THE N.Z. DIVISION MIDDLE EAST

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 6, Issue 59, 26 March 1943, Page 4

THE N.Z. DIVISION MIDDLE EAST

THE return of the Australian Division including the famous g'arrison of Tobruk, from the Middle East is bound to have repercussiops in our own land. The questions will be fair enough, when it is considered that our splendid 'Kiwi' Division has borne with their Aussie compatriots the heat and the burden of the day for the past two and a half years. Perhaps it may be considered that New Zealand, being not in the immediate front line in the develbping Pacific war is not so urgently entitled to recall her fighting men. Perhaps again, this gallant Division, reared under Pacific skies and trained and hardened under the blazing Egyptian sun, has become so much an integral part of the advancing Eighth Army that its absence at the present critical juncture is unthinkable. If this is so the Dominion has still further reason to be proud of the remarkable reputation and fighting qualities of its sons. The original argument however must continue to gain weight particularly in view of Mr Winston Churchill's reiteration that the war against Japan was of secondary consideration until such time as Hitler's Germany is overthrown and the menace of Naziism destroyed forever. If this aspect gives rise to certain feelings of impatience, amongst peoples of the South Pacific and America, it can be certain that its portent will not be lost on Japan, a country faced with stupendous odds unless a quick victory is gained. Never from the Pacific .viewpoint was the time factor so all important as it is to-day, with the forces of Nippon obviously massing for a new attack, somewhere, some how upon the unconquered lands of the Pacific. This point will be one of the greatest arguments for restoring the New Zealand Division once more to its home bases as a fit and experienced defence force against the Japanese threat, and the demand will become more insistant when the last of the Axis forces are thrown out of Northern Africa.