SERVICE IN LIBYA.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 62, Issue 85, 21 January 1942, Page 5

SERVICE IN LIBYA.

NEW ZEALAND DIVISIONAL CAVALRY. WORK UNDER, FIVE GENERALS. (N.Z.E.F. Official News Service.) WESTERN DESERT, Jan. 13. In less than two months in the Libyan campaign the New Zealand Divisional Cavalry has served under five generals. Entering Libya with the New Zealand Division, they served in turn with Indian, South African, and Imperial units. It now claims the title “International Regiment.” Although the first British troops, apart from the earliest patrols, to cross the wire, and the last New Zealand fighting unit to return to its base, the regiment is almost intact; in fact, it arrived with more transport than it began with. Pushing ahead early in the campaign, the cavalry patrols were invaluable to our advancing forces, which were constantly told of enemy movements. The mobility and quickness of our cavalrymen to grasp a situation made it possible to escape when the New Zealand Brigade headquarters, to which they were attached, was surrounded at iSidi Aziez. They scattered quickly and reformed later, miles to the south, where they were joined by Indians.

Constant travelling had made the vehicles unsuitable for Indian escort work, so they moved with the South Africans toward Capuzzo. With the New Zealanders again early in December, the regiment, continued its patrols, one squadron being, attached to the infantry, mopping up. Further operations with the South Africans led to the capture of 3*5 tanks, field workshops, and 30 prisoners. The most difficult tasks were patrols over hundreds of miles, which were made by our -cavalry, acting as protective screens, which they formed outside Bardin., where they watched continuously long stretches of the perimeter through which the enemy might attack. Besides bringing back useful information, they returned with prisoners and tons of equipment. Skilled handling by our troopers kept the vehicles in fighting order and serviceable for many miles beyond the time considered usual.

Other New Zealand cavalrymen had a hair’s-breadth escape when a grenade in a Bren gun-carrier exploded with terrific force, igniting a Molotov cocktail bomb alongside. The grenade injured only one of the crew. Binoculars hanging on the neck of a man in the rear carrier were smashed 1 bv a piece of flying metal. Other grenades in the same container did not explode.