Title: Medical Units of 2 NZEF in Middle East and Italy

Author: McKinney, J. B.

Publication details: Historical Publications Branch, 1952, 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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Onset of Spring

During April the weather remained fine except for occasional heavy showers. With the onset of spring, budding trees and abundant blossom relieved the grimness of the war-ravaged countryside. It was possible to arrange for day leave to Naples. With the approach of the malarial season full anti-malarial precautions were adopted. The nasty-tasting little mepacrine tablets made their appearance after the evening meals. The principles and methods of mosquito control were expounded to groups from divisional units at a malaria school run by 4 Field Hygiene Section under Maj Knights. Summer clothing was issued to the men in the Volturno Valley in the middle of the month, though in the mountainous area the change was postponed until the end of the month because of the cooler weather there. In many cases the summer issue was outrageously ill-fitting, and parties of men with khaki drill under their arms and their jackets bulging with tins of bully beef, ambled down the roads to the villages, where women with sewing machines did a roaring trade.