THE NEW ZEALAND DIVISION

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 9, Issue 499, 23 January 1920, Page 3

THE NEW ZEALAND DIVISION

A STORY WELL TOLD. BY VERSATILE ANZAC. REVIEW BY THE EDITOR OF THE "TIMES."

People who have jpeither the money to buy nor the leisure to read ponderous tomes chronicling the deeds of our soldiers can do no better than to secure a copy of the "New Zealand Division," an intensely vivid, yet brief, history, by ex-Second-Lieutenant 0. E. Burton, M.M., M.d'H., at the modest price of 2s, obtainable at Bookery," King Street, Pukekohe. Ex-Second-Lieutenant Burton was a Main Body private, who took part in pracically all the important actions the New Zealanders were engaged in, gradually, by sheer merit and "devotion to duty" (with all the fine sodierly qualities implied in that phrase) rising to commissioned rank. Having had his full share of the dust and heat of battle, and possessing no mean educational endowments, Mr. Burton is singularly well qualified to describe the great game of war, particularly so on behalf of his heroic but inarticulate comrades. That he has been entrusted with the compilation of an official "History of the Auckland Regiment," shortly to be published, is an indication of his; ability, and the confidence his previous writings have inspired. No digger, at any rate, should be without "The New Zealand Division," and neither should relatives and friends, for it is an epic of the most sustained heroism in the annals of military history. Here are a few extracts which show how deeply the author has searched . into the very heart of things and revealed the soul of the New Zealand Division.

Plague of Flies. "The sun grew hotter and hotter, and at midnight burnt down with scorching heat. With the heat came the flies—a very venomous lot of brutes, the lineal descendants of those which plagued the unrighteous Pharoah. Flies formed a staple part of the Anzac's diet. They sKared his meals, drowned themselves in his tea, and in massed formation rushed his apricot jam, refusing to be driven, off by blows and curses. It was no use slaying them in thousands for they returned in tens of thousands. They bit like young scorpions. Their only redeeming virtue was that they slept well of nights. The lice, beasts of prey of a most voracious and ferocious nature, did not sleep and the somewhat chillier breezes of the night seemed to spur them on to greater efforts. ' The exercise probably kept them warm. They refused to be killed off except under extreme pressure, and throve wonderfully on Keating's Powder and similar preparations."

Paid in Blood and Agony.

Of the mortifying failure of certain reinforcements to come to the relief of the colonials at the famous Chunuk Bair assault, when our men had victory almost in their grasp, the author poignantly writes:— " The Turks were losing thousands and thousands of men "In theft" at-' tempt to regain the ridge, but every moment our men were growing fewer. Still they held on. Heat, thirst, wounds and death could not daunt them. 4 Hold on! Hold on!' if they could only hold on for a few hours more, surely the English would come from Suvla and all would go on over the crest to Maidos. The English did not come. In that hour England paid in blood and agony, in shame and tears, for the social organisation which permitted the bodies and souls of men to be dwarfed and stunted for the advantage of a few."

Wonderful Endurance.

"Shrapnel burst at all times and everywhere . Bullets fell like rain pattering down amongst the scrub like the heavy slow drops that fall before a thunder shower. Imagine what a journey this waß for a poor wretch with a fractured leg, to whom every jolt of the stretcher meant a spasm of intolerable agony. The New Zealand wounded were wonderful in their patience and selfrestraint. Men of other nations cursed God or called upon Him for mercy, cried aloud in their agony, screamed or wept like children, but the New Zealander was most splen did in his valorous endurance. Through all the terrible journey there would not be a word to suggest he was in pain. Usually all that came from him were expressions of regret because he was ' causing the stretcher bearers so much bother." One might have thought he was not in pain if one did not look at the drawn and twisted features."

Stretcher-Bearers—Bravest of tho Brave. "Remember too, that it took four men three hours to carry from the slopes to the beach, and that stretcher-bearing is the hardesfMgprk and taxes the strongest and greatest souled men to the uttermost. One trip was enough to tire any man, the second brought a man almost to the limit of his endurance, and, after that the bearers staggered on "utterly spent physically, and sustained only by th« deeper spiritual side of human nature which gives victoryoori r the flesh and its frailty." In another issue further extracts dealing with the record of the division in France will be published but intending purchasers will do well to order copies early, before the edition is sold out.