SPECIAL DUTIES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 5 September 1940, Page 8

SPECIAL DUTIES

NEW ZEALAND FORCES IN EGYPT

TASK IN WESTERN DESERT.

OFFICERS PRAISE WORK.

(N.Z.E.F. Official News Service.) EGYPT, August 7.

New and valuable experience of active service conditions in the desert has been gained by the hundreds of members of the 2nd N.Z.E.F. in Egypt who have carried out special duties in the background of British land operations on the Egypto-Libyan border.

However far removed the New Zealand detachments have been from the actual scenes of border raids.and clashes, they are correctly regarded as having served “in the field.” Their tasks in the Western Desert have been arduous and important. They are perhaps best compared with the assembly and maintenance of some of the vital parts of a machine which must stand ready toi be pressed into top speed at the touch of a button.

The New Zealanders proved their fitness to assume these responsibilities. After long months of training in the Cairo area, it has been heartening to the whole of the First Contingent to know that the activities in the field have earned the satisfaction, and often the praises, of high authorities in the Middle East Command. It is reported that the work of one New Zealand detachment, calling for a large degree of skill and specialised training, was described by an English officer of important rank as unsurpassed by any of its kind which he had previously seen. In another case, that of a detachment engaged on a different type of assignment, open amazement was expressed by an inspecting officer at the amount of work which the New Zealanders had completed in a short space of time.

This more practical phase in the military career of the contingent must add considerably to the background of experience which it has been steadily building up in the advanced training programmes of the past half year. Some of the detachments have carried out their tasks in relays; one or two have been engaged continuously for several weeks. Some have had to forego comparatively few of the comforts and amenities they knew in the camp near Cairo, while others have had a fuller taste of the hardships which operations in the vast desert area must entail. The degree of experience varies, but every officer and man has enriched in some way his knowledge of his job and his understanding of the desert.

By the nature of their work, the only contacts which the detachments have had with the enemy have been more or less indirect, through aerial bombing raids concentrated for the most part on relatively distant targets. A few of their members, chancing to be in the neighbourhood of raided towns or other points, have had a more real experience of air attacks. Protection measures taken by each detachment, however, have ensured the safest possible living and working conditions. These precautions include the digging of shelter trenches and the sand-bagging of tents. Field offices, as another instance, are frequently built partly or wholly underground.

The privileges of a free cigarette, issue and free postage--two letters by surface mail each week —are enjoyed during service in the field, and canteen facilities extend well up towards the border. With the assistance of the National Patriotic Fund Board, the New Zealand Y.M.C.A. has been active in this respect, and it has lately purchased and equipped a truck to facilitate its work in the Western Desert.

From the point of view of physical wellbeing as well as that of increased military experience, many of the New Zealanders have gained much by their service in the desert. Their work has often brought them within easy reach of the Mediterranean Sea, and regular swimming, together with the change in atmosphere, has seen them become fitter and more deeply bronzed than ever. Extended leave is now falling due to members of the detachment with the longest continuous service, and small parties are spending in rotation a full week's holiday.