CHIEF OF STAFF
MIDDLE EAST VISIT INSPECTION OF TROOPS THE. INDIAN CONFERENCE (From the Official War Correspondent with the New Zealand Forces in the Middle. East) CAIRO, Dec. 2 First-hand knowledge of the activities of the Expeditionary Force in the Middle East, has been gained by the Chief of the New Zealand General Staff Major-General Sir John Duigan, who paid a brief visit to the force after attending the Economic Conference in India. Troops in the base camp paraded ceremonially in his honour and he inspected training work before leaving to visit well-seasoned troops in the field. Sir John was impressed by the splendid display provided by the troop? on parade and told them he could so (J the New Zealanders were becoming hard and tough, ready to meet anv possible emergency. He added: "It looks as if you will get a chance to meet the enemy later, and I am convinced he will then realise he is fighting soldiers for whom he should have the greatest respect."
Sir John said hp hoped to he home by Christmas and would take back greetings on their behalf to those who wished them tvell and whose thoughts were constantly with them. A spirit of complete co-operation was the keynote of the Empire Conference held in India recently to discuss problems of wartime production and supply, said Sir John in an interview. He added that the conference had laid plans for mobilising the whole resources of the. countries forming the eastern bloc with only one objective in view namely, to defeat the enemy. He could not yet reveal the specific part New Zealand or any other individual country would play when the plans were in full operation, but he said the result;; of the conference foreshadowed a tremendous increase in the production, of munitions and supplies. Sir John paid a tribute to the great spirit of confidence and enthusiasm which was evident among Empire peoples east of the Suez.
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New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23830, 4 December 1940, Page 8
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326CHIEF OF STAFF New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23830, 4 December 1940, Page 8
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