ENEMY DESTROYED.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 63, Issue 90, 26 January 1943, Page 2

ENEMY DESTROYED.

SUPERIOR FORCES ENGAGED. "In operations in the Ashburton area •our forces destroyed 20 of the enemy without loss to themselves.” This is the text of a communique issued by a force of six Ashburton Territorials who the other 1 day gave evidence of their fighting qualities by ridding this town of ,a. liumerically-superior army of rats.

The scene 'of the battle was unoccupied premises which at one time were used for the storing of foodstuffs. The greater part of the floor is of concrete, but a portion is merely of clay, and here industrious rodents had constructed an intricate system of earthworks, estimated to he of a depth of 3ft Bin at places. Invited to join battle with this domestic enemy, the soldiers entered enthusiastically into the task. In place of rifles they shouldered hockey sticks and their armour protection comprised two leads of hose in easy range of the combat zone and a none-too-fiei’ce-looking Scottish terrior which, however, proved himself to be a true fighting member of his race. Harried from their’ defensive positions by the resounding clashes of hockey sticks and the jets of water, the rats were forced to give battle and here the terrier distinguished himself. Darting hither and thither he seized these, loathsome creatures in his jaws and by a deft flick of his head dislocated their necks. The rat, like another enemy we knew too well, is no. coward, and these fought resolutely to avoid the water and the killerterrier ,and the flying sticks. But all in vain. The enemy had no alter native, and, we are told, he withdrew to some more peaceful locality. In fact, so fierce was the hammering that he received that it is thought that hardly a live rat remains on the premises.

When the din of battle had faded away the field of combat presented a ghastly scene—mangled bodies, dead rats, flooded earthworks and the result—2o rats known for certain to have been destroyed I