Page 95 - The History of the Royal Army Veterinary Corps 1962–2021

THE HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ARMY VETERINARY CORPS 1962 – 2021
property in North Africa. The dogs were supplied by 3 ADTU.
The march to war had been building for months with escalating trouble on the Israel-Syrian border. Israel aggressively pushed its claims to disputed territory in the border area by using armoured tractors to cultivate fields in demilitarised areas. In April this situation came to a head with a full-scale air and artillery battle between Israel and Syria. Israel won. The British held Cyprus close, fearing the implications of Soviet involvement and what that would have meant in the context of the Cold War and access to the Suez Canal. The political pressures appeared and grew from all directions and then, at 0740 hrs on 5th June, the Israeli war plan, Operation FOCUS, was launched.
In the five days of war, Israel routed the armies of Egypt, Jordan and Syria. It captured the Gaza Strip and the Sinai desert from Egypt; the Golan Heights from Syria; and the West Bank and East Jerusalem, from Jordan.
As the conflict raged, the MWDs of 3 ADTU proved their worth as guards and protectors and the demands for more dogs came thick and fast.
The first six months of 1968 were relatively quiet in Cyprus, compared to the tail end of the previous year when the Unit was swamped with demands for dogs as emergencies and crises followed hard and fast upon one another’s heels.
The Cyprus Unit also had a visit from Cpls Terry Hadden and 'Jock’ Aitken on their return from Aden and left behind their Tracker dogs. After the quarantine period there was an expectation that some good work could be done with the two dogs in the comparatively good tracking conditions in Cyprus. A number of dogs had been posted out to meet the demand, but sadly a great many were also euthanised as surplus to estab- lishment – as decreed by the run-down of British Forces in Cyprus. Ironically, training continued with the Army Department Police Dog Handler’s courses, punctuated by a course for Infantrymen and Signalmen. The Specialist dogs assigned to the Infantry regiments training on the Island were more likely to be called on with increasing frequency as more personnel came from England to take advantage of the Cyprus Training Areas.
Special mention must be made here of Arms Recovery (AR) dog “Hawk” who, as said previously, was used on a scheme with the Staffordshire Regiment. As a demonstration of his powers, Hawk was worked over a cornfield across
which a Company had just passed and found a ‘Very’ pistol buried sometime earlier alongside a few ‘false caches’. For this sterling performance Hawk was given a round of applause by the whole company – and extra biscuits by his handler.
Understandably in the circumstances, Exercises had been thin on the ground with the exception of one with the 3rd Carabiniers (Prince of Wales’s Dragoon Guards). This was reported as a novel experience for all concerned as it was the first time there had been a follow-up party of an armoured troop complete with scout cars. Believe it or not, it worked except, when several vehicle Commanders chose to ‘run on’ when they sighted the enemy, and this involved several of their cars being involved in an ambush. Nevertheless, this type of follow-up party had distinct possibil- ities in open, unfenced country and drastically reduced the chances of a successful ambush on the follow-up party, especially when a co-ordinated attack is sent in.
During mid-April 1968, Cpl Ray Angwin flew out to RAF El Adem in Libya where he started to train new handlers on a dog course – and do battle with the unbearable heat. Cpl Angwin visited the Administrative Base Unit to hand over three dogs and found a location that consisted of seventy tents stuck right in the middle of the Libyan Desert. There was no road or anything even resembling a track leading to it, just an oil drum every two or three miles to help people find their way. The surrounding desert was not sand, but a flour-like dust and even under a slight breeze it created a swirling white cloud – when Cpl Angwin arrived it was blowing a force-nine gale. The dogs didn’t appear to be bothered by it and were reported to be in remarkable condition – which was more than could be said of the handlers. There had been a few cases of exhaustion amongst the men due to the lack of salt, so the powers that be authorised the addition of an unpalatable mineral to all foodstuffs. There was salt in the tea, coffee and lemonade...it was in everything!
Sgt Ted Parsons replaced Cpl Angwin who was happy to leave and Sgt Parsons was pessimistic about his sanity at the end of his own nine-month tour.18
The Unit VOs continued the good work as travelling representatives in the Middle East. They visited Muscat, Bahrain and Oman, keeping their hand in with large animal procedures by de-humping camels for the Sultan. Unit personnel were consistently on the move and logged
18 The Journal of The Royal Army Veterinary Corps Volume 39 No 2 Summer 1968.
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