DESERT BATTLE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23851, 30 December 1940, Page 6

DESERT BATTLE

DOMINION DRIVERS DETAILS OF ACTION ONI/Y ONE CASUALTY INDIAN TROOPS' HOLE (From the Official War Correspondent tvifh the New Zealand Forres in the Middle East) WESTERN DESERT, Dec. 27 The most exciting days they have known were described in vivid detail to-dav by New Zealand truck drivers who have returned from the front for a brief stay at their headquarters, a quiet little bay somewhere along the Mediterranean roast,. The men were members of the operating sections of the Beserve Motor Transport Company, Army Service Corps, whose trucks carried English and Indian troops into the battle which rid Egypt of the Italian armed forces. Nearly 2.'50 drivers and reliefs and officers in three fleets of heavy lorries took the assaulting parties to the very gates of the enemy positions in the Sidi Barrani area. It is now confirmed that several of them decided on the spur of the moment to take an even more direct part in the offensive, following the charging infantrymen into the enemy positions and helping to round up the surprised enemy troops. Admittedly their action was irregular, but undeniably it was splendid. Enemy Aeroplane Shot Down Tn addition they were forced time : after time to seek shelter behind truck ; wheels or trendies from bursting shells and bombs, arid a rain of fire from machine-gun nests and aircraft. It is believed that one driver firing a Bren gun from his shoulder brought down a diving Italian machine. As yet the unit has suffered only one casualty, a j driver who was hurt, but not seriously, | when his truck ran over a land mine. Intense cold and continual sandstorms were experienced during the several days and nights spent by the drivers in the front line. Events moved so swiftly that they find it difficult to retrace them chronologically. All agreed that the element of complete surprise made for a swift victory. Even the sight of the big New Zealand trucks of which some were mistaken for tanks by the startled enemy soldiers, seemed to have had a demoralising I effect. Incredibly enough the men obtained adequate sleep. The most , exhausting phase of their task was an I all-night return journey with prisoners. I They are now continuing the work of carrying supplies to the British forces across the border. Approach Unobserved One driver described how his section loaded up with Indian troops and spent the first night in the open some 60 miles from the enemy. Next day the ' troops practised debussing, while the j drivers were shown maps of the enemy camps and told how to make an en- ' trance. The party then moved up unseen and unheard to a bivouac about eight miles from and almost behind the objectives. Italian pilots flew overhead unsuspectingly. ''One of our sections went in at dawn and their camp was falling as my section passed later in the day." he said. "Tilings got pretty hot when shellfire came our way, and we steered clear to reach our own objective. When the leading trucks almost ran into machine-gun nests, the Indians stood up and threw in hand grenades. ''We went right alongside the outer tank traps, where some of our trucks met a number of tanks whose crews seemed so spellbound that they could not hit us. The Indian troops piled out and quite a few of our drivers hopped into the scrap with them. It was some hours before all the prisoners were rounded up. Shelter from Shellfire "During the night, which was spent at the same camp, a crowd of Italians came from another position and took a few shots at us, but not enough to worry about. Next day we took the Indians to another camp. We had not been there half an hour when artillery opened on us from somewhere else. Believe me, it was pretiv warm. "1 dived for a hole, landing on top of two Libyans who had beaten me with the same idea. We were under shellfire for more than an hour, and when we moved to still another camp a few aeroplanes tried ft) machine-gun us. I got about 15 shots away at them. There was no stopping the Indians, and this camp fell like the rest. 'When the area was finally cleaned up we set out for Solium, but word was received that no useful Italians were left in Egypt. We spent the next two or three days carting prisoners before returning to the job of transporting supplies."