ENEMY TROOPS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 22 July 1942, Page 3

ENEMY TROOPS

UNDER VERY HARSH DISCIPLINE SEVERE SENTENCES FOR MINOR : OFFENCES. ITALIANS OF VARYING QUALITY. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) LONDON, July 20. There is definite evidence, says the Cairo correspondent of the “Daily Mail,” that discipline in some units of the crack Afrika Korps is being maintained by harsh measures. Court-mar-tial sentences provide a valuable index to an army’s discipline. A German corporal recently convicted of drunkenness at Barce was sentenced to 18 months’ gaol, a private guilty of a breach of guard duty to 18 months’ hard labour,, and a private guilty of “conduct likely to affect military discipline” to five years’ hard labour. These heavy sentences are apparently not exceptional. They infer real preoccupation concerning discipline in what is supposed to be one of the best disciplined armies in the world. It is likely that the German desert troops are suffering from the morbid melancholy traditionally associated with members of the Foreign Legion. Another cause is believed to be the in-1 troduction of inferior material into the | German Army. I Escaped British prisoners tell how enemy lorry-drivers are apt to stampede under attack. It must be emphasized that there is never the slightest sign of this demoralisation among the fighting troops. 1 The Italians are basically still unstable soldiers, hovering between flashes of extravagant bravery and abject inefficiency. The Ariete Division fought well, but the Sabratha Division is thoroughly in disgrace even among the Italian divisions The Sabratha Division is blamed on ail sides for its abysmally feeble behaviour when the Australians forced their salient to the west of El Alamein. A Bersagliere officer described the Sabratha Division as a “bunch of'ignorant peasants, whose only aim is to give themselves up.” Large numbers, using considerable ingenuity, have succeeded in doing this.