NZ LRDG film found

Kyt · Apr 26, 2009

Unseen NZ WW2 military footage features in doco on Libya | NATIONAL

Remarkable footage of New Zealand's military history has been unearthed after lying untouched for nearly 70 years in a New Plymouth garage.

Now the footage captured is available for all and features in the documentary titled Lost in Libya.

It follows in the footsteps of New Zealand's first Special Forces soldiers during World War II in the 1940s, captured by a fellow soldier in the regiment.

Wink Adams, who used his camera to film the adventures of his unit, belonged to The Long Range Desert Group (LRDG), an elite group of Kiwi soldiers who were given Chevy trucks and the most daunting of World War II tasks.

They were to attack Italian forts and airfields and send the message that no where was safe for the enemy, even hundreds of miles behind their own lines.

In the documentary, modern day historian and expert on the LRDG, Brendan O'Carroll, retraces the steps of the soldiers by travelling 4000 kilometres deep into the Sahara Desert braving 40 degree temperatures, land mines, and the worst of living conditions - all of which the soldiers had to themselves go through, during WW2.

The aim for O'Carroll and his crew was to get to Gerbal Sherif, an untouched battle site, where one LDRG soldier died, four went missing, and three valuable trucks were destroyed during an Italian ambush.

Adam's film footage in the doco was an eye opener for families who had members of their family in the LRDG during WWII on Thursday night's silver screen premier in New Zealand.

Mairee Adams, Wink Adams' wife, says she had no idea whatsoever how hard it had been for her husband and his fellow soldiers in the Sahara.

Peter Garland, who was a member of the LDRG, says they were given 24 trucks, plus the two leaders' trucks.

"It was a lot of trucks to get across without being seen, that was the catch".

Lost in Libya will screen as part of the Anzac coverage on TV ONE at 1pm on Saturday.
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And the video:

Unseen NZ WW2 military footage features in doco on Libya | NATIONAL

Antipodean Andy · Apr 26, 2009

Truly brilliant!

Antipodean Andy · Apr 27, 2009

Some more about the documentary:

Lost in Libya | TV ONE SHOWS A-Z | TV ONE | tvnz.co.nz

1941: Deep behind enemy lines in the blistering heat of the Sahara, a Kiwi unit of the elite Long Range Desert Group (LRDG) is ambushed by an Italian patrol in the remote valley of Gebel Sherif. In the battle that follows one of their tight-knit unit is killed, four go missing and three of their valuable trucks are left burnt out wrecks. With night approaching the survivors are forced to escape into the desert.

2008: Three amateur historians venture 4000kms into the Libyan Sahara retracing the footsteps of their wartime heroes in search of Gebel Sherif, the only battlefield where New Zealanders fought during WWII that remains untouched. New Zealander and world expert on the LRDG, Brendan O'Carroll, historian Kuno Gross a Swiss engineer working in Libya, and their Italian friend and fellow history buff Roberto Chiarvetto, share a fascination with LRDG and its Italian counterpart The Autosahariana. For years, they have corresponded, exchanged information and dreamt of travelling to Libya to locate the site where the two forces met. They are finally on their way.

Lost In Libya follows these modern day history hunters on their journey into the Libyan Desert. It's no easy ride; every day Brendan and the team battle intense heat, the threat of dehydration and heat-stroke as temperatures soar over 40 degrees. Sandstorms, endless mechanical breakdowns and the challenges posed by the shifting sands threaten their goal of reaching Gebel Sherif.

Lost In Libya is also the story of the men who travelled those same sand dunes 70 years earlier. The LRDG was an elite force, expert in navigation, desert warfare and survival. As the war in North Africa intensified, the British knew the only way to make headway was to come at the enemy from the last place it would expect - the uncharted desert to the South. For this, they needed men who could handle heavy trucks over the unpredictable sand, knew their way around an engine and would just get on with the job: they called in the Kiwis. The LRDG's main objective was to provide detailed maps and information about enemy positions from deep behind enemy lines in the Libyan Desert - all without being detected. Each patrol was completely self-sufficient, capable of travelling for hundreds of kilometres over barren unmapped country for weeks at a time.

Through interviews with some of the last surviving members of the LRDG, Lost In Libya tells just how effective this relatively small group was. Member of the LRDG's T Patrol Peter Garland, now 92, says the Italians called them the Ghost Patrol, "They couldn't catch us, they couldn't even see us."

Veteran Tom Ritchie, 93, recalls how precious water was in the desert heat, "The trucks always came first, it [water] was rationed to less than two litres a day - and you had to share that with the truck, if you ran out you didn't get any more."

Lost In Libya also features the only known footage of the LRDG in action being broadcast for the first time.

Producer Amanda Evans says making Lost In Libya gave her a unique insight into the challenges faced by the members of the LRDG 70 years ago. "Filming in such extreme conditions tested everyone involved to the limit. The first day of filming the temperature hit 43 degrees; the crew could only imagine what it must have been like for the men in the LRDG out there for weeks on end under constant threat of detection by the enemy."
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