IN BATTLE ZONE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 225, 21 September 1940, Page 7

IN BATTLE ZONE.

; AFRICAN TROOPS. DEPARTURE SECRET. SMUTS' STIRRING ADDRESS. South African troops are now in East Africa in large numbers.

Tlic-e troops, well trained, well disci- , plined, are the advance guard of a niuelij l larger South African army which will go "to Last Africa to take part in the campaign in that area in defence of the cause of liberty and justice. They are all volunteers; tl.ey are men who responded to the appeal made bv the Prime -Minister of South Africa. General J. C. Smuts-, for volunteers who would serve anywhere in Africa. The Union Government, under the leadership of General Snmts. took the view that South Africa's first line ot defence lav far beyond the borders ot the Union itself—in fact in East Africa — and it was decided that South Africa should meet any dangers of attack in association with British and other Allied troops in Last Africa. The call for volunteers made early this year met with an in-piling re-ponse. Ihe troops that are now in East Africa are among the first units to lie consolidated out of the large number of men in uniform who volunteered for service anywhere in Africa. There are many others to follow.

Intensive training started in the large training camps in different parts of South Africa. Unit after unit was mobilised and sent to conccnti atiou centres, where they began to mould themselves into a fighting force under unified control. South African industrj has responded magnificently to the demands upon it, and the troops that fLi-p now in the Held take pride in the

fact that iri practically "every respect! they represent South Africa and South African resources. Fine Soldiers. They are A splendid type of South I African manhood, bi.u fellows for the most part, big boned, healthy, bronzed,| strong and hardened, ready to endure ill, the strenuous campaign that may j develop in East Africa. I hey can stand j marching over difficult country, rain and. heat, sand and sun, and are thoroughly seasoned to the rigours of the strange continent. And they arc confident. They are fighters of the veld; they are real Spartans. They are all South Africans,' many Afrikaans-speaking, and they liavej quickly fallen into tin.' way of soldiers. I I They ' have developed a camaraderie j j which makes them all, whether English-j speaking or Afrikaans-speaking, respect, 'one another. Their spirit is superb audi It-hoy are itching for action. I

Their departure from the Union wasj kept a close secret. On July 14 the; Prime Minister, General Smuts. Coni-mander-in-Chief of the South African «■ Forces, attended a farewell parade of | troops in the largest military camp in the Union. He delivered a stirring address message of farewell, this being * preceded by a short religious service. ' "You are going north to meet the enemy where lie can be found, not! where lie comes to find you —in your ' own homes," said General Smuts. "That, too, has been the tradition of South Africa. We did it in the last war. From every previous war South Africa < has emerged a greater country, andj this war will prove no exception. Your work will carry further the tradition of Britain and Boer alike. But we are endeavouring to do more. ■ Stand With Empire. "In taking our part in this war. we are not merely defending ourselves, our country, our future. We are also standing by our friends in the Commonwealth in all loyalty and good faith, as we know they will stand by us. But we are doing more. We are alsoj safeguarding that larger tradition of human freedom, of freedom of conscience, freedom of thought and freedom of religion which is to-day threatened as never before in history by the Nazi, menace. I >j '-'That tradition is the spiritual rock I whence we were hewn. We now go forth! :[ae crusaders, as children of the Cross to

fight for freedom itself, the freedom of the human spirit, the free choice of the human individual to shape his own life according to the light that God has given him. We shall wage this war for human freedom until God's victory crowns the end.

"Just one word more,'' concluded the famous old soldier, "Wherever you mav he, or whatever you may do, remember that you are South Africans and that our name and honour are in your care. Keep it safe and high. Farewell, my friends, and may God bless and prosper the right."