MAORIS’ BAYONETS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20568, 30 May 1941, Page 5

MAORIS’ BAYONETS

TERROR JTO NAZIS FATE OF PARATROOPS HYSTERICAL CAPTIVES HUGE LOSS OF LIFE (Elec. Tel. Copyright—United Press Assn.) (Reed. May 30, 9 a.m.) CAIRO, May 29. The Australian official war correspondent says that tales of desperately fierce fighting for the Malemi airport are told by the Royal Air Force ground staff. “All the parachutists who alighted on the aerodrome on the first day were wiped out by New Zealanders, with the Maoris in the van,” states the correspondent. “The parachutists were green-garbed and even had their faces, binoculars and other equipment painted green. They made a ghastly spectacle. “The Maoris went into them with dreadful ferocity, using their bayonets on the terror-stricken Nazis. The German prisoners were unnerved, weeping and hysterical. When they were able to land troops by planes they' launched- a huge attack on us and drove us half a mile back along the road, when the New Zealanders stopped them.” Open Fields Bombed

The Australian official war correspondent states that despatches say the German planes in Crete are bombing open fields and olive groves, even if there are no troops within miles. It seems a mad effort to demoralise the Anzacs. The Messerschmitts have a screamer which makes hell’s own noise. The bigger bombers have wood clappers beneath their wings to make a noise like machine-gun fire. Some wounded prisoners had been told that the Germans would take the island in less than a day. The beaches are thick with their washed-up dead bodies. Parachutists lie everywhere. The Germans were magnificently equipped. The Allied troops have their tommy-guns by their hundred. The Germans’ water bottles were full of coffee and they carried two days' rations of sausage, biscuits, and also dried apricots, apples,and prunes, and white “energy pills.” “The German snipers are described as rotten marksmen, and all are mongrels when bur chaps get among them,” adds the correspondent. “Australians, New Zealanders, marines and Highlanders slaughtered them until they could hardly lift their arms. No men have fought better or under more hellish conditions. The Germans must wear out. They are losing men and planes in unbelievable num - bers.”