GREAT FEAT OF ARMS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 20825, 2 July 1942, Page 3

GREAT FEAT OF ARMS

NEW ZEALANDERS IN EGYPT BREAK THROUGH GERMAN RING MAORIS WREAK HAVOC WITH BAYONET ENEMY TERRORISED BY ASSAULTS 5(10 a.m.) <By C °«N, July 1. The New Zealanders’ success on Saturday night in breaking through a ring of German tanks, artillery, and infantry will go down in history as one of the greatest feats of arms m the Noi . African campaign, says the Exchange and Telegiapi 1 7 correspondent with ,the Eighth Army. They went through a gap cut m the German lines while machine-gun bullets and shells came from every direction Some of their trucks were hit and went up m flames. New Zealand machine-gunners perched on .top of the trucks, kept, up a withering fire. A hundred trucks got through with only slight losses. It seemed incredible that the New Zealanders, m a e ose y packed line without tanks ahead of them, could force a way through the German tanks, artillery, and machine-guns. Earlier in the battle they put up'a spieiitfid fight root Mersa Matruh, flinging back five attacks of the 25th Panzer Division. The Maoris wrought havoc with the bayonet. 1 “ The Associated Press Cairo correspondent says that the newly-arrived New Zealand troops, with some tanks, beat oft an attack from the 15th Panzer Division around Fuka. Some Axis armoured units caught outside their tanks during the night were rushed and wiped out with bayonets and handgrenades. The New Zealanders’ assaults terrorised .the enemy. The,main battle is now raging over an area of several hundred square miles bounded by Mersa Matruh, the Mediterranean, Fuka, and the Kattara depression. Five Solid Attacks Thrown Back The New Zealanders, when they went into action on Saturday, flung back five solid attacks of General Rommel s 21st Division. The German command first threw in two infantry 'attacks against the New Zealanders, who held strong positions on the escarpment, and followed up with three tank charges. The New Zealanders beat off all attacks with 25-pounders and six-pound anti-tank guns and then moved to pre-arranged new * positions. They captured German prisoners who said that the . German casualties were heavy. ■ The German forces, as the battle continued, surrounded the New Zealanders, who, supported by British North Country troops and a few tanks, beat off violent attacks from every side and" then forced a gap through the invading force, using bayonets, Tommy-guns, grenades, anti-tank guns, and mortars. The New Zealanders’ bayonet charge occurred in moonlight and cleared a path for nine columns of artillery, lorried troops ; and. Supply lorries, says the British United Press special correspondent. When the Germans saw the flashing steel they just turned round and ran. It is estimated that at least 500 of the enemy ivere killed. “I do not suppose so much bayoneting has been done in this war,” said a young lieutenant who holds the Military Cross. “We certainly gave the enemy something he will not forget.” The Daily Telegraph’s correspondent with ,the Eighth Army says that the New Zealanders now in action in Egypt are veterans of Greece and Crete. They came from Syria with remarkable speed and secrecy. Big convoys rattled down the Syrian mountains and through Palestine and the Sinai Desert, carefully avoiding the main roads and towns. They went into " lietioh west of Mersa Matruh on Saturday. • ...