MAGNIFICENT STAND
MADE BY SOUTH AFRICANS AT SIDI REZEGH BROADCAST BY GENERAL SMUTS. MESSAGE' FROM BRITISH COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF. LONDON, November 30. “The Libyan offensive was a complete success from the beginning, and it apparently surprised the enemy,” said General Smuts, broadcasting at Cape Town. “The South Africans’ stand at Sidi Rezegh was comparable to the South Africans’ immortal twoday stand against the Germans at Delville Wood in 1918. They continued against panzer, air and infantry attacks by superior numbers until their ammunition Was exhausted. “Don’t let us count our losses. Our losses, generation after generation, won for us this fair land, and the heroic tradition which forms the immortal soul of our people.” General Smuts added that he had received a message from General Auchinleck expressing deep regret that the South African troops should have suffered so heavily in their first major engagement. General Auchinleck said he could not express sufficiently his admiration and pride in the South Africans’ tenacious gallantry. TOO OPTIMISTIC ACCOUNTS OF THE LIBYAN BATTLES. MAJOR-GENERAL FULLER ATTACKS 8.8. C. LONDON, November 30. Major-General Fuller in an article in the “Evening Standard” draws attention to some over-optimistic accounts of the Libyan battles and singles out the 8.8. C. “When the Eighth Army launched its offensive no one in London could know what type of victory General Cunningham was seeking,” he writes. “Yet within a few hours ‘G.H.Q. in Broadcasting House” embarked on a campaign of words bearing but remote resemblance to the sober announcements from Cairo G.H.Q. The 8.8. C. told us the enemy had no chance of recovering from the smashing initial blow, but Cairo never released such desirable information.
“I do not suggest that a ballyhoo battle has not a certain psychological value, but if the real battle does not keep to the heel of the imaginary battle we must not conclude that the former has failed.”
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Wairarapa Times-Age, 1 December 1941, Page 5
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311MAGNIFICENT STAND Wairarapa Times-Age, 1 December 1941, Page 5
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