HOW SWEEP BEGAN

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 287, 4 December 1941, Page 11

HOW SWEEP BEGAN

N.Z.E.F. ENTERS LIBYA

DRIVES NORTH AND WEST

(N.Z. Official War Correspondent)

CAIRO, November 22,

Although the real action so far eludes this much-travelled New Zealand formation as we ride north and west into Libya, we seem to be hot on the heels of an apparently hurried withdrawal of German tank and motorised forces. Since last night, when we captured a complete German workshops in this section without a shot being fired, we have been overrunning numerous other waifs and strays and abandoned vehicles. 1 was travelling on the western Prong of a three-pronged fork into which the New Zealand forces were divided yesterday. While the other two formations trekked through the night towards Capuzzo this one drove north and is now swinging westwards in the direction of Tobruk. After we tore a gap in the frontier wire on Tuesday night, some 40 miles south of Solium, the whole New Zealand force moved northwards in stages close to the wire. The third day inside Libya found the New Zealanders still standing by while a battle of giants developed. Thus far there had been little for the ordinary ground forces, and particu-! larly ours, to do. We hovered on the i fringes while our air offensive raged, J and the tanks felt ahead for an op-1 portunity to engage the enemy I armoured force in a decisive battle. 1 We could only watch the intricate game of movement and countermovement as the British Army manoeuvred to squeeze the enemy into a position for the master stroke of this desert blitzkrieg. "Troopers On Their Toes" Our cavalry, which provided a screen of reconnaissance vehicles in front of our own main force, glimpsed enemy tanks during its regular patrols, and one party on Thursday was threatened with encirclement by superior numbers! until the appearance of British tanks ] sent the Germans hurrying away. Another party came under shellfire. Our troopers were on their toes with | eagerness to get cracking, and a brief report reaching here to-day told us that they had made the most of their first chance by taking 57 prisoners after a short, sharp engagement yesterday. The New Zealanders as a whole were brought much nearer to action yesterday when they struck out in the three different directions. We moved northwards west of the besieged fortifications at Sidi Omar in time to see British and enemy guns exchange their daily hymn of hate. Omar is a striking illustration of the extent to which this is a war of movement. The enemy garrison there suddenly found its front facing west instead of. east as the British moved into position behind them.

Yesterday we passed close by the British guns as they burst into action and watched enemy shells throwing dust clouds into the air. As night fell the New Zealand formations went on their various ways, Each is a strong, self-contained composite force and the one I am with is commanded by an Auckland brigadier whose units are keyed up to battle pitch. They fought in Greece, but were not sent to Crete, and are eager for a better chance to look the Germans in the eye. When our column drove off into the darkness last night there was every possibility of meeting action on the morrow, and from my bumpy seat on an ancient motor cycle, I heard lusty songs coming from the troopcarrying lorries. First "Catch" of Germans Although hopes of action are yet to be realised we have on hand this morning two German officers and some thirty soldiers. Our first catch was as big a surprise to us as to the Germans. After we had slithered across mudflats still soggy from a recent deluge our forward elements ran through a cluster of half a dozen trucks and cars, whence sleepy-eyed Germans emerged, wondering which of their own units could be passing at that time of night. Not a shot was fired and we had a German Army workshops section in the bag. For the first time in our lives we then saw a Nazi soldier in long,' white underpants. He had not even bothered to pull on his trousers when he poked his head out. He shivered so much we let him go back to get dressed. The capture included engineering equipment highly prized by our own equivalent of a workshops section, which, incidentally, made a climax to an eventful night by circumventing the main column and "capturing the road junction which was our destination." The incident was significant, because it showed the Germans had withdrawn so hurriedly from positions between here and Solium in the east that they had left a valuable unit behind. We had further indications of their hasty retirement in the discovery of several abandoned vehicles and the unsought surrender to Auckland troops this morning of a dozen stranded soldiers. Another interesting fact was that among the captured vehicles were trucks originally belonging to the British Army and probably seized during the eastward German drive here or possibly in Greece. They now bear the palm tree and swastika emblem of the Afrika Corps. Recovering Lost Equipment This leads to the suggestion that a successful campaign may result in the recovery of a good deal of lost equipment. We are now "in the unique position of forming part of a wedge, driven from the south into the coastal belt between the Halfaya Pass line and Tobruk. The initiative still remains entirely with us, and it is wonderfully inspiring to witness what we British can do when we meet the Germans on at least equal terms.