AMONG THE FIRST

Evening Post, Volume CXXXV, Issue 22, 27 January 1943, Page 5

AMONG THE FIRST

MAORIS IN TRIPOLI

(Official War Correspondent, N.Z.E.F.) TRIPOLI, January 23. A company of Maoris, followed by other New Zealand troops, were the first Dominion troops of occupation in Tripoli. They will be camped among trees and other green surroundings most welcome to the eye after weeks of the weary desert journey from El Alamein. This morning when we set out along a bitumen road from a few miles south of Azizia, it was with a feeling of expectancy of at last something better than a vast desert waste. The way was clear and our columns were rumbling along merrily at a good 30 miles an hour. We saw positions where tlie enemy had made his final stand last night, but the pace of our advance assured us that the way to Tripoli must be open, and soon we were exchanging greetings with smiling natives. Italian civilians gathered in small groups on the roadside. Some waved or saluted and none seemed greatly perturbed. The country was still sandy 20 miles from Tripoli, but there were olive and gum trees. The lunch fires had been lighted by troops on the roadside with gum-tree branches and the smoke wafted across the road was like a breath from home. FREYBERG TAKES SALUTE. In a small village about ten miles from- the city, Lieut.-General Freyberg stood on the roadside. He was saluted by his men as they passed. Some did not salute. They waved, and their waves were returned. There was nothing ceremonial about it, and the General had about him a gathering of awed natives. The men welcomed the sight of the leader who had brought