DRAMA OF DESERT

Waikato Times, Volume 128, Issue 21369, 13 March 1941, Page 5

DRAMA OF DESERT

I “IMPOSSIBLE” ACHIEVED i j LONG RANGE PATROL GROUP | WORK OF NEW ZEALANDERS ! (From the Official War Corresponderfct with the N.Z.E.F. in the Middle i East). CAIRO, February 13 j No better example of “achievement of the impossible” has emerged I from the war in North Africa than ! that provided by the adventures of i the Long Range Desert Group. The | patrols forming the group, which ! consists largely of picked New Zea- | landers, have attained a measure of i success astounding to friend and foe ■ alike. ; Behind this success lies the guiding genius of the three Englishmen whom General Sir Archibald Wavell called ! to his aid when he faced the prob- ! lem of discovering and, if necessary, disrupting whatever activity was going on in the depths of central and southern Libya. These men were the scattered members of a band which in peace-time had roamed and explored the little known desert wastes along and beyond the Egyptian frontier, apparently more “for the fun of it” than for any other reason. Tribute to New Zealand At their head was an army officer, Major (now Lieutenant-Colonel) R. A. Bagnold, and the others were Mr (now Major) P. A. Clayton, late of the Egyptian Survey Department, who was sent for by air from Tan- 1 ganyika, and Mr (now Captain) Kennedy Shaw, who was borrowed 1 from the Palestine Department of Antiquities. It was no small tribute to the Dominion’s military reputation when they turned to the N.Z.E.F. for the bulk of the officers, drivers, gunners and fitters needed to form tne patrols. It soon became obvious that if a call was made for volunteers for a mission which sounded as intriguing as this one did, whole regiments would probably step forward, and so a selection was made, chiefly from the Divisional Cavalry. The equipping and training of the patrols was completed within a few weeks, and in September the raiders began their series of expeditions deep into enemy territory. Their lightning swoops on forts, outposts; and motor columns had the immediate effect of throwing the enemy into alarm and mystification, causing him to draw on his main forces in the north for reinforcements of men and material. This was exactly the ef--1 feet that was desired. Thrill of Anticipation j The New Zealanders tell of the | thrill of anticipation that ran I through the patrols on the early i September day when they set out | from Cairo on their first expedition. ! It seemed not so much a matter of j eagerness to strike a blow at the enemy as of the prospect qf adven- | turing into territory over which no vehicle had ever passed before. A few days after the start of the journey they entered the sand dune country and were speeding up to 50 miles an hour over the smooth, rolling hills. Travelling was seldom easy as this, however, for they were to spend long hours crawling through soft, almost liquid sand and bumping over boulder-strewn wastes. A sandstorm, followed by a heat wave in which the temperature reached about 130 degrees in the shade, met them as they pushed into enemy territory. Deserted Wells Hopes of action were raised and dashed when one of the patrols made spectacular high speed charges at wells and other traces of habitation, only to find them silent and deserted. Another patrol, however, which had gone oft' on a reconnaissance of in the Kufra oasis area, was meanwhile making the group’s first “bag.” The story is worth retelling because it typifies the mystifying way in which the patrols went about their task. An enemy motor column was trundling serenely down a desert highway, laden with supplies and official mail. The Italian drivers were probably not greatly surprised to see another group of dusty trucks fall in abreast of them, and in fact one of them gave a cheery wave of his hand. The answer was a burst of machine-gun fire across his bows. The Italian lorries, the supplies, the mail—and the raiders, too—disappeared as if into thin air. * Areas which most maps showed as total blanks were traversed by the patrols in further expeditions. It is easy to picture garrison commanders poring anxiously over their inaccurate maps and wondering out of which sand sea or over which “impassable” stretch of desert the übiquitous little motor columns would next appear. Element of Surprise The patrols still retained the element of surprise as one of their most effective weapons, and swift blows were struck at Augila in the north and Uweinat in the south. It was at the latter outpost that an officer and a trooper earned the first decorations awarded to members of the N.Z.E.F. Their patrol attacked a garrison living among huge boulders at the foot of a mountain, and the two cavalrymen, Lieutenant J. H. Sutherland, M.C., ana Trooper L. A. Wiilcox, M.M., displayed exceptional initiative and courage in the operation which drove the enemy force up the hillside. The most recent phase of the activities of the group was the extraordinary motorised trek to southwestern Libya and the combined British and French assaults on Murzuk, Traghen and two other oases—points 1200 miles from their base in a direct line, and infinitely further than that by the devious route the raiders took* in order to maintain complete secrecy. An indication of the enormous distances involved is given by the fact that a British soldier who was badly wounded at Murzuk had to be carried "across country in a truck for 700 miles before he could be picked up by an aeroplane. From there lie was flown 3000 miles before reaching Cairo. Again, a damaged truck was towed over 1000 miles to tne nearest point where repairs could be effected. Because of the extremely high standard of driving j and technical maintenance attained [ by the patrols, incidentally, this long i tow was an unusual occurrence. I