CRACK TROOPS OF 8TH ARMY

Southland Times, Issue 25666, 8 May 1945, Page 11

CRACK TROOPS OF 8TH ARMY

Outstanding Achievements Of Division

The record of the Second New Zealand Division in this war is one of honour in spheres where stiff problems have been created and where British, Dominion and Allied .units have set up high standards and achievements. The division has been described as an Empire formation that has no superior. Mr Churchill once palled it a “ball of fire.” The chronology of the division proves its service. New Zealanders fought in Greece and Crete, went through the desert wars from defeat to final victory in Tunisia. And now they are in Italy. Lieutenant-General Sir Bernard Freyberg is the divisional commander who has led the formation throughout its fighting. New Zealanders went early to this war, and in early winter 1940 the Ist Echelon of troops arrived in Egypt. When Italy declared war in June 1940 the New Zealanders formed the fabled Long Range Desert Group and harried the Italian outposts and communications in the desert.

By March 1941 a full division was in the Middle East, drawn from New Zealand’s small population of 1,641,000,

despite numerous other war commitmerits. FOUGHT IN GREECE The division, was sent to Greece in fulfilment of Britain’s pledge, and at Olympus, Thermopylae and Marathon the New Zealanders fought some of the bitterest rearguard actions of the war. They fought and worked their guns under constant air attack with practically no air protection. Two brigades from the division dug in on Crete after the fall of Greece, and on May 20, 1941, the German airborne attack began. For 12 days the New Zealanders fought with meagre equipment and inadequate supplies around Malene aerodrome. They and other troops destroyed the bulk of the Nazi 7th Flying Division, but finally had to evacuate.

The enemy airborne force was so badly mauled that Hitler had to cancel his orders for it to move on to Syria and Iraq. Back in Egypt the New Zealanders had little rest. In November 1941 the “Crusader” offensive was mounted to relieve Tobruk, and the New Zealand Division had a terrible fight at Sidi Rezegh after British and South African troops had been defeated on the ridge by German tanks. The New Zealanders came up, cut a corridor through to relieve Tobruk and Rommel turned on the division. Two New Zealand brigade’s fought the 15th and 21st Panzers throughout the closing days of November. The Germans finally won the Rezegh Ridge, but victory was so costly that they withdrew and Tobruk was liberated. In the summer of 1942 the New Zealanders were in action again. On June

13, Rommel wiped out British tank strength in the desert, raced to take Tobruk and advance on Egypt. The New Zealanders were in Syria at that time and were rushed by truck 1200 miles across Palestine and the Sinai desert in 10 days to the Western Desert battle line.

South of Matruh the division alone covered the Bth Army withdrawal to El Alamein. In one day Rommel attacked five times to break the New Zealand formation. General Freyberg was wounded. The division was surrounded. Then at night the division cut itself out at bayonet point and went back to El Alamein. General Sir Bernard Montgomery took over the Bth Army and the great attack was prepared. DEFENCES BREACHED The New Zealanders had a leading role, linked with two British armoured divisions in the crack 10th Corps, which Mr Churchill termed “this thunderbolt,” and they made the breach in the German defences through which the tanks cleared the minefields and got at the enemy.

The moonlight infantry attack which followed the barrage* resulted in the penetration which was firmly held and steadily exploited during the next week, and led up to a further vast artillery and infantry assault on the night of November 12. This in turn produced a break-through, the rapid expansion and development of which finally caused Rommel to give up his dreams of Egypt and the Suez and to begin his retreat to Libya, Tripoli and Tunisia.

It has been said that fame awaited the man who restored the gun to its rightful position on the battlefield. General Montgomery gave the gun its proper role. His artillery provided his army with the necessary'start, and his infantry and armour, nobly supported by his engineers and supply organization, carried it on to a famous ending. The measure of the Bth Army’s success at El Alamein can be properly gauged from the fact that the enemy defences were stronger than anything the German’s had overcome at Stalingrad. From El Alamein the division advanced with the Bth Army. Several outflanking movements were carried out, and when the frontal assault on the Mareth Line faltered, the division swept' around to the south and west on another “left hook” which broke the Mareth Line.

On crags behind Enfidaville, south of Tunis, the New Zealanders added to their fame with the Maori Battalion carrying out gallant assaults. Finally on May 12, 1943, General Freyberg demanded and received the surrender of the German 90th Light Division, one of the New Zealanders’ oldest opponents, and with that success virtually

signalled the victorious conclusion of the North African campaign. RETURN TO EGYPT A few days later the division returned to Egypt, going by vast motor convoy back to the base camp at Maaai. The great journey of about 2000 miles was made in from 10 to 12 days, and then all those who could be spared were given a variety of leave. Thousands were sent to New Zealand on furlough and thousands more flocked to Cairo and to the Mediterranean beaches. . „. , In -late November 1943 the division landed at Taranto, where training , was continued for two months before the division went into the Italian line on the Adriatic coast. With their part in a great victory under their belts, and the lessons of a prolonged period of fighting against the Germans digested, the division was back with the army of which it had so long been a spearhead. For some of the men the voyage to Italy was their third crossing of the Mediterranean. The first took them to Greece and their acquaintanceship with'the enemy. The second brought them back to Egypt after their valorous defeat in Crete. SANGRO "RIVER CROSSING The New Zealanders took part in an offensive which forced the crossing of the Sangro river and broke the enemy’s winter line. In conditions completely different from those the division was used to in North Africa, it carried out a difficult operation in a way which showed that the veterans of the desert and men who had not seen action before had become a well-balanced fighting force. The division remained on this section for another two months before it was relieved.

In February '1944 it was announced that the division was with the sth Army and was in action at Cassino. The New Zealanders were rushed under conditions of strictest secrecy from a place where they were resting in reserve to strengthen the sth Army’s assault on Cassino. Trained as night fighters, they went into the attack, employing devastating bayonet tactics. The division was back with the Sth Army when the Gothic Line was breached early last September. Units of the New Zealand Division in cooperation with a Greek brigade took part in the battle for Rimini, which was captured on September 22. Progress up the Adriatic coast was steady, but not spectacular, movement being hampered by rain. The New Zealanders thrust across the Fiumecino river and occupied the village of Gatteo. On December 5 Ravenna was captured by the Sth Army. The capture of Faenza, the second to last large town before the key Po Valley city of Bologna, on December 17, represents one of the greatest of the New Zealand Division’s achievements. The New Zealanders knew when they began the attack that they were pitted against the 90th Panzer Grenadier Division, the successor of the celebrated 90th Light Division so often fought in the desert, and eventually captured in Tunisia. This apparently took little effect. The New Zealanders had more than 19 months waiting to meet the* reformed 90th Light. Instead of in the desert, they met them in hills and mud. Three times the Germans put in counter-attacks, but our infantry wiped them out.

RIVER BARRIER (FORCED New: Zealand troops took a prominent part in the crossing of the Senio. Describing the forcing of this barrier, the official war correspondent with the 2nd N.Z.E.F., stated that the 28 th Maori Battalion got away to a fast start. Within three minutes of getting the word to go they had passed both stopbanks. Within half an hour they had several prisoners back to battalion headquarters. The New Zealanders were among the first troops to cross the Santerno river, and by April 17 they had established a bridgehead over the Sillaro river on the way to Bologna. New Zealand and Polish troops launched an attack towards Bologna on April 16 and rapidly gained ground. Many individual acts of bravery were cited by the official war correspondent in a dispatch from the field. The capture of Bologna, after a converging attack by the sth and Bth armies, was announced on April 22. The New Zealanders, pursuing the fleeing Germans, took 3000 prisoners in three days. Their crossing of the Idice river was described as one of the most amazing performances of the whole Italian campaign. After crossing the river Po the division took up positions on the Adigo. Such was the speed of the advance and the disorganization of the enemy that men of the 25th Battalion, leading one column, took a bridge intact. Two water hazards could have stopped the New Zealanders, but bridges were also secured across the Tartaro river and a large canal.

The capture of Venice, in which the division took a prominent part, was announced on April 30, and there were indications that the German army in the north of Italy was collapsing. END OF CAMPAIGN The New Zealanders had crossed the Piave river by April 30, and it was ob-