VALOUR IN LIBYA

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 287, 4 December 1941, Page 9

VALOUR IN LIBYA

WOUNDED TELL STORY

DISREGARD FOR DANGER (N.Z.E.F. Official News Service) CAIRO, Dec. 2. Vivid sidelights upon the early phases of the fighting in Libya were given by the first New Zealand wounded to reach hospitals near the base. They told of countless individual acts of courage and endurance in the opening phases of the fighting. "There were a lot of medals won in those first few days that the world will never hear of," said one of the wounded officers. Men spoke of comrades who carried them in through withering fire, of officers whose calm determination took their men through many a tough spot, of a commanding officer who, minus his tin hat and placidly smoking a pipe, continued to direct operations, although wounded three times, of a youthful dispatch rider who sat calmly on a motor bike talking to an officer while deadly enfilading fire whistled over prone men of the battalion.

A hairbreadth escape from a pursuing enemy armoured column was described by a wounded officer, who said the ambulance convoy with which he travelled at one point passed within 50 yards of German machine guns without molestation. The following day a German armoured column appeared and commenced to attack the ambulance convoy, which by then had been spit up into several sections. The enemy pursued the section with which the officer was travelling for 30 miles before the convoy reached a South African force, and the Germans retired. Lying In Pools Of Water A private who was wounded in the leg at Sidi Omar said: "It was raining cats and dogs as we moved up to attack the enemy wire. The enemy opened up with machine-guns and some of our men were hit before it was time to leave the trucks. Lying in pools of water, we made slow progress. It was very sticky. Then our artillery found the range and blew up a Hun ammunition dump. You can't imagine the explosion. Shell heads were landing a few yards from us.

The enemy was using mortars which were very deadly at that short range. When I was hit one of my mates crawled over and pulled off my boots and trousers and put on a field dressing. When we were ordered to retire he carried me on his back." Another wounded officer described an escape from an abandoned camp after being surprised by the appearance of German armoured vehicles while he was examining an empty truck. Fortunately his own truck was hidden by other vehicles and he succeeded in escaping. Many of the German prisoners appeared very young and very pastyfaced and unhealthy, said a wounded private. Some of them were very cocky about winning the war but another wounded German showed the New Zealander a photograph of his wife and remarked verv feelingly, "War no good." The Germans fought well, but did not like the bayonet.