HEROIC FIGHT TO SAVE FATHER’S BODY

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 552, 3 January 1929, Page 7

HEROIC FIGHT TO SAVE FATHER’S BODY

SHOT DOWN BY ARABS A sou's heroic fight to save his father’s body from Arab desecration is told by the correspondent of the “Daily Mail” at Colomb Bechar, Algeria. The story concerns the recent massacre of three French officers, Colonel Claverie, Captain Pasquet, and Captain De Besse, by tribesmen 35 miles south of Colomb Bechar. Colonel Claverie’s son, a sergeantmajor, spent his leave accompanying his father on a tour of inspection. Single-handed he repulsed the tribesmen from ,4 p.m. until 8 p.m., when reinforcements put the Arabs to flight: The colonel’s motor-car broke down and delayed the party two days. A shortage of food and water compelled the escort of cameleers to fall back. The occupants of the first car ran into an ambush and were killed. The Arabs fired upon the second car which arrived half an hour later. Colonel Claverie, Captain Pasquet and Captain de Besse sprang out, but were shot down as they tried to storm the rocks with revolvers in their hands. Sergeant-Major Claverie, accompanied by three privates, dashed up in a third car, and found his father and his fellow officers dead on the ground. Claverie manoeuvred the car with deadly coolness and opened fire, which he maintained until he had killed two of the raiders. His„ action prevented the robbery and mutilation of the bodies, though two of his comrades were shot dead and a third seriously wounded. Airplanes are now indicating the whereabouts of the raiders to punitive expeditions, which are rounding them up.