CHURCHILL'S PRAISE

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 33, 9 February 1943, Page 4

CHURCHILL'S PRAISE

DESERT ARMY

HISTORIC MARCH N.Z. MEN ADDRESSED » N.Z.E.F. Official War Correspondent NEAR TRIPOLI. Feb. 4. "You will march into fairer lands; you will march into lands when the grim and severe conditions of the desert will be but memories, but, having endured these conditions, the fighting qualities which you have displayed will only shine brighter, and be turned to greater advantage." In these words Mr. Churchill spoke of the future to the New Zealand Division in an address near Tripoli to-day to the largest single parade or 2»ew Zealanders ever assembled in the Middle East. Before him as he spoke was almost the entire New Zealand fighting force that advanced from El Alamein to Tripoli. For the first time in its history the greater part of the New Zealand Division stood on a single parade ground under the command of Lieutenant-General Sir Bernard Freyberg, V.C. "Hearts Swelling VFitli Pride" "Far awaj 7 in your New Zealand homes at the other side of the globe all hearts are swelling with pride at your deeds," Mr. Churchill continued. "It is the same throughout our small island of Britain, which stood alone for a year, championed only by its children from overseas, and against dire odds. All are filled with adoration for the Desert Army; all are full of gratitude to the people of New Zealand, who have sent this splendid division to win fame and honour across the oceans." Contrasting his arrival in Tripoli with his last visit to the New Zealanders, the Prime Minister said: "When I last saw you,. General Sir Bernard Freyberg—my friend of so many years of war and peace, the Salamander, as he may be called, of the British Empire—it was on those bare rocky slopes to the south of El Alamein, where you were preparing to receive what was expected to be the most dangerous and deadly thrust by the hitherto victorious Rommel. At that time, also, we had great doubts and anxieties as to the position in Russia, ■ and what would happen in the Caucasus, and in the approaches 'to the great oilfields, without which the plight of Germany is grave." Axis Army Shattered "But what a change had taken place since then. By the immortal victory of the Battle of Egypt the Axis Powers, who had fondly hoped and loudly boasted that they would take Egypt and the Nile "Valley, found their army broken and shattered, and, ever since then, by; a march unexampled in history for speed and the force of its advance, you have driven the enemy before you until now the would-be conqueror of Egypt is endeavouring to pass himself off as the deliverer of Tunisia. These events will live long in the annals of war, and will be studied minutely by other generations than our own. These feats of arms entitle the army of the desert to feel a deep-founded sense of comfort and pride, based on valiant duty faithfully done. . ~ "Now I come and find you here, 1400 miles from where I saw you last." You may - all feel that in that period a decisive change has taken place in the war, and that we now have the right to say that a term will be fixed to its intense exertions and sorrows. A transformation has come upon the scene. Just as, after all these hundreds of miles of desert, you suddenly came again into a green and fertile land, so there has been a vast improvement in the fortunes of the whole world cause of the 29 United Nations. Decisive Battle Ahead "Struggles and victories lie ahead. The enemy has been driven out of Egypt, driven out of Cyrenaica and out of Tripolitania. He is now coming towards the end of his means of running, and in a corner of Tunisia a decisive battle has presently to be fought. Other great forces are coming in from the west, but I am sure the desert army and the New Zealand Division will play a prime part. The good cause will not be trampled down; justice and freedom will reign among men." "On behalf of His Majesty's Government, on behalf of all the peoples of the Homeland, I give you our expression of earnest and warmhearted • thanks. We cherish the memory of all you have done. We wish youi God speed and God's assistance in your further conquests. "You -can be sure that as your duty will not fail so your success will be achieved." In Open Green Country No ground on which the New Zealanders have paraded in the Middle East has resembled the countryside they knew at home more than the stretch of open green country at the edge of Tripoli's orchard district where they stood to-day. A few days ago it was just part of an Italian colonial farm, but to-day it became an immense parade ground, at the edge of which stood a gathering- of almost all military leaders who planned and directed our advance through Egypt and Libya. Through lanes of bluegums, which might have been almost anywhere in Nelson, or on the plains of Hawke's Bay. Mr. Churchill drove beside the line of divisions on to the wide green paddock where our troops stood in long closely packed lines. Seated beside him as he stood looking out across the parade ground was the Commander pf the Eighth Army, General Sir Bernard Montgomery. His escort of armoured cars swept into line beside the saluting base, and as tjie Prime Minister's car halted, General Freyberg ordered the general salute. His stick swinging by his side, Mr. Churchill, who wore the uniform of an air commodore, then walked quickly towards General Freyberg and greeted hiiii warmly. Together, with Mr. Churchill still standing, they drove down the long lanes that separated the divisions, artillery, infantry, army service corp, and medical units being formed in mass behind their commanders. In the car that followed the Prime Ministtr on the inspection were General Sir Alan Brooke, Jhief of the Imperial General Staff, General Sir Harold Alexander, Commander-in-Chief in the Middle East, and several senior officers of the Eighth Army. To the music of massed pipe bands of the Highland Division, our troops, headed by the men of a famous English armoured regiment attached to the division, marched past the saluting base. Behind them came wide lines of the division's tanks, guns, Bren-carriers and trucks, churning me brown dust as they rumbled past. For half an hour an almost unbroken line of men and su 7 "-- swpot past in salute.

From the time of his arrival by plane yesterday afternoon, Mr. Churchill's visit to the Eighth Army has been of tne widest possible contrast to his visit to the desert front last year. Then, when he could see only a small representative group of New Zealanders in the worst of Egypt's midsummer heat and dust, he "brought messages of encouragement and determination to men who had endured three months of bitter fighting on a static line. This time, he came to a day of military pageant by troops of the victorious army stationed in or near Libya's capital. Mr. Churchill's day began witfi a spectacular parade through Tripoli by Scottish infantry divisional units and by some or tne desert s oldest English armoured regiments. By the time he reached the New Zealanders' parade, he had seei } thousands of troops, and when he left again for Tripoli late m the afternoon there were still furthei inspections on his programme.