BACK TO EGYPT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 30 June 1943, Page 3

BACK TO EGYPT

JOURNEY OF NEW ZEALAND DIVISION THROUGT LAND OF MEMORIES. DAYS OF RAPID TRAVEL. (N.Z.E.F. Official News Service.) CAIRO. June 26. The story of the New Zealand Division’s return from Tunis is- now released. The journey back to Egypt began on May 15. a few days after the enemy’s surrender, and comparatively fevz New Zealanders were able to visit Tunis. More than 3000 vehicles were ’divided into five groups for the jouiney, three of the groups starting on May 15 and the others on May 16. In the early stages of their journey, the men had a last look at the coiintiyside over, which they had fought their penultimate battles. The battlegrounds were already resuming their freshness under the hot sun, though much of what had been green during the advance was turning brown. A day was spent at Suani on the maintenance of vehicles, and patriotic parcels .and cigarettes were distributed, also one bottle of beer to every man. Mobile canteen units travelled with the column and a Kiwi concert party provided entertainment in evenings. Some of the journey from Tripoli was new to the New Zealanders, as they had not been on the coast road before, their advance being made in wide desert sweeps. Benghazi was reached on May 23, and there another day was spent in ■ maintenance. The cultivated lands and neat white colonial houses proved a welcome change from the desert. After winding their way up a steep escarpment, the long columns reached the pleasant Barce Plains, the scene of much Italian industry, but now. farmed by natives who were seen operating tractors, ploughs and harrows. The houses still carried a neatlywritten “Duce” on every wall, also “Duce Vincemo” (the Duce will win), and in German “Wir Kommen Wieder” (We come again), and other boasts. The heavily-laden trucks dropped down to the pleasant town of Derna and then laboured back to the escarpment, passing at the top a bomb-scar-red aerodrome, its edges still littered with, derlict enemy planes. Tobruk was reached on May 26, and the New Zealanders passed close by the harbour, which was dotted with sunken shipping, but the town, at a distance looked more or less intact. Seen closely, it was nothing more than a shell. At Bardia, there were men who looked again at the place where they had been prisoners. On May 28, Mersa Matruh was reached and later weatherworn dugouts and trenches once occupied by these men were seen reduced to unsightly heaps of burst sandbags and caved-in roofs. El Alamein. a place of bitter memories, they found to be nothing much more than minefields and a cemetery.On the last day of May, the first troops reached the base camp, 17 days after leaving Enfidaville. Their entry was unspectacular. A band played near the camp entrance and shouts of “See you later” were exchanged with soldiers on the roadside.