LIBYAN CAMPAIGN

Evening Star, Issue 23833, 13 March 1941, Page 13

LIBYAN CAMPAIGN

HUGE QUANTITIES OF CAPTURED MATERIAL SOLDIER'S LETTER Interesting impressions of the Libyan campaign are given in a letter written by Private G. D. Robson on January 5. “ Soon after New Year 1 was asked if I would like a trip over the desert where recent actions had taken place,” he writes. “ Needless to say, I grabbed at the chance, and at 9.30 one morning, after stocking up' with provisions, water, and petrol, we went. vShortly after lunch we began to pass dumps of captured material. Until then I had not been able to realise what a victory we had gained. There were huge stacks of rifles, shells, rifle ammunition, machine guns, artillery of all sorts and sizes, motor trucks (though the majority of these were being used •by our people), cases of tinned foods, and clothing. “ Later we reached the town of Sidi Barrani, and here again were huge dumps of material, with fresh loads of stuff coming in continuously. Sidi Barrani had had a real thrashing from bur bombers and naval units. The Navy must have given them merry hell when they opened up. Whilst in this place We saw a monument celebrating the Italian entry into Egypt and the * liberation ’ of that country from the English, and beyond the town we travelled on what is known as the ‘ Road to Victory,’ constructed by the Italians, though not finished, and most uncomfortable to ride over in the back of a light truck. Along this road were dozens of road rollers and much roadmaking equipment, and, as we passed, British soldiers were busy getting the stuff, in going order and moving the road rollers out of the way of traffic, and believe me there is some traffic on the road. About 5 p.m. we stopped at the side of the road for the night, and within about 20 minutes, with the aid of three primus stoves, we had a meal of bully stew, toast, and coffee ready. Our bivouac was just far enough from the battle area around Bardia for us to see the flashes from big guns and yet not be disturbed by the noise, or at least that is what we thought, but early next morning we were awakened. The Navy opened up in great style. “ After breakfast we started on our way to a place called Fort Capuzzo, and whilst driving along the road we could see one of the big ships at sea walloping out shells with monotonous regularity. It’s a real thrill to watch those huge grey ships sailing along, every now and again belching-flame and smoke when they’re on the job, which they’re able to do without any interference from the Italian navy or air force. We drove on until we eventually passed over the border into Libya. Here we could see both Italian and British shells bursting in the distance. _ We had a grandstand view of an artillery duel, though some shells were a bit too close for comfort, even though they must have been at least a couple of miles away. The din was fairly loud. One, of the things that impressed_ me most was the fact that whilst this war for Bardia was in progress Tommy engineers were busy with tar and gravel repairing the bitumen road, and transport was carting mate-, rials, food, ammunition, and such' things just as if there was no enemy artillery within ..a,iuadrcd,uniles. ...Jnci-. v dentally, New''Zealand transport drivers ' have done wonderful work in this campaign—in fact, I don’t think. I’m exaggerating when I say the success has been due to quite a large extent to the ability of the N.Z.A.S.C. Only those of us who have been over the desert and up in the forward area can appreciate the work done by all the British transport units, and our people have been doing more than a fair share. The desert is a huge place and our troops are nearly 200 miles from the railhead, so you can get some idea 1 of the distances covered.

“-We had a cup of tea with come Dominion troops at Fort Gapuzzo (which troops you’ll be able to guess when you get this, for I believe Bardia is taken), and were they wild! They of all their crowd had. been selected to stop behind to guard the water point at the fort, i After this we turned back andt headed towards Sidi Barrani once again. After stopping to examine an Italian aeroplane which had been shot down, we headed away into the desert to see some of the outer camps where the Italians had been , stationed, and late in the afternoon located one where we decided to camp the night. 1 collected a few souvenirs in the way of badges, buttons, stamps, and so forth, and also gathered up some gear useful to me out here, including a nice new jacket which fits as though it had been made to measure. Most of the eamps have now been thoroughly salvaged, but the one we were at had been done,only roughly. Much material was still lying around—the poor devils must 'have thrown the sponge in -without any resistance at all. That night, after a jolly good meal, we made our beds down oh Italian ambulance stretchers instead of on the hard ground, and I slept very comfortably. Next morning, after an early breakfast, we headed out across the desert and reached camp just in time for tea. Here’s hopes that all my trips to battles will be as pleasant!” ’