By early 1916, the Egyptian Expeditionary Force was using nearly 20,000 camels in its transport lines. Camels were organised in companies of about 2,000 led by Egyptian drivers.
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| Well with horn bucket, Palestine |
The water needs of troops on the front line was often supplied by camel convoys with each camel carting two small 12.5 gallon tanks known as fanatis.
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| Filling fanatis near Jaffa, 1918 |
I could not resist having a well and camel train (of sorts) to populate a corner of the battlefield. As warmers, I think we often politely ignore the presence of the transport required to get troops into the firing line and supply them when they are there.
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| Camels with 'well sets' |
So, in recognition of all this necessary 'graft' going on behind the lines, here is a scratch build of a couple of hardy engineers pumping up the brackish water from a desert well 'somewhere in Palestine' into the fanatics - ready for carting off to the line.
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| A05802. Probably PALESTINE, C. 1917. WATER PUMPS USED BY 1ST FIELD SQUADRON ENGINEERS |
The two Royal Engineers are Eureka British in Sinai gun crew (yes, I use them for everything!) and the camel are Irregular Miniatures Egyptian Camel Corps (
FZ88) with their riders lopped off.
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| Assembling the well - I'm a slow bricklayer! |
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| Engineer at the well building up a sweat on the water pump |
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| The fanatis display their balsa construction - should have used card! |
Its enough to make a chap thirsty. Thanks for looking.
