BRITISH VALOUR

Wairarapa Times-Age, 18 June 1942, Page 4

BRITISH VALOUR

SAID TO BE UNDERVALUED IN AUSTRALIA STATEMENTS BY OFFICERS. RETURNED FROM OVERSEAS. (By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright) (Received This Day, 12.45 p.m.) SYDNEY, This Day. A.I.F. officers returning from overseas say they are amazed at the ignorance of most Australians of the part played by British forces in the Middle East. Their comments have received wide publicity. These officers resent reflections on the worth of the British forces and suggest that the only difference between England and Australia is that the people of England have not only been threatened —they have been in the battle line, 50,000 killed by enemy air attacks. “Some people in Australia seem to have forgotten, or not to have heard, how British troops and the A.I.F. were side by side in all the campaigns in which the A.I.F. has fought,” said a senior officer just returned. “People here should never forget the exploits of the Royal Navy around Greece and Crete. I have heard many stories, too, of the R.A.F., which, hampered by a shortage of aircraft, got on and did its job as best it could. Often, in Greece, hopelessly outnumbered, pilots took the air again and again and suffered casualties far greater in proportion than the troops on the ground. The British people stand where they do today because they have been prepared to go out and fight and die. The people of England have shown themselves still ready. Now it is our turn. The world waits to know whether we shall stand our test.”