THE EMPIRE'S WAR ACTIVITIES

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 5, Issue 12, 4 February 1942, Page 3

THE EMPIRE'S WAR ACTIVITIES

WEEK OF SHELLS

SOME "STICKY" MOMENTS BOMBED BY HUN PLANES "Jus.t a few lines to let. you know that I am quite well and my usual old self- You will have heard by now about the heavy casualties in the division during the last week or two. Well, our gun crew all got out without a scratch, thank God. Some of our other boys got knocked about quite a lot but there were very few killed as far as we know," states Bombardier G. W. Bradley who is "somewhere" in the Middle East in a letter to Paeroa. The letter continues:-— Seen Places —Done Things "We have been away about a month from here and have certainly 'seen places and done things' in that time. We must have travelled about a fortnight without coming in contact with the Hun. We sat.up on the escarpment outside Bardia for a couple of days while the fighting was going on but never saw any of it. Our infantry would go out at night and come back in the morning with plenty of souvenirs to show. "We then moved on quite a bit (mostly at night) and found the enemy again eight to ten miles outside Tobruk. We had our first taste of shelling there and had it on and off for a week. One clay while on the way up Ave shot one plane down and had a go at another. j "On the morning cf November '25 our officers told us to keep a look out for our Air Force as it Avas coming over in the afternoon. Well, about 4 o'clock AA'e saw 21 planes approaching. They Avere too high for us to identify them. They Avent on oA r er us then circled and came back. When about half a mile off they started dropping their loads on oui| bovs, so Ave teok post on the i and as soon as they Avere in range opened up on them. They were still bombing by this time, too. A "Gentleman" Raider "Anyway, avc engaged three of the planes as they broke their formation just above us. "gentleman" had lis sorted cut and Avas on his ay ay to us when we got on to him. Alter a short burst in his general direction he darned soon changed his ideas and made off for home AYith his friends. "We were told that Ave got one ot these, too, so ayc AYcre-quite pleased with cur shooting. It ay as. a very sticky moment or two Avlnle it lasted. "After that Ave shifted a mile or tAYO to another position and then the shelling started again. We had it on and off for over a Aveek there, but most of the time it Avas landing far aay ay from us. HoAvever, some of his shells came a bit too close to us. One Avas only ten yards from our gun and lifted tAA r o boys up and dumped them again, Avhile they. w T ere in their slit trenches.

"It is very hard to explain everything but now tlmt we are back here again we are all very pleased. I have often wondered how I would be under shellfire an<l am pleased to say that I stood it as well or better than the others. "Jerry" Gets Busy "Monday. December 1 in the late afternoon 'Jerry' gave us all he had. Heavy guns with H.E., and shrapnel, tanks and machine gun fire. There is no need to say that we got out of it very smartly. How we ever did it will remain a mystery to us. Quite a few of our cobbers got woumled but as far as we know only one got killed in the battery. A lot made a clash lor Tobruk, but we don't know for sure how they arc. "Since leaving our position we've travelled all the time until we got here two days ago. The Y.M.C.A. has given us endless cigarettes and chocolate bars since being here and hist night turned on a picture with their portable plant."