THE N.Z.E.F. IN EGYPT

New Zealand Listener, Volume 2, Issue 48, 24 May 1940, Page 4

THE N.Z.E.F. IN EGYPT

Special to "Phe Listener,’ from

N.Z.E.F. Official News Service

April 23. HE big blaze of radio and newspaper publicity which illuminated the arrival in Egypt of! the Second New Zealand / Expeditionary Force provided a striking contrast with the coming of the Anzacs of the last war. This was. ially so in the case of tadio broadfasting, which played an important part in heralding the landing of the First. Echelon, and which has since proved it a_.valuable means of letting the world know of the experiences and advéntures of the New Zealanderspeaceful though they have been so far. Talks have been given on the air through the Egyptian State Broadcasting Service by the General Officer Commanding the New Zealand Division, Major-General B. C. Freyberg, the Deputy-Judge Advocate General, Major C. A. L. Treadwell, who is also in charge of publicity, and other members of the force. In some cases re-broadcasts have been. made through London. Football activities have been similarly publicised, and on Anzac Day a concert was presented by New Zealanders from the Cairo studios. Two soldiers, one an officer who served in the last war and the other a young private soldier, recorded Anzac Day addresses for the BBC.

Radio publicity in another form was successfully inaugurated this week when a series of "actuality flashes" of life in the New Zealand camp was recorded at the request of the BBC, to which the recordings will be sent for transmission, The episodes, each of which will last four or five minutes on the air, were devised, prepared and enacted by members of the force, with the co-operation of the Egyptian State Broadcasting service. Material for the series of " flashes" was gathered by the publicity staff of the Division, and the scripts were written in the form of interviews in which a commentator was conducted by Major Treadwell to points of interest in the camp. The story of the activities at each point was unfolded as the commentator interrogated the officers or non-commis-sioned officers in charge. After this ground work had been completed Egyptian radio engineers and linemen invaded the camp with a van full of equipment. Arrangements were made to transmit the episodes by landline to the recording studio in Cairo. A scene at which old soldiers, without being forewarned, might have shaken their heads in wonderment was presented in one of the camp cookhouses when a microphone was set up on the concrete floor and, scripts in hand, the cast prepared to record the first episode. Soldiers crowded at the windows and shouted encouragement to the leading player, Sergeant-Cook " Paddy" Bourke, @ popular figure, who was a cook with

the New Zealanders in the Great War. The scene of the next episode was one of the men’s mess halls, where the "atmosphere" of soldiers enjoying a meal was created as a background for the dialogue. The scene then shifted to a group of soldiers discussing the question of how to spend their leave. Sports activities of the New Zealand Force were described in another episode by Lieutenant-Colonel T. J. King, who is chairman of the Division’s Rugby Football Committee and is well known in Rugby circles in the Dominion. From men at play the series turned to men at work, with a description of methods of communication at the Divisional signal office. The story was. taken up at this point, incidentally, by Sergeant Brian Fargus, whom 1ZB listeners will remember. The Post Office was visited for a description of mail day activities, and the Records Office was the subject of another episode. Half an hour of " air time" took three hours to prepare, but the experience was enjoyed by the soldiers who took part. To most of them it was entirely new. There was only one disappointment. The nature of the broadcasts left no room for a "Hello, mum," or two, addressed to the distant family circles of New Zealand’s soldier sons.