Cliff was with Divisional Signals — “Div Sigs” — a specialist unit of the Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force, whose members were seconded to the various Brigades and Battalions etc to maintain communications. There were two ways to communicate: by radio or by phone (i.e. landlines, likely to be cut at any time by bombardment or military traffic).

Radio comms in 1940 were not as we know them now. Radio range was very limited and much of the traffic was by morse code. At Sidi Resegh, the first engagement Cliff describes, his set required a truck and a two-man team to operate, and it made a good target. When, by contrast, Stephen phoned Cliff on his brand new “brick” Motorola while we were driving through the back roads of the Manawatu in the 1990s, his grandfather became very emotional.