IN ACTION AGAIN

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 20827, 4 July 1942, Page 3

IN ACTION AGAIN

DOMINION UNITS SPECTACULAR ATTACK DETAILS NOT REVEALED (By TelegraDh—Preua Assn. —Copyright.) (N.Z.E.F. Official W’nr Correspondent.) (11. a.m.) CAIRO, July 3. New Zealand troops are in the forefront of the great battle for Egypt which started at Alamein on Wednesday. No details of the type of action in which the New Zealanders were engaged are available in Cairo. Since the brilliant withdrawal of the New Zealanders from the area south of Mersa Matruh on Saturday night, when .they fought their way out with a spectacular bayonet charge, .the New Zealanders had not been in action. It is known that a strong enemy force ranged .themselves opposite the New Zealand positions on Tuesday night, but it is not known whether the New Zealanders were engaged. Solid and well-equipped “battle groups” of New Zealanders .took up strong positions when they withdrew after their determined and effective crash through the German ring in the early hours of Sunday morning Preliminary work on the positions they now hold was carried out by New Zealanders a long time ago. New Zealand battle groups were responsible for the spectacular and highly successful counter-attack during the grim action on Wednesday as Britain’s Eighth Army held the German onslaught against Alamein. It

was the only counter-attack launched by the British forces during the day. The New Zealand attack was launched in the afternoon against the German Ninetieth Light Division. Details of the New Zealanders' action have not yet reached Cairo, but it has been announced that the New Zealanders’ attack was highly successful. The story is told in Cairo of a signal flashed around the German Ninetieth Light Division and overheard by the New Zealanders. The German division ranged themselves opposite the New Zealanders and when the Huns realised that they were about to clash with the New Zealanders they sent a signal around their division, “Get all available ambulances.” The Germans knew what they were up against. “Did Very Well” The Ninetieth Light Division had a bitter experience at Sidi Rezegh last November, when they were badly knocked about by the New Zealanders. The New Zealanders were again in action all day yesterday but again no details of the action they fought are yet known in Cairo. “They did very well,” is the only comment that so far has come back. The New Zealand casualties in Saturday’s dramatic acton are believed to be fairly light. The men wounded during the enemy bombing raid on Friday night and the men wounded in the course of Saturday's action, when the New Zealanders were five times attacked by Panzers, have reached the New Zealand base hospital. They tell thrilling stories of the hammering the New Zealanders’ 25-pound and six-pound antitank guns gave .the Twenty-first Panzers. They said .that the troops were bitterly disappointed when, around midnight, orders came for withdrawing. One wounded ack-ack officer said: “The boys want to attack and keep on attacking. They are in great heart and have never been fitter.”