GREAT STRIKING FORCE

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23801, 21 November 1942, Page 7

GREAT STRIKING FORCE

GENERAL FREYBERG’S COMMAND STRENGTH IN TANKS AND GUNS (Official War Correspondent N.Z.E.F.) CAIRO, November 19. It is now revealed for the first time what a tremendous striking force Lieutenant-General Sir Bernard Freyberg commanded to carry out one of the most vital attacks ever launched in the Western Desert—the brilliant attack which punched a hole in Marshal Rommel’s weakened line and paved the way for armour, allowed it to deploy, and started Marshal Rommel on the run. General Freyberg’s command was equal almost to that of a corps. It comprised two brigades of New Zealand infantry, two British infantry brigades, two armoured brigades, the New Zealand Divisional Cavalry with its “Honey” tanks,' and all the divisional guns, plus the equivalent of another division’s guns. Marshal Rommel could not stand up against this terrible firepower. He fled within a day of the consolidation of the attack. Then the New Zealanders, with British troops and armour, look up the role for which they had been carefully and skilfully trained—mobile pursuit troops. For weeks they had carried out manoeuvres far behind the lines during one of the inevitable desert “lulls.” They were trained to the minute. They knew every answer. General Freyberg’s command gave an excellent example of perfect collaboration between tanks and infantry. They chased Marshal Rommel’s battered panzer army from Fuka and Mersa Matruh, from Sidi Barrani, Buq Buq, and Halfaya Pass, And still they pursue. ■