FLUID WARFARE

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 291, 9 December 1941, Page 9

FLUID WARFARE

QUEER "BEDFELLOWS" GERMANS SLEEP NEAR N.Z.E.F. (Official War Correspondent, N.Z.E.F.) CAIRO, December 7. Nine days of solid fighting with planes, tanks and infantry has resulted in the New Zealand Division being instrumental in driving a wedge through the German forces which are scattered round the outer perimeter of the Tobruk defences. Out of Tobruk have come Allied forces to make contact with the New Zealanders now at El Duda. New Zealanders and their Allies fight side by side in the terrific battle which is now raging inside the . Rezegh-Belhamed-El Duda sector, which forms three sides of a triangle, and it is around this area that the main concentrations of the enemy are located. T*he stiffest section with which the New Zealanders have to contend is, at the moment, a strongly equipped pocket of the enemy well dug in on an escarpment near Sidi Rezegh. Since the' New Zealanders captured Sidi Rezegh, three days ago, they have consolidated their position. Reorganisation was quickly carried out, and they are now trying desperately to clean up this tougn enemy pocket of heavy artillery, mortars and machine-guns. Severe fighting all around the Sidi Rezegh-Belhamed-El Dura sector continues night and day. Heavy artillery has played a big part. Pockets of the enemy in the area are being gradually cleaned up, but the process is necessarily slow.

Swift changes in this amazing mechanised desert war alter the general situation almost hourly. It was discovered two days ago that Rommel, regarded by the Germans as a crack general, had moved east, towards Egypt, with his armoured forces. Corps headquarters, miles behind us, were amazed to find that Rommel and his forces had slept alongside them one night. Incongruous Positions With British and German forces scattered widely all over the Libyan desert, incongruous positions daily arise. One of our supply columns resting for the night awoke in the morning to find that four extra trucks nad joined the convoy. They were on the point of investigating, when the occupants of the four trucks, obviously Germans, raced away at high speed. Bold attacks on the part of Rommel and his armoured forces to attack the New Zealanders from the rear have failed. Yesterday German tanks were knocking at our back door, and for a time the situation was not a happy one. Before there was any real danger British armoured forces went into attack, and Rommel's forces fled to the north and south-east. Early this morning British and German tanks made contact again at the New Zealanders' back door, and since dawn a hectic tank battle has been raging. When the light was sufficient great flights of R.A.F. bombers and fighters gave British tanks essential support, and with furious attacks they bombed and machine-gunned the enemy. This grim battle of tanks has conj tinued for four hours, but as I write it is decreasing in intensity, and the field of activity seems to have moved I away to the south.

Battery's Amazing Record Air attack by the R.A.F. has been a telling factor in all actions to date, but the deadly accurate work of the New Zealand artillery, whose personnel are reputed to be among the finest gunners in the world, contributed much. One battery of eighteen pounders has a proud and remarkable record of success. Two months ago the personnel of the battery were infantry reinforcements but, in that brief two months, with intensive training, they were turned into gunners. Hidden in an excellent position around the Sidi Rezegh sector, the battery, over open sights, started off the day by cleaning out a German observation post. They saw an observer flung in the air as their shells crashed on top. Next, they located and destroyed four German field guns, and they followed this up by setting on fire a moving enemy tank. Six enemy machine gun nests then came under the fire of the New Zealand battery, and were destroyed. The next task of the battery was to lay down a barrage on the advancr ing German infantry. Guns and three other tanks were destroyed in succession. To appreciate the amazing record of this New Zealand battery, it must be understood that all their firing was over open sights. •