The Bay of Plenty Beacon Published Tuesdays and Fridays. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 1943 FIRST N.Z. BLOW IN PACIFIC

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 7, Issue 14, 12 October 1943, Page 4

The Bay of Plenty Beacon Published Tuesdays and Fridays. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 1943 FIRST N.Z. BLOW IN PACIFIC

NEWS that the "Kiwi" division' in the Pacific had struck its first blow against the Japanese forces is backed up by the official citation that they have "carried out their tasks successfully and in a manner which reflects great credit upon them." Casualties are given as 66 (killed in, action 29; died of wounds, 2; missing 12; wounded 23). The action appears to have been a light skirmish with the enemy m an unspecified area, and is probably the forerunner of more severe fighting for which the Dominion must stand piepared. That the Dominion's second division is now in the forefront of battle alongside the Australian and American Armies brings us closer to the actualities of the war m tne Pacific, which ever since it miraculously passed us by, has appears to be more or less unreal and at times definitely fantastic. True we recognised the reality of the great sea battles which stemmed, we hope permanently the Japanese thrusts to the south; and again we never doubted the bitterness of the land fighting in New Guinea and on Guadalcanar, but it all seemed so far away and soi I ' em^ e that the full force of the threat was never realised by the people of the Dominion as <a whole. How many times during the 'scare' period have we heard it said that the best medicine for this country would have been a bombing raid or two to make us throw off the mask of complacency. All such charges against us will be dropped now, for the first blood of New Zealand's sons has been shed in the initial brush with the new enemy. The Pacific war as- a direct result has been brought to our very doorsteps in the twinkling of an eye. Our casual interest in the course of the Solomons campaign has been sharpened by the knowledge that somewhere in the steaming jungle of those hundred islands our own boys, fit, bush-hardened and keen to get at grips with the enemy, are fighting »the war of attrition which is steadily eliminating the yellow invaders and hurling them back from the borders of our beloved shores which were: once so directly threatened. Whatever befall our second fighting division so near fit hand we can feel confident that like its famous counterpart in the Middle East, it will fully endorse the high traditions of the Dominion's soldiers the world over.