PATROL WORK IN THE WESTERN DESERT

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 85, Issue 33, 8 February 1941, Page 6

PATROL WORK IN THE WESTERN DESERT

THOUSANDS OF MILES RANGE LIGHT UNITS MAINTAIN PERSISTENT RAIDS I Per Press Association. J WELLINGTON, Feb. 7. i Interesting experiences of patrol work in the Western Desert were told hy one member of a party of 'New (Zealand soldiers invalided home, who arrived in Wellington. This man was a gunner who was transferred to the British Command in Egypt. “Our job was to go out into Libya,’ he said, "to see what was doing in the way of small garrisons and aeroand what enemy traffic was like When he came to a garrison small enough -we were only a small party ourselves—w»_- cleaned them up. but mostly concentrated on going for enemy patrols and convoys, taking prisoners and capturing equipment and supplies. We also had a job of putting down land mines where we could.” The trucks they used, he said, we; e fast and carried a two-pounder gun, an anti-aircraft gun and other armament. The patrols extended down as far as French Equatorial Africa, and in about three months three patrols, each of 11 trucks, covered something like 300,000 square miles, averaging up to 1000 miles a week. One amusing experience, he said, was when a British patrol approached an oasis dominated by a mud tower 120 feet high, from which an Italian, flag was waving. One round from « two-pounder brought it down, and enemy troops scattered in all directions. Other members of the party said that Italian aircraft were responsible for most of the New Zealand casualties, but there had been little trouble from that direction for some considerable time. They also mentioned that some New Zealanders had taken an active part in front-line operations, and had conducted themselves verywell.

The New Zealanders, in general, were very fit and anxious to be given a chance of showing what they could do.