Anne Loader Publications - Léonie Press

Diesel Taff:
From 'The Barracks' to Tripoli

Written by Austin Hughes

ISBN: 978-1-901253-14-6

224 pages, paperback, 61 B&W photographs, 2 maps, 146mm x 208mm.
Published by Leonie Press, April 2000.
Reprinted March 2005, November 2015.

Price: £ 8.99 Postage and Packing:

Austin Hughes was born in February 1922 at 'The Barracks', otherwise known as Plas Maen Cottages, near Hope Mountain in North Wales. They were flea-ridden former shippons which had been converted into an L-shaped block of houses. Water often had to be carried from a piped spring about a mile away. After working as a baker, Austin's father became chronically ill and received parish relief. Times were hard for the family, even when they were able to move into a more comfortable home. Austin grew up as an abstemious god-fearing country lad, innocent of the world outside.

From childhood, Austin loved heavy machinery and eventually learned to use it. He graduated from driving a dumper truck to a bulldozer and was in seventh heaven. Then in October 1940 his call-up papers arrived: he had to join the Royal Engineers. This was to be an experience which changed the Welshman's life and earned him his nick-name "Diesel Taff". By the end of the war, he'd been to 18 countries.

As a young sapper, he was posted to bomb disposal in Balham, London, working on cranes and other heavy plant during the 1941 Blitz. Soon he was shipped via Brazil, Durban and Bombay to the Middle East - where he helped to build the only 'sinking bridge' in the world - and then with his pals in the 39 Mech. Equipment Pltn. R.E. he worked all types of earth moving equipment, living in the back of his wagon for four years. He travelled thousands of miles across deserts and mountains, transporting heavy plant, building roads and air strips, clearing avalanches and ferrying refugees.

This book gives fascinating insights into life in pre-war rural Wales as well as describing the daily experiences and duties of an R.E. sapper driver in World War 2. Austin's fierce pride in his work shines through everything he describes.

To assist genealogists and local historians the book has been comprehensively indexed. The index can be consulted on-line, so that you can see if there is mention of a person, place or event of interest to you. To access the Index, click here

After years of telling the stories of his youth and his time in the Army, Austin Hughes was persuaded by his family to write them down. "I have tried to be as truthful as possible and cause no offence to anyone," he says.

The events in the book are written from memory. As far as possible all the names of the places in the Middle East that Austin visited have been checked and standardised but a handful cannot be found on modern maps. A few were were known to him only by their Army nick-names or references and Austin does not know their real names.

Though the book is fascinating in its own right, it will particularly interest civil engineers and those involved with trucks and heavy machinery. As Austin tells his readers: "Bulldozers are going to dominate my story - they were my interest and my life for a long time."

"An excellent autobiography" - Imperial War Museum

"Stukas, sand, sun, sounds and smells - of diesel and less desirable matter, are all conjured up in this evocative story of soldiering as a sapper in the Middle East during the Second World War. The author, a Welshman who grew up in hard times, acquired a passion for things mechanical which he put to good effect when called up for military service. His adventures, told in tolerant style from memory half a century later, included a spell of bomb disposal (in the Blitz and at sea) and thousands of miles driving through Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine and Egypt. This is a most readable worm's eye view of an area of the war not adequately covered elsewhere." (GWAN) - "The Sapper", the official magazine of the Corps of Royal Engineers, July 2000

"It's a plain man's tale, plainly told and full of domestic details which will chime with people who remember the hard times he describes, and with soldiers who came home to communities which would never be the same again." - Tony Challis, Wrexham Evening Leader

"Diesel Taff tells his truly amazing story" - Daily Post

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	Diesel Taff: From 'The Barracks' to Tripoli Written by Austin Hughes ISBN: 978-1-901253-14-6 (Old ISBN: 1 901253 14 7) 224 pages, paperback, 61 B&W photographs, 2 maps, 146mm x 208mm. Published by Leonie Press, April 2000. Reprinted March 2005, November 2015. Price: £ 8.99 Postage and Packing:

About the Book
Austin Hughes was born in February 1922 at 'The Barracks', otherwise known as Plas Maen Cottages, near Hope Mountain in North Wales. They were flea-ridden former shippons which had been converted into an L-shaped block of houses. Water often had to be carried from a piped spring about a mile away. After working as a baker, Austin's father became chronically ill and received parish relief. Times were hard for the family, even when they were able to move into a more comfortable home. Austin grew up as an abstemious god-fearing country lad, innocent of the world outside. From childhood, Austin loved heavy machinery and eventually learned to use it. He graduated from driving a dumper truck to a bulldozer and was in seventh heaven. Then in October 1940 his call-up papers arrived: he had to join the Royal Engineers. This was to be an experience which changed the Welshman's life and earned him his nick-name "Diesel Taff". By the end of the war, he'd been to 18 countries. As a young sapper, he was posted to bomb disposal in Balham, London, working on cranes and other heavy plant during the 1941 Blitz. Soon he was shipped via Brazil, Durban and Bombay to the Middle East - where he helped to build the only 'sinking bridge' in the world - and then with his pals in the 39 Mech. Equipment Pltn. R.E. he worked all types of earth moving equipment, living in the back of his wagon for four years. He travelled thousands of miles across deserts and mountains, transporting heavy plant, building roads and air strips, clearing avalanches and ferrying refugees. This book gives fascinating insights into life in pre-war rural Wales as well as describing the daily experiences and duties of an R.E. sapper driver in World War 2. Austin's fierce pride in his work shines through everything he describes. To assist genealogists and local historians the book has been comprehensively indexed. The index can be consulted on-line, so that you can see if there is mention of a person, place or event of interest to you. To access the Index, click here
About the Author
After years of telling the stories of his youth and his time in the Army, Austin Hughes was persuaded by his family to write them down. "I have tried to be as truthful as possible and cause no offence to anyone," he says. The events in the book are written from memory. As far as possible all the names of the places in the Middle East that Austin visited have been checked and standardised but a handful cannot be found on modern maps. A few were were known to him only by their Army nick-names or references and Austin does not know their real names. Though the book is fascinating in its own right, it will particularly interest civil engineers and those involved with trucks and heavy machinery. As Austin tells his readers: "Bulldozers are going to dominate my story - they were my interest and my life for a long time."
Reviews
"An excellent autobiography" - Imperial War Museum "Stukas, sand, sun, sounds and smells - of diesel and less desirable matter, are all conjured up in this evocative story of soldiering as a sapper in the Middle East during the Second World War. The author, a Welshman who grew up in hard times, acquired a passion for things mechanical which he put to good effect when called up for military service. His adventures, told in tolerant style from memory half a century later, included a spell of bomb disposal (in the Blitz and at sea) and thousands of miles driving through Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine and Egypt. This is a most readable worm's eye view of an area of the war not adequately covered elsewhere." (GWAN) - "The Sapper", the official magazine of the Corps of Royal Engineers, July 2000 "It's a plain man's tale, plainly told and full of domestic details which will chime with people who remember the hard times he describes, and with soldiers who came home to communities which would never be the same again." - Tony Challis, Wrexham Evening Leader "Diesel Taff tells his truly amazing story" - Daily Post