HATS OFF TO TOMMY ATKINS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 139, 5 November 1914, Page 7

HATS OFF TO TOMMY ATKINS.

GERMAN FEAR OF BRITISH SOLDIERS. FRENCH TRIBUTES. "inc iiwi ale spieiuud. 1 knew uiev I were good, bat 1 uUiu i inuw jiow goon ■Wil liuu-, ana i .j. lKc uu U [y UiU ~,, Tommy. ALiviiia. it we'd iutuy jum 'MIHUt oi iiini vvuxi just have wa;.Kcii liirougu die Germans." bo wrote an iiijjuau otlker u'uimg tire dark uaya oi wnut a Bnlisiier eaneU "trie evuriasung get back a bit lar.jter boys" par.t of t'lu: campaign. And nuwvUu; Fiv-nen newspapers are nmeuipaioricaily (tolling their i caps to Thomas AiKiim, and mating .profound obeisance to u.ni. 'iiie hero.sui displayed 'by our troops, is the theme of scores or articles in me French, journals iviat have I'Lcemjy been received m England, and in their anxiety to pay tn'buLe to British bravery 'and .prowess, tiieir coolness under the most trying (ircums.ancM, and their unllaggug good liuumour when {(he clouds are toa°K. est, the French, writers seem, even tous who are only too willing to believe .the 'best oi our gallant soldiers, to be ■'oveidom o » the complimentary" just a wee bit. .But we lind that Uie- French, soldier and the French civdian—peasant or- plutocrat—who has seen Tommy playing the great game holds just the same views about him as die newspaper loik, and is jusii as loud in praise of jiis .prolcssional ell'icjjnc.v, his cool daring. 'iiis brilliant dash, ami, in particular. of his stolid "all in the day's work'' way of accepting, whatever comes in the shape of unpleasantness.

French soldiers' who have been prisoners in the hands of the Germas but maaged to escape, declare that tllie Kaiser's troops who have had to demost of their lighting against l|iie'British force, both hate and lear our hoys. A correspondent of the Morning Post details a long conversation he 'had with some Frcncu soidieia. who had managed io»slip through the lingers of the Hermans at Cambrai:—

"You cannot imagine," said one of themi 'to me, "how the Germans hate and fear uhe English. ... If thecould, they would' mask tU« Rritis'i Army as they have masked foi';[resscs at Antwerp and iVfaubeuge anything' rather than fight with it in the' opeu. First, of all, tii-e English are splendid shots, while the Germans cannot shoot at all. When the Englishman .(ires lie puts a bullet into the body of his adversary, while the German fires tons of lead into the ground, an dat best wounds a man in the foot or the legs. Then they move about quite as quickly as thj Germans. The Germans score over, us Frenchmen because, they have no heavy knapsack to carry, and their .uniform leave all their limbs free, while we have lio carry ever so many pounds of weigh-, on our backs. . . . All iho German impedimenta are brought up by motoi transport, and so they seem to lie everywhere. Rut tlte English are a match for them. They have motor transport too, and khaki uniform, which offers no I target and once, they get in contact with the enemy there is no shaking! them off. The German machinc-guiii j were >o good for us, but the English ' maxims are more than a match for thonr, and ever so much bet-tea' served, i

"Then, though the English seem to b>; everywhere, they are so calm and deliberate; they defend a position all dav lon«£ simply mowing down ths Germans, and then retire quite contentedly to the next line of entrenchmcts as cheerfully as though Ihey had won a great vietorv. Anyone Nut the English soldier is de- • pressed at retreating, but he seems itn 'look upon it as a mere matter o business. . . Whatever happens they seem to regard it as part of the day's' work. Ah! the English are Uos costauds,' and .nothing at all seems to depress them in -the Host. Truly France o'wes 'a famI ous caudle' to the British Army."

The terror of the English name had. according to these soldiers from Cambrai, accomplished almost! as much as the Army itself. It was the English .who had sent an ußfimatunu to Douai the Germans to evacuate the town within two hours, and holding them responsible for the safety of nrl,sonors. Without hesitation the enemy had taken to his heels and fled from ■•the town.

, t "It. was the same thin? at Arras," .said one of them; "the Enjdteh gave , tliem hours, and in twelve hours there was not a German left in the town."

This extraordinary moral inffiicnep ex- | cvtc-d over the enemy by the Rriffch forces was confinned 'by'a number of refugees from Lille, who declared' that the Germans were "blullVd"' out of Lille bv a telegram sent to the Mayor of the >vn ;'iy a small British detachment declaring that they weiv marching upon it. : *>V K aH?f!