Wairarapa Times-Age FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 1939. THE EXPEDITIONARY FORCE.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 24 November 1939, Page 4

Wairarapa Times-Age FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 1939. THE EXPEDITIONARY FORCE.

A NEW chapter of the war opens for this country with the announcement, made yesterday by the Prime Ministei, t ia the Government has decided to dispatch the Neu Zealand First Echelon overseas when the men have _ completed the training in this country and when suitable shipping and natal escort, arrangements have been made. It is true that, this not bv any means our first contribution to the combatant loiees of the Empire. Between 400 and 500 New Zealanders \\eie serving in the Royal Air Force when war broke out. Lads born and bred in the Dominion have had their share and hate borne themselves most gallantly in. the epie adventures in which the Air Force has already been engaged, as well as in the i online but exacting service in which airmen from day to day are making a supremely important contribution to the war effort of the Allies. Even at this stage there is a growing list oi brave New Zealand airmen who have made the great sacri ice. New Zealanders are serving also in the Royal Navy and m other branches of the Imperial forces and some weeks ago a number of New Zealanders temporarily resident m the Al other Country enrolled for training there.

Familiar as these facts are, however, the announcement that the First Echelon is to be dispatched overseas and that the Second Echelon is then to be assembled for training will carry for many people, not least those whose kinsmen are in the ranks or shortly will be, a new awakening to the demands and realities of the'war. It is not in doubt that every demand the war can make will be met unflinchingly in this country. Like their Empire kinsfolk and Allies, New Zealanders desire sincerely to live at peace with their fellow-men, but find themselves forced to the conclusion that war, in existing circumstances, offers the only means of repelling and destroying a menace to the life of every free nation.

Nothing is made known about the destination of the First Echelon and presumably secrecy will be maintained upon that point as long as possible, not improbably until the destination has been reached. The announcement, however, that the New Zealand forces overseas are to be commanded by Major-General B. C. Freyberg, V.C., no doubt will be received with gratification equally bv our soldiers and by those whom they leave behind. A New Zealander in all but birth, Major-General Freyberg not only earned high renown by his deeds of valour in the Great War, but then and afterwards applied himself with altogether exceptional ability and assiduity to military studies. His career is one of many-sided distinction and the members of the New Zealand forces no doubt will count it an honour to serve under his command.

As to the probable duration of the war, wide room remains for conjecture. In one of yesterday’s cablegrams a member of the British Air Mission in Canada, Captain Harold Balfour, was quoted as observing that the war so far had been a diplomatic contest which had gone in favour of the Allies, but that a second phase was approaching which would involve active, large-scale military operations. Having emphasised that the Empire air scheme might well be the decisive factor of the war, Captain Balfour added, as he is reported:—

Wishful thinking of the possibility of Germany cracking internally is dangerous and is likely to induce a slight diminishing of effort. The Government has no illusions and is preparing for a long and arduous war, probably lasting three years.

If a belief that the present regime in Germany may collapse necessarily implied wishful thinking and a weakening of war effort, Captain Balfour plainly would be right. So long as Hitler or his kind rule in Germany there is evidently nothing else to do than make all the preparations that, are possible for a maximum war effort. New Zealand undoubtedly will make its full contribution to that effort in the organisation of air and land forces, and in other particulars. The necessity, plainly defined, of adopting this standpoint as a basis of policy and action need not, however, exclude the possibility that the duration of the war conceivably may be shortened materially by an awakening, rather than a collapse, in Germany.