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2nd New Zealand Divisional Artillery

Beni Ulid

page 457

Beni Ulid

Only those who have operated a pneumatic drill continuously for a whole day can know what the gunners felt like when they halted on the 18th. The surface of the desert was rough and thickly sprinkled with volcanic rocks of an average size of perhaps two house bricks but far less regular in shape. After hours of driving over this many gunners were battered into a sort of semi-coma, and when the rolling plateau in mid-afternoon disclosed in the distance what looked like a fairy city they did not believe their eyes. Embroidered across several hilltops, it seemed from afar to cover a large area and to comprise buildings which looked like illustrations from the Arabian Nights. Closer inspection was less flattering to Beni Ulid; but it was still a welcome sight. It turned out to be a sizable oasis, set below the level of the surrounding desert and supporting plantations of date palms and olives and much other greenery. The buildings clustered tightly together on higher ground. Some of them were modern and there were steel-girder ‘windmills’ among them to pump water.

Much confusion had been caused on the 17th when 7 Armoured Division veered across the New Zealand Division's front. Now there was much more: Beni Ulid was truly a bottleneck, much obstructed by mines and demolitions and by the difficult nature of the terrain. The sappers had a busy time. Meanwhile on the way to Beni Ulid, 29 Battery captured 14 prisoners from a German tank regiment, destroyed five armoured cars and two lorries, and salvaged two more lorries that were in better order. Captain Nathan of A Troop of the 4th Field also took four prisoners.

Air attack would be a constant menace to columns of vehicles passing nose-to-tail through the oasis and town, and 41 Battery and 261 Heavy Ack-Ack Battery were therefore established as area defence. The air, however, remained mercifully free of enemy aircraft. B Squadron of Divisional Cavalry, with O Troop of 34 Battery, got through on the 18th, and then 6 Brigade with attached artillery passed through by day or early evening of 19 January. The rest of the Division followed later, in brilliant moonlight. By day or by night, it was a memorable passage, if slow and irritating at times. Night-time softened the shabbiness of the buildings, and the barking dogs with their implication of human ownership and family life were in stark contrast to the lonely emptiness of the hundreds of miles of page 458 desert through which the gunners had travelled. Once through the gate in the town wall which was the exit, they felt that the desert war was in some sense behind and that the future held better things for them.

The route beyond Beni Ulid followed a white-powdered road for a dozen miles through hilly country with many cliffs. In the plain beyond this broken country 6 Brigade fanned out into open fields while the Cavalry reconnoitred forward. Large parties cleared mines from the road and verges. Just off the road a burning ‘88’ and tractor was sending a column of black smoke into the air. To the west lay a range of hills and to the north-east grassy plains, a welcome change.

The Division seemed likely to have to co-operate in an attack on Tarhuna to open the way to Tripoli and the Cavalry pushed on towards there. When news came that Tarhuna was clear of the enemy the town was left to 7 Armoured Division on the right and the Cavalry veered south-westwards towards Garian, from which another main route ran to Tripoli. The immediate destination was the settlement of Tazzoli, 10 miles south of Tarhuna. Every house in Tazzoli flew a white flag and the place was packed with Italians, all anxiously hospitable. To the north the armoured division shelled the hills ahead and airbursts flowered over its vehicles. To the rear 5 Brigade passed through 6 Brigade before the Division halted for the night.