Truck Identification in the area of SOLLUM

[David_Hayward (RIP)]

I am no expert, at all, but I can say that the first CMP trucks, say F15s, to British order that were delivered to the Middle East only arrived in Alexandria in January 1941 and then had to be assembled and issued. There is ample evidence that 1939 and 1940 Chevrolets acquired under a 1938 agreement with General Motors were being widely used in 1941, and some were shipped to Greece. The big problem though was obtaining spare parts for older trucks, and this was one partly of supplying through the Mediterranean which was closed at some point to comemrcial traffic, and partly the lack of $$$ which had to be voted by the Treasury Committee that voted on currency exchange and expenditure. The British Government file that I read confirms that many millions of £££ were in fact voted for spare parts to keep the existing vehicles going. In this case that meant buying $$$ to spend in Alexandria in the Ford and GM Near East plants that was then sent to the US, although Egyptian £ were also used.