LEAFLETS REPLACE BOMBS

Camp News, Volume 3, Issue 138, 4 September 1942, Page 4

LEAFLETS REPLACE BOMBS

Souvenirs For N.Z. Troops (Official War Correspondent, N.Z.E.F.* WESTERN DESERT, August 23. Leaflets have been dropped high over the New Zealand lines from German planes in the Idst two evenings. The wind carried most of them miles away, but those which reached their mark are highly prized as souvenirs. They are addressed to “men of New Zealand” and consist mostly of a tirade against the English and claims of German successes. On the reverse side is a fair representation of a kiwi among mountain palms. I have watched several groups of soldiers reading them, and have wished the perpetrator were there to -see the effect. He would not waste paper or petrol if he could hear the New Zealanders’ derisive remarks. The leaflets were a welcome change from bombs, none of which has fallen for several days. Well forward in the New Zealand positions is a captured Italian 75 milimetre gun which Maori infantrymen are using daily with success against the enemy. “Hey, Digger, how you use this thing?” the Maoris asked artillerymen when first attracted by the gun’s possibilities. The gun was without sights, so the artillerymen suggested they should aim it by looking through the barrel. The Maoris did not know how to open the breach and, when this had been explained, they were left to their own devices. Much to everybody’s amazement, soon afterward the gun fired and has continued to fire at intervals ever since. Crude But Effective. The Maoris’ methods show, a total disregard of almost all the principles of artillery fire. The shell is just shoved into the breech without being rammed' home, a few handfuls of cordite are placed in a cartridge case, and when this is in position and the breech closed, the gun is ready to fire. With a long length of telephone wire attached to the trigger, the Maoris retire to slit trenches. A sharp tug on the wire and the gun fires. If the range is short, an extra handful of cordite is added to , the next charge : if it is too long, the charge is reduced. By this method, the Maoris have harassed the enemy in his forward positions at a range of about 1000 yards.

nicking and bathing. Now the sea shores are barred, no picnics, no bathing. “We have preferred motor travel to church going; now there is a shortage of motor fuel. “We have left , the churches half empty when they should have been filled with worshippers; now they are in ruins. “We would not listen to the Christ of Peace; now we are compelled to listen to the hell of war. “We gave no tithes to the Lord’s work; now the money goes in war taxes and increased prices. “The food for which we gave no thanks is now unobtainable. “The service we would not give to God is now conscripted for war. “The lives we would not put under God’s control are now under the Government’s absolute power.

“Nights we would not '"watch unto prayer,’ are now spent in anxious hiding from Nazi bombs. “The evils of modernism we did not thrust from our church pulpits have created a Germany out to . destroy, the world.” These facts are true of every country in the British Empire and show us how far we, as a nation, have to go on the road to repentance and humility, that God may be able to answer our prayers as He would wish to. We are not yet ready to receive what He is waiting to give. Thanks be to Him that we have, at the head of our nation one who is not ashamed to confess his dependence on God and to call his people to a national day of prayer. May the answers already given cause us to turn to God confessing ,our departure and unbelief and committing. ourselves into His mighty power, to use us fork the setting up of a world system wherein dwelleth righteousness, remembering His word that “righteousness exalteth a nation.”