TERRIFIC CHARGE BY MAORIS

Dominion, Volume 36, Issue 18, 16 October 1942, Page 3

TERRIFIC CHARGE BY MAORIS

Story Of Desert Fighting DECORATED OFFICER RETURNSFormerly U. 5.11. of the Maori Battalion, with which he has been continuously since, as permanent Staff man, he was associated with its earliest training in New Zealand, Lieut. A. C. Wood, Nelson, is back after being iu the thick o£ the lighting for over 21 years in Greece, Crete and Libya. He was 23 years of age when he went overseas. Now he is wearing the ribbon of the D.C.M., this decoration haying been awarded him for his part in leading bayonet attacks against German machinegun nests at Malemi aerodrome, in Crete. Subsequently he was commissioned. He went overseas with the Second Echelon. “They are real devils in action, and it is glorious Yo be with them,” he said, speaking with sparkling eyes of the Maori Battalion. He laughed heartily when informed that- German officers had reported them as scalphunters. He commented that the German hated the bayonet in close fighting and ran squealing like a rabbit.' During the fighting at El Alamein, the Maoris were ordered to attack the Germans to relieve the pressure on another part of the line. They did it so effectively that they swept all before them at the point of the bayonet right past the objective set for them and into the enemy 13 echelon (transport). They had to withdraw when British planes started to bomb the German transport. During the attack they killed 600 of the enemy, took 150 prisoners, and destroyed four tanks with their two-pounder anti-tank guns. They suffered only 84 casualties themselves, including about 10 killed. Subsequently, it was reported, the Commander of Sth Army wrote congratulating General Freyberg on the wonderful attack. Circular Defence. Describing the fighting at Niu Qua Quam, some 20 miles north of Mersa Matruh, Lieutenant Wood said the New Zealanders had a circular defence on an escarpment there when the Germans attacked. Most of the German transport consisted of British vehicles which nad been captured earlier in .the enemy advance The New Zealanders were under heavy artillery fire and their positions were being plastered when the Germans started moving tanks round the eastern flank to the south. A company of about 100 German engineers attacked the trout held by the Maori Battalion in.order to cut the minefields. Tired of sitting down and being fired at, the Maoris charged with the bayonet, and killed all but la of the Germans, who were taken prisoner. Starting after midnight on a moonless night the Maoris with two other battalions made the initial movement on foot, and in box-like, formation winch paved the way for the divisional breakthrough at El Alamein, during which most of the-enemy motorized infantry, taken by surprise, was wiped out. Later Verey lights were sent up, transport arrived, and the Maori Battalion joined up with the Fifth Brigade, which was m the fortified position known as the "Kaponga Box.” Mobile columns were formed pf the brigades there. It was the South Africans and the New Zealanders who held up the German advance and fought off the armoured divisions till the Australians could come up about a fortnight later. . .. , It was at the end of a six-mile advance, the last mile ami a half on foot under heavy shellfire all the way from the ridge, that the Maori Battalion dug in at Alyn Nyle on the way to Kuweisat Ridge, and it was there that their commander, the late Colonel 15. T. W. Love, was mortally wounded. While dressing his wounds. Lieutenant Wood was hit in an arm, which is now paralysed. .. Colonel Love s parents were among the first to greet Lieutenant Wood ou his return.