Elmira District Secondary School - Oracle Yearbook (Elmira, Ontario Canada)

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N. QL. X : I .- ,, 9 ' , A 4 A Ill .I .-an s, . IIA A . ... . 1 5 -. F - G.-A e , - ,.,.. Ei' F' 1 W M Eigflillsfigl-.a isf fi- - fe, .. ' S f ,. f ' 3' -- 'N J A S mnxhld : I THE DEFENCE OF MOYALE By DAVID ROWLAND, GRADE XII I Winner First Prize Prosej In the month of August, 1940, at the little frontier town of Moyale, there was stationed a small British garrison. It consisted of fifty men from 'each of the four Soudanese battalions defending Kenya against an Italian attack. The 6th, 13th, 16th and 42nd Battalions were re- presented, and, as a defence against a mechanized attack, four rapid- fire anti-tank guns with thirty-two members of the South African Field Force had been added but a fortnight previously. This small force was under the command of Major G. R. Smith-Dorrien. Against his force was arrayed the strength of one full Italian mechanized bri- gade, the 32nd, consisting in the main, of native Askaris. Major Smith-Dorrien had orders to hold Moyale only long enough to inflict a few casualties on the ene- my, and to iind out the strength of their attackers. But the High Com- mand never expected that the Ital- ians would hurl an entire brigade against such an unimportant post as Moyale. Thus, when, on the twenty-second of August, the Ital- ians crossed the border in force, Smith-Dorrien was unprepared to meet such an assault. Swiftly he collected approximately seventy- five of the Soudanese infantry-men, and with one gun and its crew, hurled them against the attacking enemy tanks. The rest of the men quickly gathered a quantity of food into the small mud fort overlooking Moyale and constituting the only defence of the town. Here the re- maining men repaired and spent the next few hours strengthening the walls and mounting the three remaining guns. During the after- noon, the remnants of the defend- ing force withdrew to the fort. Al- though they had lost sixteen dead and thirty-four wounded, they had .brought off their gun, after inflict- ing heavy casualties on the enemy. All night the sentries could hear the shouts of the Italians as they looted the town and sent pickets to surround the fort and prevent the garrison's withdrawing. Shortly before dawn one hundred villagers arrived, having stolen through the enemy pickets and reached, thefort. They were first armed, and then sent to the walls to assist in re- pulsing the attack that the enemy was sure to make as soon as it was light enough to see. The garrison now consisted of two hundred and fifty-four native soldiers, four anti-tank guns, , and twenty-eight South Africans, barely enough to provide pickets on the walls, much less to defend these same walls against an attack. At dawn the expected attack was launched. Fifteen Italian Fiat tanks, followed by a battalion of Askaris, dashed forward towards QA -.x ' X ,X

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GRADUATES 1940 - 41 F., TOP iAcademic Graduates?-Seated: Mary Welker, Gladys Hollinger, Genowefy Ritter, Wilma Wiechnian, Orma Stevens, Grace Orr, Helena Klinck. Standing: Mr. Currie, Ray Bott, Willard Miller, John Morris, Laverne Watson, Frederick Weismiller, Ralph Howlett, Walter Henrich, William Lutz. BOTTOM CCommercial Graduates?--Seated: Ruth Lavery, Audrey Ernst, Grace Busch, Elma Brent, Mary Merner, Elizabeth Elliott. , Standing: Kenneth Adams, Kathleen Logel, Gladys Campbell, Helena Warkentin, Helen Deckert, Jean Shoemaker, Cecil Wilker, Mr. Mclntyre.

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