SUPPLY LINES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 16 October 1941, Page 6

SUPPLY LINES

NEW ZEALAND ARMY SERVICE CORPS . i GREAT WORK IN DESERT. MANY DIFFICULTIES OVERCOME. (Official War Correspondent N.Z.E.F.) CAIRO, September 13. The opinion expressed by Napoleon that an army marches on its stomach has been disputed by biologists who pedantically insist that an army marches on its feet. A study of the progress of an army in Egypt discloses that without an efficiently organised supply column an army would indeed be unable to march, and consequently that an army really does march on its stomach. And it must be remembered that Napoleon knew Egypt. The whole question, however, must be viewed differently in this war as normally an army does not march. Rapidly moving mechanised columns bring new problems to supply officers, and all the old worries are now multiplied. Few realise the great service performed by the New Zealand Army Service Corps in maintaining supplies to advanced troops in the Middle East, for the simple reason that their task, though necessary and vitally important, is not a spectacular one. Any student of military matters knows the theory of supplying units in the field, but it is not always a simple matter of following a book. The task is not so difficult if railway services are available and efficient and if there are good roads to stand up to the heavy vehicles. It is not so simple a matter if there is no guarantee that trains will be punctual, and if, instead of good roads, there are no roads at all.

A day spent observing the procedure adopted by a section of a New Zealand Army Service Corps Supply Column operating in a remote area afforded a war correspondent an opportunity of appreciating just how much worry and industry are involved in the feeding of troops. Instead of a main trunk railway line they were contending with an isolated desert line. Instead of tar seal from railhead to meeting point the transport drivers were faced with miles of unformed desert track.

In the first place , the train was late. That was the supply officer’s first worry. Unit ration trucks would be at a certain meeting point at a given time. Could the lost time be made up so that supplies would reach the meeting point at the required time. It is fatal to have transport congregated in an area any longer than is absolutely necessary. From the time the train eventually arrived it was a race against time. Stores were hastily transferred from train to motor vehicles and taken over a formed road to the breaking point. The breaking point was not the pretentious building that is sometimes available at base. It was just sand, and plenty of it. Here the rations were expertly sorted into unit groups, loaded and made ready for the meeting point. The worst was to come —a long ride over rocky desert along a winding dusty way. New Zealand will not lack drivers capable of driving over any country if the skill of these drivers is accepted as a criterion. With a contempt born of long familiarity with life desert they calmly negotiate treacherous turns and capacious depressions that would in peace time deter any driver and determine any passenger to get out and walk. The meeting point is made, rations are handed over to units and the empty convoy returns to the section’s camp. The drivers will not have finished. Maintenance is difficult and more constant in the desert. Sometimes they work late on their vehicles and always there is the early start in the morning and the whole procedure is repeated.. If troops move further up the desert then new meeting points have to be appointed and new desert tracks are found. It sounds a simple story and savours of mere routine. It is routine but not an easy one. A glance at the sand-cov-ered trucks and the dust-covered drivers at the end of a difficult day convinces the observer that in carrying out one of the most important tasks in the army—and it is often a thankless one—these supply column personnel are really doing something heroic.. They are not given the opportunity of

doing something spectacular on the spur of the moment. Theirs is an arduous task to be fulfilled faithfully and efficiently every day in all circumstances whether they feel up to the mark or not and whether or not they are in possession of sound equipment and aided by efficiently running auxiliary services.