BOY SOLDIERS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 6, Issue 60, 30 March 1943, Page 5

BOY SOLDIERS

YOUTH OF GERMAN TROOPS TARANAKI MAX'S LETTER German use of boys in recent fighting in the Middle. East isi seen by Private T. Sullivan., formerly of New Plymouth, as the first sign that the Avar will not last as long as he had expected. Writing to his parents on Christmas Daj r , he states that till then the Germans had not been putting up much of a fight in the. desert, although they had; managed to break away Avhen his group of New Zcalenders had them cut off on several occasions. "Germans Ave have met so far have been mere boys, J8 or 19 years old,'' Private Sullivan writes. "The crew of. a tank captured a Aveek ago Ave.re 17 and 19 yearrf old —only kids, and modern Avarfarc is not a kid's game. They cannot stand it. I haA r e seen the strongest of our own men crack under the stnaLn," Commenting on the/youth of the German soldiers he had seen, Private Sullivan says the Russian front must be taking a terrible toll of the enemy. When lie Avrote Private SulliA r an was more than 1000 miles; from Maadi camp, to which his brother, J. L. Sullivan, had returned. "The. boys ha\~e just fried a fcAV tins of. oysters, so I Avill have a feed," Private Sulli\*an concludes. "Be as cheerful as you can, because I honestly believe Ave Avill alill hjiiXlb our next Christmas at home in New Zealand.''