Word: matrs
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...thin, 40-mile front between the Qattara Depression and the sea. For two years the troops of the Eighth had waged a seesaw desert campaign. Sometimes they had been badly led, never had they had adequate equipment. They had retreated before Graziani singing: "Oh, Sidi Barrani-Oh, Mersa Matrûh-The Eyties will get there, then what will we do?" Then under Wavell they had driven Graziani westward to El Aghéila. Rommel had punched them back. Under Auchinleck, Cunningham and Ritchie had recovered that ground. Again Rommel had punched them back, this time destroying most of their...
Pilgrim's Progress. He rode across the bloody sands of Egypt. He rolled through Matrûh, where Rommel's overturned guns and tanks lay like beetles on their backs in the African sun. He did not destroy Rommel there. Rommel with the fleeing fraction of his army escaped through Hellfire Pass, where a few New Zealanders routed his rear guard...
...Tobruk carried some of the load after engineers restored it. Ships edged along the shore. Rush orders had to be carried by giant transport planes. Supply trucks, given priority, frequently moved ahead of all but the very advanced troops. One story was told of a bakery unit dashing into Matrûh, where a German officer stepped forth and growled: "You arrived too soon...
...second night we spent in the garden of a ruined dressing station along the shore in Matrûh. The Italians had left jars of salve, sulfanilamide, antiseptics, bandages and a big supply of drugs for treating gonorrhea. Though special toilets were built in the garden the Italians found the rooms of the villa more convenient...
...West of Matrûh we passed through the greatest dump of motorized equipment in the world, with the possible exception of Stalingrad. The edges of the road and the desert as far as we could see were strewn with wrecked German and Italian tanks, armored cars, motorcycles, lorries and staff cars. In between were tires of Jerry cars and munitions of all kinds from bullets to bombs, tools and helmets, and carcasses of beef...