3rd. Division Ready To Get To Grips

Northern Advocate, 30 September 1943, Page 3

3rd. Division Ready To Get To Grips

.(Official N.Z.E.F. War Correspondent)

GUADALCANAL Sept. 29

. The New Zealand Division in the Pacific is on the move. It has left its long-held base in New Caledonia for the battle islands of the forward area where fit and well-trained soldiers now wait a chance to come to grips with the Japanese. Only a few weeks ago Major-Gen-eral H. E. Barrowclough, D. 5.0., M.C., told the men under his command that the “chance for which you have waited so long is coming soon.” His words put new life into the Division, added zest to the men’s training and keenness to their anticipation, so that by the time the first elements moved from the southern island, their spirits were higher than they had been for many months, and the results of their training was evident in the- bronzed fitness of all ranks Uneventful Move The voyage north proved uneventful as did the landing on the shores that had been the scene of earlier fighting in this Pacific war. A burned out tank, rusted by exposure and corroded by salt water, lay partly buried in the sand, an abandoned landingcraft sprawled a hundred yards or so away, wire entanglements lay twined in the vines of the shore-fringed jungle, and here and there the New Zealanders found rusty booby traps which might, or might not, have lost their potency. The “might not” had it, and the booby traps stayed where they lay. Evidence Of War The evidence of war lay bare to view. At many points there were barren trunks of coconut palms which had had their foliage blasted by shells and bomb-seared trees poked gauntly through the green jungle where some explosion had occurred months ago Now and again bulldozers brought unexploded shells to the surface and sometimes a helmet, binoculars, ot clips of Japanese cartridges.

The New Zealanders marched or drove to their camp sites along wide smooth roads cut among the palms They pitched camps among the hills and valleys to catch the cooling breezes that tempei-ed the heat and smartly dug fox-holes for shelter in case of an isolated Japanese air raid. Officers and men lined up in queues for a hastily, but well-cooked, welcome meal, and in the cool evening were ready to climb under the protection of mosquito nets for a night of icst. Unexpectedly, the "mosquitoes were less prevalent than in New Caledonia, and were it not for the chance that an odd malarial type might zoom in, the nets would have been superfluous. The noble art of face slapping, so keenly developed in the southern island, found no outlet for its play. There were, of course, a few snakes, smallish ones about the thickness of a man’s thumb, and up to three feet long, scurrying iguana and hordes of tiny insects. Such inconveniences passed barely noticed in the bustle of administration, and the roar of trucks as stores from the beaches were shifted to inland dumps. Ready For Anything Terraces carved from the hillsides formed roads for traffic, and level stretches for tents. Rations of tinned foods piled up quickly and fresh bread from the New Zealanders’ own bakery was turned out at a rate ot more than 100 loaves an hour. With customary thoroughness the New Zealanders had transplanted their home to a new location and they were ready to move again at a moment’s notice and ready to strike whenever and wherever the call should come.

Boredom and the seeming futility of garrison duties had passed. A future worthy of their name lay ahead and they would meet it as their friends and brothers had done in the Middle East, with skill and determination.