ENEMY VIEW

Wairarapa Times-Age, 4 August 1942, Page 3

ENEMY VIEW

COMPARISON OF DOMINION TROOPS TOUGH NEV/ ZEALANDERS. AUSTRALIANS ALWAYS GRIN. SYDNEY, July 22. Australian soldiers always grin when they are attacking, Colonel Erhard Loehter, said in a Berlin radio broadcast, reports the London correspondent of the Sydney “Daily Telegraph.” “Until the German soldiers got used to their grins they were embarrassed,” the Nazi colonel added. “On some occasions our boys thought the Australians would not take a bayonet charge seriously because they smiled so broadly. We don’t know whether the Australians think fighting is funny. But we are not deceived any more by these obliging grimaces.” Colonel Loehter said that Britain always called on Dominion troops when she wanted to stiffen her front. “Seasoned men of the Afrika Korps think that Australians, New Zealanders, and some units of South Africans are their equal. If Australian units are used there is certainly a good fight.”

Comparing Australians, New Zealanders, and South Africans, he said: “New Zealanders are as wild as if all of them were Maoris. They don’t smile, but shout their heads off. They are quicker than Australians, and not so congenial when captured. Try to be polite with a New Zealand prisoner, and he snubs you, as if he took the whole thing as a personal offence. “Australians are sometimes cheeky, but rather nice fellows. New Zealanders are tough, and our boys don’t try to be polite with them. South Africans are dangerous because they are masters at camouflaging and hiding. They seem to grow up suddenly from the desert sand. They are good, but colourless. Most of them behave themselves excellently—as if they were on a golf course.

“Some of them have funny souvenirs and superstitious African charms, for which our boys try to exchange other goods. It is a much harder proposition to get through these troops than others.”