GENERAL ALEXANDER

Wairarapa Times-Age, 19 August 1942, Page 3

GENERAL ALEXANDER

APPOINTED TO MIDDLE EAST COMMAND SIR CLAUDE AUCHINLECK SUPERSEDED. NEW LEADER’S BRILLIANT RECORD. LONDON, August 18. It is officially slated by the War Office that General Alexander has succeeded . General Sir Claude Auchinleck as Coimnander-in-Chief, Middle East. General Montgomery has been appointed to command the Eighth Army, in place of General Ritchie. Major-General Lumsden is appointed to succeed “Strafer” Gott, who was killed in action, in command of the Armoured Corps. General Alexander is the youngest British officer in modern times to receive such an important command. He was 50 years old last December and a month later was given the rank of full general. He had a distinguished career in the last war and was later a brigade commander on the North-West Frontier of India. In 1939, he was with the first division that went tb France and was among the last British soldiers to leave Dunkirk after Lord Gort had handed over the command to him. He led the British army through Burma from Rangoon to the Indian frontier, fighting all the way. FIGHTING LEADERS OUT TO HIT ENEMY HARD. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 11.5 a.m.) RUGBY, August 18. General Alexander, at fifty years of age, is recognised as one of the finest leaders of men in the British Army. His strength, toughness and determination are soon infused into the troops under his command. He is a believer in infiltration tactics and in co-opera-tion between the Army and Air Force. Major-General H. Lumsden became famous in the Middle East as a fighting commander in the Second Battle of Libya. He was continually in action and always eager for an opportunity to hit the enemy hard. His favourite recreation is racing, and on many occasions he has ridden winners. He has also ridden in the Grand National. LIMITED ACTIVITY IN EGYPTIAN BATTLE AREA. AMERICAN BOMBERS RAID MERSA MATRUH. LONDON, August 18. Land operations in Egypt are still confined to patrol activity. Air operations in the battle area yesterday were on a reduced scale. United States medium bombers were used for the first time in a raid on Mersa Matruh on Sunday. Direct hits were made on the target area and a number of fires were started. At Malta, British fighters shot down three enemy fighters. VALOUR IN BATTLE NEW ZEALAND SOLDIERS decorated. (Official War Correspondent, N.Z.E.F.) CAIRO, August 16. The Commander of the Wellington Battalion which led the New Zealanders’ advance when they crashed their way through the German panzer ring at Minqar Qaim on the night of June 27, Lieut.-Colonel S. F. Hartnell, New Plymouth, has been given the immediate award of the Distinguished Service Order. Other immediate awards announced today are: Military Cross: Captain P. T. Norris, Geraldine; Captain R. A. Wilson, Christchurch; Military Medal, Lance-Sergeant P. Mantle, Southampton, England; Corporal J. B. Midgley, Christchurch; Gunner W. F. Davis, Auckland; Gunner A. D. Paulger, New Plymouth; Private I. M. McQuarrie, Sydney; Private J. Milne, Temuka.