ATTACK ON SIDI BARRANI

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXIX, Issue 13240, 16 January 1941, Page 8

ATTACK ON SIDI BARRANI

FIRST HAND ACCOUNT BY NEW ZEALANDER ___ j Hamilton, Jan. 15 Having been in action with Hie Empire troops at Sidi Barrani when the now famous westward push ot ! the Army of the Nile opened with brilliant results, a Hamilton officer describes in a letter home his reactions to modern warfare, and in particular to the rout of the Italians in the great desert battle. The officer opens his account of the part played by the New Zealand transport units by referring to his return from action at 2 a.m. on that historic December morning after the fall of Sidi Barrani. He was tired, unshaven and dirty. He found time to write home while paying out, organising the next day's move, and answering countless and varied questions from troops during a combined dust, rain and thunderstorm. The unit with which the Hamilton lieutenant and his section went into action was a first battalion of a British infantry brigade. “Believe me,” he comments, “it was a great show!” Battle Reactions “What I thought or felt at the time I do not remember, but it was not altogether a nice experience,” he added. He remarked that his lorry was hit by a bursting Italian shell and a piece of shrapnel tore through one of the troop’s kit bags. At 5 a.m. the New Zealand trans- , port drivers moved out of their camp ! and later they picked up the infan- | try regiment which they were to con- j bey to the scene of action. On the ; first night the drivers slept in the-j infantry regiment’s camp before | moving further toward the front the j next day. At this point the sold- , iers stayed a day and two nights and i attended a church service before taking the plunge into action. On the fourth day out the transports and their cargo of troops moved to within 20 miles of the Italians. Prom this point could be heard the big guns of the Royal Navy. The barrage was maintained throughout the night. Break Through Defences When not very far on his journey the next morning the Hamilton officer heard the battle for Sidi Bar- j rani start at a fort. The noise was terrific. He says that the convoy had to stop, but about 10 a.m. word came that the British were into Sidi Barrani and had already taken 15 00 prisoners. The- task of the New Zealand drivers was to move on behind the fort with their infantry passengers. This manoeuvre was commenced, and the colonel went forward to survey the scene. Then the big tanks and artillery moved up and the New Zealand transports followed behind them over a low hill. “Then they spotted us,” the lieutenant goes on. “Shells began to explode and a truck would disappear in a cloud, but when the dust fell the vehicle would still be going. After a while the first shell came near us. We had a battalion officer with us. Suddenly there was a whine, and I swear the shell went over our heads. The battalion officer just said: “I think we had better have a smoke; and we rolled on. “Then things began to happen. It was like going through a shrieking wind. Our trucks approaching the fort at 45 miles an hour, stopped, and then the infantry jumped out and went in ‘bald-headed.’ We could see the flash of guns as we came up and every one appeared to point directly at us. “The boys turned their trucks to prevent their engines* being hit and they dropped to the ground. It was not much fun lying there with missiles bouncing about us, but it was all over very shortly, and we moved in to consolidate the potsition. “That night,” he adds, “there were fires burning everywhere, trucks, stores and ammunition blowing up. We slept outside the fort and felt very uncomfortable, but the night passed quite well with only an occasional shot, but there was always the sound of marching of thousands of Italian prisoners.”