FIGHTING SPIRIT
AMONG WHOLE PEOPLE NEEDED IN ORDER TO BEAT JAPANESE. OBSERVATIONS BY GENERAL BENNETT. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) SYDNEY, March 8. Major-General Gordon Bennett, in the course of a broadcast on the possibility of a Japanese attack on Australia and the reasons for the fall of Malaya, said that the Japanese were at their best when on the offensive, but the moment they were put on the defensive they withered and fell away. The Japanese attacked with confidence of success, not with a defeatist attitude, and it was a defeatist attitude, even among the troops, that led to Malaya’s fall. Jungle fighting suited the Japanese, but they would find many natural obstacles, such as lack of water, if they attacked Australia. The Australians must adopt an offensive spirit, not only among the fighting forces but also among the whole of the people. In Malaya, General Bennett added, it was difficult to distinguish between the Japanese and the Chinese and Malayans, but that would not happen in Australia. What was needed was equipment. They had the fighters and the fighting spirit, but they must have the weapons with which to fight.
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Wairarapa Times-Age, 9 March 1942, Page 3
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190FIGHTING SPIRIT Wairarapa Times-Age, 9 March 1942, Page 3
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