Dragon
Background
The Dragon was the official publication of the New Zealand Tank Brigade based at Waiouru Military Camp, published in December 1942 during World War II and edited by Owen Fletcher.
According to the first issue: ‘From his deep cavern ‘The Dragon’ has issued forth. Complete with claws, scales and a fiery breath, he brings to you his story. From all corners of his mighty and mysterious above we have plundered his best tit-bits, and through the pages of this magazine the men of the Tank Brigade hope to tell the Dragon’s tale’ (01 December 1942:1).
The Dragon was a high-quality magazine printed by Coulls Sommerville Wilkie Ltd Print which eventually went on to form Whitcoulls Ltd.
Local newspapers reviewed the Dragon, stating that ‘this magazine sets a high standard … printed on art paper, well-illustrated with photographs that show expert knowledge in this craft, and studded throughout with some good sketches and cartoons, one by a cartoonist whose reputation is un-excelled in this country’ (Waikato Independent, 14 December 1942: 3). The cartoonist they are referring to was most likely George Minhinnick who was a New Zealand Herald cartoonist at the time and whose cartoon of brigade commander Brigadier Graham Beresford Parkinson takes up a full page of the issue.
The reviews go on to say that ‘the columns have their proportioned mixture of fun, serious reading and straight-out news of brigade activities. A humorous item deals with the latest German gun, stated to be so big that the recoil takes back the casualties and brings up the reinforcements’ (Waikato Independent, 14 December 1942: 3). Many of the photographs within the issue are credited to R Steele, possibly photographer and film maker Robert Steele.
The Dragon was published during a time of change for the Tank Brigade. From November 1942 the Brigade was gradually split up, with one battalion leaving for the Middle East on 12 December. The other battalions either remained in New Zealand on home defence, or were reformed into the 3rd Division Tank Squadron, which served in the Pacific. This is likely to be why there is only one surviving issue of the Dragon.
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Acknowledgements
The National Library would like to thank the New Zealand Defence Force for their assistance in the digitisation of this title.
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