A DESERT PATROL

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 2, Issue 223, 9 October 1940, Page 2

A DESERT PATROL

DRIVE INTO LIBYA Somewhere thirty-seven miles inside , Libyan territory I have been hiding with a group of British armoured ears for thirteen long and, for me, emotionally strenuous hours, Avrites a correspondent of the Lon-> don Daily Telegraph front the--Lib-yan border recently. ' The armoured cars were ordered to approach the Italian base at EI Gubi oasis to watch and report anything of interest. Such deep incursions into enemy territory are routine to units out here. War in the desert is a hit-, and-irun war and the British t have been doing most of the hitting-. Their chunky, sand-coloured armoured cars with a pennant 1 at-the tip of the slender wireless aerials, are the eyes and ears of the British High Command, and there is nothing wrong with their eyesight and hearing. w T'liey snoop and spy. fast. On occasion they have established a reputation for sudden attack and daring that the Italians can confirm. . On the previous night we crossed Graziani's 150-mile long barbed wire fence along the border. In the darkness our station wagon kept close to the tail of the armoured car ahead of us. , Somewhere; I have not the slightest idea where, we stopped and slept under the stars. Before dawn .we moved on. Two I, sharp bursts, of-maplune-gun fire startled-me. out of sleepiness. The car on our right accelerated and dashed off by itself into the desert. Later, when it rejoined the pack, I learned that a glimpse of two desert gazelles prompted a test of the ear'*. Bren gun. Staggered the Cars. At dawn we stopped, staggered the cars over a wide area and set to work to camouflage ourselves as,part of the desert. With spades and picks we cut clumps of desert brush and covered the cars. "If planes come, doirt move. Sit still and maybe they won't see us," the major instructed everybody. "It they attack, then scatter, zig-zag, and fight back." The sun rose and the day became warm. The long shadow beside our station wagon began to shrink. The drone of a plane approached. We got into the cars and sat. The plane went away;, and the hours dragged on. The heat, our thirst, and the flies increased as the shadows decreased. We drank water and tried to sleep. Holding binoculars to their eyes, the men in the car turrets scannedthe desert skyline; The others passed the time sleeping on the ground or tinkering with car gadgets. In the l'ate afternoon two flights of bombers passed intent on raiding some place behind the lines. I suppose there are at times advantages in being 37 miles inside enemy territory—when you are under their noses maybe they don't see you. '• The shadows lengthened. the red sun'touched the ri.ni of the horizon we started homeward to the wire barrier alone while the armoured cars remained in Libya v some time longer. Our plans were changed, however, when one of the scouts reported to the major that there were signs that a number of Italian vehicles had recently passed througlr the area we had to traverse. Accordingly we got an armoured car escort and followed the track eastward. It consisted of tyretracks on the ground. In the dark we lost them, and although we zigzagged we could not find them again. Our escort steered by compass. After a time we stopped and signalled into the blackness. waited a moment and then tfuwrrisvver came. Half an Jiour later we passed through a gai} in the wire into- Egypt.