DESERT PATROL

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20489, 25 February 1941, Page 12

DESERT PATROL

NORTH AFRICA EXPLOITS

“SHOW QUITE A PICNIC” AUCKLANDER'S LETTER Tho adventures of a New Zealand bombardier in the Long Range Desert Group, whose exploits in North Africa in the past seven months have thrilled the world, were briefly related by an Aucklander in a recent letter. “Well, I am back again from the desert and ready to go out again shortly,” he writes. “The last trip was quite eventful. We were bombed again by three Italian aeroplanes, which failed to score a single hit, and we engaged an enemy outpost, causing several casualties without harm to ourselves. I have at last had an opportunity of trying out my gun, pumping close on 40 rounds into the enemy fortifications. “Twenty of these rounds I fired at a range of 400 yards, knocking out two machine-gun nests and at least one man. I was a bit scared before going into action, but once I got going I quite enjoyed it. In fact, in spite of bullets kicking up the dust all round my truck, both my gunner and I thought the show quite a picnic.”

Then he said: “We would pick out a target, fire,'then pick up the glasses and look for another target. So far our patrols have been lucky, as we have not had a single man killed or wounded. We are, I think, the only New Zealand troops who have been in contact with the enemy.”