IN DARKNESS

Auckland Star, Volume LXXV, Issue 262, 4 November 1944, Page 5

IN DARKNESS

ANOTHER LANDING

Allies Less Than Three Miles From Middelburg British Official Wireless Rec. 12.30 p.m. RUGBY, Nov.' 3. Another amphibious landing was made to-day on Walcheren Island, from which the Germans are trying to escape by sea in sailing boats, barges or anvthing else that floats, to other islands further north, writes a correspondent in Holland.

The landing was made under cover of darkness some distance south of the causeway which was crossed three days ago. It was over the treacherous quicksands where more than a hundred Germans were trapped and drowned during their invasion of Walcheren in 1940. A safety line had been mapped for the landing party by reconnaissance patrols and a surprise was achieved by the landing.

The Germans put in a counterattack during the morning and also directed considerable weight of machine-gun and mortar fire against the bridgehead established at the end of the causeway. Both counterattacks, however, were driven off and the bridgeheads exploited to such an extent that to-night they had linked up and the leading elements were less than 4000 yards from Middelburg. An Official News Service message from London said New Zealanders were among Spitfire pilots of the R.A.F. Fighter Command who are acting as eyes for the naval bombardment of German gunposts on Walcheren. They had a unique view of the precise shooting by heavy naval guns. Flight-Lieutenant I. J. McNeill of the East Coast, yesterday saw German ack-ack gunners running for their lives as the naval salvoes crept towards a big gun position which they were supposed to be protecting. Landing from the flight, he said, "the battery they were guarding will be quiet for a long time " These pilots are flying two or three spotting sorties daily. They ct o over in pairs—one directing the naval gunners by radio and the other watching for German fighters.