OUR BOYS IN SYRIA

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 64, Issue 4559, 13 April 1942, Page 4

OUR BOYS IN SYRIA

THE news that the New Zealand troops are now in Syria, transferred from the Western Desert, has no doubt prompted a great deal of speculation. In this land, described as the cradle of a civilisation when New Zealand was still unrevealed, they will be not unmindful of the strange revolution of the wheel of fate tha* has*BTOHght them to the territories where the first New Zealand Expeditionary Force fought with such distinction a quarter of a century ago, in one of the most brilliant and successful campaigns of the Great War. The defeat on Gallipoli was then behind the New Zealanders, who from the Canal moved east into Palestine and Syria to destroy the power of Germany and the Turkish ally. The men who have made the journey now in truck and tank where their fathers ventured on horse-back have many of them learned the most grim lessons of war in Greece, on Crete, and in the Western Desert. They are an experienced and indomitable force, well capable of striking hard, and w’ith initiative and resource, from terrain that should be suited to their genius. Though in this war of equal allies, no claim to particular merit need be made for the men of any nation, the New Zealanders cannot fail to realise that their selection for the Syrian theatre is a tribute to their proven fighting qualities. While Hitler’s battered armies on the Eastern Front await the spring, the possibility that the Fuehrer will rally all the strength at his disposal in a smashing drive towards the Caucasus, and south towards Suez, must be reckoned with in the defensive plans of the Allies. The threat to Turkey, and through Turkey to Syria and Palestine, is very real, and if it eventuates the battles fought in this area will be crucial. The New Zealanders, after actions on other Mediterranean shores that will have an important page in the history of the World War, have become part of a holding force which 1 may play a large part in shaping the destiny of mankind. There will be disappointment, naturally among those who, without sufficiently studying the jig-saw panorama of the con-

diet, into which Egypt, Palestine, and Syria lock so vitally, dared hope that the New Zealand Division might return to the homeland. The strategy for the defeat of the Axis west and east is more than a sufficient reason why this could not be. In war the disposition of forces cannot be ordained on sentimental grounds. The New Zealanders have been sent to the place at which they may best contribute to the fight for an unfettered world. To that proud realisation all other feelings must be subordinate.