Chapter Three
New Caledonia — Earlier Days

There was considerable curiosity among the troops at the end of 1942 when it transpired that the division's new destination was New Caledonia. This large island, a cigar-shaped mountain chain about 250 miles long and 30 miles wide, lying about 1,000 miles north-west of New Zealand's northern tip, was very little known to them, largely because it is a French colony and is connected commercially with Sydney rather than with New Zealand. Captain Cook discovered the island in 1774, and during last century, after the French had taken possession in 1853, the colony achieved notoriety as a penal settlement to which large numbers were transported from France. Since those days it has not progressed greatly, and is at present sparsely settled by a population of 30,000 Kanakas (Melanesian natives), 17,000 French and 7,000 Javanese or Tonkinese. The 'Javoes' were imported originally as indentured labourers to work in the nickel and chrome mines which are the island's chief wealth.

New Caledonia had declared for General de Gaulle in 1940, after a revolution in miniature and the expulsion of those officials who preferred the Vichy regime. Before the Pacific war broke out, Japanese firms had extensive mining interests in the island, which was later included in the co-prosperity sphere of enemy propaganda, so that there was good reason for the deportation of the 1,000 Japanese residents in 1942, From April of that year large American forces were stationed in New Caledonia, and Nouméa, the capital, became page 41the base for the South Pacific command. By the end of the year, when full scale operations were under way in the Solomon Islands 1,000 miles further north, Nouméa's fine harbour was congested with warships of all sizes, including aircraft carriers and, because of in-adequate port facilities, liberty ships were sometimes standing in the streams for months, inside a submarine boom, while they waited their turn at the docks.

The CRASC was one of the senior staff officers who arrived in New Caledonia by air on 7 November, 1942. The first flight of troops from the division arrived at Nouméa four days later, and from it the 1st Field Bakery separated to continue almost immediately to the New Hebrides. Other ASC men in that flight were the small advanced parties from the composite companies, and base supply depot personnel. The latter began to establish ration dumps—No. 1 at Plaine de Limousin, near Nouméa, and No. 2 far up the western side of the island, at Népoui flats and Néméara. In a reference to the way in which those first small parties of New Zealanders were outnumbered by the Americans who then swarmed round the capital, Base Supply Depot No. 1 was always given the credit later among the ASC units for 'taking the beach-head at Nouméa'. The 16th Composite Company made up the first large body of ASC troops to arrive, when it disembarked from the Brastagi at Népoui on 1 December.

If any of the New Zealanders had expected to see tropical shores fringed with palms, their first sight of New Caledonia was sufficient to dispel the illusion. From the Brastagi the island seemed an end-less barrier of wild, bare mountains, which the ship approached for several miles through sand bars and patches of bright green water covering submerged coral, after it had negotiated a narrow passage in the surf breaking on the outer reef. The enthusiasm of those lining the rail slackened as evening fell and the ship edged towards a small T-shaped wharf on the shore of a small inlet concealed in the lower-lying coast. There was not a building to be seen, merely a clay road leading down to the dock, cut into an arid hillside covered with dusty, green scrub. Those troops were the first to land at the port of Népoui, where the wharf had just been completed by US engineers. As they berthed the Brastagi the Dutch master and French pilot had much advice from American truck drivers below on the wharf and from the New Zealand passengers, while page 42members of the advanced parties who had come down to meet the ship called out in lugubrious tones from hiding places in the scrub: You'll be sorry. In darkness the ASC personnel were transported furiously by the Americans to a staging area on Népoui flats, where a camp had already been set up by advanced elements.

At first the division held the northern half of the island down as far as a point a little south of Bourail, and the fact that ships could unload at the new port much of the supplies and equipment required by the force meant that the facilities at Nouméa were relieved to some extent, and a transport haul of 165 miles up the island avoided. In a celebrated phrase some of the men of the 16th Composite Company had been promised that thenceforth they would get 'nothing but hard yacker', and the truth of that prophecy became grimly apparent in the feverish ASC activity of those early days at Népoui. The bulk of the men had never before had to get along out in the wilds with the minimum of amenities—in that desolate area there were no civil facilities which could be taken over, as there had been to some extent in Fiji. Long hours were worked, and in the beginning frequent practice air raid warnings and stand tos added to difficulties. While its personnel worked in continuous shifts to unload the Brastagi and the ships which followed, many tasks outside the normal scope of ASC duties were tackled by the company—for instance, hatchmen and winchmen were provided to work the dock in conjunction with the engineers. The 16th MT Company and the 20th Field Company NZE, both 14th Brigade units, shared the work at Népoui. The two companies had arrived Jn New Caledonia together, and indeed continued to have close and happy associations throughout their service overseas.

A large number of brand new GMC six-by-four trucks was among the vehicles unloaded. In the meantime every available vehicle, of whatever type, was impressed and placed in a transport pool operated by the 16th Composite Company drivers, where they were used for several weeks for the general purposes of the division. As requisitions came to hand, trucks were sent out to convoy troops, unload ships, deliver rations and perform the 101 tasks in connection with the establishment of camps for the force. The fact that the 10th Reserve MT Company, the only unit in the division designed for purely transport functions, had not arrived with advanced elements meant that the 16th Composite Company had to carry on a hand to page break

Within two days of landing on an island, detachments of the 1st Field Bakery, some of them seen above, produced good bread for the troops. This scene was taken at Halis, Nissan Island. Below: A New Zealand camp in New Caledonia, with Mt. Boa in the background

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After the Third Division returned from Fiji and reorganised, it moved to the Waikato for full-scale tactical exercises in the Kaimai Ranges. ASC used universal carriers to transport rations up to the bush line from Matamata. On the opposite page is the stepped track up which men of the ASC carried rations to units in the bosh and a picture showing a jeep attempting to negotiate the water-logged country side. During these exercises the division used its first allotment of jeeps

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The 16th MT company take their Christmas dinner among the niaoulis at Népoui, 1942. Below: Témala ferry, on the main road to Taom, New Caledonia, and a liberty ship docked at Népoui, an arid corner where the ASC handled many tons of supplies for the New Zealand troops

page 43mouth existence trying to cope with the overwhelming amount of transport work in addition to its supply duties. The pool system was not an unqualified success, as the trucks took a severe beating during their long hours on the dusty, corrugated roads, and there was little time for maintenance. At that stage no ordnance light aid detachment facilities were available for them, and although the workshops section put in long hours and did great work, it was handicapped by lack of equipment at that time. Much trouble was experienced with those vehicles in later months because of the abuse which they underwent in the pool, but in the early days a senior officer of the division made a renowned statement that trucks would have to be driven until they were run into the ground, and that when he heard of ASC drivers dying from overwork he would know that they had efficient officers. However, memories are short, and a few months later the same officer professed inability to understand why the ASC vehicles had deteriorated so greatly.

Existing American petrol points were taken over by the base supply depots to furnish fuel for the vehicles, including the convoys which hauled great quantities of rations from the Népoui dock to Némeara, where Base Supply Depot No. 2 was operating. While the depot's dump was in existence at the point just north of Bourail where the road to Houailou turned off, all ASC drivers who passed on their way up and down the island would call in for a spell and for refreshment. The depot was also in business at the rum mill, nearby, on the outskirts of Bourail, the second largest town of the colony. There the more perishable rations were stored, including such quantities of army biscuits that the galvanised iron building became known to the ASC as 'the biscuit factory'. At Népoui dock, transport was soon found to be insufficient to cope with the huge inflow of supplies, so temporary stacks of rations were set up in the open under tarpaulins on Népoui flats. It was impossible then to lay down roading in the large dump that sprang up there, and at times the red mud became so bad that vehicles working the stacks were unable to get out under their own power.

In the course of December the 16th Composite Company had to leave the staging area and set up its own camp on the other side of the Népoui Valley, on a spot which turned out to be more or less one continuous ant hill. As a result of that fact, and because of the muddy conditions, the wooden slat beds in use fell into strong dis-page 44favour, as they barely kept sleepers off the ground. However, no ASC men kept them for long, as they quickly acquired US canvas bedcots; the 281 members of the company were most surprised when the quartermaster of the nearby staging camp took it for granted that they were responsible for his shortage of 281 cots. Conditions in the Népoui Valley were never very good and in the first few weeks rough living conditions, heat, fatigue and the change in diet brought about a fairly widespread attack of dysentery. Although work was still abundant, the 16th Composite Company did not allow Christmas to pass uncelebrated. A successful dinner was held at Népoui on mess benches built in the open, at which everyone sat down in the broiling sun to an elaborate dinner over which the cooks had spared no efforts. It featured beer and fresh American turkey, and officers and NCOs acted as mess orderlies in a manner traditional for the occasion. At the end of December the company made what may have been the biggest ration issue ever distributed by one unit of the force, when in anticipation of the arrival of the main body of troops, supplies were delivered to all units of the division at their proposed locations throughout the northern half of the island.

Divisional Headquarters had been set up at Moindah, between Népoui and Bourail, and there among niaouli trees Headquarters Divisional ASC was established, boasting, at first, only a solitary IPP tent. The force as a whole, consisting of the Third Division and its base organisation, became known as NZEFIP (New Zealand Expeditionary Force in the Pacific) and the abbreviated name 'Neca!' for the island appeared in use. The main body of the division on the West Point arrived in Dumbéa Bay, near Nouméa, on the last day of 1942, and on New Year's Day General Barrowclough went on board and broadcast over the ship's public address system a message of greeting to the troops. The ASC passengers were disappointed not to see more than a distant view of Nouméa on that occasion, as without going ashore they were transferred with most of the troops to smaller ships, and taken up the coast for disembarkation at Népoui. The 4th Composite Company and the 10th Reserve MT Company made the trip on the Dutch ship Weltevreden, and did not have such a lonely landing as their predecessors, since the ASC had a meal waiting for them when they got ashore.

As the 8th Brigade was to take up its position in the Népoui area, near the important Plaine des Gaiacs aerodrome, Népoui Valley was page 45selected as the 4th Composite Company's location, and it immediately took over the unloading being done by the 16th Composite Company and began its own supply work. The 10th Reserve MT Company was taken to the divisional area at Moindah, where its camp site was recognised by the lonely stack of rations under a niaouli tree. Unfortunately, although that company had been disembarked from the West Point on a high priority, its gear was found to be stacked at the bottom of the ship, consequently personnel remained at Moindah for three days without tents or cooking gear. Had it not been for assistance from the advanced party of Divisional Ordnance Workshops on an adjacent site, the unit would have fared poorly indeed. As it was, 16 tents were found, and these sufficed to shelter the whole unit during its period of greatest difficulty.

A third brigade—the 15th—was added to the division just as it arrived in New Caledonia, and at the turn of the year a new ASC unit, the 29th Composite Company, was established to form part of it. This was done by taking 118 personnel from each of the 4th and 16th Composite Companies. The new company was established at Néméara, near Bourail, and serviced divisional troops in that district as well as the 15th Brigade in the Houailou area.

The 16th Composite Company continued to operate the transport pool for a few days longer, and in that time conveyed most of the newly arrived 14th Brigade troops from Népoui to their allotted area (Ouaco to Koumac) 70 miles and more to the north. The troops were moved in large convoys, one of which was made up of 72 heavy trucks, and found at their destination the rations previously delivered by the ASC. The pool was then wound up by allotting the vehicles to various units, and 7 January, 1943, the company moved north to a spot alongside the Taom River in the Ouaco area to take up its normal duties with the 14th Brigade. Base Supply Depot No 1 had already established a dump there for the company, and a few days later the small Australian schooner Evaleeta brought a cargo of rations to the wharf of the Société de Ouaco meat canning works a few miles away. The schooner did not berth, however, on account of rough weather, and for three days it lay off shore. Then it came in closer and the men of the company acquired some very sore backs and hands rowing the stores ashore in a whale boat. The Taom River occasionally rises from something of a creek to a large river following a rain storm in the mountains, and after page 46

ASC drivers in New Caledonia travelled the one inadequate road from Nouméa to Koumae, transporting supplies to units scattered over the countryside

page 47one storm had proved in definite fashion that the workshops section tents were lying on too low a level, the whole 16th Composite Company camp was laid out on flat open grassland above the height of floods.

The bulk of the 10th Reserve MT Company was engaged on transport work in detachments at various points on the island. Early in January one detachment of 122 men went down to Camp McRae, Dumbéa, where with 36 six-by-four trucks they worked three strenuous, shifts a day with the Americans transporting supplies to ware houses from the Nouméa docks. No one was ever known to ask for relief from that assignment, though at the end of a trying four months' tour of duty it was noticed that several of those who returned to the company were hardly able to lift their kit bags. Base Supply Depot No. 1 remained somewhat isolated from the rest of the ASC down at its camp at Plaine de Limousin, Nouméa. The site was rather a difficult one, with rocky ground which nevertheless provided plenty of mud in wet weather and a tiresome prevalent wind that whistled down the valley towards the camp. To house the depot's large stocks of rations, shelters were built—over niaouli bough frames tarpaulins were stretched as roofing. Time proved these shelters to be well constructed, as they remained in constant use for the whole period of nearly two years that the depot remained in operation at Plaine de Limousin.

At the end of January all personnel of Base Supply Depot No. 2 except a small detachment remaining at the rum mill were consolidated at Népoui, where they shifted into a camp recently vacated by US negro engineers and took over the temporary dumps of rations that still remained stacked on the flats. Orderly stacks were eventually arranged under cover, though new shipments arrived frequently, and there always remained plenty to do. Ration cases in a ship's hold were invariably jumbled hopelessly and packed according to the way in which they fitted, so that 'they had to be sorted at the depot as they arrived in disorder from the dock—and a shipment usually seemed to arrive just as an issue to the composite companies was due to be made. At one busy time a telephone warning was received at Népoui that a colonel from divisional headquarters who frequently made things warm for the ASC was on his way up to make an inspection. In order to create a good impression the unusual course was followed of posting a sentry at the camp entrance, page 48and the colonel's car duly received a fine salute which was carefully pointed out by the ASC officer who arrived with the visitor. The colonel apparently thought this flattering reception sufficiently unusual to warrant investigation, so he had his car backed to', the entrance and inquired crisply: What are you doing out here my man? What were your instructions? Come on, come on! The nervous sentry replied: I was told to stand out here and give you a good salute when you turned up, sir. The ASCs stocks in that quarter thereupon remained at rock bottom for a time.

In the middle of February the territory for which the division was responsible increased to about three quarters of the island when an American division stationed in the south moved out. Brigade areas were rearranged and extended and the 4th Composite Company moved with the 8th Brigade from Népoui down to Bouloupari. The company's place at Népoui was taken by a detachment of 100 men which came down from the 16th Composite Company at Taom River and took over the tasks of servicing the reduced number of troops in the area and unloading ships. At Bouloupari the 4th Composite Company took over a large US ration dump, and was also the only ASC company in New Caledonia which was required to carry its brigade's second line of ammunition. In the new area one of the company's fleet of vehicles, perhaps better known than any other ASC truck—'Brother's' Whatawhata Express—continued an honoured career begun at Népoui and destined to last until the final days of the division. Whenever there was a shortage of transport to take men (or officers) out for a few hours' leave, or particularly whenever there was no leave officially, 'the express', its good natured driver and his pipe were to be seen discreetly giving a helping hand.

The 4th Composite Company's new camp area proved to be alive with mosquitoes, and very hot weather soon after the move helped to make conditions particularly unpleasant. For some time it was necessary to conduct a daily drive by 40 men who patrolled all ground within 600 yards of the camp and treated any still water with old oil and kerosene. Later in the year there were several cases in the unit of dengue fever, an illness resulting from the bite of mosquitoes. Fortunately the 'mossies' of New Caledonia do not carry malaria, as other localities such as the environs of Nouméa were also badly infested. French residents seem to have become page 49immune from this pest, and once between May and November, when mosquitoes are supposed to be dormant, an old Calédonien laughed at the complaints of a group of New Zealanders: 'All, but les moustiques have all gone, for seex months!' He seemed to be oblivious of a cloud of 'mossies' which were dancing about his head, though those to whom he was speaking were being driven crazy by the bites, and had to keep swiping themselves furiously.

The 1st Field Bakery returned from the New Hebrides to New Caledonia on 33 March, and after a brief leave in Nouméa the bakers commenced operations at Nandai, on the main road eight miles north of Bourail, and took over from the Americans the task of supplying bread to the division. Eventually the bakery had a large installation at Nandai, with store buildings, concrete yards and permanent ovens, and presented rather a diabolic scene to the visitor, who as he approached saw flames leaping through the niaoulis, and white aproned figures, stripped to the waist, toiling in the reflection of the open ovens. The unit worked four six-hour shifts daily, Sunday to Saturday, at first turning out 5,000lb. of bread each day, but gradually increasing output until by August it had attained a peak of 13,000lb daily.

The 1st Field Butchery was never able to commence overseas the task for which it had been designed (the slaughtering of stock for fresh meat) firstly because there were insufficient cattle in the colony to supply more than a fraction of the large allied forces in the area, and secondly because the need was never considered by the US authorities to be sufficiently urgent. Some members of the unit had been employed as bakers by the US bakery in the early days on the island, and these men eventually transferred to the 1st Field Bakery. Other members of the butchery formed and cultivated for a while a large vegetable garden at Taom River, with the object of varying the division's tinned and dehydrated vegetable rations with fresh supplies, but that enterprise was abandoned as uneconomic. Eventually most of the remaining members of the 1st Field Butchery were detached permanently to the various ASC supply units, where they did a valuable job taking care of the chilled meat and fresh vegetables which were landed on the island in considerable quantities and issued in addition to the normal rations.

For several months conditions for the 3rd Division on New Caledonia remained fairly stable, but all ASC companies were operat-page 50ing with well below their nominal strength of personnel, though for the first time they had approached their establishment of vehicles and other war equipment. Just when conditions were settling down there was a change in the appointment of commanding officer of the corps. Lieutenant-Colonel Jenkins, who had remained CRASC since his arrival in Fiji, returned to New Zealand in February for reasons of health, and two months later Lieutenant-Colonel C. A. Blazey arrived to take over command.

As soon as they had reached their final areas units faced a great deal of camp construction work with which it was difficult to make rapid progress on account of regular ASC duties, which from their nature have to be carried on continuously and expeditiously. In fact, camp construction was a task that never seemed to be finished, and units moving north from New Caledonia at the end of a stay of nine months found that it was not until they were about to leave the island that they had their camps laid out with any completeness. After frequent heavy rains the large number of vehicles operated by ASC units ploughed up roads, vehicle parks and supply areas around the camps into foot-deep ruts of mud which constantly swallowed up metal. In fine weather the mud baked as hard as concrete and cracked into deep fissures. Those men who had to work at the supply dumps sometimes found it expedient in wet weather to discard shorts and boots in favour of bathing trunks and light foot' wear, so that when the day ended the accumulated covering of mud could be washed off before changing into cleaner clothes. (US khaki drill shirts and long trousers were the issue for tropical 'best', and were compulsory wear as from the evening meal as a precaution against mosquitoes.)

A technique was evolved in the use of the standard Indian pattern tents, by pitching them high off the ground to give more head room, using a single ridge pole to eliminate the centre vertical pole, and fitting side screens of bamboo or ration box wood. Inside the tents 'wardrobes' and other articles of furniture were improvised ingeniously from empty ration boxes, and at night candles were used for lighting, except by those fortunate enough to have Coleman petrol lamps. In wet weather ants and other insects had a way of invading the comparatively dry interiors of tents, and folded clothes into which a stream of ants would sometimes bear their white eggs unobserved would later be found to harbour a seething mass of page break

An official artist's impression of the Northern Racing Club's meeting at Taom, in the 14th Brigade's area, where a full-sized racecourse was laid down. Below: The 14th Brigade's roadhouse and chapel at Taom in the north of New Caledonia. Similar roadhouses were constructed in each area

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The upper picture shows boarding practise, using rope nets. Left: Troops embarking with full packs up. Below: Waiting at the Nickel Docks, Nouméa, to go aboard a transport in the harbour

page 51insects. Native style huts of log and bamboo, with roofs of niaouli bark, raupo or tarpaulin were built about the camps for use as supply sheds, mess rooms and recreation huts, and were known by the Fiji name bure, though that was rather stretching the application of the term. Some of the largest buildings in the ASC camps were built to house motor transport workshops, and there the company workshop sections worked steadily at the uphill task of repairing trucks and keeping 'vehicle availability' at a satisfactory figure.

All the items in the above sample groups were standard issues, but a few of the lines were commonly not uplifted by the quartermasters of New Zealand units, as they did not have wide appeal. As the ASC naturally had to accept bulk rations from the Americans in accordance with the scale in force for the whole command, it was not possible to substitute other foodstuffs when certain units did not have a liking for some items, otherwise eventually the scale would have become unworkable.

Practically every ration commodity was either tinned or dehydrated, and each container was in one of half a dozen standard sizes. For ease of handling, most rations were packed in cases between 4olb. and 5olb. in weight, and since rations were accounted for by the number of tins, rather than by weight, supply accounts became much simpler once the new system was well under way. As rations were not perishable, it was possible to follow the American practice of making 'breaks' of bulk rations to units only once in each ten days. A small percentage of wastage still occurred in the extreme conditions of heat and wet that were sometimes experienced, through the rusting and 'blowing' of containers. If a little air leaked into a tin of fruit, for instance, fermentation would set in, gas would swell the tin, and occasionally the misshapen object would even burst with a dull report.

To suit tropical conditions the diet was lighter than that to which most New Zealanders are accustomed. It contained a large proportion of fruit, and also a novelty in the form of fruit juices, such as grapefruit juice and pineapple juice. The consumer gave the new rations a mixed reception—fruit and fruit juices were generally popular, but the American meat preparations were too highly spiced for most tastes. Some distinctively American foods such as chili con carne (a highly seasoned meat hash), pork luncheon sausage or spam, and sauerkraut were proverbially unpopular, while vienna sausage, sweet corn, hominy lye (a corn preparation used in the page 53southern states as a substitute for potatoes) and some other lines were usually in slow demand.

With the division so widely dispersed and receiving all its supplies through Nouméa, and to a diminishing extent through Népoui, the ASC's motor transport was heavily taxed, and drivers became thoroughly acquanited with the whole 200 miles of Route Coloniale No. 1, which runs for the most part on narrow coastal plains up the western side of the central mountain chain from Nouméa to Koumac. The northern half of this road had been constructed by the French only in recent years, and except for a paved section near Nouméa, the whole of it was merely metalled. Under the unaccustomed heavy traffic, sections of road became badly corrugated and bridges proved inadequate, while in dry weather dust was bad, so that anyone travelling in convoy would receive a thick coating of red grime which made the whites of his eyes as conspicuous as those of a nigger minstrel. Although US and NZ army engineers both worked at road improvement, and some former Main Highways Board equipment from New Zealand was seen, the most familiar units of road maintenance were Javanese road gangs and frequent solitary Frenchmen in blue dungarees, with wheelbarrow and pick, who slowly patched potholes or cleared ditches with slasher and shovel on the frontages to their properties.

Numerous streams crossed the road on their short course from the mountains to the sea, and on the many occasions when they rose rapidly, all through traffic would be held up for a day or two by the floods. On one such occasion, when for an outside unit an ASC party was transporting a corpse from Népoui to be buried in the Bourail cemetery, it was overtaken by a storm, several of the creeks to be negotiated were swollen to torrents, and eventually, in order to get it through in time, the coffin had to be floated across at one point. On other occasions, as when a small 4th Composite Company convoy to Nouméa was similarly caught, a guide had to wade ahead in advance of the leading vehicle to test the depth of water running over the bridges. At Tèmala, near Ouaco, and at various points on the eastern coast, wire cables stretched across tidal rivers to guide vehicular ferry barges. A single Kanaka, known as Noel, Charlie, etc., would travel to and fro on the barge turning the windlass and pulling a loaded truck across the wide stretch of water. These ferries were swept away regularly by floods, though one philo-page 54sophical Kanaka used to sink his barge when flood waters approached and refloat it later at leisure. At Moindou, south of Bourail, there is a hilly, narrow section of road known as "the pass1 where control gates at either end permitted only one-way traffic for several miles. Road signs in French such as ralentir, vitesse—Camions 40 KPH and sens unique became familiar, as did also pictorial warnings such as representations of a pair of children or of an antique railway engine.

One at least of the ASC trucks which were a familiar sight on the roads had a pair of deer antlers mounted on its radiator, and many others had inscribed on them affectionate names such as 'Dulcie from Waiuku' and 'Miss Carriage'. In the early days Americans had approached New Zealanders when they recognised their lemon' squeezer hats and enquired what was the significance of the 'Goddam chicken' that was painted on all vehicles. That divisional sign, the kiwi, always seemed to exercise a special fascination over the Yanks, who from time to time also referred to it by such names as 'the kaiwai', 'K one W one' and 'the pregnant duck'. More than once a vehicle on the New Caledonian roads had a vicious hornet fly into the truck cab and cause it to career over a bank, in fact a hornet became the proverbial alibi for a vehicle accident that would have been hard to explain.

Water for camp cookhouses had to be collected from distant water-points where the engineers chlorinated stream water, and small vehicles fitted up as water carts were part of each unit's transport. The mileage of 349,054 miles recorded by 10th Reserve MT vehicles alone during the months of February and March, 1943, will indicate the volume of work performed by ASC vehicles. Among that company's regular transport duties was a DP (delivery point) service, under which single trucks transporting mail and small con' signments of priority stores ran each way daily on the two long runs Nouméa-Bourail and Bourail-Koumac. No transport can move with' out continuous supplies of petrol, and as the division's vehicles con' sumed about 50,000 US gallons each week cartage of 'gas' from Nouméa to stock the ASC petrol points was a recurring feature of each company's transport work, and included the backloading of the precious empty drums.

After a few months, when personnel had become expert at their several jobs, and activities had settled down to a strenuous routine, page 55monotony and boredom increased in the absence of the stimulus of active operations, and the island offered few attractions to ASC men who spent most of their time on the roads. A system of leave to Nouméa was instituted on a very limited scale, and group picnics and trips to points of interest were organised to a small extent. The language barrier slowed down relations with the French living on lonely farms or in the small, drab villages, and since both New Zealanders and the colonial French are somewhat reserved, the cordial relations which eventually prevailed were slow to form. Customs had to be understood, as one chap discovered when he asked a mademoiselle to accompany him on an evening stroll, and found that he was expected to escort her entire family, dressed in their Sunday best.

The 10th Reserve MT company began a popular scheme which gave some of its drivers a week's break from long hours of driving on the rough roads. M. Blanchard, of Ponérihouen, allowed a small rest camp to be established on his property near beach and river, and for a short time before the move north 20 men each week passed through that camp on the more fertile east coast and received kindnesses from the local residents. 'Roadhouses' were built under divisional arrangements at some points near large numbers of troops, and there refreshment and recreational facilities were provided to pass an odd hour, and open air cinemas were packed as often as there was a screening. The audience, covered in groundsheets, would sit stoically through the rain for the ordinary films, though not through training films, which were received with groans.

Canteens were run at roadhouses, and also in each unit, and there was a large turnover in such cheap lines as American cigarettes. To meet the island-wide shortage of small US change, the ASC at Népoui in the early days made the first of several unit issues in the division of paper coupons which served as money. Regimental funds should have made some profits from those banking ventures, as many coupons blew away or were lost while in the hands of customers. Occasional visits from small parties of American entertainers who put on 'USO shows', from the division's own Kiwi concert party (speciality: female impersonations) and from the band (unwilling speciality: 'In the mood') inspired within units the construction of various musical instruments, for example a bull-fiddle from a tea chest. Self reliant bodies of isolated New Zealanders page 56organised various educational classes, wall newspapers and unit entertainments of their own, and about the camps willing work was put into the construction of such unit enterprises as YMCA buildings, tenakoit or basketball courts and swimming pools in the nearby streams.

As units were so widely scattered, sports were largely on an intersection basis, but at different times ASC teams competed prominently in brigade competitions. The 10th Reserve MT company cricket team won the Moindah competition with 17 wins and no losses, and the 16th Composite Company's team won the 14th Brigade championship. The outfields often boasted as much scrub as grass, so a local rule forbade running after the fieldsman had reached the spot where the ball had last been seen. New Zealand's national game was also followed with enthusiasm, despite the warm climate and iron hard grounds which made a tackle no light matter. Sporting history was made for the ASC when the 1oth Reserve MT Company's rugby team defeated a strong team representative of all base units by 11 points to three, and although only a small unit, the 1st Field Bakery had a rugby team of renown. A big rugby competition was conducted in June and July, 1943, for the Barrowclough cup. In order to select the ASC team, games were first played among the four companies, resulting: 10th Reserve MT Company 11 v. 16th Composite Company 3; 29th Composite Company 16 v. 4th Composite Company nil. Each company then sent selected players to Moindah for a period, and an intensive schedule of training followed, with North v. South and Possible v. Probables trial games. In the first round of the cup games the selected ASC team defeated Divisional Signals by 12 points to nil, in the second round Divisional Engineers were defeated by six points to nil, but the third round saw the ASC eliminated by the 29th Battalion in a close game ending eight points to six.

Probably the most elaborate sporting activity of the Necal period was race meetings, particularly those of the Northern Racing Club at Taom River. Units of the 14th Brigade, including the 16th Composite Company, built a railed and sanded course with stands', judge's box, saddling paddocks, totalisator and all other traditional features. New Caledonia has plenty of horses, and a suitable selection was obtained by the club from the Socété de Ouaco, Various professional jockeys serving with the division wore coloured caps and page 57tunics for the meetings, which were attended by a large crowd of soldiers, French, Kanakas and Javanese. The ASC horse Convoy was not permitted to wear the notice 'first vehicle' in order to inspire respect in the other nags, and did not fulfill high expectations —at the start of one race he took to the scrub and was seen no more for a while.

A significant organisational step was taken on 1 June, 1943, resulting in the establishment of ASC Headquarters NZEFIP to command ASC base activities in the event of Headquarters Divisional ASC moving to an operational area with the division. A few days before, the new establishments had been approved for ASC units, and involved them in considerable internal reorganisation. Thenceforward a composite company became known as an MT company, and was reduced in strength to 277 all ranks, while the 10th Reserve MT Company was also brought under that establishment, with the addition, however, of a petrol refilling section. A little later, when the division returned to a two brigade basis and the 15th Brigade was disbanded, the 29th MT Company was allotted the task of supplying base units and came under base command for other than regimental matters. The Army Service Corps with the force then reached its final form, shown on the following page.

ASC companies took a full part in a series of brigade exercises which were held in the middle of 1943, and gained experience of operational requirements. With the authorities a favourite form of training was route marching, and the ASC tramped many dusty miles normally dashed over by truck. Large scale black-out and passive air defence trials were held, and the terms condition yellow, condition red and condition green, meaning respectively 'air raid probable', 'air raid imminent' and 'all clear', made their first appearance. There was considerable confusion during those first trials—condition green came through first on1 one occasion, and in the divisional Headquarters area the several units camped together did not all receive the warnings at the same time with the result that conflicting whistle signals caused a pandemonium. Since their arrival on the island ASC units had, of course, been carrying on their own training programmes to the extent that supply and transport duties permitted. During a range practice in the foothills of Mount Taom a deer breasted a ridge some hundreds of yards distant to make a lordly survey of the activities, but was quickly bowled over by a burst from a Bren gun and taken back on page 58

Notes.—

(1)	Three detachments of the 1st Field Bakery, one detachment of Base Supply Depot No. 2 and some personnel of the 1st Field Butchery served with the division when it moved forward.
(2)	The workshops of the 4th, 10th and 16th MT Companies were under base command only for the period when their companies were absent with the division.

page 59the truck in triumph to camp.

The first conference in which the ASC took part in preparation for the move north was held on 1 July, 1943, and it soon became known to the rank and file that 'something was cooking1. For several days in the middle of the month part of the 14th Brigade held an amphibious exercise at Ducos Peninsula in Nouméa Harbour, on the USS John Penn, which was sunk at Guadalcanal a few weeks later. A section of the 16th MT Company took part in these manoeuvres and gained valuable knowledge of embarkation and disembarkation from a large US transport, and of beach landings and initial operations at a beach-head. Other ASC personnel were to have had similar experience, but shortage of shipping and the imminence of the move caused the remainder of the programme to be cancelled. That exercise was the first occasion on which the ASC had experience of the combat team system. An MT company is capable of servicing a brigade with its attached divisional units, a force which includes three infantry battalions, and under the new system a brigade was divided into three parts, each having a battalion as nucleus. The MT company with the brigade group was similarly divided into three equal parts, each a company in miniature with supply, transport and headquarters personnel capable of servicing a battalion combat team (a battalion with divisional troops detachments) independently should it land at a separate point.

Training for combat operations had always taken place in an atmosphere of scepticism, but in July and early August, preparations for the transfer to the battle zone were made with a convincing rush, and additional equipment flooded into the quartermaster's stores of those units which were to move. Disappointment was felt when it became known that heavy repair to vehicles in the forward area was to be the responsibility of Divisional Ordnance Workshops, and that consequently the MT companies would not be taking their workshop platoons north. Actually the companies took a good assortment of tools with them, and the driver-mechanics of the transport platoons put up a remarkably good performance in the forward area, doing all general repairs except those of a major character.

(A detachment from Base Supply Depot No. 2 followed independently in December, 1943.)

Unit equipment had been crated and 'tents struck, and there was a great demand for ASC drivers as convoys rolled down to Nouméa with full loads of men and gear. Vehicles and drivers from the 29th MT Company, which was remaining in New Caledonia, were fully extended during that period, and in order to keep the division's transport moving, special shipments of petrol had to be sent up the coast to Népoui. The familiar camp areas up country were left bare except for one or two of the more permanent structures, which were abandoned to the weather, and it was realised with some regret that the sites would soon be overgrown, and that little sign would remain of the many men who had lived there for a good part of a year. The convoys of troops made dusty and tiresome trips down the island at night, and occasional groups of French stood in the darkness outside their isolated homes to swing lamps and shout fare-well. Early in the morning the trucks halted on the Nouméa foreshore at Sandy Beach, a desolate area near the Société le Nickel works and docks. Small LCV(P) barges from transports lying out in the stream surged in, lowered their ramps, then retracted with a roar of their engines, carrying packed groups of tired, dusty men. When barges crept under the towering side of a ship, rope cargo nets which hung down from the decks above were dragged aboard and held while the heavily laden passengers climbed doggedly up for thirty feet.