Big
Push
Night Raid On Italian Post
a heavy haze. From our position criss-crossed in the sky and as poat. They soon found that every and approach the posts from the we watched Highlanders, tin-hat- spouts of flame from rifles and post was held by Libyan soldiers, ted and with bayonets fixed, their machine-guns began to be seen and that there were no Italians in dusty faces now grim in the half from all sides.
the forward lines.
light, receive Anal instructions
and then with their heads hunch- Fired on Their Own Men ed down, begin their slow stealthy advance in spread-out formation towards the enemy. Silence set- tled over the desert, broken only by ful gunfire from our
bat-
Though it was obvious that
They crept on their stomachs many of the forward Halian posts were still being held by their own to within a few yards of each post.
rear. He and his men succeeded in creeping in through the enemy lines and reaching a post where eight lorries were parked in Unes. Only two Libyans were guarding them and they quickly seizėd them.
"They call us the demolition squad," said the subaltern. "And and Molotov cocktails as well as our rifles. We did a pretty good job
miles of desert I could hear the teries and a desultory reply from men, the Italian batteries in Sidi The attack began when a burly we were carrying pickaxes
Libyan soldiers manning the posts shrieking as the Jocks chased them back to Sidi Barrani.
ruid
In this long spectacular which took the enemy completely by surprise, more than a score of Fascist native auxiliaries were killed and one prisoner was taken. Italian mechanised transport, in- cluding six heavy Jorries and water-cars were destroyed by our soldiers hurling Molotov cock - tails.
Enemy Posts Held For Hours
re-
Our men took several posts pro- tecting Sidi Barrani and held them for several hours until the raid was completed. Then they turned to our positions, bringing back booty in the shape of guns. ammunition and equipment. The British losses were
the Italians.
Barrani did not hesitate to turn their shells upon them in the hope also of destroying British troops. Then the garishly it desert be- fantastically
came
even
more
By "Observer"
Scottish sergeant leaped to his feet, crying, "Go of, boys. Let's away in and get them." The High- cut down the first men before the the cylinders of five landers leapt into the posts and slashing the tyres and breaking lorries, a terrifled Libyans had a chance to petro} lorry and a water-cart. realise what was happening. Then Then holding our prisoners tightly. began a four hours general melee we crept back and hurled our lorries. as British soldiers went from post Molotov cocktails at the to post cleaning out the enemy.... Seven distinct pillars of fire sud- One by one the posts were taken denly rose out of the blackness. over by the British rearguard as It was a marvellous sight and the the forward line soldiers chased boys loved it. But it soon attract- ed the attention of the Italians, the fleeing shouting Libyans,
who despite the fact that we were behind their own lines, turned their heavy guns on us and raked us with fre. It was pretty hot shooting and made us a bit un- comfortable. So we grabbed oug Libyans and with
little persua¬ maining lorry. Then we climbed sion got them to crank up the re-
in, putting one Libyan in the driv ing seat. and off we drove.
Then suddenly a sound of shout- ing filled The air, and clearly across the desert natives could be heard screaming. A dortor stand- ing beside me said. "That's the bright as the Italians opened up One of these advancing High- Jocks making their first bayonet with weapons usually reserved for landers, a 22 year old native of Glasgow, found he had chased the not to the aircraft--"flaming charge. They've orders
onions"-
Libyans too far and was cut off shoot until the last possible mo- firing great balls of multi-coloured with 30 native troops around him. met." The men were obeying flume that silhouettedi The fig- Swiftly he threw off his helmet, those orders. A babel of voices ures fighting as they burst among tended he was a native soldier and went up to the Libyans and pre-
came across the desert, but for them. But these spectacular accompanied them to a rear-post- more than an hour no shots sound- shells seemed to travel so slowly ed as the Highlanders methodical through the air that they never Unrecognised in the darkness he was put on guard and remained ly went about their job of taking seemed to hit either the posts or there for two hours before seizing
lating the men holding them over the enemy positions, annihf- the soldiers at which they were the opportunity to slip away and
regain the British lines. being fired, and the Highlanders sending them running back
into carried on investing the machines Sidi Barrani.
gune posts, cleaning out nests of Libyans and chasing thuse who escaped.
soldier one
killed, one missing maci four
slightly wounded,
No sound came from Sidi Bar- rani. Occasionally one of OLLT scouts Frawled across the sand to reconnoifre the Italian positions. and once a Highlander colonel got within a hundred yards of the nearest Fascist post, heard the enemy troops talking and return ed unmolested.
The infantry attack which was preceded by a three hour barrage by our artillery some distance behind, began at 10 p.m. when the moon was shining fitfully through
DI
It was an cery sixty minutes for us staring into the blackness wondering what was happening, Then at midnight all bell was suddenly let loose as the Italiau batteries in Sidi Barrani realised that a raid was taking place. Huts in the town and great expanses of sand were lit up as shells from ive Fascist batteries pound- ed at the dim figures of the grim, methodically working British sol- diers. For us it was like watch ing a battle-scene at the cinema as shells burst and tracer-bullets
It was 4.30 in the morning when the first batches of Jocks began ar- riving back at the starting point to find a padre captain waiting for them with a movable canteen pre- sented by the Church of Scotland, so that they had a cup of tea all ready for them. It was from these men that I got the full story of the battle. Many had had re- markable adventures. Split up into groups and led by officers and Ñ.C.O.'s each attacked a different
Just Grunted
I asked him what he did when the Libyans addressed him. "Just grunted. It seemed to go down well enough." he replied. Like the rest this soldier returned to the base with his arms loaded with rifles and ammunition which he had captured from the Italian posts, each one of which had been stripped and destroyed before our men returned. Most of the Ita- lians' mechanised transport in the front lines was destroyed by 21 party of men led by a young subaltern who had orders to try
+
But not for long. The Italians sighted us in the firelight and opened up with tracer-bullets which smashed through our roof and windscreen inches from our faces. So reluctantly we got out and smashed up this lorry too: and then we rushed through the barrage of fire and successfully regained our lines. We were pretty late and everyone was a bit surprised we'd returned. But you cannot stop Jocks."
A
We climbed back into the con- voy just before dawn, and `began the journey back, to our forward positions.
As I lie in my sleeping bag in the open desert I can hear batteries of guns thun- dering not far away, but whether It presages a new British attack or an Italian counter-attack it is not yet possible to say.
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