…... and very little gunfire or enemy activity. The almost guilty manner in which the ALOs were giving their daily talk of ‘what was happening’ only added to the feeling that ‘the something’ that had often been promised was to happen in the not too distant future. Troop movements around the field and on the approach road that were not always going in the same direction also gave cause for thought. On one day, a battery of field guns would be set up in a position flanking the Landing Ground and, on the following day, they would be gone only to reappear on the forward side of the field.
A very large tented area, that included two 
very big marquees, had been erected toward our rear, all marked with the red crosses of a medical unit. These were joined by a fleet of ambulances that arrived and were dispersed behind the larger of the tents. The ALO could offer no explanation for this except to say it was reorganization after the recent ‘fall-back’. Then one night it seemed that all hell had broken loose. There was the noise of continuous heavy gunfire, pressure on the ears, together with the scream of shells passing over the airfield (fortunately outgoing), followed by the rumble of tanks and then, as daylight arrived, by light and then heavy bombers flying toward the west. This was the beginning of what later became known as The Battle of El Alamein.
November – December 1942
The work rate of every soul on the Squadron was at full 
pitch for the weeks of October, November and the first two of December. The noise of the battle seemed never ending. The large-calibre guns now situated just westward of our field would lay down a huge barrage just before midnight. Lorry loads of troops and armoured vehicles were moving, not always westwards, but always with purpose. The tented forward Dressing Station beside the track a short distance behind the airfield was always busy. Night and day ambulances travelled in from the west, and their load of stretchers containing bodies of the wounded was lifted and carried into the large tents. Douglas Dakota DC2 Air Ambulances flying in from Bases further east were landing on the far side of the field. They were then loaded with stretchers containing temporarily-repaired humanity that were carried from the tents and loaded in the aircraft, bound for Base Hospitals further toward the east. It had all been seen before, but this time it appeared to be a lot busier, noisier and much nearer home. The Squadron’s Hurricanes were flying hours as never had been witnessed before, or at least, not for some considerable time. The Photographic Section was busy for the whole 24 hours of the day, as were the ALOs. The Squadron Medical Officer and his team were never short of work attending to damage to pilots and ground crews. Losses of aircraft were many, on the ground but mainly in the air. Losses of ground crew, apart from the odd wound that needed hospital attention and some very near misses and accidents, were fortunately and luckily nil. Unfortunately several pilots were lost.
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very big marquees, had been erected toward our rear, all marked with the red crosses of a medical unit. These were joined by a fleet of ambulances that arrived and were dispersed behind the larger of the tents. The ALO could offer no explanation for this except to say it was reorganization after the recent ‘fall-
pitch for the weeks of October, November and the first two of December. The noise of the battle seemed never ending. The large-