HOME AGAIN

Evening Post, Volume CXXXI, Issue 32, 7 February 1941, Page 8

HOME AGAIN

INVALIDED TROOPS '

PARTY OF EIGHTY-SEVEN

SYDNEY'S WELCOME

Eighty-seven New Zealand soldier* invalided home from the Near East, mainly from Egypt, have arrived at Wellington. Captain T. H. Neil (Auckland) was medical officer in charge, and the other officers in the party were Lieutenant-Colonel. N. F. Boag (Blenheim), Major J. Stack (Christchurch), Captain D. H. Wilson (Auckland), Captain N. Taylor (Blenheim), and Captain W. Foster (Ngauruwahia) . There were several cases of wounds and shell shock, but most of the party were sent back because of the usual illnesses developed on active service.

Also with the party, of which Captain D. Cosgrove, officer in charge of Sick and Wounded Records, Army Headquarters, Wellington, was in charge from Melbourne, were four nurses, one of whom, Staff Nurse H. L. Faber (Dunedin South) was a patient. The others were Staff Sister N. T. Stewart (Wellington), Sister K. G. Hall (Auckland), and Sister V. M. Hodges (Dunedin). Four male attendants brought from Suez made up the party.

Captain Cosgrove said that the hospitality received by the party in Australia could not have been bettered. Particularly worthy of praise was the work of the New Zealand War Auxiliary Unit, which operated from the office of the New Zealand' Trade Commissioner in Sydney under the leadership of Mrs. Linda Ferguson. This organisation represented 25,000 New Zealanders in* Sydney arid was a very live one. Its object was to do everything possible to help make the visits of New Zealand troops enjoyable,,and nothing nad been left undone on the present occasion. The members of the party were taken for a' boat trip around the harbour, and on another day they went to Koala Park. Free meals and entertainment were provided for them at the Anzac buffet of the War Auxiliary Unit. Members of the unit turned up with their cars for the use of the party, and altogether they excelled themselves. No praise was too great for them. At Melbourne the party transferred straight from one ship to another, so that there was no opportunity for Melbourne citizens to show their hospitality, as they had previously done ro warmly, said Captain Cosgrove. The Australians, in general, showed a great interest in the New Zealanders; in fact, their hospitality at times was a little embarrassing. PATROLS FN THE DESERT. A story of patrol work in the desert was told by one of the party", a gunner, who was transferred with about 70 others to the British command in Egypt. "Our job was to go out into Libya to see what was doing in the way of small garrisons and aerodromes and .what the enemy traffic was like," ihe said. "When we came to a garri•son small enough—we were Only a Ismail party.ourselves—we cleaned them iup, but mostly we, concentrated on | going for enemy patrols and convoys, ' taking prisoners and capturing equipment and supplies. We also had the j job of putting down land mines in enemy aerodromes where we could. It was general reconnaissance work and guerilla warfare for about five or six weeks at a'time, then a few days' leave before getting' into, it again." : The trucks they were using were light and fast and carried a twopounder gun, anti-aircraft gun, .and other armament, said the gunner. The patrols extended down as far as French Equatorial Africa and well to the west into Libya. In about five months the three patrols, each with eleven trucks, covered something like 300,000 square miles, averaging up to 1000 miles a week. "We would be trundling along and possibly see something ahead," he went on. "We would skirt whatever it was and send a truck out to reconnoitre. Then it was a question of either an ambush or a straight-out chrage. In the early days the enemy just used to throw in the towel at the first sight of the trucks, but later their resistance stiffened. Most of them' were Libyans with Italian officers. One day we came across a small airfield with one Savoia plane on it. We blew it up, and the next day we were attacked by three more Savoias, whichcame down low and machine-gunned us. /We replied to their fire and sent them up high. Then' they started bombing us, and for three days they followed us dropping bombs, but causing no casualties. During, the nights they let us alone, but, they returned to the attack every morning. It was no use our running away. They could have found us in a couple of hours."

One amusing experience was when a British patrol approached, an oasis dominated by a mud tower about 120 feet high with the Italian flag waving frdm it. One round from the twopounder gun brought it down, and. the enemy troops scattered in all directions.

Othbr members of the party, said .that Italian aircraft had been responsible for most of the casualties suffered by the New Zealanders, but there had been little trouble from that direction for some considerable time. They also mentioned that some New Zealanders had taken an active part in front-line operations and conducted themselves very well. The New Zealanders in general were very fit and anxious to be given a chance of showing what they could do.