 .
"The
ordinary soldiers had little idea of what was happening. They simply obeyed,
as well-trained soldiers will." General
Muhammad Nagiyb
Now the Communists are
busy on the next stage of the plan. Their new newspaper al-Mu`aradah
in Egypt (I would never have allowed it) demands
the overthrow of the monarchy. The Daughters of the Nile, led by Communist
Duriyaah
Shafiyq
are echoing this demand. And, raising its obedient voice to
the tune of those who hold its purse-strings, the official news paper
of the Muslim Brotherhood, Al- Da`wah, describes the century-old
royal household of Egypt as "a gang of thieving
cut-throats". Not just me, mark you, but all my family
and ancestors!
Even, presumably,
my son. They know what they are doing. The plan given to Nagiyb
was simple and clever. A group of not more than 30 to 40
malcontent
officers, ranks from lieutenant to general, Nagiyb was among the
most senior, were to walk casually into Army Headquarters one by one, and
overpower the duty officers.
They were then to
take command of the switchboard, etc. and send urgent "instructions"
to all authentic staff officers and troop commanders to report immediately."
One by one, as innocent
officers hurried in to report; unaware of what had happened, they were
seized, imprisoned, and their jobs handed over to the waiting revolutionaries,
who were promptly promoted.
Within a few hours,
the entire Egyptian Army thus passed into the hands of a few revolutionaries.
The ordinary soldiers awoke in barracks and tents to find new commanding
officers busily giving orders for "an emergency".
Sleep-dazed soldiers
trundled out in tanks, and obediently surrounded the radio station and
the city's telephone headquarters.
Nagiyb has publicly
admitted that "the ordinary soldiers had little
idea of what was happening. They simply obeyed, as well-trained soldiers
will."
The coup was scheduled
for 2 a.m. Two loyal officers risked their lives to tell me
about it. They reached me at I I p.m. the night before. I
had three hours, and I was 15 kilometers away, at Muntazah Palace
with my wife and children.
At once I telephoned
my Chief of Staff, to warn him. He hurried by car to GHQ and
I received a hasty phone call from him: "Your Majesty - the place is
filled with officers and men who have no business to be here-" there
were revolver shots on the stairway. His batman was shot down, and
the telephone went dead.
(Story continues
next week)
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