A THRILLING RAID

Opotiki News, Volume III, Issue 323, 18 October 1940, Page 4

A THRILLING RAID

ITALIANS SURPRISED DEADLY BAYONET WOEIv PRISONERS SECURED (N.Z.D.E. Official News Service) This is an account oi a raid thai actually occurred on the B. by an frontier on the night of the 22m1. 23rd. August, 1940. A battalion of a very, famous Engish. regiment received the -following orders : - ‘ ‘information respecting the enemy is urgently required, i. prisoner will be taken.” The enemy were the Italians am the area from which the prisohci was to be extracted was North i Capuzzo along the road to Bard a. The raiding party consisted c one officer and fourteen oLho ranks. A New Zealand officer iu, attached to the regiment at the tiim and managed to persuade the bat talian commander to let him go too.

The raid was to be a silent one there would be no artillery- bai rage, no other help. It was expected thati they , would be able to capture one of the cyclists who had been noticed to-travc. along the road, or failing a cycl st. a driver of one of the enemy inoto vehicles which were known to usi this road by night. The preparations for the raid were simple enough. Sandshoes were worn instead of the usual heavy military boots. All means of ideut ty were removed from the tunics. Pockets were emptied of any pap ers which might, in the event of capture, tell the enemy the unit opposite them. Steel helmets, rifles and bayonets, two M.E. rilles and two machine-guns and an anti-tank rifle —these were the armaments. At seven o’clock in the evening the small party paraded. Each man was searched to see- that no evidence of identity had been overlooked. The rifles and nmchinc-guns were tried as a last precaution. A was well for whatever the gallant little party had to face. Half-no hour later, seated in four militarytrucks, the party started off to tl accompaniment of "Good luck an Happy Hunting,” and similar word of cheer. At the top of Halfayn Pass there was still too much light

to allow the- little party to go further in the meanwhile. They halted for half-an-hour by which time the' light had deepened. On they went to Fort Musaid, -then they turned west for another mile and a-half..

Leaving the trucks here they s.‘ lently advanced on foot each man experiencing the tense feeling of a fast approaching crisis. Suddenly one man noticed movement to- the rear of the party. Cover was. taken and quietly the officer investigated the position. There was nothing. On went the party when anotlici member noticed movement on the. flank; again a false alarm. The barbed wire which the Tta! inns had evented as a protective screen was then reached. Two mci who had been detained for the jo crept forward and cut a gap suf ficiently wide for the small part, to pass through, When this passage had been negotiated bearings were checked and tin party went on in the direction they had decided to follow. The bitumen road was' reached and the party divided itself into two, one party on either side connected only by a taut piece of .wire stretched across the road to trip lithe expected cyclist. For one long hour the party wait cd listening intently for an approaching enemy. None came, only the sound of distant voices and some bumping on the ground broke the silence.

It was decided to go on; The. par ty was called together and they silently marched towards the triangh made by the Si Azicz-C'apuzzo-Ba’ dia roads. A dark shadow appealed on the-flank. It was a hangar. The party surrounded it. Not r sound wasi heard, within. .1 hey list cned intently. Only the breathing of the raiders could be heard. Tlu hangar was empty.

As the party re-assembled on om side of the hangar the sound of dig ging and movement could then 1 heard clearly. It came from the direction of the locality to wide) the party had decided to go. As tin area of the triangle was reached a sentry was seen standing on tin Si A/.icz Road on the left of th raiders. Another sentry was noticed ahead and then some larg lorries standing within the triangle were revealed in silhouette. / group of.the enemy could he seen. There appeared to be about one hundred and fifty of then.

As tli o party crept up to the S

A/.icz road a sergeant and two nicr witli a machine gun were Jeft behind

as cover. The, rest moved forward. How silently they moved. Their objective was the men, working on the Bardia Road. About twenty could clearly be seen laying stones on the edge of a trench. Ono man unwillingly helped the raiding party for he was smoking- a cigarette. Closer and closer crept the party, till they were so close that it wa obvious, that the enemy must soon see them as the moonlight was reflected on the ‘ white steel of the fixed bayonets.

The signal was given. Every mai rose to his feet and with rilics thrust forward, bayonets gleaming in the light, they rushed forward a. , one man.

A yell of surprise from the enc.-ny, a few hurried rifle shots, and tn party was at -their throats. Jtilh barking, and bayonets thrusting die their deadly work; hands were sooi hold high in pure fright. Bedlam supplanted tho quiet of that Egyptian night. All was confusion amongst the enemy. The British party pursued, and pursued relentlessly, the purpose of their raid. The slightest resistance meant instant death, there was only one thing to do, to ilee or to surrender. While some rounded up several prisoners, others spent the few brief minutes in protecting their capture by firing and bayoneting on either flank. A large dugout was not.ced ; into this, jumped one of the raiders, a man in bod, clearly an officer, sprang up to collapse back with a sigh as a boyonct ended his earthly cares. '

The signal was given to the party to retire. A field gun was noticed quite near and a decision had to- be made whether it should be destroyed. To have pushed a bomb down its. muzzle would take time and the Italians might rally and prevent tho taking of the prisoners. So it was decided to return with the prisoners and leave the gun. As the party was returning an enemy machine-gun opened lire. H was firing high. One of the prisoners made a cry to give the Italians the proper direction. He was dealt with.

The sergeant left behind to cover the retreat attempted to open fire but the machino-gun jammed. The enemy fire was getting periously close. Ba'ck went tho sergeant with hi s file of men carrying the ma-chine-gun. The enemy was now pouring in a deadly lire and the sergeant halted and this time the machine-gun spoke its deadly messages. Two magazines, were emptied at the Italians. Back, back went tho

party, forcing the along. iJirougn Lhe narrow gap m tbe wire aJJ passed and then came quiet. '.I lie enemy ceased linng. The rest 01 the journey, was uneventful. The lorries we're reached, those prisoners who had been wounded were attended to anil the party reported back Co their battalion commander to receive congratulations on a job well and gallantly done. later it was learnt that much valuable informat.on was secured from the priosners. The name of the New Zealander was captain T. 0. Wallace of the 2nd. N.Z. Divisional Cavalry JLtegirnent.