BLUFF BY MAORIS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 86, Issue 55, 6 March 1942, Page 3

BLUFF BY MAORIS

HELD SOLIUM BARRACKS HOW GERMANS WERE DECEIVED (N.Z.E.F. Official Correspondent.) Cairo, Feb. 28. “To-night the Solium barracks are garrisoned by friendly South African soldiers,” states a dispatch from Solium barracks dated February 22. •'Three months ago to the day 1 stood m the outskirts of Solium in the early morning and watched the Maoris, who had captured the barracks at aaw n. withstand a terrific battering from German artillery lire from Hell“Memories of one of the many laughs the New Zealanders had on General Rommel come back. The Maori Battalion, which held the Solium barracks against all attacks for over a fortnight, were to be relieved by Ihe South Africans. When the appointed time for the South Africans to take over arrived, the Maoris mounted trucks and drove off to a new task, leaving one second-lieu-tenant and four other ranks to hand over to the relieving battalion. For six hours, five Maoris armed with four rilles and a pistol held the Solium ’nan-acks and the vital surrounding commanding country. The barracks, a prize lor which the Germans had paid dearly, was General Rommel's again for the asking. “Th<* incident is on a par with that at Sidi Rezegh. when the New Zealand divisional head(|uarters could have been captured with comparative ease if the Germans had realised just, what they were up against. Supesj bluff bv New Zealanders saved divisional headquarters that day.” A dispatch dated Tobruk, February 24. states:“Last night 1 reached Tobruk from Solium. We passed through Capuzzo, which is one our infam ry battalions captured in Novt'mber without a shot being tired. We passed by Hellfire Pass, which was for over a year a German stronghold until the South Africans recaptured it. "On we went to Bardia. which was desolate, destroyed and deserted, wrecked buildings, wrecked tanks and wrecked motor transport told the tale of the terrific air attack and naval bombardment that brought about the abject surrender of the Germans and Italians there. “Then we came to Menastir and ran alongside the escarpment upon ■• Inch sat the Wellington Infantry Lallalion. w >rted by a company of machine-gunners and 25-pounders in the early stages of the British drive in November. They sat there for I'ciays, and shot to pieces every bit o: (transport that tried either to leave or to enter Bardia. I “Along a shell-torn road we bumped. on either side of which there was :st ark evidence of tho great tank i bat ties that raged around this area. !We passed a dozen battered German tanks in a few miles. • "And so on to Gambut, on the main ' Bardin-Tobruk road, the scene of much bitter fighting, and then to Tobruk. Battered and bombed Tobruk, with its harbour and graveyard of shipping. "As we prepared the evening meal the drone of a German aeroplane in the distance grew louder. Searchlights Hashed across the evening sky. anti-aircraft guns cracked, then, m the distance, bombs crashed. We knew we were back at Tobruk.”