BEFORE THE BATTLE

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2664, 8 January 1916, Page 6

BEFORE THE BATTLE

ADDRESS TO SOLDIERS COLONEL GIBBON TO THE NINTH OUT. TO WIN Tho Ninth Reinforcements have finished their Now Zealand training for activo service. Yesterday morning they were reviewed by the Go\crnor, and in tho afternoon tliey were addressed by Colonel Gibbon, Chief of tho General Stair, tho officer responsible for their training. Colonel Gibbon said: — "Officers and other ranks, —Your time of training here is up, and I want to say a few things to you,. I am-not saying them for the amusement of saving them. I am saying them because I want you to remember them. "The training has been-short. 1 trust (and l am glad) that-this will be the last draft • sent away with such short training. Nevertheless, lam satisfied that you will be able to take your- placc in the ranks of - tho. units and regiments at the front, and to do so with credit. In addition to tho shortness, of-the training, I personally regret v.ery much the Christmas holidays, 'l'hey have interfered with the training very considerably, and tho men who have overstayed tlieir leave have increased the difficulties of my training staff, who have been here working the whole time, endeavouring to get your musketry finished'. Tho extraordinary number of casuals we have had to haindle has been a great difficulty, and has given us an extraordinary amount of anxiety.

i ■. "The Worst Offenders." "Tho Mounted Rifles, I regret to say, have been the worst offenders in this matter. As regards the training of the Mounted Riites,' when in camp they have done their best, and I think they will do well at the front. I hope they will get nioro training at tho base be,fore going on. Tho musketry is quite ( up to what has been done in tho past. "The infantry have worked liard, and, I think, ; will keep up our name. They did well'in the march over the Rimutakas, although I noticed that keenness rather interfered with military efficiency. They tried to go too fast when they were not supposed toi and the result was that I did not think tho march was as good as it should have, 'been. I thought they were better later on, in the subsequent night operations. "The Artillery are well' up to our standard, considering their short training, Their, conduct ill camp was exemplary.- _ . ■ "The Engineers are a good draft, and I hope will do,well. "But how I judge you matters little. I wait to hear how you are judged on arrival at the base. The reputation that New Zealand lias is that each draft that leaves theso shores to arrive there is better than the draft preceding. I await the judgment; hut it Tests with you.

The Most Important ThingDiscipline.

"Now, the most important thing I have to talk to you about is the question of discipline. I don't talk to you of discipline as a theoretical matter. ■We don't foster discipline from abstract reasons, but because it helps to.beat the enemy—our sole object. The regiments which have the hest discipline have the least losses. That holds good at all times in all fighting, hut particularly in a retrea-t. There are only two armies in the world that can retreat with safety and fight again next day—tho British and the Russian. The reason we do it, and have done it in the past, is that ,we have the discipline. ,And you are now a part of the British Army, winch has done all these great things in the past, amd if you wish to do' as well you must have discipline. • 11 "One reason Germany counted : on beating us was that they did not consider we could improvise armies from our people, who are independent and democratic—that we could not organise them to bo formidable in the field. But •we have, and we can. "Tho New Zealand forces up to the present time hare been restricted tb. trench fighting.' Where you are going to fight _ I don't know. We hope it will bo m a new field of action, whero there will be movement —where wo can get the enemy on the run. But remember that under such circumstances it-is much harder/to maintain discipline than in the trcnches, where yoi have a daily routine to hang on to. You cannot manoeuvre without discipline. Troops that have no discipline cannot bear fatigue, cold, or heat. They fall to pieccs, and men die off as a result. They have stragglers who never come back. Drink and Other Perils.

"Now, tho'country lias spent money, and we have spent much time, on your instruction. Every man of you is sent forward to fill a place at the front. If any of you fail to get there, you are betraying your comrades who are expecting you at the front. Men who in Wellington or at a port of call go and have a drink with a friend may not mean to stop behind. They may, however, miss tlie boat, and they are not at the front. Those men are betraying their comrades. They are deserting as surely as a man who turns Iris baolc on the enemy in tho firing line. The same at a port of call! Outside people are kind, and think they should do you well. Look to it that they don't do you too well, and that you don't regret it ever after. .

"There is another way of being absent from the front. It is through disease contracted in the low parts of our cities, and particularly in Egypt. Watch it that you are not left behind because of that. Any man who fails to look after his health falls through avoidable sickness, and is betraying his comrades. The hospitals are for tho wounded and unavoidably sick, and not for men who go_ sick through their own action and_ their own neglect. And when hospitals and hospital ships are encumbered with, such men, the wounded suffer. . Do your best to keep out of hospital, and to keep.in the firing line. And do your best to influence your comrades to do the same. "Absence without leave • is a very serious matter, and it is treated so at the front. In fact, I have been told that the penalty for absence in going into tho trenches in France is death. Must Pull Together to Win. "I want yon to salute your officers when you meet them. There is no out. ward sisn which gives a better indication of discipline than men saluting their officers, and not only their own officers, but also the officers of other units. It costs you nothing, but it does a good ileal to raise the name of our army in tho eyes of other armies. "Another little matter. A way to raise our name is by not criticising." You are doing quite enough. Play the gamel Do your best, and give tlie other fellow credit for doing hisbest. Don't criticise 1 Don't draw comparisons! They only lead to friction and bad blood, and wo must pull together to win tho. war. "Our object is that when tlie history of this war is written the name of the New Zealand soldiers will go down )o all time as the best soldiers who fought in the interesfo of tho Empire. Already they have made an undying name for themselves at fiallipoli. Are yon going to keep up that name in whatever new field of action you go toV It rests with you. "You oib a strong draft—strong-!

est reinforcement draft that (as reinforcements) has yet loft these shores, and whatever you do will leave its impress oil the whole of the forces after you join, is that influence to be good, or is it not? In the Creat Advance. "You will be there when the time comes for the great advance (which we all look for) takes place. You will bo there, and 1 hope do much to lead to it and bring it about. In our past history of the Prussian wars the experience has Loon that once we get them on the run we keep them there. "Remember one thing. You are not out for amusement; you are not out for sight-seeing; not out for leave. You are out for one thing. Yon are simply out to win, and nothing else, and you have to do your best to help the Empire to win. And the greatest reward we, who have to remain behind here, and have to do with your training, will be to read how well you have done."