GUSTAV LINE HELD

Auckland Star, Volume LXXV, Issue 126, 30 May 1944, Page 5

GUSTAV LINE HELD

English Sergeant Annihilates Hun Gun Post SINGLE-HANDED ACTION British Official Wireless Rec. noon. LONDON, May 29. Armed only with a revolver and hand grenades, Sergeant Frank Snape, of the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment, rushed a German machine-gun post and killed all four occupants. This daring action took place during the breaking of the Gustav Line, near Cassion, under a hail of shells and bursting mortar bombs. A platoon of British infantry assaulted an important hill which the enemy defended fiercely. Undaunted by withering machine-gun fire, the men went steadily forward, led by Sergeant Snape. Suddenly another machine-gun opened up from the rear. Shouting to his men to carry on, Sergeant Snape turned and, with his revolver in one hand and a grenade in the other, charged the enemy who had lain low while our men went by and had then shot them in the back. As he ran towards the post, Sergeant Snape threw first one grenade and then another, and when only a few yards away he emptied his revolver into the four Huns. Not one of them survived his courageous attack. He immediately ran back to the head of his platoon who, enraged by the German's dirty trick, and inspired by their leader s splendid example, went into the attack heedless of danger.