A GREAT DEED

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 63, Issue 169, 29 April 1943, Page 3

A GREAT DEED

MAORIS CAPTURE A HEIGHT.

THREE OF PARTY OF NINE DEAD. SCALING OF SHEER CLIFF FACE. (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright.) (Rec. 10.40 a.m.) LONDON, April 2S. The .men who stormed and captured the height of Takrouna and held it firmly.against counterattacks were infantry from a New Zealand brigade, states a commentator, who adds that Indians took part in the fighting at Jebel Garci, west of Takrouna. In the first case it was a group of nine Maoris who finally fought their way through to the top after the lower part of the hill had been won by hard, bitter fighting. -<-••• Four of them took a rough, uncertain pathway round the side, of the height and the other five, led by a sergeant, scaled the sheer cliff face, hauling up Bren guns and keeping up fire as they went. Somehow they achieved the apparently impossible through a hail of bombs and bullets and all nine reached the summit where they held on grimly until reinforcements arrived. Three were killed in this part of the fighting but the six survivors joined a relief party in driving the enemy from the buildings on the crest of the hill and down the slopes. Behind their achievement lies one of the really great stories of the campaign.—British Official Wireless.