FINE QUALITIES OF BRITISH

Southland Times, Issue 24869, 8 October 1942, Page 5

FINE QUALITIES OF BRITISH

PRAISE FOR SOLDIERS LONDON, October 6. “Britain’s soldiers have 'qualities which make them the finest fighters in the world,” said the Commander-in-Chief in the Middle East, General Sir Harold Alexander, jn an interview with The Daily Mirror correspondent in the Middle East. “They are not soldiers but warriors. They have no fierce lust for blood or killing yet they go into battle with cool determination and the intention of wiping out toe Nazis savaserv “I have seen British soldiers unhappy, bewildered and fed up, but never fearful. Even when they have endured demoralizing withdrawals they have responded to their leadership, reformed and have been ready to withstand the next ordeal. The Bth Army is a perfect example of that. It was pushed back hundreds of miles after a series of defeats. Just when the world might have been expected to collapse around its ears it stopped dead, reformed and returned to face the enemy and its morale again rocketed. “I wonder how many armies would have kept their morale after toe frightful military reverses we have had in this war. I think toe explanation is the British soldiers’ pride of race. The time is past when we had to fight a first-class enemy with inadequate equipment and inadequate training. From now on we will have all the equipment we require.”