DESERT CAMPAIGN

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 126, 21 February 1941, Page 6

DESERT CAMPAIGN

Vivid Pictures By New Zealander TRANSPORT UNITS Italian Prisoners Provide Spectacle A yuiuig Wellington business man. who sailed with the first echelon, writing to his father front Egypt, gives some vivid pictures of work with the motor transport units in Egypt and Libya. "1 have just come back,” he writes, "from a six-day trip, which took us right up to the line, practically as fains any troops have been—further than any Now Zealanders, anyway. And what a trip—full of interest, but very hard going. I was just about done up when we got iu. We did the best part of 1000 miles over roads that were just bell. To give you some idea: We took out 10 three-ton trucks in pretty good order. "We limped home with only a few hours’ difference between the first and the last, trucks, with live broken springs, live or six broken and leaking radiators, one cracked cylinder block, two trucks in tow, and numerous other complaints —not a spare tyre left in the outfit and witli about three or four borrowed from other units on the road. . . Carrying Suitcases. "We were through all the captured towns and fortified areas and positions, and, my word, what swags of prisoners and gear we arc collecting. We passed through one place that had just fallen a few hours previously, and passed thousands of prisoners on their way to the pen—mostly making their own way there iu batches, some under guard, carrying their gear in suitcases. They looked funny struggling along with a suitcase. One chap was a scream. He’d found a pushbikc, and here he was, with his suitcase on the handle bars, pedalling for dear life down to the"prisoners’ cage. The barbed wire cages arc chock full. We are taking thousands and thousands of prisoners all the time. Wo helped shift a big batch of Italian officers ar. oue place—hundreds of them. “The amount of transport taken is stupendous. At some places I’m sure wo are using more Italian trucks than our own. And they’re all great Diesel motor jobs—wonderful jobs—and our chaps are using them all. "1 saw dozens of huge Italian planes destroyed—some shot down, others, I think, caught on the ground in their aerodromes and destroyed, great big three-engined ‘jobs’ which must have been wonderful planes. Goodness knows how much they would cost to build. Australians in Their Element. "The ‘Aussies’ captured hundreds of barrels of wines, liqueurs, etc., and my word did. they have a spree! We had a pretty good taste ourselves and managed to come back with a barrel and most of our water containers full, but not with water. "It is the windy season here now, and we're getting some terrible duststorms. They just about put the lid on things when you’ve got a convoy on the road. You've got to travel very slowly and carefully as everything becomes completely blotted out. We were out in one some nights ago moving along very carefully-—trucks nose to tail—trying to find our destination, or a place to camp, and two went off the track into deep sand. Though you couldn’t seo your hand in front of you. we had to set to work and pull them both out before we could camp. The winds come up very suddenly. You’ll spread your blankets in some hollow and go to sleep under a starry sky, to wake up about midnight covered with inches of sand and. with a blinding sandstorm all round.”