The Price of Victory

New Zealand Listener, Volume 31, Issue 795, 15 October 1954, Page 18

The Price of Victory

"‘; WELVE years ago Rommel’s Afrika Korps was held in: the El Alamein bottle-neck, 60 miles from Alexandria. The German general was confident that when he was ready he could make the break through. But while Rommel was in hospital in Berlin, Montgomery struck. The attack was launched with an artillery barrage in which twenty British guns were firing to every one of the enemy’s. General Stumme, who commanded the Afrika Korps in Rommel’s absence, died from a heart attack 24 hours after the offensive began. Hitler ordered Rommel out of his hospital bed and back to the desert. Once there, Rommel decided to | re-line the positions west of Daba, but ‘the Fuehrer ordered him to stand and | fight where he was. As Montgomery saw it, an Allied victory was beyond doubt provided the enemy stayed to fight it out. That was the turning point of the war, In Churchill’s words, "Before Alamein it could almost be said we never had a victory. After Alamein we never suffered a defeat." In the break-out from Alamein 20,000 prisoners were taken, with 400 tanks, 350 guns and thousands of transport vehicles. But here, as at other stages

in the desert campaign, a heavy toll of Commonwealth lives was the price of victory. On October. 24, in the battlefield ¢emetery at Alamein, Viscount Montgomery will unveil a cloister commemorating the sacrifice of 11,945 officers and men who have no known graves. On this roll of honour are the names of 867 New Zealanders. To mark the ceremony, and in observance of the 12th Alamein anniversary, Where Two Continents Meet, a documentary programme by Allan Sleeman will be heard frem all ZB stations and 2ZA at 7.30 p.m. on October 24. Trafalgar Day If the Battle of El Alamein was one of the decisive battles of the Second World War, the Battle of Trafalgar was one of the great naval battles of all time, for it was in this engagement that Lord Nelson found a way to prevent the French making off while most of their fleet was still more or less intact. How to do this was a problem that had puzzled British admirals for a ‘century. For the ordinary Englishman living at the time it was probably also a matter of some consequence that the great \ (continued on next pase)

(continued from previous page) British naval victory over the French and Spanish fleets was a sequel to the breakdown of Napoleon’s scheme for ‘invading England. The first Trafalgar Day was 149 years ago, but English speaking people in many parts of the world still mark the occasion, and on Friday, October 22, several NZBS stations will broadcast special programmes. These will include Trafalgar: the Decisive Battle-a BBC programme -from 3YC and 2XA, and Cecil:-Man-son’s Did New Zealand Win Tratalgar? and a BBC programme, He Brings Great News, based on a book by Clemence Dane, from 2YA.