TOBRUK ATTACK

Waikato Times, Volume 128, Issue 21372, 17 March 1941, Page 6

TOBRUK ATTACK

NEW ZEALANDERS’ PART COLONEL PIERCE’S STORY ACCOUNT OF CAMPAIGN “At Tobruk the New Zealanders supported the Australians. They drove right up to the breastworks of the town and* when the Australians piled out and charged, the New Zealanders grabbed rifles, deserted their lorries, and went with them. They were determined not to be left out of it altogether.” That was the graphic summary given of the New Zealanders’ part in the Libyan coastal campaign by LieutenantColonel C. J. Pierce, officer commanding the New Zealand Divisional Mechanised Cavalry in the Middle East, who has returned to the Dominion on sick leave after a year in Egypt. He reached Auckland from Sydney yesterday, and is to have specialist treatment in the Auckland Hospital for some weeks, after which he hopes to be able to resume his command. Lieutenant-Colonel Pierce is, in civil life, a well-known farmer near Ohaupo, on the Paterangi Road, and he sailed for Egypt fourteen months ago. “Condtiions in the desert have to be seen to be believed.” he said. “Bnr example, when we were dug in in trenches against bombing attacks, I have known them to be flooded with water one night from a rain storm and then the next dav to be the centre of a swirling dust storm. At times the visibility was absolutely nil on account of the dust. Overcoming the natural difficulties was far harder than overcoming the military obstacles.” British Tanks Superior Even so, Lieutenant-Colonel Pierce pointed out that at no time were more than 20,000 Allied troops used against the Italian army. He described the commander of the Allied Forces, General Si” Archibald Wavell, as a “veritable wizard of military strategy.” A big factor in the advance were the British “I” tanks, LieutenantColonel Pierce said. The Italians were unaware that the British possessed these large tanks, which were far superior to their own smaller models built specifically for conditions in Abyssinia. They proved invulnerable to the Italian field artillery and had a demoralising effect. At the beginning the Italians possessed theoretical superiority in aircraft, particularly in regard to numbers and speed. But the Allied bombers kept on beating them down, and then, when Hurricanes arrived, the enemy was driven out of the air. “I regard the conduct of the Libyan campaign as little short of genius,” he said, “for during the British drive there, at no time was there more than 20.000 men in the front line of the attack, while the Italian armies must have totalled a quarter of a million. “The Italian soldiers were, for the great part, a scruffy lot who simply did not have the necessary courage/’ he added. “Although they were well equipped and possessed numerical superiority in tanks, the Italians were not trained for first-class warfare, whereas the Allied troops were keen, highly-trained and disciplined fighters.”

The New Zealanders were very disappointed that they had not yet been used as a body, although certain units had been used in key positions, notably the Divisional Signallers, the Reserve Motor Transport Company and the Long Range Desert Patrol Group. These units had been indispensable to the conduct of the campaign. The men had stood up to the disappointments very well and they were brightening up at the prospect of possible action in the near future. Generally, their health was very good. ' Lieutenant-Colonel Fierce said that a number of his men had been with the Long Range Desert Patrol. “Before actual hostilities were launched against the Italians, a unit of mine outflanked the entire enemy army on a patrol,” he said. “Those men moved in a deep circle and cut through to the coast within nine miles of Benghazi when the Italian front line was at Sidi Barrani. Working by night they mined a section of the main road. Later we learned that a mine explosion wrought havoc among lorries of an Italian supply column.”