BOMB CASUALTIES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23774, 30 September 1940, Page 6

BOMB CASUALTIES

THE SECOND ECHELON THREE MEN WOUNDED ESCAPE OF AUCKLANDERS •GERMAN PILOT CAPTURED (From the Official War Correspondent with the New Zealand Forces in Britain) ENGLAND, Sept. 27 The second echelon's first casualties in enemy action were suffered to-day when an aerial bomb burst loft, ahead of a full bus containing members of the Auckland Battalion. The bus was overturned and two men were slightly wounded in the face and thigh respectively. The bus was returning from a swimming parade. The bomb was one of several dropped in a south-eastern town when a formation of 10 enemy aeroplanes heading toward London was broken up by antiaircraft guns and British fighters. Two raiders suffered severely at the hands of British fighters. One German pilot, who landed his machine intact, but with himself badly wounded, was captured and rushed to hospital by members of the Wellington Battalion. During the same fight a member of tho Composite Battalion, formed from reinforcements with the second echelon, was severely but not dangerously wounded in the face by a fragment of an anti-aircraft shell which did not burst until it struck tho ground. Three Now Zealanders, a major, a sergeant and a private, who were close at hand to the burst of another bomb, which entombed a number of civilians, earned high praise from civilians for their instant and energetic rescue work.

COMFORTS IN EGYPT FIRST BIRTHDAY PRESENT BLACKOUT. SUPPER PARTIES FRUIT SALAD AND CREAM (N.Z.E.F. Official News Service) CAIRO, Sept. 26 Distributed almost on the eve of the anniversary of mobilisation, the first consignment of gift parcels to reach the New Zealand contingent in Egypt formed a welcome "first birthday present" for tho troops, who are now mostly stationed in the Western Desert. The attractive contents of the parcels, which were forwarded through the National Patriotic Fund Board, were a general source of surprise and delight to tho New Zealanders. They contained a wide rango of comforts, such as tinned foodstuffs, cakes, biscuits, sweets and tobacco, all of which are types of gifts extremely acceptable to the fighting forces here.

Articles of clothing and toilet were wisely reduced to a minimum. The parcels were marked in many cases with the names of tho organisations or provinces by which they were donated. Some contained goodwill messages from individual donors. As far ns possible the troops wero given parcels which originated in their own provinces, but such was the wisdom shown in the selection of the contents that most wero more than satisfied with the gifts received.

Unique supper parties were held in many tents tho evening after tho distribution, when even in. the darkness of the blackout fruit salad and cream, topped off with biscuits and coffee, were easily-prepared luxuries.