DESTINATION OF FIRST ECHELON

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 1, Issue 104, 29 December 1939, Page 4

DESTINATION OF FIRST ECHELON

WITH the approach of the New Y.ear, the burning question as far as New Zealand is concerned is the despatch of the first Echelon overseas. Where they will be sent; what will be their destination? These are queries that have arisen involuntarily on all sides. Conjecture is rife on the point and there have been many suggestions put forward by drawing-room tacticians who claim to have the official slant' on military and naval movements in the Pacific. It is claimed by some that Singapore will be the port of disembarkation, by others that the force will perform garrison duty in the outlying poste of the Empire in t'he Pacific itself. Comparatively few consider that the trip will be made to the Old Country, basing their belief on the recently published statement by the Secretary for War, that the Imperial forces at the present time are adequate, and that only skilled technicians are required from the colonies for the mechanised units- There is, however, a strong impression that both the Australian and the New Zealand forces will be despatched first to Eygpt, the country so wdll-known .to thousands of Colonial troops during the Great War. The reasons for this surmise are based upon t'he close proximity of the land of the Pharoahs to the Mediterranean waters, and the handy jumping of place it would afford to counter any threatened attack by Russia on the Balkan Peninsular, or on Turkey. King Farouk who is practically pro-British, would afford a friendly haven to the troops from 'down under,' who in their turn would constitute an invaluable protective force for the flow of neutral shipping on the allimportant Suez Canal- Fortunately public knowledge on questions of this nature is limited by the closely guarded plans of the. military authorities which remain secret. New Zealanders, while they cannot be prevented from hazarding a guess or two, may rest assured that the men of the ifirst contingent will, not be wasted, but will find themselves entrusted with work and operations vital to the cause of the Empire at war.. For their part too, the first fighting forces from the Land of the Fern can be relied upon to carry forward wherever they are, the: proud traditions of those who won fame on Gallipoli and in France during the gigantic) struggle of 1914-18.