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Admiral Halsey to Lieutenant-General Puttick

Refer your telegram of 16 June [No. 360] and despatch of the 19th. As the Fiji garrison must remain at certain strength, bringing the 3rd New Zealand Division to strength by employing the Fiji Brigade would in the end result in immobilising United States units in defence of Fiji in order to release Fijian units for offensive use. Such use would also deprive us of the free use of Fijian troops now employed as scouts and raiders in the Solomons, for if part of the New Zealand Division they would necessarily and properly be trained and employed as an organic part of the Division. For the above reasons I prefer a twin-brigade New Zealand Division to employing Fijian troops therein.