RESCUE BY SHELLING
EFFORTS IN THE ALPS
MAROONED SOLDIERS
(Reed. March 11, 9 a.m.) BERNE, March 10
■Despite the fact that those snowed in semaphored the message: "We are doomed. Do not waste lives trying to reach us." the Swiss Army authorities are making a desperate bid to save the party of 76 Swiss soldiers who yesterday were reported to be short of Cue] and snowed in the Wildhor hut, on the Bernese Alps at an altitude of TfiOOft.
Trench mortars will be carried up the lower slopes on the backs of mules and troops on skis will drag them further. High explosive shells will then be fired against the mountainside in an attempt to dislodge the snow masses and thus clear a downward path from the hut. The continued severe weather is preventing the carrying out of the plans to use the trench mortars. Another patrol of 15 men is reported to 'be snowed in the Wildstrubel Hut at a height of 0000 ft. This is known as the "mouse trap" owing to the difficulty in getting out during snowstorms. .
Unless the weather clears there is little hope of their being rescued.
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Bibliographic details
Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 19885, 11 March 1939, Page 5
Word Count
193RESCUE BY SHELLING Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 19885, 11 March 1939, Page 5
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