BATTLE TRIUMPH

Wairarapa Times-Age, 14 May 1943, Page 4

BATTLE TRIUMPH

FOR NEW ZEALAND TROOPS SURRENDER OF GERMAN 9Gth DIVISION. PRIDE OF AFRIKA KORPS. (Special P.A. Correspondent.) (Received This Day. 10 a.m.) LONDON, May 13. “New Zealanders’ Triumph” is the heading given by both “The Times” and “Daily Telegraph” to the report of the surrender of the German 90th Light Division to the Nev; Zealand Division. Reuter's correspondent at Allied Headquarters states: “It is especially fitting that the last great fight in North Africa should also have rung down the curtain on two years of struggle between the Second New Zealand Division and the German 90th Light Division. All through these long and arduous months, when the Allied tide ebbed and flowed, the New Zealanders clung to the hope that they would finally end the career of this German division. The 90th Light Division was the pride of the Afrika Korps. General Freyberg’s New Zealanders are satisfied tonight.” The “Daily Telegraph” points out that it is noteworthy that the Axis commanders negotiated with General Freyberg and not with General Montgomery. It had previously been stated that some sections of the Eighth Army had been withdrawn from the southern sector to co-operate with the First Army. It has also been reported that the main body of the Eighth Army did not participate in the final battle, but was rested. At all events, little has been heard of General Montgomery recently, suggesting that he may be engaged on the next phase.