CHASE OF ROMMEL

Evening Post, Volume CXXXV, Issue 149, 25 June 1943, Page 7

CHASE OF ROMMEL

GENERAL FREYBERG'S STORY (Official War Correspondent, N.Z.E.F.) NEW CALEDONIA. June 17. When Lieutenant-General Freyberg made his flying visit to New Caledonia on his way_ to New Zealand this week he found time, in the few hours at his disposal, to renew acquaintance with a number ot officers of the Third New Zealand Division who had served under him in the Middle East, and to lunch at one of the Dominion's headquarters areas. In the course of a short talk on the part played by the New Zealanders in the battle of El Alamein and in the subsequent pursuit of the Axis forces he described the brilliant encircling move made by the Dominion men round the Axis lines at El Agheila, involving a long and strenuous approach march and a vast problem of supply. Later, when Rommel's troops tried to stem the Allied advance at the Mareth Line, General Freyberg's men had the task of outflanking the enemy and attacking him in the rear. Though this move was in itself no surprise to the enemy, the Germans never knew at what point the New Zealanders actually planned to strike, and the vital hill feature that was the key to the battle was taken before the enemy realised that the attack on it was imminent. An amusing sidelight on the final stages of the New Zealanders' longstanding rivalry with the 90th German Light Division was related by General Freyberg. When the German division was finally trapped by the New Zealanders he selected an enemy prisoner to carry a demand for surrender to the German commander, Major-General Count yon Sponeck. That prisoner never reached his own lines, for an Allied patrol, not knowing his role, recaptured him' on his way to the German lines and brought him back. General Freyberg tried again, and this time his emissary got through, only to be told by yon Sponeck that surrender was never contemplated. The New Zealand response was an exhortation to come out and fight properly if there was to be no surrender. "And, to cut a long story short, we took 50,000 prisoners. Good show." Yon Sponeck was the proud possessor of the finest pair of binoculars General Freyberg had ever seen. Asked whether the binoculars had changed ownership, General Freyberg said, laughing, "No. One general to another, you know. I could not have robbed him of them." But he added that he had half expected his aide de camp, Lieutenant J. L. Griffiths, to have slipped them away by the back door. But nothing had come of it. "I did get Rommel's caravan, however," said General Freyberg. This was a most luxurious vehicle, complete with bathroom, bedroom, and sitting-room. The German generals, he • said, did themselves very well in Africa. General Freyberg, who was accompanied by Brigadier R. A. Row when he visited the New Zealand camp in New Caledonia, met the following officers, all of whom served under him in the Middle East:—Brigadier Row, Colonel J. M. Twhigg, Colonel A. A. Tennent. Colonel N. C. Speight, LtCol. J. I. Brooke, Lt.-Col. F. L. H. Davis. Lt.-Col. H. W. D. Blake, Lt-Col. D McN. Burns. Major P. L. Bennett, Major D. W. Jack, Major E. R. Ferguson. Major Y. K. Fleming, Major J. |D. Willis, Major C. G. Riley, Major S. W. Crawford. Major G. F. T. Hall, Captain I. H. Galbraith, Captain H. J. Heron, Second Lieutenant S. J. Conlon, Second Lieutenant D. T. Scholium. Sister E. St. M. Jones, and Sister P. E. Curtis.