CAPTORS ELUDED

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 170, 21 July 1942, Page 5

CAPTORS ELUDED

Brigadier And Colonel Have Exciting Escapes OFFICERS' EXPERIENCES (N.Z.E.F. Official News Service) CAIRO. July 19. Prisoners for an hour and a half after panzer counter-attacks on the position New Zealanders had taken after their six-mile advance with the bayonet west of Ruweisat Ridge, a brigadier and a colonel in charge of a Wellington battalion made an exciting escape, at last reaching the safety of their own lines. Describing his experience, the colonel said they were captured when three enemy tanks rumbled up, cutting off all chance of getting away. "So there we were in a bag," he said. "We found a number of our men also taken. We passed the word to as many as possible to duck and hide when the enemy's attention was taken up by shelling. This we ourselves were able to do. "Unnoticed during the din. I dropped into a slit trench and lay still for the approaching darkness. Then I slipped out and worked a way round through the scrub successfully, although the Germans were only 500 yards away. "I met the brigadier, who also succeeded, and we made a way back to the old headquarters. There we found two captured vehicles with wounded aboard and a small foot party. All were ready to make a break when unluckily the enemy spotted us, sending in two armoured vehicles unexpectedly from the north, picking up the two trucks and foot party, excepting the brigadier and me. "The brigadier dropped to earth and lay still unnoticed in the gloom. I started running and kept running until I fainted from exhaustion. When I came to there was pitch darkness. Luckily I had picked up a compass, pistol and also binoculars when I returned to the old headquarters, where I had hidden them beneath sacking. "I did not know where the enemy was, nor where I was. Every bush looked like a man and had to be stalked. Derelict vehicles loomed from the darkness. I had to crawl up and make sure they were not tenanted. "I must have gone two or three miles when I heard voices. I was unable to discern whether they were English or German until right close. I stalked the voices very carefully on my stomach and when I heard a typical New Zealand oath it was a very welcome sound. They happened to be New Zealand anti-aircraft gunners. "I was completely exhausted," said the colonel, "but an officer revived me with a tot of rum. From there I was taken to the headquarters of an Indian battalion, where I stayed the night, next day returning to the New Zealand forces. The brigadier, I understand, made a somewhat similar escape, contacting the New Zealand artillery and eventually reaching safety."