IN THE MIDDLE EAST

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 3, Issue 293, 9 April 1941, Page 6

IN THE MIDDLE EAST

EX-TANEATUA BOY'S LETTER CAPTURING ITALIAN TROOPS Further interesting letters lias been received from L/Cp. W• F• Harlow, of the Middle East Forces, in which he - describes the work of the New Zealand men in Egypt. The following is thj first of a series of letters :— I'm hack in camp again so I'll just write in ink the letter I. started on Xmas Eve and continue on from that. This is a long way l'vom last Xmas and we will probably be having biscuits and stew for Xmas dinner unless Robbie gets something tasty in the rations, he has gone to the other camp for them. I'JJ tell you the whole story. Last Sunday morning loth, we left camp at about 8 a.m. and before we had gone '50 miles had run into another Western Desert dusl storm. We had lunch outside Matruli on a disused place similar tc Connctt estate (aerodrome). Severn! miles on again we ran on to a section of the road through what had been 'No Man's Land.' To be correct we ran off it there; it had been torn up with some road machinery and was in a terrible mess. It had been tarsealed before that. Off the road and into the dust, and when I say dust I mean dust too. Roads Mined. That section of the road had also been mined at some time or other and we passed several really good* sized holes. By the way, Matruh hasn't fallen apart yet. Some more buildings have been hit since I was there in August but there are still the big majority standing. lam going over to listen to the news foi Uie first time since we left camp, Some of our Tank Corp are hero with us. I also hope to be able tn dodge a few flies, they are thick here during the day time (out o' the wind only). Xmas morning 10.15. Gee it's cold here, certainty the coldest place wc have struck since the winter of 1939 Practically all the time we havt been out here there has been a ver? cold wind blowing and a Taranakv southerly hasn't got much, if anv thing, on it foi penetration power. All of us have been wearing scarves. pullovers, balaclavas and great coats during the day time, let alone at night. To get back to where J was writing yesterday. This is al> ideal tank warfare country, almost dead Hat with a fair bit of low !;crub on stoney ground, some of ii is sandy and the rest just dust-

Prisoners Drive Trucks. We travelled practically to SidS Barrani in a dust storm. Even the ihower of rain we had didn't malw any difference except to cool the Atmosphere a bit. At times \y» couldn't see across the track so you can guess the mess we were in. The .'joys are a great crowd and cracked jokes about it most of the time. Every now and again we would run along a good piece of tar seal. Soma of Harry St.. George's Unit were going the other way. Their convoy included a swag of Iti trucks and trailers and the whole lot was carting prisoners back. They even had prisoners driving their own trucks. Practically every truck was in the charge of the drivers only. They all know darned well that it's suicide in the desert if they try escaping and were told before starting that there was neither food nor water till they got to the other end. Of course all those trucks going down the windy side of the dust track gave us a little more in the truck. All along here the telephone posts had been chopped down and the wires cut. Nearer Sidi Barrani they must have been in too big a hurry to cut them down. Passed several of Noel's 'Hurry-ups' (aeroplanes) doing the same as you do at Locker's with the Baby Gar (filling up). As the "Wops" Left It. About 10 or 12 miles this side of S.B. we left the road and had a look at one of the Iti. camps. For miles wc saw heaps of stores, munitions, vehicles, field guns, machine guns, rifles etc. on the roadside. This place was as the Wops had left It—arms, ammunition and equipment everywhere. Must have been u blow to Musso. alright, the loss of all this equipment let alone the prisoners our boys have taken. Bach to the road again and we met our guide, an Ordnance Sgt. Major (I can't think of his name at present). He is a Tommy about 28/9 and

quite a decent, quiet chap. The boys think he is just the boy. He told us later that he wasn't too keen on the job when it was given him at first but he was as sorry to leave us as we were to see him go. Sidi Barrani Dump. We soon entered S.B. Dump after dump of gear round the place. It's just a collection of stone buildings —was before the navy got to work on it, now it's a collection of ruins The navy did great work there alright. We headed into the blue from there and went another ten miles or so to one of the outposts— gear and stores all the way out. Here we saw what war really is.— shot and burnt-up vehicles, defences blown apart, a dead mule or two and in what they called trenches and dug-outs a few dead. We made ourselves comfortable in some of the officers tents and the orderly room. I was in there and made my bed on a ceuplc of tallies. There must have been a first class dust storm after the action here as dug-outs and tents were partly filled with dust. Souvenirs Sought. It was a bright moonlight night so the boys were all over the place after tea. I got myself a few tools which came in very handy later on, also a few stamps and odds and ends. Some of the boys were out till 2 a.m. I was well asleep by then though. They came back with all sorts of things including a few revolvers. We were up at daybreak next morning and out again. Some of Ellie's boj T s (Aussics) Avere in there salvaging and 'acquiring' (Frank's term for pinching). On the way we passed more Iti. vehicles including tanks (the small light tank I had a good look at the night before) and dotting the desert were the bodies of the dead Itis also saw several dead mules there. A few more miles and into another camp, where we picked up ou? new O.C. for this particular little job of ours, Capt. Weir. He is. n chap of my build, about 30, who has spent a few 3 r ears in Australia, and has several friends in Wellington, so knew what to except from us—more or less. He led us across to the big camp and it was a case of stick to the track too because of the minefields. However most of them have been dug up now. This cam]) which was to be our 'home' for the next few days was one of the biggest Italian outposts for Barrani and was the one where the Iti. General Maletti was killed. He, by the way, was reputed to be the only Italian with a decent reliable compass, and was in command of a mobile Division.

Wonderful Gunnery,

Our tanks and artillery cut this place up properly. The camp was about three miles across, and when we arrived there were hundreds of trucks still there. Hundreds had already been taken away. The tank gunnery of our boys here must have been wonderful —a tribute to the standard of British army training and equipment. They made a terrible mess of the Iti.. tanks, some were shot to pieces and others burnt out. It was a pretty sudden start and our boys came in to find the litis, trying to get their tanks off. As soon as we got there I went over to the tanks and had a good look round, but didn't use this head of mine properly. I was getting an eyeful of the tanks and damage they suffered.

If I'd poked round inside a bit I'd have found an automatic or two. The boys found them there later on. All the time we were out I didn't even get myself a revolver, at least .1 serviceable one. The one L go* had no hammer on it. After lunch >ve set to work on the tanks. I had Johnny and Reg Hardy in my secLion and we s-oon had one each and going too. We went out to the right side of the pack and took the pick.

(To be continued)