BATTLE INCIDENTS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25673, 23 October 1944, Page 3

BATTLE INCIDENTS

NEW ZEALANDERS IN ITALY

TANKS’ EXCITING EXPERIENCE tN.Z.E.F. Official War Correspondent) GAMBETTOLA, Oct. 18. Yesterday’s rain has made surprisingly little difference in the quality of the going in the New Zealand sector, and to-day the roads were drying out very ouickly. The fields are still impassable to tanks, but there is scarcely any noticeable rise in the streams. Our 1 roops arc now firmly established on the banks of the Pisciatello River, where all to-day they have been subjected to heavy mortar and Spandau fire. Some few thousand yards ahead there is a small spur of the Apennines, and on it is a tall stone building which may have been a mediaeval castle. From this the Geimans were directing fire on our troops. Six Kitty bombers passed over us heading for this target. They wheeled over the castle and opened out m line astern and as each one swooped we could see the sparkle of tracers on the stone. Each plane laid its bomb squarely on the target, which disappeared in clouds of smoke and flame. Early to-day members of a headquarters staff were amazed to find that for 24 hours they had been sharing billets with a German soldier. When he surrendered he was still in possession .of his rifle and several grenades. He was a runner in a German Air Force regiment now serving as infantry. He had been unable to return to his own lines, and when he emerged from hiding this morning he found himself m the midst of the headquarters staff. An instance of the almost simultaneous knocking out of a New Zealand tank and a German anti-tank gun by each other occurred when our troops were advancing yesterday. The tank was moving slowly along a road when the gunner spotted an anti-tank gun by the roadside about 800 yards ahead. He fired, but the German gunner also fired. The tank was hit without injury to the crew, and the German gun was destroyed, with one member of the crew killed. . Another lively incident in which two tanks figured also ended happily for the New Zealanders, although they had some exciting moments before tney reached safety. Moving across country, they took the wrong road, and before the mistake was discovered the leading tank came under fire. The second moved up to assist the crew to escape, when, without warning, it was struck from behind by a bazooka bomb, which hit the petrol tank, fortunately without starting a fire. The driver managed to get the tank under the lee of a nearby house, where the crew took up positions at an upstairs window, where they were soon engaged by a group of Germans. They drove the attackers off with a tommy gun and pistols and then secured the machine gun from the tank. The Germans attacked again, but this time the New Zealanders had sufficient firepower to drive them off for good. Meanwhile, the whole crew of the other tank, which was on fire, managed to get out without injury, and took shelter in a ditch, where they had to remain until dawn the following morning, when they were able to rejoin their unit.