N.Z. OFFICER IN KENYA

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 27860, 7 January 1956, Page 4

N.Z. OFFICER IN KENYA

COLONEL W. B. THOMAS OPERATIONS AGAINST MAU MAU “The Press” Special Service AUCKLAND. January 6. One of New Zealand’s most brilliant soldiers. Lieutenant-Colonel W. B. (“Sandy”) Thomas. D. 5.0.. M.C. and Bar, is visiting Auckland from Kenya, where he has been hunting the Mau Mau. He is now an officer in the Royal Hampshire Regiment and is on leave before rejoining his regiment in Malaya, where it is engaged in the war against the terrorists. Colonel Thomas has lost none of the dash and vigour that won him fame in the New Zealand Division. His alertness and courage made him outstanding in battle and the hero of daring escapes as a prisoner-of-war. He has told of some of these exneriences in his best-selling book. “Dare to be Free." which has befen selected as one of the three books for this year’s Cambridge University local examinations.

Another book, a novel entitled “The Touch of Pitch,” is to be published in May. It is based on the author’s experiences as brigade major of the 39th Infantry Brigade in Kenya. The Kikuyus. said LieutenantColinel Thomas, were among the most intelligent natives in 'Kenya, but they were- not fighters. When they made a raid they were always fortified with a drug to give them confidence. The tribe, he said, was only one of some 50 tribes in Kenya, although it comprised 2.000.000 of the 8,000,000 natives. The other tribes had been most loyal Colonel Thomas described Mau Mau as a disease which had taken hold of the Kikuyu. He said that Kenya had been settled for only 50 years and the malcontents were frightened into believing that they had no future except through Mau Mau. “I am convinced,” he said, “that Mau Mau will die out. Kenya is booming in spite of it. If the colonies are left to develop along rational lines they have a wonderful future, but if the process is hastened they could go back to tribal warfare and bloodshed.”

Before he goes to Malaya in March. Colonel Thomas will visit his relatives in Nelson, arrange for his three children to attend school in New Zealand and meet old war-time friends.