LANDING PERFORMANCE

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 78, 29 September 1943, Page 5

LANDING PERFORMANCE

NEW ZEALANDERS IN PACIFIC PRAISE FROM COMMANDING GENERAL (Official War Correspondent with N.Z.E.F.) Gaudalcanar. “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 area was received by the G.-0.-C. Third (New Zealand Division), Major-General H. E. Barrowclough, soon after the arrival of the New Zealand troops in the forward Pacific area. A frank testimony to the efficiency of the New Zealanders in their first landing in a combat area, this expression of a high officer’s opinion was shared by all Allied officers and men who witnessed the landing operations. One officer who had served with the United States Marine Corps in the original Solomons landings a year before and who since their departure from New Caledonia found his estimated unloading time undercut by 40 per cent. The Maorilanders shifted themselves, their gear, rations, vehicles, guns and ammunition from ship to shore 10 per cent faster than any troops had previously landed in that area, and though they sweltered 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. Ship officers on transports, which turned round in the shortest time on record signalled the Allied command of the New Zealanders’ performance and the Allied command added Its congratulations to the New Zealanders’ G.-0.-C. A copy of that message is now in possesison of the officers commanding the units concerned.