The New Zealand Division Has A Proud History

Northern Advocate, 18 July 1939, Page 8

The New Zealand Division Has A Proud History

ENLIST, YOUNG MAN !

(By John A. Lee, D.C.M.. M.P., Parliamentary Under-Secretary). 1914. War w.as declared on the 4th August, 1914. New Zealanders responded rapidly to the call for men. Says Ormond Burton of this period in his “Silent Division.” — “Within a few days of the declaration of v/ar, the young manhood of New Zealand was assembling in the camps at Alexandria. Park, Awapuni racecourse, Addington and Tahuna Parks. From the gumfields and the timber mills, from the sheep runs .and

the dairy farms and the flax swamps, from mine and office and factory and school, shop hands and lawyers, labourers and university professors, mechanics and parsons, a few crooks and deadbeats, and a great crowd of decent chaps—they came pouring in. “There was enthusiasm and a haze of rather splendid feeling. A great adventure was opening up. All the humdrum of life suddenly fell away and men were like young gods in a new world of romance.” The men who came pouring in in 1914 poured into a machine capable of equipping and drilling recruits and turning them into soldiers. That machine was the then existing army. The technique of war has become much more complex since 1914, and indeed since 1919, so it becomes of greater importance today that there

should be that skilled instructor nucleus which would enable recruits to be speedily absorbed in a time oi emergency. New Zealanders had their first taste of war at Ferry Post on the Canal when, in company with British and Indian Troops, they stopped that amazing Turkish attack directed against Egypt. Amazing because of the manner in which the Turks brought men, equipment and even pontoons across miles of waterless desert, and amazing because of the ill-informed optimism which caused it to be made. I believe a bullet torn Turkish pontoon in a Nelson park still commemorates the fact that the Nelson Company was in the van, and that Private Ham, of this Company, was the first New Zealander killed in action.

Gallipoli,

On the 25th April the New Zealand Infantry Brigade played its part in the memorable battle of the landing. About that ill-fated campaign there were elements of adventure .and romance associated with no other campaign during the war. A new and untried Dominon army landing from transports at sea .and unaware of what war would actually be like. Says an observer of that first landing: “Everyone was cool and quiet, but determined to do his best. There was a thrill of exalted feeling running through the hearts of all. Come whatever chance, New Zealand should be proud of this day.” Tragedy That Was a Romance. Tragedy notwithstanding, there were all of the elements of romance in that Gallipoli adventure. The young nation of New Zealand, scarcely 75 years old, was sending troop's into battle in areas across which had marched classical battalions. And the New Zealand Force which was landing on Gallipoli was to prove that the young manhood of New Zealand had not been bred soft under southern skies, but was comparable with the picked manhood of Europe. The men who landed were men who enlisted in the early days of war, and there was an adventurous note about their attitudes. Theirs had been no compulsion, other than patriotism. New Zealanders should be proud to train for the defence of New Zealand in Regiments that won such honour during those fateful days. But Gallipoli w.as finally a failure, not because of the quality of the men, but because the campaign was ill-starred and because there were more urgent theatres of war demanding greater concentrations. Birth of Anzac. On Gallipoli out of association with Australians Anzac was born. On Gallipoli in victory and final withdrawal New Zealanders were attested as men. On Gallipoli Now Zealand acquired a consciousness of nationhood; New Zealanders because of splendid achievement becoming no longer anxious to be members of a British army, but anxious to be members of a New Zealand Division in the British Army. Esprit de corps means much if it means trust in the quality

of comrades when life is at stake. New Zealanders who served on Gallipoli had more than a heroic enemy to contend with. They had all of the enemies that afflict the flesh. The water was bad and was short in quantity. Dust, heat, flies, vermin, thirst, bad food, all were their lot. There was a regularity of front line warfare that existed in France only during some of the giant offensives toward the end of the war. For the men of Gallipoli were virtually in the front line all of the time. There were no villages with estaminets where men could relax. There was little clean clothing, no fresh water bathing. Says Ormond Burton in his “Auckland Regiment”; “Hell was to be an in fantryman. Heaven was just two miles away. A great white ship with yellow funnel, green band and .a great Red Cross. Fortunate was he who ‘landed a buckshee’ or ran up sufficient temperature to impress the doctor. For him were stored up all delights, clean white sheets, dainty foods, vest, ministering angels to care for him. Dreams of paradise were of the smells from mother's cooking and of mir girls in clean clothc c far away in New Zealand.”

Good-Bye Gallipoli

Men quickly became dilapidated and disreputable scarecrows. And yet during month after month those dilapidated and disreputable scarecrows who were new to war and who were suffering hardships, rarely evil, by their conduct brought credit to New Zealand. At Krithia, Chunuk Bair and Suvla Bay, .at Rhododendron Spur, our men covered themselves with glory. Came the evacuation, and again New Zealanders were men. A small covering party was necessary, was looked upon as a group of men who might have to die for the sake of their comrades. Scores of men begged for a place in the covering party; fortunately they did not have to sacrifice themselves, but theirs was the will. The New Zealanders were embarked and Anzac was to become only an imperishable memory. The survivors returned to Egypt after nine months fighting, their ranks sadly thinned. For example, in the case of the Auckland Regiment, 1.100 had gone to Gallipoli from Egypt and had been reinforced by a second 1,100. Six hundred fit men landed back on the desert sands. One thousand three hundred and one had been killed or wounded and some hundreds of men were evacuated for sickness. Eleven decorations were awarded to the Auckland Regiment. Says Ormond Burton, the Regimental Historian, “Compared with the number of decorations granted in France, this seems a very scanty list.” Reading of the Gallipoli campaign, one cannot help but echo Mr Burton’s sentiments, and yet despite the failure of the Gallipoli campaign it is doubtful it New Zealanders will ever serve anywhere with more romantic distinction, for Gallipoli had about it the ring of adventure and romance. (To be continued).