"THE MEN I KILLED"

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 56, 29 November 1937, Page 8

"THE MEN I KILLED"

Crozier's Widow Hits Back at HusEand's Critics 1 Mrs. Crozier, widow of Brig.-Generalj Crozier, whose last book, "The Men I Killed," raised a storm of criticism among ex-servicemen, replied in an interview to the attacks on her husband's book. "My husband," she declared, "was a man so absolutely fearless, both physically and morally, and so determined to tell the truth-always. "His book has been vilely distorted. It is easy to gain a totally w^ong impression from any book by taking iso- , lated phrases away from their context. "I can only say that among the hundreds of letters I have received thelre are many from ex-offieers and men who served with my husband and who added confirmation of every word in his latest book. "It is evident that my husband's methods were successful in saving the situation on more than one occasion. "Here is a letter written ,to the General. " 'Every man who went to the wai knows perfectly well that every word - you wrote was true. " 'Cowards, why, wo all were! and had we not been inspired by men sixchas yourself the war would have ended very quickly.' "Another .letter .written before his death states: " 'When the General is- well enough it may interest him to know that I was a company commander at Neuve Eglise when the line broke at Armentieres and dozens of British N.C.O.'s and men passed through my lines. " 'I was too disgusted to hold them up by force, but quite expeeted someone behind me did so, and rightly so. " 'During that fonr days I received first, Haig's Back-To-The-Wall message, and secondly, a -divisional note saying that when finally routed our rallying point was Dranoutre. " 'I was instructed to read both to all ranks, I read neither, but tore them up. ' "