WILD CHARGE AT MATRUH

Camp News, Volume 3, Issue 130, 10 July 1942, Page 5

WILD CHARGE AT MATRUH

How N.Z. Division Forced The Gap. i THRILLING ACCOUNT \ ■ ■ Fighting across the moonlit desert with bayonets, • tommy-guns and grenades, the New Zealand infantry has ..forced a gap through which most of the troops escaped early today from the German forces that had surrounded them. It was a triumphant climax to the 24 hours in which the New Zealand men with English North Country troops and a small force of supporting tanks

had held their position south-east of Mersa Matruh. 1 Not only did they beat off violent tank and infantry attacks from every direction, but they' fought their way out when it seemed that the noose of the Afrika Korps’ armour and artillery had closed round them. At dusk shell and mortar fire died away and, after the day filled with the constant roar of high explosives, there was an eerie silence. A few hundred yards south of our positions a tank battle began;' lines of tracer shells shot across the horizon, and again there was silence. With a group of liaison and staff officers I waited for word of our next action. Coloured flares from the German positions showed that we were completely encircled? Our job was to fight delaying actions. Would we battle on .through another day, -or fight our way out to take up new positions?

Toward midnight we heard the answer.' Three units —Wellington and South Island units and the Maoris — would cut a gap in the German eastern line. In the early hours of the morning the attack began. Swarms of infantrymen, their bayonets gleaming in the moonlight, charged down on the German defences and cut their way through. Behind them came hundreds of trucks, jammed head on tail, in a headlong dash to force their way through the gap. Infantrymen scrambled on the trucks amid a hail of tank shells and explosive bullets. Eight men from a South Island unit jumped oh my truck as I joined in the terrific onslaught. Engines roared, shells exploded about us, and machinegun bullets came from everywhere. Trucks were hit and some exploded. A motorcycle beside me went up in flames. But the column charged on. Our machineguns, perched on the top of the trucks, kept up a withering hail ■ I

ofvred tracer. ’We turned to head south, and again a crossfire of tank shells tried to halt us. It was unsuccessful. Hundreds of trucks were through the gap with few losses. It seemed incredible that without tanks ahead of them the closely-packed lines of trucks could force a way through the German tanks, artillery and machineguns. But it had happened. One New Zealand formation was through and another was following it. \ . . . ' \ ' Though there were enough screams and explosions to shake the most hardened modern warrior, our drivers remained calm. When trucks were hit they' backed and swerved, about them so that the column would n<ft be held up. Not till dawn did the column halt, and then only.for a break of a few minutes, in the trek to the new battle positions. We were tired but satisfied. We felt we had completely turned the tables on-the Afrika Korps. A few hours before, we had been surrounded; now, in spite of Rommel’s tanks and planes that had watched us all day, we are free and ready to fight again.