Pipeline to Battle; An Engineer's Adventures with the British Eighth Army

Washington and New York: Infantry Journal and Penguin Books, 1944. Second Printing. Mass market paperback. Good. viii, [2], 305, [5] pages. Frontis map. Maps. Some page discoloration, especially at edges. Some page edge tears. Cover scuffed with wear, soiling and creases. This is a Fighting Forces Penguin Special. It is Complete and Unabridged. Peter William Rainier, born 1890 near Barberton, Swaziland (South Africa), died July 6th, 1945 in Red lake, Ontario, Canada. He was a Big Game Hunter, Civil Engineer, Mining Engineer (gold, diamonds, emeralds & coal), a "scout" in the South African Forces campaign against German Southwest Africa during WW I, a Major in the British Royal Engineers during WWII, and an author of several books. His family name, which came from the French "de Regnier," was changed many generations ago to the more English-sounding "Rainier." He came from a long line of British naval admirals and sea captains and he was the great, great grand-nephew of Peter Rainier, the British naval admiral for whom Mount Rainier, Washington, was named. He became the oldest Junior Subaltern (Second Lieutenant) in the British forces and became known later as the "water bloke" by building an ever-extending pipeline to furnish filtered fresh-water to the British troops pursuing Rommel's army into Tunisia. From the very beginning and especially from the Battle of El Alamein onwards, he traveled the whole 2,000 mile mine-ridden way providing life-sustaining water to the British Eighth Army who spearheaded the allied Tunisian Campaign in a dozen bitter battles that ended in victory on 13 May 1943. The Sappers retired Peter William Rainier as a Major in June 1943 just after the hostilities in Africa had ended. He is remembered as one of the few original members of The Army of the Nile (General Wavell's "thirty thousand") who survived the three long years of fighting allowing him to witness the final victory over the Axis powers in Africa.