v SYRIA DEFENCE

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 121, 25 May 1942, Page 6

v SYRIA DEFENCE

INSPECTION BY DUKE

BtJSY DAY WITH li.Z. TROOPS

eK.Z.E.Pi Official War Correspondent") _ . CAIRO, May 24.

In green valleys on the slopes of the mountain ranges of Syria the Duke of Gloucester on May 20 saw thousands of the troops of the New Zealand Division. Travelling over 100 miles, many of them across a roaa rougher than that to be found in New Zealand back country, the Duke inspected our troops on parade and saw the defences they have built m weeks of hard digging.

Warned by the scream of a siren sounding through the hills ahead of the Duke's convoy and staff cars, little groups of New Zealanders who were unable to attend the main parades, presented arms and saluted as the Royal party passed.

The programme of the Royal tour began early in the morning and ended at an evening entertainment by the Second N.Z.E.F.'s Kiwi Concert Party. Beneath the British, American and Red Cross flags flying above the New Zealand casualty clearing station, His Highness, accompanied by the Commander of the Ninth Army, General Wilson, met General Sir Bernard Freyberg, V.C.,. Officer Commanding the Second N.Z.E.P. Later he inspected modern wards, theatres and the hospital built by United States citizens formerly resident in the picturesque mountain village it overlooks.

In the sunlit courtyard where our convalescent troops were,sitting His Highness met American field service personnel working as an ambulance unit with the New Zealand station. At the aerodrome where the New Zealand Divisional Provost Company took over the duties of guiding the escorting party, the Duke passed through lines of the R.A.A.F. and Free French guards. Lined before the three-storied barrack building, a guard of New Zealand signallers and defence platoon personnel presented the Royal Salute as the Regal party entered divisional headquarters, where the Duke lunched with Sir Bernard Freyberg and his senior officers. By late afternoon His Highness had seen the majority of Jthe troops of the division and had climbed high into the ranges to view the defensive scheme.

The first parade stretched in deep formation for 400 yards along the roadside. Hundreds of bayonets flashed in the sunlight as New Zealanders, Indian mountain gunners and Cypriot muleteers gave the Royal Salute. A seemingly endless line of troops in topees and turbans marched down the valley past the saluting base. Unable to form in normal formation because of the broken and hilly country they occupy, the second parade of our troops made a spectacular march past the saluting base, which was set on the lower slopes of a mountain range. Marching New Zealand troops, Indian service corps personnel on horseback, or leading mule teams, New Zealand artillery, antiaircraft, anti-tank guns and Brencarriers filed past in a long procession. Gun commanders and carrier crews stood erect in their vehicles to give the salute. From the crest of the slope behind the parade, the Duke saw the panorama of the country our troops occupy and heard an explanation by Sir Bernard Freyberg of the defences.

After tea with the New Zealand Divisional Cavalry, his Highness was conducted ever the famous ruins of Baalbeck, and his long day ended with the Kiwi concert party's programme in the New Zealand barrack hall.