AT RECORD SPEED

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 4, 30 September 1943, Page 5

AT RECORD SPEED

Disembarkation Of New Zealanders (Official War Correspondent, N.Z.E.F.) GUADALCANAL. “I have just noted with great pleasure • the splendid performance of elements of the New Zealand Division during their recent disembarkation. This excellent effort augurs well for the success of future operations, and reflects the high state of morale, discipline and training attained by all ranks in the units concerned. Please accept this expression of my appreciation, and convey my personal congratulations to all elements of the command. ’ This message from an Allied commanding general in the South Pacific received by the G.O.C. Third (New L ‘ a " land) Division, Major-General 11. L. Barrowclough, soon after the arrival of the New Zealand troops iii a forward Pacific area. ' . A frank testimony to the efficiency ot the New Zealanders in their first landing in a combat area, this expression of a high officer's opinion was shared by all tjie Allied officers and men who witnessed the landing operations. One officer who had served with the United States Marine Corps in the original Solomons landing* a year before, and who had been with the Dominion troops since their departure from New Caledonia, found his estimated unloading time undercut by -10 per cent. The, New Zealanders shifted themselves and their gear, rations, vehicles, guu.s and auununitiftu front ship to shore

10 per cent, faster than any troops previously landed in that area. Though they sweltered on their way across the sand in uncomfortable heat their keenness for the job emptied the landing craft as fast as they could tumble their ramps on to the shore. Officers on the transports, which turned round in the shortest time on record, signalled to the Allied Command of the New Zealanders’ performance, and the Allied Command added its congratulations to those of the New Zealand G.O.C. A copy of that message is now in possession of the officers commanding the units concerned.