"PACIFIC STORY"

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 80, 28 April 1945, Page 7

"PACIFIC STORY"

EARLY DAYS OF "COCONUT BOMBERS.

THE 3rd NEW ZEALAND DIVISION

A BOOKLET ISSUED BY THE ARMY BOARD

“Pacific Story,” published by the Army Board, is the first of two illustrated surveys describing the activities of the 3rd New Zealand Division in the Pacific. The story is one of which those who participated may be proud, for who can say just what effect the garrisoning of the islands had in stopping the Southward advance of the Japanese.

The strategic importance of Fiji, states the booklet, was fully recognised well before the war. When war was imminent, isolated key islands such as Fanning were garrisoned. Unenviable was the task of those who remained in these outposts for long periods. It was in late 1940 that the Bth Brigade Group totalling over 3000 all ranks under the command of Brigadier Cunningharh left for Fiji. This was before the Japanese had entered the war. Although much oreliminary work had been done by the engineers most of the men who disembarked from the Rangatira were accommodated in tents. Heavy rain and clinging mud welcomed the troops who were soon disillusioned as to the charms of the tropical islands. Mosquitoes found the tender skins and the tropical heat proved very trying. The defence of the island with little equipment called for much ingenuity and artillery officers and engineers were quickly busy trying to prepare for all eventualities. There was at first few recreational facilities for the men. By the middle of January, 1941, a kind of combined operations centre had been established. There was a resident naval officer and a small air force composed chiefly of de Havilland. airliners from civilian air services in New Zealand. With these, reconnaissance flights were undertaken and an air service maintained. A HURRICANE It was shortly after this a violent hurricane struck the island. This was the worst experienced in Fiji for 21 years and is graphically described in the booklet. At one stage the wind is estimated to have reached a force of 130 to 150 miles an hour. Some warning was received and fortunately no lives were lost. Corrugated iron flew through the air and trees snapped in the shrieking wind against which it was not even possible to crawl. In ]\£ay, some of the original troops were relieved, the plan being that regulardrafts were to replace the men who would be granted leave and then sent for service in the Middle East. It was at this time that additional outposts were established on some of the isolated islands. It was these men who later transmitted valuable information and who were in many cases captured by the Japanese. Some, as is now known, were murdered at T&rawa. Meanwhile in Fiji manoeuvres were carried out, hospitals established, and defences constructed. JAPAN ENTERS THE WAR New Zealand troops were thus well established in the Pacific when Japan bombed Pearl Harbour. There followed a rapid strengthening of the Air Force and the raising of the status

of the Brigade to a Division. The Tamahine and Rangatira brought men of- the Civil Construction Unit with bulldozers and modern equipment, airfields were made and defensec set up. United States air forces and troops arrived, and the President Coolidge, well known to many New Zealanders and which was later lost in the New Hebrides, set up a shuttle service to Auckland. Fijian guerrillas, later famed as commandos, were established. Finally the command was handed over to the Americans and the 3rd Division returned to New Zealand, leaving only a few men in the Fijian Defence Force. It was at this time that General Mead, who succeeded General Cunningham, was lost off Tonga when returning to New Zealand. NEW CALEDONIA

Reorganisation and large scale manoeuvres in New Zealand followed while the Division was held’in a reserve capacity. Major-General Barrowclough was appointed as Commanding Officer. It was in November, 1942, that the first flight of the Division landed at Noumea, New Caledonia, where the Division was to fit itself for the Solomons campaign. Masses of shipping were at this time congregated at Noumea, a fine sheltered harbour and important base. From the staging camp at Dumbea, large camps and headquarters were established through the island. Strenuous training was undertaken and an antimalarial campaign was conducted. The whole Division was under the command of the Americans and the men were paid in, dollars, f«d on U.S. rations and were speaking a mixture of American and French slang. Full scale exercises were held and special, ist units trained. Meanwhile antiaircraft units set up among the niaouli trees, stood guard against Japanese marauders and swallowed the red dust from the Plaine des Gaiacs and the other large airfields. The work of strengthening the Division went on until it totalled 17,800 wellequipped men. Training proceeded and following advice that the Division was to see action in the Solomons amphibious operations were conducted in the New Hebrides. Fully trained in assault landings and jungle fighting, the combat units of the Division then moved on to Guadalcanal The second part of the record. the 3rd New Zealand Division will latei be published by the Army Board in another booklet.