GENERAL FREYBERG
ENTERTAINED AT STATE LUNCHEON RECORD OF NEW ZEALAND DIVISION. SURVEY OF WAR OUTLOOK. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) WELLINGTON. This Day. An enthusiastic reception was accorded the General Officer Commanding the 2nd N.Z.E.F. in the Middle East, Lieutenant-General Sir Bernard Freyberg. V.C., at a State luncheon given in his honour at Parliament House yesterday. It was attended by Ministers of the Crown, members of both Houses of Parliament, High Commissioners, representatives of the United Nations, heads of the armed forces, and representatives of local bodies, the professions, trade, commerce and industry. Two toasts were honoured. “The King” and “Our Guest and the New Zealand Division.” General Freyberg’s address was marked by frequent applause. ’ “We arc here to honour a great soldier, a great leader and a great mam and through him the men of a great division,” said the Prime Minister, Mr Fraser, who presided. The gathering was fully representative of the Parliament of the country, and it was right that should be so, because inside Parliament there was no difference of opinion so far as the division, the General and our armed forces were concerned in supporting them to the fullest possible extent. “When victory is achieved,” said the Prime Minister, “we can modestly claim that, according to our size, according to our resources, according to our population and according to oui opportunities we have done as well as any country and to the limit of our resources. It is a matter of pride that at a critical time in history our division when called upon did not falter and did not fail, and went in at a most desperate moment to conquer an invading force. General Freyberg is the living embodiment of the spirit of the men of the division, of the men and women in our armed forces, in the factories and on the farms. He has translated that spirit into a notable achievement on the field of battle.”
TROOPS WELL LOOKED AFTER. Loud applause and cheers were given for General Freyberg when he rose to reply: He expressed thanks to the representative gathering for the great honour that had been done the division. He recalled that it was their very good fortune in the final phases of the operations in Tunis to fight alongside the fine troops from the United States of America.
High appreciation of the work of the National Patriotic Fund Board and gratitude to the people who supported it was expressed by the General. The New Zealand troops, he said, did not suffer in comparison with others, and in his opinion they were the best looked after of all the Allied troops. He paid a tribute to the work of the National Patriotic Fund Commissioner in the Middle East, Colonel F. Waite. Tributes were also paid by the General to the New Zealand Red Cross for what it was doing in looking after the sick and the wounded, and to .the Y.M.C.A. and the Church Army, which he said were doing valuable work, not only at the base but in the forward areas. He also wanted to say a word of thanks to the people who sent parcels. He, in common with others, received his and looked forward to it and liked to receive it. He did not think the skill and imagination shown in preparing those parcels was appreciated by the public. Referring to the “N.Z.E.F. Times,” which had been established with the assistance of the National Patriotic Fund, he said it was the best newspaper in Egypt.
FIELD MEDICAL SERVICES. In one of the great turning movements the division had taken part in, one of the greatest anxieties was looking after casualties, said General Freyberg, in referring to the many difficulties associated with the maintenance of medical services in the field. When the medical history of the war was written, the. work that was done during these turning movements would be an epic. The General also praised the work of the nursing service and the V.A.D’s. He paid a tribute to Colonel Montgomery Spencer, whose death occurred recently, and said that the division had lost a hospital commander of imagination, energy and drive. No one knew better than he the great work done by the 50 padres, to whom he never appealed ■ for assistance without receiving cordial help and consideration.
Discussing the future, General Freyberg said he did not think they should minimise the importance of the desert victory. The myth of German superiority had been dispelled. It had been proved that their men were not only harder and tougher fighters, but that their equipment was better. They had also proved they c’ould make plans and carry them out. MEDITERRANEAN OPENED. The great gain by opening up the Mediterranean was the opening up of the route to India. Three large armies .and two air forces—the French Army of 200,000 men which was being rapidly equipped, the American Army, our own First and Eighth Armies, and our own and the American air forces. All were freed for operations elsewhere. At the same time they should not blind themselves to the facts. Germany still had the largest and the most powerful army, and it was not short of equipment, oil and food. Difficult times lay ahead and casualties could be expected. “If we can keep up oui’ effort, not only of the men but aiso of the women, we can look for-
ward to the future with confidence.” said General Freyberg, who expressed appreciation of the kind things that had been said about his management. “I dare say when my actions are looked into by the historians of the future, no doubt they will say they could have done it much better than I did. All I can say is that I only wish they had been there.” (Laughter and applause).
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WAITA19430625.2.22
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
Wairarapa Times-Age, 25 June 1943, Page 3
Word count
Tapeke kupu
968GENERAL FREYBERG Wairarapa Times-Age, 25 June 1943, Page 3
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Wairarapa Times-Age. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.