Wairarapa Times-Age MONDAY, JUNE 21, 1943. GENERAL FREVBERG’S VISIT.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 21 June 1943, Page 2

Wairarapa Times-Age MONDAY, JUNE 21, 1943. GENERAL FREVBERG’S VISIT.

JV SURPRISE lias been sprung in the announcement that

Lieutenant-General Sir Bernard Freyberg, V;C., is paying a brief visit to the Dominion,-but it is a very pleasant surprise. The visit is, amongst other things, a reminder that in these days of swift air transport much is possible that would have been completely out of the question in the comparatively recent past. General Freyberg will be welcomed cordially for his own sake as an able and gallant soldier who has added not a little to his already distinguished reputation by the manner in which he has commanded the New Zealand Division and troops associated with it in the North African campaigns. Added power will be given to the welcome by the fact that no one is better fitted than General Freyberg to represent our fighting forces and particularly the Division which has acquitted itself so valiantly, not only in its part in the great drive across North Africa to culminating victory and triumph in Tunisia, but in ail that went before —the forlorn hope campaigns in Greece and Crete and the long months of arduous and exacting effort, and varying fortune, in the Western Desert, in which the foundations of victory were laid.

At the stage that has been reached in the Avar it is to be taken for granted that General Freyberg’s visit has to do with affairs regarding which little will be disclosed publicly for the time being. It may be supposed, however, that the visit, and the advice General Freyberg is in a position to give have their important bearing on questions regarding the disposition of New Zealand fighting forces during the remaining period of the Avar and the whole question of manpower as it arises in this country.

While the ruling desire undoubtedly will be that the Dominion should maintain the most powerful Avar effort that is consistent with the efficient conduct of essential industries, the Government no doubt is faced by some difficult problems, especially where the simultaneous and possible competing claims of the Pacific and of Avar theatres in the Old World are concerned. It may count for a good deal that the New Zealand Division takes no unimportant place in forces which have been trained and prepared for action in Europe as well as in North Africa. On the other hand, the Dominion is committed to action on a very considerable scale in the Pacific and an element of choice between one war area and another may be inescapable. At the same time, heavy demands are made upon this country in regard to the production of food and other supplies.

The problems involved may not be capable of easy solution, but their solution should be assisted by the advice and information General Freyberg will be able to give the Government. Whatever the decisions reached it evidently must be regarded as indispensable that New Zealand troops, in any war area in which they may be employed, shall be assured of fully adequate reinforcement until final and decisive victory has been ’won.