir and became the centre of unwanted attention. Fliss cast looks in the direction of the men who were ogling them and making lewd signs. Whenone man, in a long cotton robe covered in filth, reached out to touch her, she swore at him and struck out at his arm.
‘Be very careful what you do, Miss,’ the soldier next to her said. ‘These people can turn very nasty; they’re not used to seeing women out on the streets who are not covered up. My advice is, wear something that shows as little flesh as possible if you want to avoid their attentions. And I would get rid of that,’ the soldier added, pointing to Fliss’s fancy watch. ‘Too much of an attraction for thieves. They’d just as soon take your whole hand off than leave that on your wrist.’
The nurses travelled with a military escort all the way into the city. The sun shone down mercilessly upon them and Tilly was grateful for the hat that she was told would be essential out here in the desert. They passed streets of collapsed buildings turned to rubble by constant bombardment. They were acknowledged at lookout points and waved through. Every time a plane flew over, they looked to the skies to discern if it was friendly or enemy aircraft and wove their way in and out of potholes that threatened to overturn their vehicle at any time. The aura of imminent threat was constantly with them.
‘We’re almost there,’ said the captain in the front seat of their jeep. ‘We need you ladies desperately. We’ve had an increase in casualties defending this place recently. And don’t expect too much in the way of equipment, medicines and supplies. We’re constantly short of everything.’
They were taken to the building that served as a hospital. It was as dilapidated as the other buildings they had passed, with holes in the roof and sections that were uninhabitable as the blast holes in the walls left them exposed to the elements. How a ramshackle building like this could be kept sterile for patients was beyond Tilly.
‘At least we’re not in a tent in the freezing cold,’ Tilly said. ‘Look on the bright side.’
‘Ask me when we’ve been here a few weeks and I’ll tell you if rain and mud is worse than heat and flies,’ Fliss said.
They were met and given a general introduction by Sister Joyce Smythe.
‘Welcome to Tobruk,’ Sister Smythe said. ‘You’ll soon get the hang of what we do here. Much the same as any other field hospital, I should think. Clean them, mend them, medicate them, mother them and send them back for more.’
She took them into the main ward, where there were soldiers lined up in beds with various bandaged parts of their body. One had both legs in plaster, supported by a hanging structure from the ceiling.
‘We get a lot of injuries caused by collapsing buildings that bury soldiers during a tank bombardment,’ Sister said. ‘This man’s lucky, though. He will regain the use of his legs. The soldier in the bed at the end wasn’t so lucky, both legs amputated, poor man. He’s seen the last of the war, God bless him.’
One of the men was huddled in a corner, weeping and shouting. He seemed to be totally preoccupied with playing out a scene of intense battle over and over in his head.
‘That’s Captain Anderson,’ Sister said. ‘He’s suffering from battle fatigue. He rescued one of his men single-handed when he was trapped beneath the rubble during an intense battle on the outer walls of the city.’
‘Hold on, soldier,’ the captain kept calling. ‘Hold on. I’m coming for you.’
‘He went for the man himself because he said he wouldn’t ask any of his men to risk their lives. He carried him back to safety over his shoulder and was badly injured himself. We’ve done all we can for his physical wounds, but we can do nothing for his mind. He needs to get out of here, he needs to go back home.’ She called one of the other nurses over and asked herto try to persuade him to go with her out of the ward. ‘He’s distressing the other patients,’ she said. ‘And make sure he hasn’t got any more drink in his locker. He rants like this when he’s drunk. I’d like to know who it is who keeps getting it for him.’
When they moved off down the ward, Tilly heard one of the other soldiers with a bandage over one eye and his arm in a sling say, ‘It’s all right for her, the old battleaxe. She hasn’t seen what he’s seen. Men with their guts spilled out. She’s not been where a land mine explodes and been rained on with human body parts.’
Tilly had to agree with him, that to escape reality through a haze of drink was probably the better option for the poor man rather than having to face the truth stone-cold sober. The following weeks were spent with Tilly and Fliss fitting in with the day and night-time rotas. Sometimes they were together and sometimes not, but, whatever duty they were on, the work and the battle against the flies and the germs was constant. Night duty was a bit of a release in some ways, the biggest advantage of which was a little respite from the sun and suffocating heat. On night duty, Tilly often found herself thinking about Jed, where he might be right now and if they would ever meet again. She doubted it, but she wouldn’t give up hope. How being at war tore people apart, Tilly thought.
The battle to hold Tobruk went on for many months and Tilly was beginning to think that her ambulance-driving days were over when, one day, the nurses were asked by Sister Smythe if any of them had driving experience. Tilly immediately said she did.
‘Well, then, Captain Davis would like to see you,’ Sister said. ‘Report to him immediately.’
Tilly introduced herself to the captain and waited to hear about the mission.
Captain Davis didn’t mince his words. ‘I understand you have experience of driving an ambulance, is that correct?’ the captain asked.
‘Yes, sir,’ Tilly replied. ‘I’d like to volunteer for this assignment.’
‘And you are?’
‘Nurse Tilly Truscott,’ she replied, quite overawed by the situation and mesmerised by the captain’s presence and piercing eyes. He was a tall, handsome man who engaged her completely with his stare, as if he could read her every thought in the deepest recesses of her mind.
‘Listen to what you have to do first before you jump in,’ the captain cautioned. ‘I need a driver and a nurse to assist with transporting Captain Anderson and our most badly injured soldier to the hospital ship that is leaving Alexandria in a few days’ time. You will also be carrying important information on the state of the siege to deliver to the central command of the Western Desert. I can only afford to send one armed soldier with you. It’s not going to be easy. There’s a vast area of desert to cross and the area is heavily mined. Are you still up for it, Nurse Truscott?’
‘Yes, sir,’ Tilly replied.
‘Then would you please choose another nurse to accompany you and let me know who that might be?’
‘I know who’ll come with me already,’ Tilly said. ‘Nurse Felicity Marcheson will be happy to accompany me, I’m sure. We’ve worked together in France and we know each other very well.’
