MILESTONE-EVENT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 1 November 1943, Page 3

MILESTONE-EVENT

IN NEW ZEALAND MILITARY HISTORY ASSAULT ON TREASURY ISLAND. DOMINION FIGHTERS PROVIDE AIR COVER. (N.Z.E.F. Official Correspondent.) (Received This Day, 11.0 a.m.) TREASURY ISLAND, October 31. A milestone in the Dominion’s military history which will be remembered for all time was established when men of the Third New Zealand Division stormed Treasury Island in the grey dawn of the morning. To the New Zealanders fell the proud privilege bf being the first Empire troops in this war to retake a British island wholly occupied by the enemy. The fact that Treasury Island is only ten minutes by air flight from Bougainville, and that the operation therefore was extremely hazardous, added to the inspiration felt by every man who shared in this historic occasion. Also, for the first time in this war, New Zealanders made a full-scale opposed assault in amphibious operations. History was also made in the fact that never previously had New Zealand ground troops been supported by air cover provided by their own New Zealand Fighter Squadron, which during the whole of the first day

patrolled the skies, effectively stopping Japanese bomber efforts to approach the scene of the attack. The New Zealanders were proud, too, to be associated with an American specialist detachment in the first of such combined operations. Mutual appreciation among the personnel of the American Navy, American ground detachments and New Zealand troops was a notable feature of the campaign.