GREAT PARADE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 3 November 1941, Page 5

GREAT PARADE

NEW ZEALANDERS IN EGYPT INSPECTION BY GENERAL AUCHINLECK. AN IMPRESSIVE SPECTACLE. (N.Z.E.F. Official News Service.) CAIRO, October 30. The largest and most impressive parade ever held at a New Zealand base camp took place today on the occasion of an inspection by General Sir Claude Auchinleck, Commander-in-Chief, Middle East.| Thousands of troops took part, representing a large portion of the reinforcements which the N.Z.E.F. has at its disposal for the tough jobs of work which must lie ahead. The march past, which followed the inspection, took three-quarters of an hour from the time the first to the last line of men passed the saluting base. The site of the parade was a large expanse of flat sand waste near Lowry Hut and ridged by a long escarpment. At other'times used for Rugby football grounds, the ground was this morning black from end to end and to a depth of over 100 yards with a dense mass of New Zealanders from various army corps waiting the arrival of the G.0.C.-in-Chief. Near the dais were seated a. large gathering of members of the New Zealand Army Nursing Service as well as a small detachment of the Women’s War Service Auxiliary. Other visitors included Lady Auchinleck and Mrs Freyberg. Watching the parade were correspondents representing world news services and well-known journals, including a large proportion of American. It was the second time General Auchinleck had inspected a large-scale parade of New Zealanders. The first occasion was when he visited New Zealand divisional troops during recent manoeuvres before they moved to the Western Desert. Today he was able to see the type of material which to date has not seen the front line and has not been in forward positions but which has been and is training assiduously for the day when its sei vices will be called upon. FLASH OF BAYONETS. The bearing of the men was excellent and must have created more than a good impression. As General Auchinleck’s car drew up to the side of the parade ground thousands of glittering bayonets flashed across thousands of breasts as the whole parade as one man came to the present in the general salute, while the music was played by the camp pipe band. The actual inspection meant the traversing by the general and his pai ty of the whole length of the ground. The inspecting party comprised General Auchinleck, Major-General Freyberg, Brigadiers A. S. Wilder, A. S. Falconer and W. G. Stevens, Lieutenant-Colon-els W. G. Gentry and S. M. Satterthwaite, Majors C. M. Williamson and J. D. Armstrong and Lieutenant G. A. Possin. The commander-in-chief was accompanied by aide-de-camps from Scots and Indian regiments. There were also present senior officers of the N.Z.E.F., including Brigadiers Hargest, Inglis and McCormick, the last-named' being in charge of the New Zealand Medical Corps in the Middle East. Besides that provided by the pipe band, music for the parade was supplied by the base band and the band of an infantry brigade. The march past was the most impressive spectacle of the whole parade. As line after line of New Zealanders swung smartly past the saluting base, they churned up the sand into; a fine cloud through which the next line emerged with bayonets glinting as though through a dense screen. From the parade ground they formed in column of route and became a long black line which disappeared slowly up the desert road and round the escarpment. Forty-five minutes after the first leading officer passed the dais, on which were General Auchinleck, Major-General Freyberg, and Brigadier wilder, the pipe band forming the rearguard of the March past approaching the saluting base. Thus concluded one of the largest ceremonial parades yet held by New Zealanders in the Middle East.