Nissen News - 15.12.1941, Blaðsíða 6

4
NISSEN NEWS
Hints to Hut-Builders.
In the early days of our occupation
of Iceland, a number of weird and seem-
ingly useless pieces of metal and timber
were delivered — perhaps it would be
more fitting to say “dumped” — in tbe
vicinity of our camp. Enquiries made it
clear that, if these disjointed members
were assembled in correct fashion, the
result would be a number of Nissen huts.
We politely remarked, “How interesting!”
and dismissed the matter from our minds.
This was ohviously something for the
R. Es. to play with. It was gratifying to
know that they were going to build us
a comfortable camp. So we went back
to our potato-peeling, route marches and
N.O. 3 lectures and waited for the new
camp to be formally handed over to us.
Then, like a bolt from the blue, came
the disquieting news that we were going
to build the huts ourselves. And build
we did. There s h o u 1 d have been a
hook of instructions — “How to Knock
up a Nissen — in 5 Easy Lessons” —
but no-one could produce such a handy
guide.
However, our camp went up, and use-
ful lessons were learned. It may be that
some other Unit will have to build a
hutted camp and we offer the following
hints, learned in the hard school of ex-
perience, to lighten their labours: —
CEMENT — When building piers, it
is hest to ascertain whether the cor-
rect proportion is 3 in 1 or 1 in 3.
If the hut collapses the wrong propor-
tion was used. (Two Sergeants, a Priv-
ate and a dog are still buried under
the hut in which I write.)
IiIBS — These are very slender. If
too many men climb up one side of
the structure during erection, without
equivalent counter-balance on the
other side, the hut will collapse in a
North-Easteríy direction. (Our strength
was decreased by two Other Ranks be-
fore we learned this lesson.)
FLOOR-BOARDS, Sectional — These
should not be mistaken for doors
which have knobs on. When used for
bed-making', floor-boards should be
suitably camouflaged. A number of 252s
have resulted from inefficient work-
manship in this direction. If used as
floor-hoards, there should not be a gap
of more than 8 inches between the
sections. Before the last board is laid,
a roll-call of the working party should
he made.
CORRUGATED SHEETING — Ass-
embly of these sections often affords
useful training in First Aid work. If
possible, sheets should be made to
touch other sheets at all points. This
will not keep out the draught but
looks better.
DOORS —- See Floor-boards.
WINDOWS — On no account should
cement be mixed on these, as there
is a resultant tendency to obscure the
light. It is usually found expedient to
open windows before passing through
battens and joists. It has been establ-
ished that re-inforced panes CAN be
broken so there is no further need for
experiment in this direction.
TENTEST — Internal wall-board-
ing used to prevent a serious com-
plaint known as “Corrugatus Occipi-
tum”.
JOINERY — It is preferable that one
man should hold the nail while the
other wields the hammer. No one man
is considered capable of performing
both operations. A Nursing Orderly
with Surgical Haversack should be
near at hand.
BANKING — If a hut is banked im-
mediately after erection it may re-
main in position for as long as two
months. If it continues to stand after
that, the only way to destroy it is by
fire. This can easily be arranged.
W.