THE EMPIRE'S WAR ACTIVITIES

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 5, Issue 7, 23 January 1942, Page 3

THE EMPIRE'S WAR ACTIVITIES

MALAYAN DEFENCE

"A COLOSSAL BLUFF"

NEED FOR REINFORCEMENTS

"I really think that we will knock spots off the Japs, if we get reinforcements, as we surely must. Everybody knows by now how poorly off we are for equipment. It seems as though we had been putting up a colossal bluff so that equipment could be diverted to more active theatres of Avar. The bluff has been called, and all we can do is to hold tight and hope for the best until the reinforcements arrive." This is a statement included in interesting impressions of life in Malaya, conveyed in a letter dated January 1 from a pilot officer to his parents in Timaru. "Here we are again, starting the new year well by dashing off a few lines hither and thither," .he writes. **It seems difficult to realise that it New Year's Day—every day is the - same, with very slight variations. 6

Little Damage Done

"The full moon is now here, and the raids which Ave have been ex-

pecting are materialising—after a fashion, anyway. They are really miserable, and so far very little damage lias been done and very few people have been bumped off. They come over in sixes, nines and twelves in pretty close formations, making no effort to change course, speed or height. I do not know what the idea is, because they present the best possible targets. My pick is that thej* are not too happy about either navigation or bomb-aiming, and all lag along with a couple or more experienced pilots. We have pretty good searchlight batteries here, and so far they have had no difficulty in picking up the raiders and holding them, thereby giving us a good view. With a bit of luck our ackack will mow a good few down soon. "We have had three marvellous moonlight flights. I have never seen anything quite like them. On the first night we had three separate raids, more or less evenly spaced, so that we were in and out of boU ait regular intervals. Three of us took ihelter in a shallow ditch just out-

side our barracks. We are still at the mess, as the house to which we were evacuated was found unsuitable, and we are now on the lookout for another. We had an excellent view, although once when the raiders passed directly civerlicad we felt particularly exposed. Apart from that occasion, Ave sat up and enjoyed a grandstand seat.

"Nothing came anywhere near us except shrapnel splinters from our own ack-ack, which prompted me to use my next afternoon oil (the following day) to construct 'Gibraltar ll'—our l'unk hole. It is a particularly imposing structure, composed in the main of sandbags, timber and corrugated iron. The drainage system is ingenious and the floor space is sufficient for three of us to continue our sleep if we should l'cel inclined, and circumstances, bombs and mosquitoes jiermit.

An Hour or Two of New Year "The evening after it was finished we had only one raid, and that camc nowhere near us. Last night avc had two raids, but they, too, were nothing to write home about., I suppose we will get some more each night from now on, but a chap will be very unlucky indeed if he gets damaged in any of them. The first raid last night finished about 11.10, so a number of us trooped over to the mess, found the bar open, and proceeded to see the New Year an hour or so on its way as well as we could

in the circumstances. "The Japs are in a particularly good position for obtaining information as to the circumstances eif this place, as this 'joint,' with its queer mixture of races and combination thereof, is a Fifth Columnist's paradise. There must be Jthousands of 'Wogs' here who would sell anybody and everything for live 'bucks' or !essi. We have seen a good bit of it so far, ami can infer a good bit more. We have martial law here now. Good Place to Live "I am getting quite fond of this place. After a while,, when one gets used to the climate it is quite a fair place in which to live. To-day is just like a hot nor'-wester tlav in New Zealand, with the sting of the heat negatived by the fact that we are used, to it over here. You could roam round here from one year's -.Mid to the other with very light clothing on and never feel a chill. There is little ditTeren.ee between outside and inside temperatures. 1 suppose f have not sneezed twice -in -e I have been here. I think iit '-vould be a goed place to live in peacetime and with a few of the amenities of civilian life. The main drawback would be separation from one's home and friends. Every day over here is fine and even if it pells with rain, as it usually does once a flay, it gets it over and clone wTh pretty quickly. "I have just returned from 'Gibraltar IT.'" the writes concludes. "Seine Jap blighter sneaker over without being detected and let go a stick and beetled off again. We are getting it down to a fine art now. We put our pyjamas on as soon as dinner is over and hop into bed or sit and write, etc. When the alarm goes, we just have to stick cur feet into flying boots, put 011 dressing gown and tin helmet, grab torches, gas mask and revolver and hop smartly off to our funk hole. It's rather fun actually."