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Medical Units of 2 NZEF in Middle East and Italy

Work of 4 ADS

Work of 4 ADS

B Company, 4 Field Ambulance, under Maj Harrison,3 was under the command of 4 Infantry Brigade. The company arrived at Menastir on 22 November, after the cutting of the Tobruk-Bardia road by 4 Brigade that morning, and set up an ADS to receive the first battle casualties, most of whom were Germans. The position of the MDS was not known, but the ADS was cleared by sending two truck-loads of patients to HQ NZ Division to be redirected from there. Next day the ADS was cleared by three ambulance page 161 cars before the unit moved to the Gambut airfield, which had been captured by 19 Battalion, to set up an ADS there.

On 24 November the brigade group travelled twelve miles to Zaafran, where the ADS was established and worked all night. The company had carried its patients for two days, but on 25 November three ambulance cars arrived from the 6 Field Ambulance MDS, now about four miles to the south, and the ADS was cleared. A shortage of supplies, especially water, was becoming acute. About eighty battle casualties were admitted during 26 November, and the evacuation of the patients to the MDS worked smoothly.

3 Maj T. W. Harrison, OBE, m.i.d.; born Dunedin, 9 May 1912; House Surgeon, Dunedin Hospital; DADMS 2 NZEF Jan-Mar 1940; Registrar 4 Gen Hosp Jul-Oct 1940; 4 Fd Amb Oct 1940-Sep 1942; Surgeon 1 Mob CCS Sep 1942-Jul 1943; Surgeon 3 Gen Hosp Jul 1943-Jun 1944.