RESCUED FROM SEA

Waikato Times, Volume 128, Issue 21356, 26 February 1941, Page 6

RESCUED FROM SEA

500 ITALIAN PRISONERS NEW ZEALANDER’S ORDEAL HEROISM ON LIBYAN COAST Soaked to the skin by rollers surging repeatedly over them, engineers of the New Zealand Army troops Company spent six arduous hours in pitch darkness early this month when they assisted the rescue of 500 Italian prisoners of war, with their guards and the crew, from a small ship grounded on a rocky stretch of the Mediterranean coast. The New Zealanders worked like Trojans to drag the survivors out of the sea and hoist them up a perpendicular rock face to safety. Members of the company, which was camped at the time on the shore, made out in the failing light of early evening the dim shape of a ship heading towards land. Uncertain whether the vessel was friend or foe, the troops were called out armed and hastened along the coast. They found the ship stranded in* a swell on a ledge jutting out from the foot of a steep cliff. Line Brought Ashore Rescue plans were shouted across the intervening surf, and a prisoner, wearing a lifebelt, brought a light line ashore, arriving in a state of collapse from which he failed to revive. A ship’s fireman who swam in with a second line was hauled up the cliff by the New Zealanders witn a rope made from rifle slings fastened together. A sergeant used the same rope to descend and recover the body of the Italian, who died shortly after he had been pulled out of the surf. “We dragged hawsers ashore with the lines from the boat and anchored them to a heavy truck on top of the cliff,” members of the company related. “ Then a party of us went down into the surl to grab the survivors as they hauled themselves 4n through the breakers.” Walking out along the ledge as far as they could, the rescuers were often engulfed by waves. An officer recalled how he saw one of his men keep disappearing, except for his bald pate, only to bob up again as the swirl of surf receded. “ Did a Wonderful Job ” “We relieved them every two hours, for the sea was bitterly cold,” he added. “ They did a wonderful job, bringing 500 prisoners ashore in this way. Then we ferried the wounded and other survivors in on a raft which the vessel carried.” Other members of the company stood at the top of the cliff and hoisted the rescued men to dry land. The difficulties of the whole operation were increased by the necessity of using only carefully shielded ; lights, and the work was not com- ' pleted until about 1 o’clock in the j morning. The survivors were taken ; to the New Zealanders’ camp to be j dried out, fed and put to bed. j It is believed that a few prisoners lost their lives when they were swept ' from the hawsers after leaving the ship. The unrestrained joy shown by the survivors at having saved their lives was typified by one Italian who planted an admiring kiss on the i face of a New Zealander.