Equipment

There was sufficient equipment in Egypt for the existing personnel but more was on order from England in anticipation of the arrival of the Second Echelon in the Middle East. It was therefore decided that, until more detailed plans were known, further equipment should not be sent to Egypt but should be held in England for the use of the Second Echelon. In the event of dental reinforcements being sent from England to Egypt, equipment could then accompany them. Brigadier Falla was asked to convey this information to the War Office. It was unfortunate that the bottleneck in the supply of equipment from the War Office to Egypt, which had just been successfully dilated at the cost of much anxiety, had again to be restricted, but it is probable that the chaos of Dunkirk would have achieved the same result. At all events there was a good friend of the NZDC firmly ensconced in the War Office as Deputy Assistant Director of the Army Dental Service in the person of Colonel O'Connor, whose kind offices as ADDS of BTE have already been mentioned. His knowledge of the problems of the NZDC and his willingness to assist were valuable assets.