CAMP FLOODED.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 62, Issue 127, 11 March 1942, Page 6

CAMP FLOODED.

NEW ZEALANDERS IN LIBYA. TWO DAYS TORRENTIAL RAIN. CAIRO, March 10. Torrential rain during the- last two days has flooded the area occupied by the New Zealand troops. The winds of gale force that last week lashed the dry earth of the Western Desert into blinding dust storms brought the hardest downpour in the severe Libyan winter on March 4. Gathering rapidly on the rocky tableland the flood water overflowed through the nearest outlets —steep wadis where many of the New Zealanders were sheltering in shallow dug-outs; low bivouacs, and tents. Frantic efforts to dig escape channels were useless, and the water rushed down, filling gunpits and slit trenches, washing out bivouacs, and turning the whole area into a quagmire. The men on the higher flat land were even less fortunate. Unable to seep through the hard ground, the rain filled the trenches they had built with a week’s cutting and blasting. Below, an escarpment area, usually a wide dust bowl, became covered with water until only tops of trucks could be seen. The bitter cold at night was not easily forgotten by many of the men whose only shelter was inside the trucks, where they huddled together in sodden blankets to keep warm. The desert soldier cannot light fires at night to dry his soaked clothes and blankets, as the faintest uncovered glow might disclose his position to enemy raiders and increase his discomfort. There is little enough cover for him and his equipment in the shallow dugouts without a fire. The New Zealand troops have come to accept a sandstorm one day and floods the next as part of the job and with always the shine cheerful philosophy that made them the best of the desert fighters. They curse the lack of water one week and a plentitude of it the next. To-day in bitterly cold wind men up to their thighs in water and mud were laughing as they pushed out heavily loaded trucks. They were all the same. Rain meant hours in wet clothes and extra digging and cleaning equipment, but they could joke about it.