13 Cab Chev Ambulance Question?
 

A friend and i were talking tonight about rifles in cabs and owing to fire arms laws, making up totaly dummy wooden 303 copies and bolt them in the cab to make them a permanent fixture.
The question is what was the commonwealth ruling on ambulances having fire arms,ie the driver and his mate,did they have them there for the protection of the patients,or was a non armed position maintained.
thanks in advance ken Hughes

Good question Ken! Hugh Thompson in Victoria has a fully kitted out Cab 13 ambulance - Jan (of Corowa fame - Hugh's daughter!) are you out there?
At a guess I'd reckon they were unarmed - that's why when hospital ships displaying the red cross were sunk there was always furore because it signalled no arms on board. It'd be some Geneva Convention thing probably.
I have a copy of 'Ice Cold in Alex' - I don't think the ambulance is armed - only John Mills and Anthony Quayle who are blow-ins on the ambulance have weaponry from what I remember. I'll have a look :salute:
Cheers Warren

Hi Warren and Kenny

As far as I recall, medics were non combatants and did not carry arms. Though in the movie "Ice Cold in Alex" John Mills and Anthony Quayle wore side arms in the ambulance and if I remember correctly, they hid them when the were stopped by the German troops. You are correct ships and hospitals buildings bearing the Red Cross and all lit up were off limits, but this was not always adhered too at times. I believe in Hillegom, the village my family lived in Holland under 4 years of German occupation there were a couple of incidents where ambulances and civillian vehicles were straffed by allied planes. So non combatants were still at risk.

Cheers

Tony :no4:

Post-war
 

My father was in the RAMC 1946-48 in Greece and then Trans-Jordan, Palestine, and finally Egypt. I think that in the latter they had Bedford QLs but they certainly had trucks in Greece, as Dad used to run into town from the military hospital where he was a postal orderly in a borrowed truck with the mail. He certainly had a revolver for personal protection and when on guard duty had a rifle.

Hi Warren,
I don't recall dad's Ford Blitz Ambulance being armed but i will ask him for you.

thanks for your replies so far,this gets interesting and i couldnt remember the name of that movie,i have been trying to remember it for quiet a while.

Rifles in the cab?
 

I am glad this question came up as I was wondering the same thing.I am currently starting the restoration of my Ford 3 ton cab 13 ambulance and would like to know if the rifles would be proper.One thing to consider is that medical personel did not drive the trucks but service corps personel which would have been armed and although there were no arms in the back of the ambulance where the medics were,the service corps may have had the rifles in the cab with them for their protection.Any thoughts on this?
Regards,Derk.

Derk,

I think I am correct in saying, that if a vehicle is bearing Red Cross markings, then according to the Geneva Convention, no arms should be carried on it. Open to correction here though.

Centaur sinking
 

Reminds of the sinking of the hospital ship CENTAUR off the Queensland coast with many lives lost. She was clearly marked with a red cross .

Sinking of centaur
 

Mike

The sinking of the CENTAUR of the Queensland coast by the Japanese should never have happened as she was painted White with Large Red Crosses painted on her and she had all her lights on. Made no difference to the Japanese sub commander as Japan was not, as I recal, a signatory of the Geneva Convention. Shame Shame Shame.:remember

Tony :no4:

Ambulances + arms
 

My father advises that in post-war Palestine the drivers were indeed RASC personnel initially, and the RAMC men rode 'shotgun'. However, so many accidents were caused by RASC personnnel who had been from all manner of trades. that invites went out to ther RAMC for drivers. It turned out that many had been long-distance drivers in civvy street.

Now, ambulances he said did not have arms because of the Geneva Convention BUT the Jewish gangs did not recognise the Convention and deliberately shot at ambulances. Thus all guys on the ambulances had side arms as a consequence. They probably had rifles as well.

This might be relevant to wartime CMP ambulances in the Palestine/Transjordan region and may have applied to Sinai as well. I hope that this is of some interest!

Thanks you guys so far for the info,very interesting.

My understanding is that, during the second world war, all ranks of RAMC (and Army Dental Corps) did not carry weapons BUT Ambulances were driven by men of the RASC who would carry persmal weapons.
Similarly Stretcher Bearers were members of the parent unit (not RAMC men) and carried personal weapons for self defence.

Noel