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The 'Despatch from Tunisia' on Side One of this disc is a BBC Overseas Service shortwave broadcast from 29 April 1943, of a report by New Zealand Broadcasting Unit correspondent in Tunisia, Arch Curry. His voice report, filed from Takrouna, has been re-voiced by a BBC announcer in a London studio. It describes the daring attack on the fortress of Takrouna by a small group of Māori Battalion soldiers who climbed a 600 foot cliff under fire, carrying weapons, to take the fortress and capture several hundred enemy soldiers. [The unnamed Māori Battalion sergeant mentioned in the recording was Haane Manahi, D.C.M. (Te Arawa, Ngāti Raukawa) who was initially nominated for a Victoria Cross for his part in this action].
The BBC broadcast was recorded in Wellington by the New Zealand Broadcasting Service and then rebroadcast to New Zealand radio audiences. [Curry's full, original reports from Takrouna can be heard on ID 17871 and 17877]. Frank Gillard, the BBC's correspondent in Tunisia adds that three Māori soldiers were killed in the attack on Takrouna. Following the despatch, Major Hastings, the BBC's military correspondent gives his analysis of the news from Takrouna and the progress of the fighting in the Tunisian desert.
Side Two of this disc is a BBC war news bulletin read by Norman Claridge, recorded by the N.Z.B.S. on 30 April 1943. Items are as follows: British Eighth Army troops capture an important height in Tunisia despite fierce German resistance; In Russia large scale attacks on German aircraft are reported and heavy fighting is expected to resume shortly; Russian operations in the Baltic are laying mines; German fighters and flak were put up against R.A.F. last night and 23 planes are missing; Cyprus has an air raid alert and an enemy aircraft was shot down.