On the morning of November 10th, we arrived in Newport, Wales, where, tied to the dock was a former New Zealand freighter, the Rangtiki. The morning newspapers, for the first time, told of the landings of the Allied forces in Africa. We then realized that we were destined for the "dark continent". We were assigned to the "royal suite" on the boat, the hold in the front part of the ship. This was a choice location from the sightseeing point of view, but whenever a wave hit the ship, we recieved a cold salt water shower. In spite of this and other disadvantages, conditions aboard ship were far better than those on the Marnix. The food was fairly good, show was served on plates, and hot soup was on the menu every day. In addition, we were permitted to purchase various edibles from the PX, a situation which made us wonder why this food was not served during the regular meals.
We were, as far as we could ascertain, the back end of that now-famous 850 ship convoy which made the original landings in Africa, coming in on the third wave of the four wave convoy. The trip was highlighted, in addition to the usual card and crap games on board, by an amateur show featuring the talents of the Army Medical and Air Corps. We learned that the cream of the crop of the American war correspondents were on board, namely, Ernie Pyle of the Scripps-Howard Newspapers, Gault MacGowan of the New York Sun, and many others. This trip, as well as the entire North African campaign was described by all the correspondents in their daily columns, and was mentioned in Pyle's later book, "Here Is Your War." One of the most picturesque sights we had the pleasure of observing was a double rainbow which surrounded the whole convoy like a frame around a picture.
The day before we passed through the Straits of Gibraltar was a hectic one in the annals of the German submarine service. The German Navy announced that it was waiting for the rest of the convoy which was expected to come through the Straits that night. Thankful for the information, we sailed out into the Atlantic again and waited one full day for the Allied air forces to take care of the subs. The next day, an allied communique announced the sinking of 23 subs off Gibraltar. We then passed through the Straits of Gibraltar very confident but ignorant of the fact that a torpedo passed in front of the ship and missed it by only a few feet. The following morning, the crew told us of the concussion caused by the torpedo which resulted in throwing them from their hammocks. For the first time since we left the states, we saw that night, a city which was not blacked out -- Tangier -- all lit up like a Christmas tree.
On board ship, we were given an introdcution to what we could expect when we landed. A booklet called "A Soldier's Guide to North Africa" was issued to us, and it described out future surroundings, its people and their customs and habits. We later realized that the author of the booklet must have had a bad nightmare while writing the article, as future events didn't quite bear him out. Such bits o advice as "Eat only part of the first course", "Never smoke or spit in front of a mosque", "Don't offer Muslims any meat", "Don't look at native women", "It never rains in Africa", and many others, made interesting reading but never proved practical. We also were issued such summer necessities as mosquito cream, sun and dust glasses, and water sterilizers as a precaution against the disease and filth characteristic of the dark continent. These later proved slightly more useful than the booklet.
On the evening of November 21st, we sailed into the harbor of Mers-el-Kebir, a natural water base situated five miles from Oran. Oran itself could be seen from the boat, the lights in the city once again reminding us that we still had many more lights to rekindle before we would complete our mission. The following morning, we set foot upon the continent of Africa, happy to be part of the invading forces which were to drive the Axis from Africa.
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