NARROW ESCAPE

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20648, 26 December 1941, Page 3

NARROW ESCAPE

DOMINION G.O.C.

ATTACK BY GERMANS BULLET HOLES IN CAR (From the Official War Correspondent with the N.Z.E.F.) (Reed. Dec. 26, noon.) WESTERN DESERT, Dec. 20. With machine gun bullets whistling all about them and the German infantry only 200yds. away, Major-General Freyberg, V.C., and his staff evaded capture by seconds when the Germans drove a wedge through New Zealanders on the morning of December 1.

The previous night the majority of the divisional headquarters had driven up the corridor into the comparative safety of Tobruk. This move, carried out late on Sunday night, had been preceded by two days’ continuous shelling and mortar fire from the. •enemy. - Only a skeleton staff comprising the general officer commanding, his personal staff, liaison officers, and staff officers had been left behind at the battle headquarters of the New Zealand Division. Final Dash to Withdraw Under cover of night, battle headquarters were moved over towards the headquarters of one of the New Zealand infantry brigades. When morning came the Germans continued the tank attack which they had started the night before. Tank shells and machine-guns bullets were crashing around the battle headquarters thick and fast. ' Alongside an armoured car, stood Major-General Freyberg, watching through field glasses as the Germans advanced. A heavy German machine-gun bullet crashed into a tank alongside. He glanced casually at the hole, and then continued to study the advance. Closer and closer came the tanks, with German infantry riding on them. The New Zealand defences could not arrest the steady progress of the tanks and when they were 200yds away it was decided to make a final dash and withdrawal. Into the staff cars and trucks hastily jumped the personnel of the battle headquarters ahd seconds later they were racing east across the desert, followed by a stream of machine-gun fire from the German tanks." Bullet holes were discovered in the general’s car when the party stopped out of range of the German lire.