IN THE FIELD

Camp News (Northern Command), Volume 1, Issue 20, 13 September 1940, Page 5

IN THE FIELD

Members Of The First Echelon ARDUOUS DUTIES (N.Z.E.F. Official News Service.) EGYPT, August 7. New and valuable experience of active service conditions . in the desert has been, gained by the hundreds of members of the - Secor...! New Zealand Expeditionary Force in Egypt who have carried out special duties in the background ci British land operations on the Egypto-Libyan border. However far removed the New Zealand detachments have been from the actual scenes of border raids and clashes,, they are correctly regarded as having served “in the field.” Their tasks in : the Western Desert have been arduous , and : important. They are perhaps best - compared with the assembly and maintenance of some. of the vital. parts ,of a machine which must stand ready to be pressed into top speed at the touch of a button.-, • The New Zealanders proved their fitness to assume, these responsibilities. After long months of training in the Cairo area, it has been heartening, to the whole of .the first echelon to know that the activities in the field have earned the satisfaction, and often the praise, of high authorities in the Middle East Command. It is reported that the work of one New Zealaui detachment, calling for a large .degree of ‘ skill and . specialized * training, was described ,by an. English officer . of - important rank- as unsurpassed by any of its kind . which he ■ had previously seen. In another case, that of a detachment engaged, on a different type of assignment, open amazement- was expressed .by an inspecting officer-at the amount of work . which . the New Zealanders had completed in a sho t space of time.

This more practical phase in tie military career of the contingent mu t add considerably to the background of experience which it has-been steadily building up in the advanced training programmes of the past half-year. Some of the detachments have carried out their tasks in relays; one or tv o have been engaged continuously for several.weeks. Some Lave had to for; o comparatively few of the comforts ai d amenities they knew, in the camp near Cairo, while others have had a fuller taste 1 of the. hardships, which operations in the vast desert area must entail. The degree of experience varies, but every officer and man has enriched in some way his -knowledge of his job and his understanding of the desert. Air Attacks. By the nature of their work, rhe only contacts . which the detachments ha' had with the enemy have been mo e or less indirect, through aerial bombing raids concentrated for the most part on relatively distant targets. A few of their members, chancing to be in the neighbourhood of raided towns or other points, have had a more real experience of air attacks.. Protection measures taken by each detachment, however, have ensured the safest possible living and working, conditions. These • precautions include the digging of shelter trenches and the sand-bagging of tents. Field offices, as another instance', are frequently built partly or wholly underground. The privileges of a free cigarette issue and free postage —two letters by surface mail each week —are' enjoyed during service in the field, and canter n facilities extend well up toward the border. • With the assistance of the National Patriotic Fund Board, the New Zealand Y.M.C.A. has been active in this respect, and it has lately purchased and equipped a truck to facilitate its work in the Western Desert From the point of view of physic:.! well-being as well as that of increased military experience, many of the New Zealanders have gained much by their service in the desert. Their work has often brought them within easy reach of the Mediterranean Sea, and regular

swimming, together with the" change of atmosphere, has seen them become fitter and more deeply bronzed than ever. Extended leave is now falling due to members of the detachment with the longest. continuous service, and small parties are spending in rotation a full week’s holiday.