EGYPTIAN FRONT

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23753, 26 September 1942, Page 5

EGYPTIAN FRONT

ENEMY PARTIES DISPERSED

TANKER DAMAGED NEAR. TOBRUK

(N Z Press Association-j-Copyright.) (Rec. U pan.) LONDON, Seph 25. 1 To-dav’s Cairo communique states. “Enemy y working parties were attacked and dispersed by our patrols on Wed nesdav night. Yesterday-there was nothing to report from Allied bombers damaged a large enemy tanker north-west of Tobruk on Wednesday night. There was a slight increase In enemy ajr ovfr Malta. and a Junkers 88 bomber was shot down. One Allied aircratt was lost in these operations. Marshal Rommel is bel ‘^ e V P ° r’l suffering from throat trouble. Reuters correspondent on theGermanfrofttie says he was unquestionably seen last week in Freuderstadt, a small to\vn 30 miles from Stuttgart.’ The “New York Times” last week quoted a report from Europe that Marshal Rommel is a malarial patient in a Stuttgart tropical won the Military Cross as a result of a misunderstanding is named among the latest list of awards for gallantry approved by the iking. The major was driving a Bren carrier up to a forward position near Gazala. When he arrived, a subaltern, mistaking the .major for one of his own men, ordered him to destroy a machine-gun nest. This the major did. When he returned, the subaltern ordered him, in no uncertain terms, to attack another machine-gun position. The major accomplished this task, too, and such were the conditions under which he fought that his gallantry was rewarded with the M.C. *A list of military awards published to-night includes a D.S.O, to Captain D. J. Penwill, who commanded a company of the East Yorkshire Regiment during the break-out south-east of Mersa Matruh on June 14. It was Captain Penwill’s bravery and leadership which were largely responsible for forcing a gap wide enough for the survivors of the battalion and the rest of the brigade, as well as divisional headquarters to get through.

DOMINION V.C, INTERVIEWED “DO NOT PLAY ME UP AS A HERO” , (Ree. II p.m.) LONDON. Sept. 25. The correspondent of the “Daily Express” with the Bth Army, reports Sergeant Keith Elliott, V.C., as saying; “Do not play me up as a hero. Thank the boys for what they did. I could not have done any of it without them. “I hardly felt my wounds, although I knew I had been hit. Because the velocity of a bullet shakes you. I was not conscious of pain, and so was able to carry on. One of our boys was knocked over by a grenade. I thought it was all over for him, but he jumped up and waded in again.” Sergeant Elliott’s pay-book was cut by a splinter from an explosive bullet.

SHOT DOWN IN DESERT

CREW RETURNS TO BRITISH LINES (Special Correspondent N.Z.P.A.)

(Rec. 7.35 p.m.) LONDON, Sept. 24. Wearing a small winged-bopt badge, indicating that he had been shot cown and then returned to his own lines. Pilot Officer I. G. Medwin, of Hamilton has returned to England from Egypt. He was‘shot down in_ June when the Germans were advancing on Mersa Matruh. Pilot Officer Medwin said: We were engaged in low-level bombing and strafing at night and were giving it-to a German column. Our aircraft had just pulled out when a Messerschmitt got on our tail and raked us with her cannon, hitting the port motor, - the wing, and the fuselage, and setting fire to our aircraft. I had a bad moment when I looked round and saw our kite ablaze. I thought it was the end because we were too low to bail' out while unable to make our base. In spite of the dark, we managed to pick up a likely-looking spot and then crashlanded in flames. “We managed to get out of the aeroplane and had to keep a sharp lookout for German columns. We had no food and no water but after five hours we ran across some boys from the King’s Own Regiment who were minelaying. They took us in lorries to Mersa Matruh.” Pilot Officer Medwin has carried out 33 operations and was shot up eight times, including five times' over Benghazi while minelaying. A Breda shell once went through the perspex hood between the two pilots, miraculously missing both. Warrant Officer W. B. Heney, of North Canterbury, saw Pilot Officer Medwin shot down. “I saw the aeroplane in flames and did not realise who it was until the next morning when I found Medwin’s tent empty,” he said, Warrant Officer Heney has carried out 40 operations, many when Pilot Officer Medwin was also operating. They raided bases in Rhodes, Greece, Crete, and Libya. . , ANTI-INFLATION BILL

DISUNITY FEARED BY SENATOR

(Rec. 11.30 p.m.) WASHINGTON, Sept. 24. Fighting an apparently hopeless battle in the United States* Senate, Senator P. M. Brown, who is in charge of the Administration’s anti-inflation measure, said he believed that the Congress and the President were headed for a collision. He feared that at a time when unity was needed, they were going to have criticism, disunity, and discord between the Legislative and executive branches of the Government. , „ Speaking after 13 members of the Senate Agriculture Committee had voted to reject the Administration’s compromise in the controversy over the farm parity price provisions in the anti-inflation bill. Senator Brown said that it was possible that the dispute might have to be resolved in the third branch of the Government (meaning the Supreme Court), He said the bill, if finally adopted by Congress, would be vetoed. There was not the slightest doubt in his mind that after the veto the American people would demand that the President take action. Neither was there the slightest doubt that the President had authority under the Second War Powers Act.

Supplies for Singapore.—A large consignment of Red Cross stores, including food, clothing, medical supplies, and cigarettes, for distribution to Australian and British prisoners and internees In the Far East has been landed at Singapore. This announcement has been made by Australian Red Cross Headquarters.—Melbourne, September 25. U.S. Merchantman Sunk. —The United States Navy has announced that of the crew of a medium-sized United States merchantman which was torpedoed and sunk early in July in the north Atlantic, one was killed and the remaining 48 survivors have landed at an east coast port—Washington, September 24.