SUPREME SACRIFICE

Taranaki Daily News, 11 September 1940, Page 3

SUPREME SACRIFICE

DIED TO SAVE OTHERS What are the bravest deeds of the war so far? Who performed them, and where? The answers are: A Czech, in Prague; a Frenchman, in France; a Briton, in Belgium. Each of these men killed himself for "the cause." When the Nazis took Prague they ordered a Czech officer to point out the positions of mines on the airfields. He complied willingly. "This way," he said, and 57 German officers followed him to the centre of the aerodrome. "Here s one mine," he said. Those were the last words the Germans heard. For as he spoke the Czech touched-off the mine, blowing 57 Germans sky-high — and himself with them. What bravery! But it did no more than equal that of the Frenchman and the Briton, states a London writer. Our men were retreating toward Dunkirk. Having crossed a bridge, they proceeded to blow it up. An explosivesladen lor;y was pushed into position. All was ready, when the men found themselves without fuses. An officer in the Royal Engineers ordered them to a safe distance. Then he, fired his revolver into the explosives, blew himself up with the bridge, thereby gaining time for his men to escape. A third and similar case was that of a French. airman. A bridge had to be blown up, and all efforts to shatter it failed until — From out of the blue sky roared a bomber with its load of death. Lower and lower it dived— straight for the bridge. With a shattering roar, it exploded on contact, destroying the bridge, the 'plane and the pilot.