The New Zealand Times. MONDAY, MAY 19, 1919. GENERAL RUSSELL

New Zealand Times, Volume XLIV, Issue 10283, 19 May 1919, Page 4

The New Zealand Times. MONDAY, MAY 19, 1919. GENERAL RUSSELL

Sir Andrew Russell’s great reception in "Wellington on Saturday practically rounds off the story of Now Zealand’s share in the great war of 1914-18. The fighting is done, and the two chief pageants aro over —at tho beginning the inarch of the Main Body down to tho waterside; at the end the reception of the returned General who has commanded tho New Zealand Division in most of tho great battles of its splendid history. If ever citizen deserved well of his country it is General Russell. Successful soldier, successful farmer, successful general, ho faced his fellow-citizens with three titles to distinction. As a soldier, ho prepared to ■ take his part in the day of stress; while that day was approaching he did his duty of peaceful, industrious citizenship ; when the day arrived ho commanded, in the greatest field of war of history, the young manhood of his country in a manner which was worthy of i his preparation and of tho high character of the intelligent and sturdy soldiery serving under him. Of both much may be said, but neither can he said better than that the General was worthy of his troops, and the troops were worthy of " their General. The great soldier, Sir Douglas Haig, who commanded all tho armies in Europe of tho British Empire, said in his last dispatch that tho armies under his orders had not only duly sustained tho traditions of valour, established by the old British Army, but had created new traditions. This is tho verdict of a soldier wfio has been through the war at the head of the levies of citizen soldiery, whose millions forbid all possible comparison with tho thousands who immortalised themselves under the splendid commanders of our history. The question in all minds when these levies were raised was of the possibility of their reaching tho old standards of soldiership. Here is the core of the answer as given by Sir Douglas Haig. They achieved the unexpected by tho military experts, and they raised the ancient standard.

To have contributed a quota to that result is a. great honour to the General and the troops of a young roun try that never dreamed of the possibility of taking part in a world-wide conflict. Still more so when tho fact is realised that they marched in the very front rank of the achievements that established the new and higher standard for the vast armies of the citizen levies which brought the British Empire by tho way of voluntary ism up to' the numerical strength of the conscript armies of Europe. What is more, in the forward front of the new armies, no troops marched before those of New Zealand. Those are tho facts that thrilled as the General and bis handful of veterans went through tho streets in triumph. To see them go by was an honour. To hear the cheers keeping pace witi. their march was a pleasure. To watch that march was to read the history of the Now Zealand Division. Some, one realised', of these men landed at Gallipoli steady in tho storm of lire; some maintained the reputations ol Gallipoli in tho lurid light of obstinate, prolonged battle on tlio Somme, which turned back the course of the war by driving tho enemy for tho first time out of his formidable entrenchments; some revealed the combination ot brilliant attack with accurate steadiness, and prompt initiative, which make up the story of Mcssines; some survived the Tasschendaelo day of great loss and greater honour; some stopped the rush of tho German hosts at Hcbuteme and Bucquoy; some were in the spearhead of tho final central drive entrusted to the British, the drive which captured 200,000 of the enemy’s men, took his guns by the thousand, stormed him out of tho strongest positions ever devised by the military engineer, heat him in every ■pftsgihlo manner of encounter, and forced him to beg for Armistice—and all this with numbers inferior from tho opening in tho Valley of the Somme to the close in the Valley of the Samhre. It was the greatest feat of arms in military history, and the New Zealand Division went through it without a relief from start to finish, and with none ahead of them. The supremo moment came in the Town Hall, when the host of citizens joined with tho loaders of the countrymilitary, political, municipal—in giving the General the high praise be and his men bad earned so well. To him the proudest fact in the army of deserved compliment was iho fact had led bis men greatly in the great

adventure, _ar-d it ;her.i the pyoi.c’ Si) greatly. iiity V.l-lc: t IIC slhiiii. fi.Vlsj'.in, but ;hc-y n;;d hosts cl ir.ciuH, capable judge.-, -„-i manly proven a:cl military skin, wiio were not aliens, s-o I hey have come into their own. TTioir own. so l':ir, is partly the breath of Came, am! that they have to the supereato degree, sharing it with their nT'ldicrly commander. So far, they have been together. They will be together, though in a different way, but not loss strongly bound to each other, bound by the strongest ties, two memories—the memory of their great achievement in a warm comradeship that newer wavered and never cooled, and tho memory of thoso who fellVby their side in. upnolding the great cause —which also is a memory, perhaps tho greatest, of comradeship. As in their achievement, so in the hope of their coming into that part of their own that lies in tho future, they have friends who will help them, and their commander and bis officers will see to it that the, help is adequate. This certainly brought the climax of the great reception. Our gallant men are facing tho Land of Promise. Nothing could be more pleasing to tho mind of their commander than yjhe certainty that they will surely enter in according to the promise which lie and others will not lose sight of.