LIBYAN BORDER

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21173, 24 July 1940, Page 10

LIBYAN BORDER

TOWN CLAIMED DESTROYED REPORT FOUND UNTRUE (N.Z.E.F. Official News Service) EGYPT, June 28 A car was going through toward the Libyan border—not all the way, only a few hundred miles. We were able to arrange to accompany the officer who was off to see one of the units under his command. There was little wind and all augured well for a perfect drive through the night. Then the unexpected (so usual here) happened, and a sharp puff of wind and a cloud of dust swept before us. At once the stars disappeared and we ran into a dense cloud of soft dust and stone pellets. Now and then we stopped altogether, for it is not really sensible to move forward when the road is covered with a moving torrent of sand and the radiator is the most distant object discernible. “All in Day’s Work” It was rather like looking for a needle in hay'stack trying to find the unit in question.' At last we found it, well dispersed. It was a transport unit and had just returned from a trip into “somewhere” in the desert. They had been on an important job; there had been neither time nor opportunity to wash, to say nothing of shave. As they returned they shook the dust off their clothes and tried with dusty hands to wipe their faces clean. These young soldiers were tired and cheerful as they clambered from their transport. One young man said: “It’s tough, but it is all in the day’s work.” and he grinned out of his dusty covering. Italians a Little Out We next visited a large group of soldiers who had been earning the right to be called by the name of their predecessors in the Great War —“Diggers.” A few days ago a high officer saw their work and said he had no idea so much good work could possibly have been done in so short a time. Making a special trip to the site of their digging we could easily understand the general's surprise. Matruh next claimed our attention and we sped to that town, which, according to the various reports from Italian broadcasts, was reduced to ruins by their well-directed bombing. Matruh is a beautiful little watering place. We reached it from the main highroad, turned toward the sea, and in a few moments were looking down on a snug, little town. There was no sign of destruction. Not a hit had been scored making I damage worth recording. There was | a rumour that a disused hut had ; been hit, but try as we did we could | not find it. The trouble with the ; Italians is that they fiv too high, j they don’t aim. and they trust in I Mussolini: but they can fly fast on j the home stretch.