"Inferior to Turk"

Levin Daily Chronicle, 15 February 1917, Page 3

"Inferior to Turk"

— « ANIZACS ON BOOHES,

The glorious fighting quality of the Australian' lads is recorded in a letter from a British officer who lias seen them in action. "They are too good to stand in any need of recommendation, and as a matter of fact I liav<e met some of them whose modesty has been sorely tried by the adulation lavished on the Anzacs. The fact is they have learned to hate extravagant praise; and especially to resent anything which seemed to suggest that they were better than their comrades from the homeland countries. I have seen -quite a lot of them in the present show, and 1 I think they are a very fine force. A great many of them have given up pretty important work and positions to join; and the training and experiences many of them have had in their own country have made them very resourceful, and most excellent campaigners

"I'll tell you another tiling about them. „ Their practical goodwill is a great asset for them. What I mean is they are anxious to be really good soldiers from a professional military point of view. Their .intelligence has shown them the vital necessity of discipline ; and', having grasped that, nobody could be keener on every detail of discipline than they are. You don't get any nonsensical clap-trap from them about discipline being red-tape anld pipe-clay. Not a bit of it. They've seen for themselves that success in really big fighting is impossible with-

out it; and, seeing that, they becomo enthusiastic disciplinarians.

"There is a singular uniformity about their opinion of the Bocho; that is, about all of them I have talked with. They all feel a strong contempt for the Hun. They say liTs machine may be efficient, but that the individual Boclie is a complete rotter. As a man, and in man-to-man fighting, they hold the Bocho to bo vastly inferior to the Turk; though he has such a magnificent organisation behind him."