239 — Memorandum from Headquarters, 2nd New Zealand Division, to General Headquarters, Middle East

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183

239
Memorandum from Headquarters, 2nd New Zealand Division, to General Headquarters, Middle East

11 June 1940

Would you please tell the Commander-in-Chief, Middle East, that in the event of an emergency the New Zealand Government are willing that the New Zealand Expeditionary Force should take part in any active operations for which they are trained and equipped, and they are prepared also to lend the British units such skilled railway personnel as they can to operate the railways and communications during the anticipated period of emergency.

Although it is the policy of my Government to help in the manner most in keeping with the British war effort, owing to the shortage and indeed the absence of some of the mobilisation equipment, I must reserve the right vested in me by my Government to decide the scope of active operations in which my force should engage.

B. C. Freyberg,

Major-General

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About this page...

Title: Documents Relating to New Zealand’s Participation in the Second World War 1939―45: Volume 1

Publication details: Historical Publications Branch, 1949, Wellington

Part of: The Official History of New Zealand in the Second World War 1939–1945

This text is the subject of: ‘Something of Them Is Here Recorded’: Official History in New Zealand

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