.. though I do distinctly recall him admiring the Egyptians:

"...You would get some old bearded Arabs shooting the ship from dhows with what looked like ancient blunderbus': they got a shell fired over the bows...and usually got the message. If not it was a shame: because they were brave men just defending their country... "

Nice one. Interesting recall. My dad was with the partisans chasing out the nazis out of (former) Yugoslavia. I only have had photographs with my gran giving me the context. TG for grandmothers : ).