With British Imperial Forces in Libya, Feb. 14.
A remarkable story can now be told of how, following Italy's entry {nto the war, a small force of picked New Zealand and British troops, thousands of miles through the deserts of southern Libya, were probing the secrets of Italy's defences and sabotaging her preparations.
Known ~as the "long-range desert group," the force comprised picked officers and men from New Zealand troops and the British Royal Armoured Corps. It was commanded by a Lieutenant-colonel famed as an explorer of the Libyan desert, who had formerly been an official of the Egyptian Survey Department and member of the Palestine Department of Antiquities, The force journeyed thousands of miles through the deserts of southern Libya, carrying their own supplies, pirating enemy transport, shelling and capturing isolated forts, blowing up dumps and burning grounded air craft, The operations were conducted over a radius of more than 700 miles south of the oases of Siwa and Giarabub, and most valuable information was obtained.
Italian planes on Wednesday bombed Larissa, dropping bombs around the municipal hospital and killing several women and seven children, according to the Ministry of Public Security communique reported yesterday on, the Athens radio uring a raid on Pyratheas, a house in a working district was hit, causing 31 casualties and 20 killed," the announcement said—United Press.
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