CHARGE & DENIAL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 29 June 1943, Page 4

CHARGE & DENIAL

RECALL OF AUSTRALIAN NINTH DIVISION FROM THE MIDDLE EAST. SOLDIER SENATOR'S CRITICISM. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) (Received This Day, 12.5 p.m.) CANBERRA, This Day. The Ninth Division of the A.I.F. had been withdrawn from the Middle East by politicians and not by military leaders, said Senator Wilson (South Australia), speaking in the Senate. Later the Prime Minister (Mr Curtin) denied the allegation. He said the decision to bring the Ninth Division back to Australia had been made on the highest military advice. Senator Wilson, who is a major in the A.1.F., served two years with the Ninth Division in the Middle East. He enlisted as a private. He declared that the Ninth Division’s withdrawal had necessitated a complete reorganisation of the Eighth Army and had enabled the Axis forces to build up their strength. From a shattered force of 25,000 they had increased their numbers to a quarter of a million. When the Ninth Division needed urgent reinforcements, the Australian Government had not sent them, Senator Wilson declared. For the battle of El Alamein, sick men and B class men had been reclassified and put into the fight. “While the Australians were being pulled out of the fight,” added Senator Wilson, “New Zealand, which had a decent Labour Government, was sending reinforcements to its forces.”