THE CRUCIBLE TEST

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 237, 1 July 1919, Page 7

THE CRUCIBLE TEST

AN APPEAL TO AUSTRALIANS AND NEW ZEALANDERS TO-DAY-AND TO-MORROW SPEECH BY GENERAL BIRDWOOD Cjeneral Sir William Birdwood made a ipeech as the guest of the Australian and New Zealand Luncheon. Club in Loudon lately, in which.he spoke golden opinions of the men of Anztic. Following are extracts from the speech:— There are two factors which I should like to mention. One. is the closu association, and, indeed, intermingling of_ Australian and New Zealand troops for the first time on the baUlefield. Jhore they were, night and day 'for many months, Sgiiting shoulder to shoulder,' dependant entirely u[/on each other for support and relief, and fully realising that failure or faint-heartedness on the part of either woiild be tho destruction of both. Is it oJiy wonder that after fighting side by side like this as brothers mutual feelings of the greatest admiration and respect, such as had rot formerly existed, should have been engendered ? . I remember . when going round the trenches and stopping to talkto groups of men, as I used to do almost daily,- that some New Zealander would . My to me In. .apparently ' a curprised tone: J'Do you know, General, wo find t-uese.A'ustraliana just as'good men as wo -are,-? fo. which 1 wpuild.-reply: ."And what,-else do you expect, to find, thorn ■j While an Australian would say to me: ''Do you know, Mr. Birdwood, we had no idea these New . Zealanders wero the magnificent fighting men they are." I would then ask if they weren't glad to find that this was the case.

- And surely we must all ag«e that such association and mutual confidence must be entirely to the gocd. Looking far ahead, wo must realise it is essential that Australian And New Zealander should

stand shoulder to shoulder, see eye to eye, and, if I,might say so, almost as one nation in all that affe-its their defence. As long as this is the case, we way feel confidou'. that there, safe behmd thpse outposts in .the Southern, Seas iniicii liuve been won by their owii.soldiers, they will be able to face the futuro with confidence,' which will result in the flying of the British flag, for ever with honour in tho uttermost parts of. tho earth. Tho othor factor-which I wish to mention was our close . association with; the British Navy. All of us had of course heard of the might of tho British Navy, but very few of us had ever had an opportunity of witnessing it. : In his first dispatch after our landing, Sir lan Hamilton said the Navy had proved themselves to be tho Father ami Mother of-the' Army; and so, indeed, Uiey were. We had to depend upon thorn not only for munitions of war and oar daily bread, but, until we had been : ablo to exploit it to some -.extent, -even for cry drop of water we had ashore—mid tlic'v never failed us. We may well say, too", that after looking after us all day,, thu Navy proceeded to tuck us in -at l.ight, for there in all weathers, night after night, we would see the' ever-watchful cruisers or destroyers patrolling along' cur flanks with- their scaichlights. .flickering along the trenches, a:.d their guns ever ready to wipe out- any Turkish attack that might be afoot, It would bo impossible to talk 'of the Navy without the figure of-' their leader. coming into one's mind. : In Admiral de Robeck we had;the beau-ideal of".a. British sailorstraight as a dart, and brave as a lion. We had only'to know him for iv si oft time to place complete'confidence in him, while Inter on he entirely gained cur affections, ' for Wo' realised how he was always ready; to,make any self-sacrifice in Order that 'everything should'be dono -for tho safety ;ind well-rbeing of those- ashore. Fortunate'indeiid'is any nation to command the services of such a r.'aii, wiio .was worth a King's ransom. All wc Anzac-soldiers are always ready to" lake our hats of! ,to the British Navy ami their gallant 1 leaders.

I'would like to say here that I believe that in tho lvhole 'Avmy. ih-.Franceir-and in this I ani .-.suV'p;'ithfi'liijt-iiv-U l* J 'he-i'jibrii eV •. out by was no division It "ever awb finished up its- ni^njiic(jht J 'lighting' re-. ooVd by le Queshoy. on tile' \ very eve of thej. armistice.' > New Zealand,/l am §iire, realises how ... much she must owe.to. ; that very fine sol- ; dier. General Biissell,' who .came out in s ' command of her mounted brigade; and '-"took command of the division as soon ne ''V. .was formed, and has commanded it jhroughout with '■ such ' conspicuous ioy. '•.'Jr.-and success. . ' ®'*t was a great jjrief to me when the ~-;isfon left my immediate command, 'liter having served for.nearly two vears /under me, and I think I need hardly eav that I have never lost my interest in and admiration for it. By-our expansion, however, we had become too big for a corps and too small for an army, ■ so that a break-up of some sort was iucvitabip, • ' - I fear it is impossible for me to 'attempt to go into the details of our fighting in France—suffice it to say that the great traditions which had been built up on the Peninsula, and which were so jealously guarded by all, were not only maintained but enhanced in every way, with the result that wherever soldiers and soldierly deeds are spoken of throughout the world, no names stand higher than those of the Australian and the New Zealander. lam 6uro that their countries are grateful to them for, if one may say so, as a result of their bravery. Australia and New Zealand have with one stride stepped right into the very centre of the arena of the great nations of the world, there to plant their standards bearing tho Union Jaclt alongside that of tho Old Country, to share with her : for all timo tho burden which our great Empire must bear. Bat, gentlemen, I haye spoken to you entirely of tho past, and if you will bear with mo for a few moments, I would like to say a fow words on the future. j • The Uncertain Future.

As vou all know, wo are faced with demobilisation, but, I rather doubt if you realise the enormous difficulties this entails. Personally, I ,f annot' help thinking that this may bo the most critical period we have yet had to face, but, 1 also know from experience how: confidently wo-can always rely'upon the loyal .cc-operation of our men in any difficulties, provided we take them into our confidence, and act towards them with perfect fairness. As you probably realise, during these last four years no one has had much leisure, time—it has not been a case of knowing how to fill in sparo moments, but how to find a few 6paro moments in which to do anything. That is now to bo entirely changed, and we must remember that "Satan finds somo mischief still for idle hands to do." Somo of you, I dare 6ay, remember one of tho maxims of old Ilafiz, in which he savs, "Four things better than others are: Women and horses and nower and war,' Well! Wo all know that our lads have had their full share of the last-named commodity, and will it not therefore be but human naturo if their thoughts should instinctively fly towards some ,of tho three other alluremenfs set forth by; old Hall*? Bemomber, too, that during these years the boys 1 havo lived in a state of extreme high pressure and tho vast innjoritj- of them with most extraordinary and in every way commendable self-restraint, . . Some littlo time ago, when somo of tho lads hud been getting into troublo, and I was cudgelling my brains (I fancv rather unnecessarily) to see what moro Tve could do to save llieni from themselves, an officer in whom I have tho greatest confidence said to me:! "Well, General, do you think our boys would' havo done so well as they did on the Peninsula, and shown the same determination and courage, and would you have had equal confidence in them, iind they bepn an army of sexless teetotallers?" For the moment T could only tliink of an expression used by (in American colonel to mo one day: "Say. General, the very idea tickles me to'death" -and I ejaculated in horror at tho idea of the early diminution of our race. While wo can leave the discussion of this subiect to the physiologists', or perhaps i~ should rather say lie .pathologists, yet It does behove us to look reality straight in the face, and do.all we possibly can for our men during the time before thorn.

There are three methods by which wo can best help them: Employment, Education, and .Entertainment,

It may lie, gentlemen, that among you some may bo <vble to help one lame dog over a. stylo here, and another there, and everything in that-way will be a help. It may be that others may lie in tho way of finding assistance lor larger numbers on the lines I have indicated, and should this bo tho case I lenow that wo will have not onily your complete sympathy, but your whole-hearted support. Remember that the Australian and New Zealand soldier has beeti through the, crucible of a great heat test, and emerged' from it to-show that tho national elirfraeter contains an enormous amount, nf pure (told. I hop" that on their returuin|f _to their-distant homes thig will bo' realised, and th.it those young nations will he able to Diake full use of tho wonderful maleiwl they have at their disposal. I thank you again, gentlemen, not only for your great kindness in receiving me here to-day, but for your patience la listening to me.